Zion National Park

Here's a shocker!!! Paul got Friday, Saturday and Sunday off this weekend! This is the 3rd weekend in a row that he has had off. Paul REALLY wanted to camping this weekend but my sister borrowed our tent, and all the camping spots at Zion National Park were completely full. He did find a cabin at Zions that was available. So, Friday afternoon after picking Kaylee up from school we headed to Zion National Park.


Kaylee and Gabby thought it was so fun staying at this cabin.

First thing this morning we hurried and ate breakfast and started our day of exploring and hiking. Overall, the girls did really well hiking. I had to remind them several times not to walk on the edge of the cliff, but honestly I was stressed even when they were on the complete opposite side of the trail from the dropoff. Our first hike was to the emerald pools since it was right outside the cabin we stayed at.
Some very nice hikers offered to take our picture as a family along the trail.
After a while Kaylee was really tired from walking (Gabby got Paul to carry her on his shoulders) and kept saying "I think this would be a good place to sit for a picture" just so she could sit and rest for a minute.
The girls (and Paul's) favorite thing was the water...whether it was a river, waterfall, dripping from rocks...if it was water they thought it was great and that it SHOULD be played in. While the kids were playing in the water I snapped a few more shots of the scenery.

At weeping rock Kaylee thought it was funny to take a shower in the dripping water.

Cove Fort

On our way home the girls were sick of being in the car and ready either to go to bed or get out for a few minutes. We decided to stop at Cove Fort and take a little tour of the fort. I have been there tons of times but Paul had never been. As the missionaries were giving us the tour the girls wanted the tour to speed up and kept saying "I want to go to the next room now."

It was fun to get out and get away from our regular every weekend stuff. Especially since Paul doesn't get many weekends off. Hopefully since we made the kids hike from 9:00 to 3:45 they will sleep REALLY well tonight.

What do you do when your lawn gets dirty?

You vacuum!!!














My next door neighbor's kids spilled doritos all over my front lawn and she had been vacuuming her van so she just pulled her vacuum over to my house and vacuumed my lawn. I thought it was too funny and she was vacuuming my lawn not just with the vacuum hose but with the whole vacuum.

Family Picnic

Today was a family picnic with Paul's family. We were all going to meet at the park and have a picnic at the pavillion there but when we got to the park it was Freezing cold and the wind was blowing pretty hard. We walked around the park for a few minutes to see if we could find a place where the wind wasn't blowing so much but we ended up ditching the park idea and went to Paul's grandparent's house for the picnic instead.

Before we left the park the kids wanted to go across the bridge and look at the stream.

As we left the park to head for the car the girls and Paul formed a train.
Paul went in the back yard to play blocks with Gabby...but Gabby enjoyed watching Paul play with the blocks instead.
Gabby and her cousin Kyra were pretty quick to find the empty vegetable garden and use it as a sandbox.
John Tyler we quick to find his way up the tree.
The other kids found the trees too. (Yep, Paul's one of the kids that found the trees)

ABC Tag

My sister-in-law tagged me with this ABC tag. It looks like fun so here it goes:

ABC Tag
A-Attached or Single?- Attached
B-Best Friend?- Paul, Wendy
C-Cake or Pie?- Cheesecake Cake
D-Day of Choice?- Friday
E-Essential Item?- Dr. Pepper
F- Favorite color? I like a lot of different colors but I'll go with Green or Blue
G-Gummy Bears or Worms?- Worms
H-Hometown?- Magna, UT
I-Favorite Indulgence?- Mint Chocolate Brownies
J-January or July? July bring on the heat baby!
K-Kids? Kaylee and Gabriella
L-Life isn't complete without? Paul
M-Marriage Date?- Dec 31, 2001
N-Number of brothers and sisters? 4 Sisters, 1 Brother
O-Oranges or Apples?-Apples
P-Phobia and Fears? Heights, dark basements late at night, my kids getting lost
Q-Quote?-Any bug can hit a windshield but it takes guts to stick.
R-Reason to smile?- All the funny things my kids do and say
S-Season of choice?- Spring
T-Tag ten people?- Janeene, Wendy, Nicola, Maria, Miriam, Elaine, Tiffany, and April
U-Unknown fact about me?- I'm ready to move...(I'm not that fond of my neighborhood anymore, and my skin hates the dry air. I got used to the Washington humidity.) I just wish Utah were more humid.
V-Vegetable?- tomato fresh from the gardem
W-Worst habit?- staying up too late at night
Y-Your favorite food?- I like variety...I'll go with Chicken many different ways.
Z-Zodiac Sign?- Cancer

There you have my tag. Now it's Janeene, Wendy, Nicola, Maria, Miriam, Elaine, Tiffany, and April's turn to do this tag.

What a wierd day!

I know...Sometimes wierd things just happen. But, it seems like there is a lot of wierd stuff going on around here lately. Maybe it's the change of season or something. This morning I did not want to get out of bed, then off the couch. I'm afraid I might have a sinus infection or something. But, that has nothing to do with my wierd story.

I was sitting on the couch and looked out the window. I had heard the garbage lady go by on the other side of the street and when I looked out my window my next door neighbor was standing in the street watching the garbage truck. He's 3, so I went and got him and took him back home. The garbage lady honked and I thought maybe she honked because my little neighbor had been in the road but then my other neighbor down the street was talking to the garbage lady. I went back inside and didn't think anything else about it until my neighbor from down the street came up and got my neighbor and started walking back down the street. Then they told me that a neighbor down the street was passed out on his front porch with his feet and legs inside his house and his head on the edge of the front porch. He was snoring but it was fast snoring. He wouldn't respond and we were afraid to touch him to wake him up in case he lashed out or something. My next door neighbor called 911 and the cops came and tried to wake him up by yelling at him too...That didn't work and it took quite a bit to get him to wake up. Then he told the cops that it wasn't his house. After a few minutes they figured out it was his girlfriend's house. He was so incredibly drunk the cop said he probably started last night and was still drinking all morning. After a while the guy's dad came and got him and they left. You can tell he was drunk just by the park job in the driveway. It was so wierd the way he was passed out on the front porch.

Onto another subject...My INCREDIBLY aweful next door neighbors (not my neighbor in the story above, my other next door neighbors) now have a for sale sign in front of their house. I am REALLY hoping the house will sale fast and I will soon have new neighbors.

Note to Nicola: It was 2 doors up from your old house. Next door to Michael's house. and, now that there is a house next door to me for sale...you can move back.

Catch of the day!

Today was a pretty nice day and AMAZINGLY Paul had today off work. Paul really wanted to go fishing. So, this morning he got online and found a place up Provo Canyon that looked good. We went and bought Gabby a fishing pole so that the girls wouldn't have to try to share today. Then it was off to find the spot up Provo Canyon. It turned out to be a really nice park next to the river. I made sure to bring a camping chair, blanket, and a book since fishing is really Paul's thing not mine. Kaylee wanted to fish before we even had our picnic lunch, which meant, she didn't eat much lunch.

Gabby didn't really get into the fishing. There were a bunch of sticks on the ground from trees and she thought it was much more fun picking up sticks and putting them either in a pile or in the river.
Here is where you really see Gabby's attitude. I told her No, so she went and sat on the ground by the tree.
Paul ended up helping the kids with their fishing poles more than he actually got to fish. I told him that next time he can sneak out and go fishing by himself if he wants.

Finally, after fishing for forever, Kaylee caught her very first fish ever!!! She was so thrilled! She was sad when we told her that she couldn't bring it home.

The Fort

The girls like to pretend that their bunk bed is a tent or a fort about once a month. Today is the day they decided they wanted to do this again. So, I helped them hang blankets all around the bunk bed and they have been pretending to camp up there for quite a while. They took their coloring books and a few toys in there to play. I love kids creativity. I included 2 pictures because they didn't want to peek out together. So, the top picture is Kaylee and the bottom is Gab.