Southern Utah Trip: part 3

The next morning before it got hot, we went back to Snow Canyon and went to the Sand Dunes.  The kids loooooved it.  The sand is so soft and cool, and the surroundings were just beautiful.

 Jovee kept eating the sand.  I thought she would probably decide she didn't like it after a while, but despite her face of disgust she continued to try it. She was pretty gross by the end of it.

Later that day my parents and I visited the Brigham Young house, which I don't have any pictures of, while Jovee napped and the kids took it easy at the condo with Ross.

After that we took the kids to a Children's museum which was a lot of fun.  Leah loved dressing up.  My mom took these with her phone.  Thanks Mom!  In the photo below Leah was singing along to a 'Frozen' song on the stage.  She was very hesitant to do it when there were a lot of other kids around, but we kept checking in the room to see if she could do it when it was emptier.  I'm glad she got up the courage to get up there and sing finally!  It was fun to watch.

Southern Utah Trip: part 2

Our first day there we took it kind of slow at the condo, went swimming, and then went to the petrified sand dunes in Snow Canyon after dinner.  It was absolutely beautiful.  It was pretty warm, but not nearly as hot as in the middle of the day.  We probably could have stayed for a few more hours, but we were pushing bedtime and Jovee was ready to go.

My dad took this photo of all of us.  Thanks Dad!

 Waiting for Ross and Ethan in my Dad's jeep.  They went a little higher exploring.

Southern Utah trip: part 1

So until I get caught up on the rest of the year, I should probably stay current moving forward.  We just got back from a trip out to St. George, Utah.  We had a lot of fun.  We kept very busy, and everyone was exhausted by the end of it.  But there was so much I wanted to do that we packed in as much as possible.  Also I didn't take my big camera.  I'm thankful for phones that can take great pictures!

We took the drive in two days.  The first day we made it to Denver. The next day we stopped near Glenwood Springs and took a hike up to Hanging Lake.  I read online that it was a 'kid friendly' hike and thought it would probably be a great little stop.  Well.  It turns out it was 2.5 miles round trip and it was quite steep and rocky.  It took 4 hours!  The kids did really great though, and even though I had to hold Leah's hand as tightly as I could the whole time to stop her from falling down every couple of minutes, we still had a great time.  Leah gives me a heart attack.  She just does not pay attention or look around her carefully at all, so I really did have to stay close.

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I made the kids some travel books with different activities.  They used them a few times, but mostly they watched movies and played games on the tablet and phones.

 She was really great in the car!  A few meltdowns, but all in all not too shabby.

A view of Kansas out my window.

At the bottom of the hike to Hanging Lake.

Just chilling in the back pack.

 

View at the top. Hanging Lake.

 Holding tight!

After the hike.

Christmas 2013

Christmas card 2013 photo. Using Rachel's digital clipart.  Which is super cute.

 Christmas morning chaos.

 The decorated tree and the kids sleeping under the tree on Christmas eve eve.

 This year's graham cracker houses.

 Jovee with cousin Henry.

The kids drew these drawings for Uncle Will for Christmas.  Ethan's left, Leah's right.

 We celebrated Christmas Eve with our friends the Reynders.  It was a lot of fun, and the kids put on a really adorable 'nativity story' for us.  The dad's came up with the costumes too, which I thought were pretty impressive given the amount of time they took.  (Pictures stolen from the Reynder's blog)

 Leah decorating and enjoying some frosting.  The kids in their new Christmas pjs.

 Some Christmas decorations, and chatting with Uncle Will on Christmas day.

December 2013

Besides opening presents, decorating the tree is 

probably the most anticipated Christmas activity.

 We had a couple nice days where it was warm enough 

to get outside, and we took advantage!

 Christmas card outtakes.

Picking out our tree at home depot.  Maybe next year we'll make it to an actual farm.

 Prepping goodie plates for friends.  Jovee's first time in the high chair!

Leah walked around the whole gym offering wagon rides.  She pulled 3 kids at a time!  And all the kids with Santa.  3/3 kids happy.  Pretty awesome.

November 2013

  

We went to a circus with cousins.  

It was pretty lame, but I think the kids still liked it.  

Cousins over Thanksgiving, and kids cooking with Daddy.

Grandpa Terry cooks his turkey in the garbage can outside. 

It's pretty delicious!  And perhaps someday I will miss when Leah gets out of bed.

The kids went a little crazy with the tape.

Playing with Grandma's dolls.

Terry Family Picture

Cute cousins- jus a couple months apart.

Three baby cousins.

I took a picture of each of the grandkids as part of a project.

Poor Jovee. Probably always feels like she has to get away from Leah. :)