Spring Break ~

It came and went way too fast, but we enjoyed every little warm minute of it. 

Rod, Kristine and I got away for a few days last week to try and find the sun. We started off with a visit to Shepherd's Bush in Ogden.  Well, I stopped in to shop and they both stayed in the car. It was so much fun to see things in real life and not just pictures on a website. I did do a little shopping too, and added to my list of things to stitch. Next was a stop at the Gateway Mall in SLC. We stopped for lunch first and were surprised to see Kristine's friend and her family walking by outside the restaurant. It is either a small world, or everyone else is trying to find the sun this week too. Then Kristine and I headed off shopping while Rod went to find the nearest bookstore. Luckily there is a Barnes & Noble there. We found the Lucky Brand store, Anthropologie, the Boheme Boutique, PacSun, Build a Bear and then we found Rod at the bookstore. Here is Kristine with proof that we found all of the stores.

Then we drove on down to Fairview to visit Rod's Mom. It was fun to spend the night and get to visit with her. We watched the Young Women's Broadcast with Kristine too. It's fun to have a young woman in our family and fun to share this with her.

 

Jenene had this picture of her and Max, which I loved and had to get a copy of.  Rod's Dad passed away in November 2009 so we are all missing him.

 The next morning of our Spring Break we woke up to snow. Which is typical for spring trips to Fairview, About an hour down the road, the snow was gone and we got to see the sun. We stopped in Cedar City and took a little tour of old homes, and schools and showed Kristine just how far I used to have to walk to school. It was kind of fun to stop and eat at the Burger King that was built where our old house used to be. That afternoon we found St. George, Utah, and capri's and sandals that we haven't seen in months.

 

The next morning we took the bike and headed to find the Mountain Bike Trails. This is what we found. Evidently this spot is popular with the Biggest Loser Resort hikers too.

Rod takes my iPhone on the trails because I have this neat trail app, so he was taking pictures with it and Kristine and I had my new camera to take pictures while we hiked. 

The trail we found the next day was one of Rod's favorites, but I don't have pictures, because it was a drop him off and try and find the trailhead at the end of the trail. Remember that he takes my iPhone and its neat app so I am doing this without my GPS. I did have a good navigator and we found it just fine. The last part of this trail was like a roller coaster for bikes, so Rod had to go ride the last part again. He had a blast, but it sounds a little scary for me who is lucky to make it around the block on a bike.

Now it wouldn't be spring break without pool pictures. And we have plenty of those.

 

We lounged, read, took pictures, stitched and texted but mostly we enjoyed being warm. If you were wondering about Gus, he got to spend the week in the kennel with the nice people at the Sunnyside Vet people.

It's all about Family ~

I've realized that my life pretty much revolves around my family. My mornings are spent helping get Kristine off to school, sometimes I'll get her breakfast, and some days I just visit with her while she gets ready. Most days she drives herself to school, (which is wonderful on these super cold days when I would really rather stay inside where it is warm) sometimes I will take her and we enjoy talking together all the way to school. Then I come home and get to be Grandma and enjoy playing with Kaden for a bit while Jennifer is getting ready for work. Then it is time to help bundle him up and get him and his gear ready for the day. Then I have the rest of the day to myself, well, me, the laundry and the dishes. So I have time to clean up after the morning rush and get ready for the afternoon. Sometimes Rod or Jen will stop in on their lunch hours, but they are pretty self sufficient and can get their own lunch, so it is just fun to have them here for a short visit. Then it is time to get Kristine or even better, to wait for her to get home. Her afternoons are pretty fun, movies and snacks until dinner time. I either have dinner doing by now, or work on it then. Dinnertime at our house has really become a ritual. It is always ready about 10 minutes after Rod gets home from work. The older kids knew that if they weren't here, there would be leftovers waiting for them. Brad has moved into an apartment in town and is starting his new job, new ward etc., and we have really missed him being here and coming home for leftovers. But that has it's upside too. Yesterday, since he just moved about 4 miles away, he was able to come over for Sunday Dinner. Don't you think that sounds like a great new tradition. To add to this fun routine, Michelle and Alex and their little girls live just an hour away and are usually in town a couple of times a month, so I am always ready to drop whatever I am doing (which you can see isn't hard to do) and play with little girls. I love to hear those sweet little voices when they open the front door and say "hello"!  After dinner it is homework time up on our bed. I don't know how that ended up being the favored spot, but it works, and we enjoy the family time. In the middle of all of this, I have Gus, my sweet Basset Hound to keep me company. He loves sleeping in his bed by the fire and when it warms up to 10 degrees he likes to play outside. If you are wondering what I do in the big empty time in the middle of the day, well, that varies, lately I have been doing some Mixed Media Art pieces. Kymber saw some that I'd done and was ready to take them home, so I made one for her last week. Can't wait for her to see it and finally be able say yes, you can take it home. Hers is the one with the flowers. Yep, I am pretty lucky to be able to be here and take care of my family. They are all self sufficient and could really get by, but I love being able to be home and do what I do. You see it really is all about family!

Take a Hike ~

We did it! We took a family hike.  Alex and Michelle have wanted us all to come out and go on a hike up to a waterfall and picnic with them, and we finally found a day that would work for all of us. Here is a picture of Alex and Michelle's house. (So next time you are in Arco and eating Fried Pickles from Pickle's Place you can look across the street and you'll know where they live.)

We went up to the Lower Cedar Spring outside of Mackay. Here is a picture of the whole hiking group. Yes, I hiked too, but someone has to be the photographer.

 You can see that we were quite a diverse group, Grandparents, a teenager, lots of young adults, little girls and a baby boy. Most of the time Sydni rode on someone's shoulders. You can see Kymber up there walking. She also took turns getting piggyback rides.

But for a while she wanted to walk and didn't even want to hold someone's hand. This slowed the pace down quite a bit.  She was totally enjoying the day especially since she loves rocks and dirt.

Kristine has a Photography class this year and was taking pictures all along the way. Can't wait to see her pictures too.

The trail followed along the river, so the whole trail we got to hear the happy babbling brook sounds.

I loved this view of the girls. Yes, I was usually at the end of the line, so this is what I saw most of.

Kaden was such a good little guy. Jen (and everyone else) carried him, so he is getting an early start on enjoying the out of doors.

Break time. Kaden needed a bottle so we all stopped to rest. Actually Alex set a good pace and stopped frequently to tell us interesting stories. This was a good time for Sydni to bring me handfuls of dirt and rocks she found.

 

Thanks to Alex and Michelle for getting us out for such a fun family day.

Island Park Weekend ~

We just got back from a fun family weekend. We were all together up at Island Park. These first few pictures were the first afternoon before everyone got there. We walked over to the river to check it out. Notice how Sydni is pointing to the ground. She was finally happy when her daddy set her down in the dirt. She loves dirt and couldn't wait to taste this new kind. 

Here are a few pictures of our afternoon. This one of Rod and Sydni is a favorite, and so is this one of Kristine and Kymber.

 

Here Rod is pointing out the playground.  More pictures of that too.

 

Sweet little Kaden was a real trooper and enjoyed just hanging out with us.

 

The next morning we all got up and went biking/hiking at Herriman State Park. Rod, Kristine, Alex and Trever all went biking and the rest of us took the kids for a walk. Kymber had her little binoculars and loved hiking. Sydni and Kaden fell asleep and just enjoyed the ride. Kristine did a great job keeping up with the guys. I'm so proud of that girl. They don't always choose the easiest trails and she stayed right with them. You go girl!!

Later we went down and let the girls play in the river. Sydni loved being able to get out and play. She almost wore Kristine out. She'd take a break once in a while and go sit by Rod on the bank. Trever was teaching Jennifer how to fly fish. Later Trever and Alex walked down river and fished some more. It's fun having these boys in our family.

So that is a little peek at our trip. We had lots of yummy food, fun games and made lots of memories. Can't wait to do it again.