More Fun

 Along with 79% of the residents of Utah I bought the "Seven Peaks Pass of all Passes" which got us into a lot of fun venues.  We went to Seven Peaks on the first day of our trip (with said 79% of Utah residents) but didn't take any photos since we were wet.  The day after our aviary experience and trip to Tucano's we went to the Seven Peaks Fun Park in Lehi to cash in on some deals of our passes.  This park only had about 22% of the residents of Utah and we got there fairly early so the lines weren't quite as bad as they were at the waterpark.  Everything at the fun center except food and the arcade was included in the pass so we were able to have unlimited fun and not have to worry that a day at a fun center with a family of 6 would be pricey.

Tracy Aviary

Of course we had to go to Tracy Aviary while we were in the SL area.   Emilia said that  the aviary was the thing she wanted to do the most on the trip.    It was SUPER hot outside that day and so we were sweating like crazy.  They had a lot of cool and very exotic birds there so Emilia thought it was great.  She did a good job of identifying some of the birds that are more common to our region.

My sister Linda and her family joined us for our outing to the aviary and also went to Tucano's with us.  (yum.)  While we were there I noticed that this older lady kept looking at us and smiling.  She came over to her table and complimented us on how well behaved our kids were.  (!!???) Maybe they were on their best behavior because we told them beforehand to not act like hooligans.  Probably not, that's what we always do.  I think it was because the restaurant was air conditioned, we were hot and tired and we were surrounded by delicious food.  It was nice for a change to feel like someone was watching us and thinking the kids were good instead of naughty.

Emilia doing her "thing" (looking up birds in her book, very scientifically)

Father's Day 2013

On Father's Day all the kids helped me make a special dinner for Kent.  We made chicken cordon bleu, roasted potatoes with bacon, coleslaw and Brazilian lemonade.  

Thanks Kent for being a super Dad!

It's a PAR-TAY!

This year Elise knew exactly what she wanted to do for a birthday party:  a late-over pizza party.  She invited 4 friends and was excited that they were all able to make it!  We made mini-pizzas for diner, ate ice cream cake, and the five 10 and 11 year olds had plenty of time to be watch movies, play the Wii and mostly be the crazy weirdos that they are.  It was really fun to see Elise interact will all her friends who are good, nice kids.  When she was in 4th grade she had lots of "friend drama"and didn't have a lot of good friends. Some of her friends weren't very nice all the time.  This year was much better and it was so nice for me to see her having a good time with her friends and being with a group of good kids.  One of her friends even mentioned that she had a "awesome mom" because I made a fancy and delicious ice cream cake.  Another friend kept thanking me and saying the food was good.  These girls scored some mega-brownie points with me that night!

My child looks like a demon.  (Did I mention that she is pretty zany?)

Not sure what is going on here.

Cute, funny kids!

And of course I had to do a close up of the ice cream cake that earned me the distinction of "awesome mom".

Birthday Girl

Elise's birthday was June third.  She's 11!

We had a fun day on her birthday going swimming and having my kids' favorite:  Swedish pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream.  Elise picked cheesecake for her dessert, of course.  She is way into dragons right now so we got her a Dragonology book and a dragon pendant.  She was super excited, as you can see.

Hamming it up for the camera.

Apparently being eleven means you have big muscles that other people point to, see?

Happy birthday to our sweet and zany Elise!!!

1000 Pieces

Having Alicia here kind of inspired us to do puzzles.  Someone had gotten a 1000 piece puzzle for Christmas a couple of years ago and we were in the mood so we broke it out.   Holy cow, it was HARD!  About 1/3 of the puzzle was blue sky.  It took about a week to get it done Emilia and I were the main puzzlers.  It was fun but we were ready for a break from puzzles for awhile.  And it was nice to be able to eat at our table again once it was done.

LAST PIECE!

Lo hicimos!  We did it!

Zion Getaway: Kolob Canyon and Observation Point

After we watched Alicia for 5 days Kathy came home and we got ready to go on a weekend getaway to Zion.  Kathy had agreed to watch our kids for a few days after she got back.  The first place we stopped on our way to Zion National Park was in the Kolob Canyon area.  There is a creek that splits into forks and only the most common hike is shown on maps.  Kent had done some research on the other forks of the creek and we decided to try the Taylor Creek south fork trail.  When we were starting the hike we didn't see the official trail on the left but instead followed a dry stream bed down a hill and then along these amazing rock walls.  We hiked on a smaller trail along these huge walls with arches and nooks.  When we decided to turn around we found what was the actual official trail so we took it back.  We were so glad that we had accidentally taken the wrong trail in the first place because that part of the hike was so much more interesting.  We are hoping to take our kids there.

In Kolob Canyon after our hike

The second day of our trip we were trying to find another less well known hike off a dirt road off the highway.  We were staying on the East side of the park near Mt. Carmel and we drove around forever looking for that stupid dirt road that we thought didn't exist.  We ended up giving up and hiked across the mesa to get to Observation Point.  It was amazing and had spectacular views.  And daredevil chipmunks that try to climb on you and steal your food.

Don't be fooled. These cute little guys are not as innocent as they look.

You can see Angel's Landing about 2/3 of the way up on the right.  We did that hike our 3rd day.

See all those switchbacks?  That is another way up to observation point.  We took the easy way: by car.

 On the way back to our hotel we saw the road we had been looking for that morning.  It was much easier to see coming from the other direction.  Maybe we will try it out next time we are there.

Gold Eagle Reader

Ian made a goal to get his "Gold Eagle" award this year.  The kids earn points reading books and taking tests and they get different colors of awards whenever they reach a certain level.  The gold is the highest level and Ian really wanted to get it this year.  So he (WE) worked really hard to get it done before the deadline.  And he did it!  He was so excited and I was proud of the little dude!

Field Day

No, I don't have the wrong picture on this post.  This is how Emilia and her two best friends spent field day this year.  Mother approved school ditching.  I even cooked them breakfast.  Last year these girls went to field day at school.  They had to walk about 2 miles from the middle school to the high school, they participated in a couple of events and then they sat in sunny bleachers for the rest of the day.  They got 1 bottle of water.  Emilia came home and burst into tears that day and begged me to not make her go to field day the next year.  She said it was the worst day of her life.  All the kids were so sunburned even though they had applied sun screen.  I told her I wouldn't make her go to field day in 7th grade.  So she planned a party with her friends instead.  They had a great time and I got to be a cool mom for a day.  Win, win! (I am afraid I might be setting a precedent here.  At least it is a good one though right?)

Scout Expo 2013

Just one of the many things that were going in in May this year was the scout expo.  The kids had a lot of fun doing stuff, but mostly I wanted to post the pictures of the face painting.

The free cotton candy was one of the kids' favorite things

The face painters did an amazing job painting faces

...but not a very good job managing the line.  These 2 girls were in Adele's face the whole time and I was wishing the lady would make them move back. 

Adele in her natural monkey habitat

Zion Preview

Kent and I are on a weekend trip to Zion.  My sis Kathy is staying with our kids while we have a little getaway.  We talked to the kids on the phone tonight and told them we'd send some pix so they could see some of the cool things we have taken pictures of the last couple of days.  I'll blog some more about this trip but here's a preview.

 

More Birds!

We heard about the Migratory Bird Festival about a month ago and of course, we HAD to go!  Emilia was sooooo stoked about this!  Kent and Ian went on a camping trip for Father and son's so I was partying with the girls this weekend.  (Hopefully Kent got some pix of his weekend with Ian).  Anyway, Saturday morning we headed over to the park for the bird festival.  We made bird houses, pine cone bird feeders and Elise and Emilia went on a bird walk.  They guy you see on the far right is a professor at Dixie college and he was very impressed by Emilia's knowledge of birds.  After the walk he told me that before we went home he wanted to introduce her to some of the biologists from the University and get her some information so she could join the Red Cliffs Audubon society.  He said that she was able to identify birds he didn't know and he raved about her talent for bird watching.  Emilia, of course was BEAMING, and in heaven to be around people who love birds as much as she does.  We got some contact info and did some "bird networking" and hopefully Emilia will be able to get hooked up with some "bird people" in the near future.

Hangin with Alicia

We've been having a fun week of puzzles, books, bubbles and Barney this week with my niece Alicia. (This girl thought winking for all the photos was funny. She was winking in ALL of them lol!) What a great experience for my kids to be around their cousin and learn some empathy for those with special needs. I am grateful for this experience too. It has been good for me to learn to appreciate the good things in my life and to find satisfaction in  caring for a very special girl. And it is nice to know that my sister Kathy could have a break and go on a trip without having to worry about Alicia.

This girl is very excited to see "mommy" tomorrow and for Spencer to pick her and "mommy" up at the airport!