The Adventures of Two Girls and Their Mama: Freezing February

Here it is June and I am just now finding a minute to post about February. February feels like a lifetime ago now but as I look back through photos from the month I find myself smiling. February was a fun month full of adventure, love, and freezing cold temperatures.

We got in some good time with the horses who enjoyed the green grass that sprouted due to the abundance of moisture we received.

The horses always enjoy seeing their girls and getting a bit of extra attention.

Gigi especially loves her girls.

Lillian enjoys playing school with her captive audience and spent several days writing the ABC's on the porch so she could teach Gigi and Bachelor how to read.

The girls are pretty good help around the barn and I enjoy having them there with me working.

It had been a while since the girls and I had a designated Girl's Night so we spent one evening getting our nails done, eating frozen yogurt for dinner, and putting on face masks. Nights like this are always so much fun.

As usual, Valentine's Day was full of celebrations. Even the horses got Valentine's.

The day started with a special breakfast and lots of gifts from Nona.

We had fun decorating Lillian's Valentine's Day box and she was very proud of it.

Freya had her own Valentine's Day celebration in preschool and then got to decorate cookies with friends.

That night we made heart pizzas and watched Be My Valentine Charlie Brown.

Our Valentine's Day Garbini Bistro was a big hit this year because we chose to have a plowman's lunch with Disneyland Mint Juleps instead of our more traditional dinner. We had enough food to feed an army and it was glorious!

Valentine's Day isn't the only holiday we like to celebrate in February. Love of Reading Week is one of my favorite celebrations because I get to go and read to Lillian's class at school. This year Josh outdid me because he came dressed in his turnouts!

We also celebrated Tucson's rich heritage with Rodeo Days, another favorite of mine. Unfortunately, we weren't in town for the actual rodeo but we had a good excuse.

Over Rodeo Break we went to Zion National Park so I could run the Zion Half Marathon with my aunt and cousin. It was quite an adventure! The day we left a huge snow storm moved through all of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. What should have been an eight-hour drive quickly turned into 12 as we navigated our way around road closures and heavy snow fall. Our route took us through Arizona, into California, over to Nevada, and then finally into Utah. At one point we found ourselves driving in a snowy wash for several miles in order to get around a wreck. Thankfully we made it safely to the VRBO we rented for the weekend.

We were all happy to be together but the kids probably had the best time. They loved playing together wherever we went.

At one point I turned to find a bunch of them just laying in the snow making snow angels. They looked hilarious!

We had a great time at the race expo the day before. Our favorite part was the smore station and the hammocks

The next morning we got up nice and early and dressed for the 8* weather. That meant putting on two or three layers of everything. I thought I was going to turn in to an ice statue while we waited for the race to begin!

Once we got moving it wasn't too bad. I did fine until the last mile or so when I started to freeze again. The entire course is pretty much all uphill but the view of the snow capped mountains helped distract us.

After the race we showered and headed into the canyon. Most of Zion was closed due to all the snow but we were able to build snowmen outside Zion Lodge and hike to the Emerald Falls.

At one point along the trail, I started to panic because I couldn't see Lillian anywhere. She wasn't ahead of me with the rest of the group and she wasn't bringing up the rear with Freya and me. I started calling her and running up and down the trail frantically. Then, all of a sudden I heard a giggling and there she was buried in the snow. The little stinker and her dad thought they would play a funny trick on me. Needless to say, I didn't think it was very funny!

We were all sad for our snowy adventure to end but we finished the month on a high note with a preschool field trip to the Children's Museum and Lillian's school pictures.