A Fun Family Trip to St. George

On March 11-13, we took our family down to St. George for a little vacation.  The kids were out of school so we thought it would be the perfect time to get away for a bit and enjoy the beautiful weather.  We had such a great time!

The kids had a GREAT time swimming in the pool at the hotel.  They particularly loved the hot tub...

They enjoyed making some awesome bubble beards and goatees...

Ben, looking quite distinguished

Ty with his lamb chops...and a little chest hair

Brooklyn and Derek

Brooklyn sporting a "goat"

On Saturday, we drove over to Snow Canyon and had a wonderful time!!  It is such an awesome canyon and the weather was PERFECT.  

We first went to a place called "Pioneer Names Trail", which was amazing.  It is basically a short trail that leads to a neat little spot in the mountain where some of the pioneers wrote their names in axle grease.  I thought it was fascinating.  We actually hiked all the way up to the names, which was quite a steep hike.  The kids loved it!

Kev and the kids on the Pioneer Names Trail (the Pioneer names are written on the wall of the recess in the mountain behind them)

Tyler and Derek next to some of the Pioneer names

Next, we went over to a place in Snow Canyon called the "Sand Dunes."  What a cool place!  It's basically a ton of sand dunes (go figure) with a lot of soft red sand.  It's kind of like a giant sand box.  The kids loved playing and digging in the sand.

Jake loved crawling around in the soft sand

Tyler is so sweet with Jacob.  He loves to play with him and had a great time with him in the sand.

Brooklyn and Derek had a ball digging a huge hole.

They of course had to bury themselves in it.  Here's Brooke...

...and "D"

After the Sand Dunes, we went to a little place called "Jenny's Canyon", which is an awesome little slot canyon that is so much fun to explore.  The kids loved climbing in all the fun caverns and things.  We had a blast.

Our family near Jenny's Canyon

Derek and Benjamin

A fun little "shelf" the kids loved climbing on

Another cool little spot

Me and the kids at the end of the canyon

After we left Snow Canyon, we went over to the St. George Temple.  It is such a beautiful temple.  We walked around the grounds and the Visitor's Center for a bit.  We met Kevin's brother Alan, his wife, Linda, and daughter Cheyenne there.  They live in Cedar City.  It was so much fun to see them.  We went to dinner with them that night and then went to church with them the next day.  It was  such a fun trip!  We were all sad to see it come to an end.  We hope to get down to St. George again soon!

We snapped a quick picture at the temple.  It was getting dark, so the quality isn't the best.  Benjamin is totally crashed in the stroller.  He had a long day!

Another one at the temple.

Happy 10th Birthday Brooklyn!!

On March 14th, Brooklyn turned 10!!!  I can't believe she is two digits old now!  I don't do well with this whole "kids getting old" thing.  I'm too sentimental...sigh....sniff, sniff.

Anyway, on March 10th, we had a friend birthday party for her.  She was so excited!  She was planning for months.  She definitely wanted to go swimming and she wanted a tiered birthday cake.

So, all of her little friends came over and we had a great night.  We had pizza, went swimming at the Rec Center, and then came back to the house for cake, ice cream, and presents.  It was a fun night.

Some of the "crew" enjoying pizza

More pizza...

Brooklyn really wanted a tiered birthday cake and she designed it exactly how she wanted it.  I didn't have enough time to do it justice though.  I had to hurry and finish it up as all the kids were showing up to the party.  Next time, I need to remember to allow 5 hours!  Seriously.

Brookie and her cake

Getting ready to sing

Enjoying cake and ice cream...and round two of pizza

The gang

On March 14th, her actual birthday, we sang and had cake again and let her open the presents from us.  She got clothes and jewelry, her favorite.

Birthday cake #2

With her new clothes and jewelry.  She's wearing some of the things she got too.

A fun snow fort!

We had a big snowstorm the end of February.  Kev and the kids built a very fun snow fort!  They worked on it for several hours and had a great time!  Since it was the end of February, it only lasted a few days and then melted.  They had fun while it lasted though!!!

The Fort

Looking inside...

Looking out from the inside

Brooklyn and the fort

Derek and Ben with the fort

Derek

Ben

12 year old armed with a camera "watching" his baby brother (who really needed a haircut)

K, I think the title says it all.  Tyler was playing with Jacob (who really needed a haircut) one day, fed him ice cream and decided to take pictures.  

These crack me up...

 

 

 

Brooklyn and her "Valentine"

K, Brooklyn has a lot of "girl" friends, but only one "boy" friend.  He's a very sweet boy and she's pretty much been friends with him since 1st grade (when we moved to Riverton).  His name is Blake and she plays with him a lot at recess with her other friends.  They actually got baptized on the same day too, which was cool.

Anyway, Brooklyn came home from school on Valentine's Day and had a "special" valentine from Blake.  He bought her a little Webkins dog and included a letter and a picture of him.  He told her he wished she would never move (our house was on the market for a little bit, but it's off now....but it will be on again).

We thought it was all sweet, but of course had to give her a hard time about it...and take a picture.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yes, I keep having birthdays!  I LOVE birthdays, but I'm not liking this whole getting older thing.  Especially since this year I hit the big 3-5!  Eeee.  I'm half way to 70 now.  Freak.

The night before my birthday, we took all the kids swimming at the Rec Center.  It was fun and the kids had a blast!

On the day of my birthday, Ben, Jake and I went to the Olive Garden for lunch with Kevin.  Yummy.  That night, Kev and I went on a date.  We went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then went shopping around the mall.  Poor Kevin hates shopping, but he always accommodates my LOVE of shopping on my birthday.  I have a very nice husband.

Oh and yes, I ate a ton of food on my birthday.  I pretty much made myself sick.  I won't mention the donuts I brought home either. ;-)  There is a yummy little donut shop across the street from the kids school that calls my name EVERY day.  I never go there though...so on my birthday I gave myself the green light!  Yum.

It was a very fun, calorie-filled day!

I made my birthday cake because I don't like most store bought cakes.  I think it's fun to make cakes anyway.  I put shaved chocolate on top, so you can't read it too well.  It does say "Happy B-Day Melanie" somewhere under there.

At my mom's house the Sunday after my birthday (yes, we celebrated all week long!)  This is quite the eclectic picture.

Derek and Junior Jazz

Derek took Junior Jazz for the first time this year and had a great time!  It was a great experience for him and he learned so much.

Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures and the ones I did take aren't that great.  But, for the sake of memories...here they are... (btw, he's #8)

A fun "New Hampshirite" reunion

In January we had a little get-together at our house with some of our New Hampshire friends.  The Fishers, who now live in Michigan, were in town, so we decided to have a little reunion with those who live in Utah now.

The Fishers, Burns, Bennetts, Plants, Tiina Maughan, Becky O'Neil, and Brit Germann came.  We had a great night and it was so much fun to see everyone!

The gang sans The Burns...I love these guys!

The girls all had a great time playing!  Alyssa, Brooklyn, Kayla, Madeline, Makayla, and Breanna