Spring Break Adventure

We packed each day of our spring break at my parents home full of adventure. We ate too much, didn’t sleep enough and had almost more fun and chaos then we could handle! We were so lucky the weather was nice the entire time so we could spend a lot of time outdoors. Get ready for picture overload!  

Dino park is always a must.

These 2 have a love/hate relationship. Bronson is so much bigger than Jenna, but he is literally terrified of her. She bugs him to tears!

I love watching creativity in action. So much fun to be had with a simple giant cardboard box!

Grandma made Play doh and had lots of craft items for the kids.

Crossing the swinging bridge. This bridge spanning the river was so scary when I was young!

Climbing the steep stairs

Getting a picture by the junior high I attended. It always amazes me how time doesn’t change some things.

Walking along the river parkway.

Looking at all the mining equipment. The kids are standing in front of my brothers eagle scout project – looks like it could use a little fixing up again!

This was the first time we have taken the kids to the Railroad and Mining Museum. I love the inside of these old buildings!

 

I had to get a picture of this sign. One of these days I really want to do a post on my “redneck” roots!

We walked up and down main street several times. I know I write this every year, but I LOVE all the old buildings. So full of character and color. The mountain in the background. And seeing the train pass by while strolling along delighted the boys.

We took the kids bowling and it was painful! I tried to warn Trina it was going to be brutal, but she didn’t see how it could possibly be “that” bad. All I could say near the end was I Told You So! Thank goodness we were the only ones there because the poor lady had to come and retrieve the ball that had stopped in the middle of the lane because it was going so slow 4 separate times – yes, 4 times! The kids would roll their ball and it would take SO long to get to the end they would lay down and watch, or worse they would wonder off not even caring what happened.

 

Here are our totals, Trina was not bowling and no I was not the high and yes, we had the bumpers up! Samuel had an amazing game at the end and was so excited especially when I let him in on my secret – I’ve never even broken 100 bowling even with the bumpers!

We went to the Dinosaur Museum.

We fished.

Samuel caught this fish all by himself. Grandpa threw out the line, but Samuel hooked and brought it in himself. Isaac caught a few fish with Grandpa’s help, but he took off running in fear as soon as the fish reached the shore. Isaac does not like animals of any sort!

We rode the 4-wheeler.

We gathered rocks to throw in the river – and by gathering rocks I mean several 5 gallon buckets clear full of rocks.

The kids couldn’t believe we let them ride in the back of the truck for a brief moment as we drove along a slow dirt road. We did this all the time when we were young. Sometimes I think kids these days miss out by having to be strapped down all the time!

One of those “redneck” activities the kids were excited about – rolling an old tire down a hill.

Grandpa convinced the kids this was a troll hideout.

The kids managed to throw all those rocks we gathered into the river in just a few minutes.

We went to Huntington Lake. My dream would be to have a home with lake front property – ahh, maybe in my next life! I love the calming sound and smell of the water. I could just sit and look at the beautiful water all day.

Jenna stumbled and fell into the water so she ran around in her diaper for a few minutes until we rounded up a coat to wrap around her.

This is my favorite “redneck” photo of the trip. Grandma tossing a chicken leg in to the water to try and catch crawdads while Jenna is running around in a soggy diaper with patches of snow on the ground.

And my Bella girl is just crazy. There was a thin layer of ice on the water a few feet from the shore. The water was freezing and Bella insisted that she wanted to wade into the water. I let her thinking she would get her toe wet and call it good, but then she kept bugging me that she wanted to dive into the water. She is my mermaid girl after all, but really who’s that crazy! I told her there was no way I was letting her dive into the water. She then asked me what if she “accidentally” fell in. What am I going to do with this girl of mine!

We shot the bb gun.

We hiked around looking for targets to shoot.

The girls played dress-up

The boys played the ipad

The kids were in heaven to watch a video each night as they fell asleep in the basement. Only at Grandma’s would they be able to watch TV every night!

And I spent 4 nights in a row taking pictures – how could I pass up the opportunity with so many great locations!

Even I was feeling this way after so many nights of pictures! (Really Samuel didn’t mind taking pictures because Grandpa was supplying him with a steady supply of gummy bears. He did however get upset when I told him not to give me that cheesy forced smile!)

What a week! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the good time! We love and miss you guys!

Why my Projects Never Look Like Those on Pinterest

There are so many cute projects on Pinterest, but somehow my finished project NEVER approaches the same fantastic results I see displayed. Now I’m not trying to make excuses for myself, but really with this sort of help your bound to have a little deviation in your results!

I’m just guessing here, but I’m pretty sure the creator of the super cute Leprechaun cake trap I was trying to imitate didn’t have 6 extra little pair of hands helping create the masterpiece!

A Beautiful Day

There’s something about spring and the beautiful warm weather that brings joy to my soul. I want to stand outside and soak in all those rays of sunshine. I want to run and play, eat ice cream, sit quietly and listen to the laughter of my kids while basking in the renewal of nature and myself.

I was aching to enjoy the beauties of Snow Canyon on such a wonderful day so after we picked up Samuel from school we drove straight to our favorite hiking spot. Yep, I was feeling so full of energy and enthusiasm I took the kids hiking by myself and you know what, it was so much fun. Isaac and Bella took off running up the hill, but Samuel hung back to take Jenna by the hand. Bella turned around and decided she wanted to help Jenna too. Isaac kept running as you can see him in the left corner. I trailed behind with a giant smile on my face taking in the beauty around me – the natural beautiful surroundings and the beauty of seeing my kids helping each other and running with wild abandon.

 

Jenna was pretty innovative when the terrain got a little steep. I did finally pick her up and walk the last portion of the hike, but she was a trooper.

When we got back to the car, I decided even though it was almost dinner time we needed ice cream. Oh, I love me a cup of ice cream! I can’t eat ice cream in a bowl, it has to be in a cup.

 

Everyone wanted to be outdoors so we took dinner outside and worked on the yard.

Well, Chuck worked on the yard while I mostly sat on a lawn chair soaking in the rays, taking pictures, listening to the endless chatter of the kids and smiling.

 

We’re trying square foot gardening this year. Look at those plants growing so nicely. I’m just about ready to cut myself fresh lettuce. I love salads for lunch especially when I can just walk outside and snip off some leaves!

Sunshine makes me happy!

Can You Imagine?

Can you imagine what a “fun” drive we had with this crew stuck together in close quarters for over 4 1/2 hours?

Yeah, it was rough! Okay, maybe rough is too mild of a word – it was like poking an eye out! But we sure did have a fun spring break at my parents home in Helper. Made the crazy drive worth the effort. 

And can you believe the awesomeness of the mini-van; able to hold 6 car seats!

That’s Just For Girls!

If there’s on thing that can really get me riled up it’s hearing certain statements roll forth concerning girls and their supposed “jobs”. When I was going to college, I had a boy in my surveying class that flat out told me he didn’t think girls should survey. As you can imagine, that went over really well!

Tonight Bella was asking me how I knew how to make dinner. I told her I just read the recipe (of course there’s a lot more to being a good cook than reading a recipe and most of that knowledge is still a mystery to me!).

Our stake had a great women’s conference last weekend and a sister in our ward gave an inspiring talk on nourishing your family physically, spiritually and emotionally through family meal time. One thing that I really want to work on is having the kids help me in the actual preparation of the food. They help me make plenty of treats, but I haven’t been very good about having them help me cook dinner. As I was explaining to the kids about how fun this was going to be to help mommy, Samuel chimed in and said, “Why do I need to learn that. The girls do all the cooking.”

Of course this remark caused the feminist inside me rear her little head! I then asked Samuel if he planned on moving away from home and going to college or if he planned on going on a mission. He answered affirmative to both so I reminded him that there would be no girls cooking for him then so he’d better learn how to cook for himself. He then responded, “Oh yeah, well daddy knows how to cook pancakes so I guess boys do cook.”

So tomorrow night instead of my usual buying pizza for movie night the kids and I are going to make the pizza together. I’m starting out easy!

A Perfect Day

Motherhood is so full of ups and downs, but today has been one of those days where my heart is literally bursting with joy.

Samuel is out of school early all week and I’m so excited! (Is it too early to start counting down the days till summer – because I can’t wait!) Today with our extra time we made yummy brownies and took them to the park to eat. It was a little windy so we were the only ones there. I sat on the grass and watched as the kids ran around. I was even able to pull out my book and read a little – amazing! I couldn’t help but think how wonderful it was they could all play and have so much fun together.

After I taught piano and Samuel finished karate, we returned home for dinner. All the kids sat around the table and no one complained. We even had a great conversation about everyone’s good, bad and service for the day. Chuck then gave a wonderful FHE lesson on scriptures and the kids were involved and paid attention. Jenna was busy, but she wasn’t screaming. My favorite part of FHE is singing around the piano. As I played and the kids sang, my heart wanted to burst. I laughed, as I always do, when we sang Do As I’m Doing and the kids took off running around the “race track” in our house. (Our house has a circular flow from the piano room into the kitchen and the kids love doing laps) Then we ate more brownies, cleaned and did homework.

I smiled as the kids got ready for bed and we all gathered in Jenna’s room as Chuck and Bella sang to her. Everyone loves to give the baby kisses goodnight. I sat downstairs and listened as Chuck sang each of the kids their song before bed. When I was in college, I wanted to marry a guy who could sing so he could sing to our kids and it still touches me every night when Chuck sings to them.

I went up to give each of the kids “treasure hunt” and tuck them in. Bella was holding a Book of Mormon and told me she needed to learn how to read so she could read the scriptures by herself. Then as I entered the boys room, they were gathered around Chuck who had his phone out teaching the boys about dwarf planets. Samuel is studying about the solar system and he wanted to know more. My heart was full again because I love when the kids show a thirst for knowledge. I love learning and I so want my kids to have that desire. I tucked the boys in bed, helped them pray and talked to Samuel as he asked me more questions. I love our nightly talks.

Some days are perfect, not because anything amazing happened but just because you lived in the moment and soaked up every part of being a mother! 

Happy Valentines

The picture pretty much says it all!