Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Family History Movie

For a ward activity, we were challenged to make a movie about our family history.  We had fun putting it together and it turned out great:


 

We are proud of our family heritage and had a good time sharing it with our ward family.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Lego Robotics Club

Josh was able to participate in the Lego Robotics Club at school.  He and his friend built this robot that was a crane and could pick items up with it's claw.  He was able to control the robot with an iPad.  It was pretty cool and creative.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Happy Birthday Jeremy

I have decided I am a bad gift giver.  I never know what to get Jeremy for his birthday.  I thought I had it made this year, but...

he said, "Thanks, but no thanks."  Kayden had the idea to get him tickets to see his favorite band in concert (Boston).  I thought it was a good idea too.  I guess 43 is too old to go to a concert.  Besides, Jeremy said all the original Boston band members are ancient as they were old when he first started liking the band 25+ years ago.  As another part of his gift he could pick out a safe and dolly that he has been wanting--but he is yet to do that.  See what I mean about not giving good gifts??

But I make up for bad gift giving in the baking department.  I made Strawberry Shortcake for Jeremy's birthday dessert this year.  And while it didn't look the way it was supposed to, it tasted delightful.  The best part was that he truly appreciated it.

Happy 43rd birthday Jeremy!  Your family couldn't love and appreciate you more!

Monday, April 11, 2016

Spring Break 2016

Somehow it became a tradition to go to the zoo during spring break.  In fact, I think we have only skipped a year or two.  This year it was fun to go back to the zoo this year.  There were some new exhibits and new animals to see.  It is always fun going with our friends the Cooks.

 We always enjoy our ride on the train!
 
 This lion drinking fountain has been around since I was a little girl visiting the zoo.  Kayden was captured in it's jaws.  Josh loved watching the real lions.

 Josh with his buddy Kaden (top) and Kayden watching the elephants (bottom).  I have gotten a picture of the kids with this gorilla statue every time we have been to the zoo (right) and every time without fail someone has their fingers up the gorilla's nose!

 The traditional ride on the carousel.
 
 Some of the other fun pictures from the day.  I think I have a bunch of pictures of these statues in my archives as well!

So after my trip to Sedona, the family got the itch to do some hiking in the fantastic state and national parks near us.  So we planned a quick last minute trip to Goblin Valley and Arches National Park.  We went to Goblin Valley one day and Arches the next day.  We spent two days hiking and exploring.  We spent two nights in a hotel in Green River--a town right between the two parks.

Goblin Valley:

 When we first started hiking in Goblin Valley, McKay was shocked that he had no cell phone signal.  "What?!?  No cell phone signal?  Isn't this a state park?  There should be a signal!"  Jeremy and I had a good laugh.  Despite no cell coverage, we had a great time hiking around the park.
 
 Enjoying the rock formations.

 Jaxon exploring and jumping from rock to rock.  Josh resting and enjoying the scenery.

 Awesome kids.

 
 We have been to Goblin Valley as a family when Kayden was a baby.  While there, McKay found the rock formation that is over his shoulder to the right.  He thought it looked just like a gorilla's head.  He loved that rock and even drew the rock and formations around it after we got home from memory.  He was determined to find "his rock" again this trip.  It didn't take us long.  We hiked all the way to the base of it.  McKay posed his hand so it looked like it was in the gorilla formation's mouth.

Kayden gave us a good laugh when he tried to go through some rocks instead of on top of them or around them.  He got stuck!

 
 We found a really cool cave that we climbed through.  It was fun to explore new places and see the amazing formations.
 Josh loved every minute of our trip!

 More exploring all the way to the edge of the park and also the entrance of the cave we explored.  Jeremy was inside looking out towards the entrance.

 
We hiked trough some narrows and then to the top of a small mountain.  Josh and Jeremy were the only ones to make it to the top.  For some reason, the air being thin made the rest of us a little light headed so we took it easy in some shade (it was a hot day!) while Josh and Jeremy finished exploring.  They loved the views from the top.

Arches National Park:

After a full day of hiking in Goblin Valley, we spent the next day hiking in Arches National Park.  We hadn't been here since Josh was a baby.
 
 We started our hiking early in the morning and decided to hike the most famous (and most difficult) hike first.  We hiked to Delicate Arch.  It was a tough hike but all the kids did great!

You can see just how huge this arch is by seeing how small our family looks at the base of the arch in the picture on the right.  It was an awesome sight.

 We drove around the park seeing many different arches and doing some small hikes to others that were just off the road.  One of our favorites was hiking to double arch.  It was two arches right next to each other and a view up to the sky between them (bottom left).  After that hike, McKay decided to see how daring he could be by leaping from rock to rock.  I was joking around with him and pretended like I was going to catch him.

His daring leap in slow motion.  It doesn't look like much, but it took a lot of guts.


 
 More pictures at the base of Double Arch.    There were some great views.

 
 More cool pictures with cool kids.

 
Mastering the art of the selfie at the Windows Arches.

We had a great time on our trip and we were definitely tired each night we returned to our hotel room.  It was fun making new memories by taking this last minute trip!

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Girls Weekend In Sedona

It doesn't get much better than spending an extended weekend with you mom and sisters in beautiful Sedona, Arizona!  We had such a good time talking, laughing, playing cards, hiking, shopping, eating yummy food, going on a helicopter tour and riding Segways.

Our first night together.  We went and got some yummy Mexican food where Caprice ordered a non-fried chimichanga and gave the waiter and kitchen staff a good laugh.  It was a great start to our trip!

On the first morning, we went on a jeep tour.  Our jeep drove up and over slick rock and a through a pretty rugged trail.  It was quite adventurous and we soon learned that this type of adventure was not Caprice's cup of tea.
Our jeep tour guide was a man named Rocky.  He was very informative and quite entertaining (he even stole my phone to take a selfie of himself).  He was also a good jeep driver.

We saw a lot of beautiful scenery during our tour.  My favorite spot we drove to was a big sink hole.  It was quite deep and interesting to see big sections that had broken off the edge and had fallen in (top pictures).

Later that night, we drove to a ranch and had dinner.  We had time before dinner to walk around the ranch and see the different displays and shops.

 Having fun taking pictures and killing time before dinner.

Entertainment after dinner.  It was some fun country music (much of which I wasn't familiar with).  The last song was about a ghost rider and so they had a ghost rider on his horse going around the outside of the barn where we were eating and watching entertainment (top left picture).

Our second full day together we started out the day with a beautiful hike up Doe Mountain.  When we got to the top you could hike all around the top and see beautiful 360 degree views.

 
 My favorite view at the top of Doe Mountain.

Later that night we went on a Segway tour.  After some tips on how to ride and some practice, we had a great tour around Sedona.  It was one of the favorite things we did as a group!

 It was a sunset tour and the colors of Sedona were beautiful!

 
Me riding the Segway with the beautiful scenery and also teasing Juli by continuously riding in front of her camera while she was trying to take pictures of the beautiful scenery (bottom).

On our last morning in Sedona, we got really adventurous and went on a helicopter tour.  I must admit, riding in a helicopter has been on my bucket list (just not an ambulance helicopter).  It was a great way to see all of Sedona and all the fantastic formations.  We even saw some ruins.  However, by the end of the tour my stomach had had enough and I was ready to be done.  I was feeling a little nauseous--but noting a little Diet Coke couldn't fix!

 
 The only person that didn't feel a little nauseous by the end of the tour was my mom!

After our helicopter tour we went on a couple of last hikes.  One place was popularly known vortex--or place for healing.  I did some meditation there myself while still recovering from the helicopter tour (bottom right).  We then went then went on a long hike around Bell Tower and Courthouse Rock.  We were pooped by the end!

It was a great weekend and I am glad that we were all able to get together to make such fantastic memories!  I can't wait for the next girl's weekend!