Saint Patrick's Day

My dad has been doing genealogy since before he was a teenager, so I've had the opportunity of growing up knowing a lot about my heritage. Along the way, my dad has made sure to instill a deep pride in our Irish history. I love being Irish. I can't really tell you exactly what Saint Patrick's day is about for the rest of America, but for my family it's always been a celebration of our family and our ancestors...and the color green, of course. I've been setting a trap for the leprechauns long after I knew they weren't real, but I don't care. I love the tradition. So this year I was excited, because I felt like it was the first year where Walter would start to get it.

When he woke up in the morning, there was a trail of chocolate coins to the trap where the leprechaun had to drop some of his loot so he wouldn't get caught. Drat! Maybe next year!

Here's a video of Walter following the coin trail.

We went to the St. Patty's Day parade in SLC. There was a lot of green, dogs, dancing, beer, and bagpipes. We loved it. 

 Then on Sunday, we had one of my absolutely favorite meals: Corned beef and cabbage!

 I made a pavlova for dessert.

 We ended the night with a wee little game of Settlers. 

Now just some pictures of what we've been up to this month:

The sweetest girl from our primary class last year brought us a big box of meat (her family owns cows) for Christmas. I finally got up the courage to make my first pot roast, and it was delicious!

Walter knows how to use my camera, so he takes lot of pictures.

We love that the weather is nice! I'll just open up our porch and Walter will spend hours coming in and out a hundred times. 

We've started going on bike rides again! Levi just bought a new long-board, so he's had fun giving Walter a few rides in the church parking lot. 

Walter got a haircut! It makes him look way too old, but so handsome. I got home from a wedding yesterday, and Levi had turned Walter's car seat around. I was furious. It makes him seem way too old!

A bunch of the cousins took a big bath together. So cute!

And we finished the night watching a movie with grandpa, "Frozen"--a favorite!