Spring Break 11

By the time Spring Break rolled around here I was more than ready to be off-schedule for a few days and just enjoy doing some stuff we never get to do.  I never realized how much having Mae in kindergarten would rearrange my life, but on most days we don't have time to do any 'extra' things other than a bike ride or a walk to the park(when its not snowing!).  

On Monday we went to visit my friend Sharon and her two girls Katie & Emily.  I was surprised with my other friend Rachel being there with her boy, Stockton.  I didn't take any pictures but it was a fabulous day of catching up and having lunch together.  

On Tuesday we went on quite the adventure.  We hopped on trax and met my sister, Nanette and her 3 kids - Emily, Daniel & Matthew in SLC.  Then we all got on the Frontrunner to ride to Ogden.  We had lunch at The Pizza Factory and then headed over to The Treehouse Museum.  It was such a fun place!

Getting on the Frontrunner train

Daniel & Will checking out all the trains we passed on the 45 minute ride

Mae, Matthew, Emily & Nanette

 The train was really nice and clean which made it great!

Will & Daniel 

 The museum was a lot of fun for the kids

 We walked into this replica of the Oval Office and Will saw all the pictures of men on the wall and said, "Mom, where is Uchtdorf?"  

Oh, so cute!

 Mae and Daniel dressed up as George & Martha Washington

 (complete with standing on the desk)

 They had an area with these really fun medieval toys that Will LOVED.  

All of the kids loved the wild west area.  All of the cowboy clothes were taken, so Will used the rodeo clown dress-ups... he still loved it!

Daniel

Mae

On Wednesday we did some shopping and went to soccer practice, so nothing too exciting there.

On Thursday we spent most of the day getting ready for our trip the next day.  We did the laundry and cleaned and tried to get to bed early.

On Friday we left early to get to St. George to meet Matt's parents(Nonny & Poppy), Savannah, Megan, Rob and baby Robby.

First we went swimming, then had pizza and did some more swimming!

We also celebrated Mae's birthday.

Just Dance 2 for the Wii... Mae was super excited!

 The next day the girls were up EARLY!!!  Poppy gave them breakfast in bed -- bananas, chocolate ice cream and orange juice!

 Will plays hard and sleeps hard, too!  He was the first one asleep each night and the last one awake each morning.

 We had heard about all National Park being FREE for the week so we decided to check out Zion National Park.  I had never been there before.  It was absolute beautiful.  Little did we know that we probably picked the single most busiest day to visit.  Oh well, we still enjoyed ourselves.

Mae & baby Robby

Will, Savannah, Nonny & Mae, waiting for the bus

having fun on the bus

 Cute kids

Mae doing her "scared" face

 We did a little hike to a waterfall.  It was beautiful!  The kids loved standing behind the water and watching it fall.  As we walked back up the wind picked up and my back was really wet from the waterfall!

looking through the waterfall

all of us -- except for me

Will being awesome

 We had to take the bus to get out of the park and Will fell right asleep.

Although it was packed with people, we really lucked out because the weather was perfect and we just enjoyed our entire day in Zion! 

On Saturday night we had the kids get to sleep so we could get ready for the Easter Bunny to come.  We thought they were about asleep and then Mae went into hysterics and was scared to death of the Easter Bunny.  REALLY!?  Its a BUNNY!  I'm sure she was imagining a huge rabbit jumping around our condo because she would not go to sleep.  Matt & I tried to calm her down and finally she said, "Dad, is the Easter Bunny real?"  Matt finally told her that he isn't... she immediately felt better and went to sleep but the next day she asked me constantly who bought this and who bought that... I hate to ruin it for the other kids but this holiday has turned into a mess with all the questions which I tried to answer quietly!  Nonny told Mae about believing in the "magic" of the Easter Bunny but I don't think she caught onto that idea at all... maybe next year.  Anyway, I apologize in advance for any child that Mae breaks the news to prematurely.

Sunday started out with the kids up early and looking everywhere for their Easter baskets.  Then Matt went outside and put tons of eggs all over the grass.  They thought it was SO COOL but Mae told me that next time we shouldn't tell them to look outside, we should just wait until they do.  Oh my gosh, this little girl is full of ideas!

Will trying to grasp the idea

Savannah & Robby

Mae with all of her loot

 We were on the bottom floor of the condos and it was fabulous because the kids basically had a backyard to play in non-stop.  We brought scooters and Will's bigwheel and they had a ball playing outside!

 We got all ready for church and headed out to find one.  We got there and the parking lot was empty.  

 We found out it was Stake Conference!  What the heck?! 

So we went back to our condo for a little lesson on Easter and our own church meeting.  It was really nice and the kids even enjoyed it.  I was just glad I didn't have to teach because every Easter or atonement lesson I give to our kids seems to end with them really worried about when they are going to die and why we have to die in the first place and then Matt changing the subject really fast.

Since we were done with church earlier than planned we went to Snow Canyon for the afternoon. It was breathtakingly beautiful!!!

 First we hiked/ran up a petrified sand dune.

 The view was awesome!

 Unfortunately Poppy got his arm pinned under a rock and had to cut it out with his Costco card.... hahaha, funny Poppy!

After that we went on the Hidden Pinyon Hike which was 1.5 miles.  

 It was such a fun hike!!  We may have turned two California beach bums into nature-loving hikers :)

All of us in an awesome cave.

hiking along the trail

 The hike started to get really fun when we had to crawl under this rock to follow the trail.

Will standing in a bowl

By the end of the hike the kids were pretty exhausted.  But it was honestly one of the best hikes I've ever been on.  The scenery was amazing.  It makes me really grateful for all of the wonderful things our Heavenly Father created for us.  We have so much beautiful things around us!  The best part was enjoying it with family.  I'm so thankful for this great weekend we could enjoy together.  Since we aren't very close to Matt's parents we don't get to see them that often and the kiddos really start to miss them after awhile.  I'm glad they got to bond and even have a slumber-party with them each night.  

That night we had our Easter dinner and soaked in the jacuzzi.  On Monday we said goodbye to our weekend that went by way too fast, and headed home.  

I'm always sad when its over... I don't know why.

But I found this quote that made me feel a little better

Don't cry because its over... smile because it happened.  - Dr. Seuss