June Family Vacation

June has been pretty crazy so far. I was called as the stake beehive camp leader. Thanks to Grandma Clayton for taking the kids and to Chad who was able to get time off last minute to be with the kids and take them to all sorts of service activities. Their favorite was working at a charity farm feeding animals and pulling weeds. I headed up to girls camp and had so much fun with all of the girls. I had the opportunity to take girls down to inspiration point multiple times a day. Such a great view.

I came back from camp late Friday night and then Saturday morning we headed on our family vacation! Thanks to Grandma Clayton for the fun presents for the kids to open!

Our first stop was Saint George. We went to the temple and the kids were so excited to see grass.

We also toured the Brigham Young Home and the missionaries let us eat a fig right off of the tree Brigham Young planted. They also got to find pecans and eat them. So funny one of the missionary's brings a big bag of pecans from his tree and throws them all over the lawn for the kids to find because he feels bad when kids can't find one. He was so nice!

We also toured the Jacob Hamblin home and learned a lot about him and all the work he did with Native Americans.

Our plan was to hike the narrows in Zions National Park but there was so much water it wasn't safe. So instead we hiked Taylor's Creek which was like a mini narrows hike. It was beautiful and the kids loved it.

They also earned their Junior Ranger badge.

The next day we headed to Lagoon. We weren't sure if the kids would make it all the way until 10pm but they did! We had so much fun. William loved all of the rides and just went hard all day haha. His favorite was the spinning dragon ride that he rode too many times to count. The girls and Grandpa and I headed over to all the big roller coasters and had a blast. I am excited to have kids who will go on the big rides with me!

Sophie was dying to go on the Cannibal roller coaster which has the steepest drop in America. We couldn't convince Lydia at first but then she came with us the second time. Then she was hooked. We all rode it 7 times throughout the day. The park wasn't busy at all so we all go to ride all the rides as many times as we wanted.

Then we headed to Salt Lake and went to the temple and walked around temple square. We also went to Antelope Island State Park to float in the Great Salt Lake. It was quite the hike down to the water and there was biting gnats everywhere. We all made it down to the lake but Easton and William were crying from the gnats and salt water stinging there legs so we didn't last long. But Chad and the girls floated in the lake. When I asked Sophie if she liked it she just said it smelled haha. We did a fun scavenger hunt around the island and earned a 50 year anniversary pin. The kids thought the bison were so fun too. One walked right past our car.

The next day we went to a fun train museum in Ogden.

We also went to Golden Spike where the kids got to earn another junior ranger badge.

While in Ogden we took our family and Grandpa indoor skydiving!!! It was amazing! We didn't have William do it since he is so little but next time! The kids were so nervous and weren't sure if they wanted to do it but they all ended up loving it. Lydia kept telling us she didn't like it but she was smiling the whole time while she was in the tube. Grandpa says he is ready to jump out of a plane!

Then we headed to the family reunion. It was up in Garden Valley at Chad's cousin's house. So beautiful up there. Forest trees, lots of space, grass, and a beautiful river. the kids were in heaven.

They had some craft service projects and we all competed in some Olympic games which were so fun. Catapult, catching water balloons, javelin throw with pool noodles and a noodle horse race. 

 Chad won the silver medal!

Our last day we spent time with Scott and Mel at their house and played corn hole. We had so much fun I didn't even think to take pictures. We also headed to Grandma and Grandpa's to ride in his cars.

We had such a great vacation with family!

We all kept laughing at the funny things William said on the trip so I thought I would write some here for memory sake. He was so exhausted from all the non stop going that we had been doing that he slept in one morning. When he woke up we asked him if he slept well. "No you guys so loud you woke me up. I need my booty (beauty) sleep!"

Riding in the car with Grandma and Grandpa and William tells Grandpa something and Grandpa replies "You're pulling my leg" and William replies "No I not I just sitting here."

Before we left for the trip he was constipated and kept sitting on the toilet to no avail. Finally after a few times trying he looked seriously down at his stomach and said "You win today poop" and then walked out of the bathroom.

May

The girls have been loving doing a once a month baking class with Grandma Miller. Their last lesson was macaroons!! They were so excited to have Makenzie come too!

Makenzie made cake batter, Sophie salted caramel, and Lydia snickerdoodle. They were so delicious!

William has been enjoying playing and hanging out with Skywalker while the kids were at school. He is a little sad now that the kids are home all day haha.

Lydia learned about how plants grow at school and planted a morning glory to bring home. She did such a great job and we got to enjoy it blooming before we realized they were illegal in Arizona......how random! So sadly we had to get rid of it.

The last week of school the kindergartners got to have a drive in movie. They got to make their own box cars and Easton knew immediately he needed a red truck.

Then before we knew it the school year was over. And Easton graduated from Kindergarten.

He is so excited to be a first grader and even more excited Lydia's 2nd grade teacher moved to the 1st grade and he gets to have her!

Sophie's San Diego Field Trip

The fourth grade field trip is a 3 day trip to San Diego. It was pretty pricey at $400 a person and we told Sophie if she wanted to go she would have to earn half of the money herself. So she has been working a whole year on furniture and other random jobs and earned her money just in time!

The first day was traveling on the tour bus. Our tour guide Ali was so much fun and entertained the kids. Her previous job was a dolphin, sea lion, and orca  trainer on the East coast and she also rescued and treated wild sea life for release so she had so much cool info to tell the kids about! 

We stopped in Seaport Village for dinner and there was a cupcake shop that was on Cupcake Wars!

The next morning we got to play on the beach for a bit.

Then we headed to SeaWorld! One of our favorite parts was the cleaner fish. You stick your hand in and they swarm you and start eating off all of the dead skin off of your hand. It was like a fancy manicure!

We loved all of the shows and Sophie and her friend were splashed by the dolphins. Thank goodness for ponchos!

The roller coasters were so much fun. Sophie loved the Electric Eel so much we rode on that several times.

Then we all loaded up onto a fishing boat for a floating lab on the ocean! The kids got to throw a net in to see what they could catch on the bay floor.

They all had to work together to pull in the net. They caught lobster, crabs, a sting ray, shrimp, flat fish, sea slugs, a sea star, and some sea sponges. 

They put them into touch tanks for the kids to touch all of them. It was pretty cold when we got out to the open ocean but we did see a glimpse of a wild dolphin!

The next morning we went to seal beach. It was a special enclosed beach originally made for children but the seals proceeded to take over!

 

Our last stop before heading home was Scripps Aquarium. The kids had the opportunity to dissect a mackerel fish. Which Sophie wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

 

So we checked out the aquarium instead!

We had such a fun trip and I asked Sophie if she thought all the hard work was worth the trip.....she said absolutely! Now Lydia is looking forward to going in a couple of years!