Sunday, September 5, 2010

The Midas Touch

As Eden and Kai were washing their hands in the bathroom today I overheard them talking...

Kai: "What if the bathroom was all made of gold?  What if the whole house was made of gold?"


Eden: That would be awesome!  Then we would be rich!"

If only it was that simple. 

Friday, September 3, 2010

Voice of the Spirit

Life is so busy and moves so quickly.  It is especially busy for me now with four young children.  Life is also noisy and demanding.  This video clip was sent to my by my amazingly wonderful mother-in-law...thank you Melanie...I needed this! 

Voice of the Spirit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPbDZnrxBLM&feature=player_embedded

Thursday, September 2, 2010

First Day of School

It's that time of year again...maybe the most wonderful time of the year?  It is back to school time!  Eden is now in the 4th grade and Kai is in 2nd grade.  They are growing up so quickly.  Kai is happy to have Ms. Slattery, the same teacher Eden had for 2nd grade and who our entire family loves.  And Eden loved her teacher, Ms. Shearer immediately.  She came home from school the first day and said, "Ms. Shearer is the nicest teacher in the whole world!".  I'm glad they are both happy and that they enjoy school.  I also love being able to miss them without guilt while they are at school :).  Here's to another wonderful year of school!




Bummer Summer

So the kids and I are calling this summer vacation the "bummer summer" because the weather was gloomy and cold most of the time.  We didn't live in the pool or at the beach this year like we have in years past.  Finally the week before school was to start we got some hot weather so we made it to the beach and the pool.  I guess this "bummer summer" will help us to appreciate "funner summers" in the future!










Wednesday, September 1, 2010

ROADTRIP!!!

For our family vacation this year we loaded up our minivan with lots of children and lots of stuff and hit the road for 9 days. 

We first spent a couple of days in Las Vegas where stayed at the Excalibur hotel.  The kids thought it was so cool that we were sleeping in a castle!  We played carnival games to win stuffed animals, swam in the pool and went down the water slide, walked through the M&M's store, ate at the Rainforest Cafe, saw the Bellagio water show, went inside the Luxor pyramid, and we finished our stay with a Vegas buffet breakfast. 






































































































































































































 After playing in Vegas we headed toward Utah!  Everything was going smoothly on our drive and we were so close to our destination of Spanish Fork, Utah when one of our tires blew.  It was scary but we were able to pull over safely and Matt, my hero changed the tire and put on our spare in about 15 minutes.  All was well again as we headed closer to our destination until the spare tire blew.  Luckily we were able to safely pull to the side of the freeway again but now we had no spare tire and the sun was going down.  Long story short, we ended up on the side of the freeway for about 3 hours until a tow truck came to our rescue with a new tire.  The kids were such troopers and stayed relatively happy while we waited.  So, about 4 hours and $300 later we were on the road again.  We arrived in Spanish Fork, exhausted around midnight.  It just adds to the adventure and memories of a family road trip!



































































We spent a few days in Utah Valley visiting family and friends.  We had a great time swimming in a fun community pool with water slides, playing with cousins, and visiting Temple Square in Salt Lake City.
Thank you Julie & Alan for taking such good care of us...so fun!
Time with Great Grandpa
Taking a ride
Drumming with Dan
Helping with the harvest of the Lewis family garden
Matt and Dan
On the road again...with slurpees!






























We spent the remainder of our trip in St. George, Utah with Natalie, Jed, and Ella.  They always take such good care of us and we always have a great time when we're together!  We spent one full day at Zion National Park where we hiked, saw the Emerald Pool and the Weeping Rock, waded in the river, caught tadpoles in the stream, and saw deer, wild turkeys, and gray foxes.  We arrived at the park in the late afternoon so the sun was behind the huge rocks which gave us mostly shade.  And the bus system is great-buses run every 15 minutes between all the hiking trails.  We ended up staying until 8:30pm because we were having such a great time.  I highly recommend Zion National Park as a fun family vacation destination!






















































































































































































































































































































Our final day in St. George was spent playing in the water fountains near city hall and swimming in the huge community pool.




































































































































We left early in the morning for our drive home so the kids could make it to their final chess class.  We drove up just in time for them to compete in the chess tournament.  Then that evening we went to Grandma's house and the kids had a campout with cousins in Grandma's backyard.  A fun finale to our incredibly fun vacation!