vacation journal- Day 12

Today started off nice and quiet.

an apple a day... keeps me cute!


checkers with "gramps"

trying to get the baby to sleep camping is tough

The kids found some friends to play with and all was well. Then a "gathering" (reunion) pulled in with about 50 kids. Talk about craziness. It was 10 before I could get the kids off the playground.

vacation journal- Day 11

Today we visited the Fountain Green state fish hatchery. It isn't much but the kids always enjoy seeing all the fish. Today they got an extra treat, one of the workers came out and told them about the fish they grew. They even got to feed them. I had no idea that they stocked albino's as a "novelty fish" and the only reason they have them is so that people can see that they are in fact stocking. I guess people kept turning them in, saying no one was putting fish in, when in fact it was just bad fishermen...lol, must have been Jeff.

The rest of the day was just...

bet you can't guess.

Vacation journal- day 9 &10

Swim, ride bikes, make new friends... what else would there be?

We really havn't been doing much, just relaxing.

The first night here was HELL! In a tent with three little ones and one good sleeping bag. I had no idea it would be this cold. Not that I didn't prepare mind you, two of the bags I brought were too old with brocken zippers and not warm enough. I was ready to throw in the towel, but thanks to daddy saving the day the second night was much more bearable. It is still difficult to sleep in a tent with a baby, and our nightly routine is shot, but it's all worth it in the end...right?

This is the kids hanging out at a cabin in the campground.

Vacation journal- Day 8

Today we were finally off! The water heater in the trailer still wasn't fixed so we had to stop at the shop on our way out. It was taking forever so the kids and I headed to a store to look around while we were waiting. On the way in we passed an accident were a lady drove into the side of a Budweiser truck. Free beer! if you want to lock it off the road that is.

So I don't know how my parents do this, but the drive from St George to Nephi was so long. We got to the shop at 10:11 and didn't arrive at the campground until 5:45. that's a long time in a car for a baby.

We set up our home away from home and I had a little extra cleaning to do before we could settle in for the night. ( Note to Jeff, Don't put the tent away while it's still wet... yes you!)

I hope the kids don't go stir crazy now that were just relaxing, We might be home early ; )

Vacation journal- Day 7

So the water heater in the trailer wasn't working so we decided to stay in St. George an extra day to have it fixed. What do you do with an extra day? Laundry! With 6 people we go through a lot of laundry. After the long hours at the laundry mat Jennsen was very tired. She fell asleep and we laid her down on top of a sleeping bag on the counter where I was folding clothes. Too cute.

The kids and I decided to go to the wildlife museum. OK, so the wildlife museum turned out to be more of a big game trophy hall, but the kids enjoyed it so who am I to complain. They had over 300 animals from different area's. They even had a fake thunder storm in the building which Dylan loved.

At 7 we went to see Night at the Museum 2. Dylan's favorite part was when the T-Rex roared at the teenagers. Destiny's favorite part was the after hours party. Jennsen's favorite part was when it ended. I guess she's still way too young to enjoy the movie theater.

Then we did some night swimming. Were gonna have bright green hair when we get home dad!

Vacation journal- Day 6

We didn't do to much today, just messin around.
We woke up to the kids saying "when can we go swimming" I'm not sure they'll remember anything but the swimming! So we let them swim.

After that we took a ride to see a couple of historic homes. The first was Brigham Young's winter home. I was thinking it would be cool to show the kids how people used to live, but it didn't quite work out that way. Aside from the stove and the chamber pots, it wasn't too rustic at all.

Outside there was a mulberry tree that no one knew how old it was. It was planted because the silk worms were attracted to them so that's were the women would harvest there silk. It started splitting, so they called a "tree surgeon" I cant believe that the tree survived having been bolted and cemented together! Outside they also had grape vines, cotton plants, an almond tree, a fig tree, a pecan tree, and three pomegranate tree's. I've never seen such a variety of tree's in one place.




Next we went to John Somethingorother's house. (I should have payed more attention). He was called the Indian peacemaker and is inducted into the cowboy hall of fame. He had three wives (two of them at once) and 25 children. And I thought three were a handful. I didn't take too many pictures of his house because I as carrying a sleeping baby, but it was defiantly more rustic. I thought it was interesting that he was named Indian peacemaker when he lived at mountain meadows where the infamous mountain meadow massacre took place (a bunch of Indians killing settlers, I'm paraphrasing of course).

After the history lesson grandpa took the kids swimming again while grandma and I went for a little shopping.

I know this is gonna sound corny, and anyone who knows me knows I'm anything but corny. Having said that, I really miss Jeff. We haven't spent more then a couple days apart since we met close to 15 years ago. Maybe we'll come home early : )

Vacation journal- Day 5

Today we took the kids into Snow Canyon. I love southern Utah! Were else can you find petrified sand dunes, red rock, white mountains and black lava fields in one place?

The kids and I went climbing for a while, then we took them to the red dunes.

Jennsen is helping fill a bottle of sand to take home to daddy

I thought these shoes would be a good idea so I didn't get sand in my sneakers but... they quickly filled with 103 degree sand. Not so smart after all.

Destiny is complaining that she can't walk anymore because it's too hot.


Jennsen has a new "hug", It's a baby leash that we got to use in Bryce canyon. Apparently she likes it, because she wouldn't leave the car until I put it on her, then she followed me around trying to hand me the handle. Too cute!

Back to the camp for more swimming and then it was time for the play.

We got tickets for Footloose at the Tuacahn, an outdoor playhouse.

It was so good! Ren, the lead guy, was played by Thane from So you think you can dance season 4. All three kids sat through the two and a half hour play without a sound. They loved all the music and dancing. I know dad would have enjoyed it!

Vacation journal- day 4

Today was an uneventful day.
After driving from bryce to St. George and going from temps in the 60's to temp of 106, all we felt like doing was swimming.
Dylan finally tried swimming without his vest, and he's doing great. Destiny is all over the place, and Jennsen is having a blast spashing everyone!

Vacation journal- Day 3

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!
To the greatest dad in the world... no really. I mean who else would let their family go off on a fun vacation without them, let alone over fathers day.
Thank you for always being so selfless and putting your family first. You are the hardest working guy I know. Love you babe!

Today we started out with a horseback ride down into the canyon. The kids were so excited to go! I was very nervous as you could expect, you never know what will happen when you put a hyper child on the back of a horse. I must say that i was pleasantly surprised. The kiddies did awesome! Dylan kept his cool, and Destiny wasn't scared at all. In fact she was riding like an old pro by the time we reached the end.

Our wranglers name was Stetson- no joke!

After the fun ride we went swimming. or tried to, it is still chilly up here.

Next we drove down through red canyon which is a much smaller version of Bryce.

I decided that since today was our last day in Bryce, we were going to go hiking. I'm glad we did! it was very beautiful and the kids got a little more up close and personal with the cool rock formations.

Proof that mom went on the hike

when we came back it was... you guessed it. Swimming again, this time in the indoor pool.

On our way out of the canyon this evening we were surrounded by deer and antelope. We learned on this trip that antelope are the second fastest animal on the planet. It was very cool too see so many grazing (about20 in all) but sorry no pics since we were trying not to hit them with the car.

On to the next adventure!