Dream Beneath a Desert Sky - Moab: Spring Break 2012

Steve brought the ATV's out of winter storage at his shop a few weeks ago and now they are filling up my garage. Ever since he brought them home, our entire family has been itching to go to Moab. We wanted to go for Spring Break which is this week but Steve is just too busy with work to get away. Last Wednesday afternoon we were talking about how much we wanted to go and Steve said he could probably get away for the weekend if we left the next day, which was Thursday. So Wednesday afternoon we decided to go camping. The next day. We had a lot to get done. And that is an understatement. We worked hard to get ready and checked the kids out of school early on Thursday and headed south.

Having lunch at our campsite

I have decided that we can no longer take 2 trucks to Moab when we go (one to pull the trailer with the ATV's and one to pull the pop up trailer) because gas is just way too expensive. Plus I hate driving long distances (and short distances) and pulling a trailer just adds so much to the fun. So no 2 trucks=no pop up trailer to sleep in. Our tent was destroyed several years ago when we were camping in a pretty major wind storm. So Wednesday night Steve and I went out and bought a tent. The kids were excited to do "real camping". We were sad to find out that they closed our normal camping spot off to campers so we had to find a new one. This one was right on the edge of a cliff. Literally. About 1 inch from the rear right corner of the tent is a drop off. But it was nice and we were all alone.

Emily was able to test out her new wheeler her dad bought her for her Birthday.

These sand dunes were just down the road from where we were camped.

We had fun riding around in them.

The kids had more fun playing in the sand than they did riding in it.

They kept running and jumping off the edge of a big steep dune.
They also used it as a slide

We had so much fun here until these teenagers came in their jeeps and started riding around. Two of them were in the little car and they rode their car right up the side of this hill the kids are playing on and right down the other side which was pretty much a vertical wall. Yeah. They lost half of their car in the hill. We watched them hike back up and pull pieces of the car out of the sand. Then we decided it was time to move on.

We rode a trail that went up behind our camp.

At one point Aubrey took her helmet off and had such a great case of helmet hair.

I thought she resembled someone from an 80's hair band.

The next morning Steve and Zac woke up and made breakfast.

Then we set off for Arches National Park for a hike. We went on a hike to some Arches we had never been to before. It was a pretty long hard hike over some rough terrain in spots, but Addy did a great job. She kept up with us and never complained or had to be carried once. We saw Landscape Arch which is the arch in the first picture on this post.

We found this small mini arch along the trail.

I can't remember what this arch is called, but it was quite lovely.

Navajo Arch. I think this might be my favorite arch. It is awesome. It leads into this pretty little cave that is open to the sky on one end. Is so so peaceful and beautiful inside.

After climbing up through the opening in the top of the cave at Navajo Arch,

you end up here where you can see forever:

The kids wouldn't let us leave the park without a stop at Crusade arch. I don't know what it is really called so I suggested calling it "Indiana Arch" since it is in the opening scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. But my family thought "Crusade Arch" was better so that is what we call it now.

Aubrey climbing around Crusade Arch

Addy by Crusade Arch

The next day we loaded up for another long ride.

But first we had to make our usual stop at the Rock Shop.

No trip to Moab would be complete without a stop at the Rock Shop.

We started the ride and about 5 minutes in we encountered our first obstacle. A steep hill with a rock ledge at the top. Steve and Aubrey went up first. I was looking down at my camera to take a picture of them when they were at the top. Then I looked up a few seconds later to see their wheeler sideways. I was a little freaked out. Looks like my camera caught them right as they were about to flip.

This is what Steve doesn't understand (well, really he does, and it is a neat story). They were going up the steep hill and when they got to the rock ledge, his wheeler flipped up and they were sitting straight up balancing on the back end of the wheeler at the base of the ledge. The wheeler should have flipped backwards and they should have gone tumbling head over heels back down the hill. But instead their wheeler somehow landed on its side on top of the ledge without any serious injuries. We are so thankful for the angels that were watching over us.

It was a fun and beautiful ride (aside from the first 5 minutes of it)

and it was a great way to end our trip.

Skate Night - It Was The Best of Times, It Was The Worst of Times

Last night the girls elementary school had a skate night. We went and had a total blast! It was Addy's and my first time on rollerblades. Addy wouldn't wait for me to get my blades on before she took off on hers. Here she is doing the Hokie Pokie while I was still trying to get my rollerblades on. She is in the red shirt in the middle.

Our across the street neighbors. Those crazy kids.


Emily won a game of Red Light/Green Light.
She got this soda as a prize and shared it will all her friends.

My friends April and Allison showing off their mad skills.
Just wait. This will get them into trouble later.

As I have previously stated on this blog, I am in a pretty fierce gang.
We call ourselves P8. Here we are dominating the skate rink.

Here is another picture of us skating four in a row.

I know, we are just full of many many talents, among other things.

I had to go potty all night and managed to hold it. I finally decided to excuse myself to the restroom and this is what I miss! Apparently someone (who shall remain nameless to protect her non-innocence) put the thought into Allison's head that it would be way awesome to ride a scooter with her rollerblades on. It turned out to be not quite so awesome. I came out of the bathroom to this scene. It would seem that riding a scooter whilst wearing rollerblades can result in a broken fibula and a severely dislocated ankle. And when this happens, you get to spend the night in the hospital and have surgery the following day. I will say this is one tough chicka. She was laughing the whole time. Not a single tear escaped her eye.Addy kept saying over and over last night, "This night started off as the best night ever and then it turned into the worst night ever".

After we left the skating rink, we headed over to Krispy Kreme with the kids report cards so they could get their free doughnuts. I had 6 kids with me and they each got a 1/2 dozen box of doughnuts. That's a lotta dough for a good report card.

Doughnuts on a stick

Flashback Friday - The Eternal Young Men's President

2008 seems like such a long time ago. I have spent the last hour in tears, reading comments people left on the website we set up for my dad right after he passed away. Those comments you left there are so priceless. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share your memories.

My dad was the Eternal Young Men's President. Except for the time he spent working in the Bishopric in the Lakehighlands Ward in Dallas, he was either serving as the Ward Young Men's President or serving in the Stake Young Men's Presidency or as the Stake Young Men's President. When my parents moved from Dallas to Utah in 2005 they released him as the Stake Young Men's President. And what did they call him to when he got here? Ward Young Men's President. That's just where he belonged. Working with the youth.

I was just telling a friend of mine that I can't ever remember a time when I was growing up when it was just our family in our house. We ALWAYS had someone there. AT ALL TIMES. Day and night. My parents were all my friends second parents. And it was that way with all my siblings. My dad knew things about my friends that I didn't know because he was the one they went to for advice when they had a problem. I am so thankful for his example.

The top picture is when he was serving as YM President in Dallas and the bottom picture was taken not long before he passed away when he was serving as the YM President in Kaysville.

To see my dad's website click here

To see the comments I was reading click here

Again, I can not express enough thanks to those of you who shared your stories and memories and thoughts with us. They will help my dad's legacy live on forever. How precious they will be to all of his grandchildren as well. Thank you!

Please Pass The Blogger Ketchup - July 2011

In July my sister Kristy and her kids were staying with us while making the transition from Russia to the US of A. The kids had so much fun together all summer long. Here are Baron and Addy having a little Capri Sun picnic. Below is a picture of Emily giving them a ride on Aunt Lauren's bike.

One of our many cookouts of the summer

My Grandma, Irene (my dad's mom) was here visiting us from Washington state at the beginning of July. Then she went to Idaho to visit my uncle and his family. Then she came back for a few days before flying back home. This was the day she was leaving for the airport. Little Miss Addy is very attached to her and would not leave her side.

Granny kept Addy and Baron entertained for hours.

Emily, Aubrey, Addy and Tia playing Beatles Rock Band

We spent a day at my friend LaRee's house in her pool. It was fun to see our friends from our old neighborhood. (Addy is sitting on my lap right now and she is telling me I should add this dialogue to this picture. Aubrey: I want the white one back! (the floaty thing Addy's is sitting on) Addy: No I want the white one! Aubrey: NO! I WANT IT BACK! Addy: NO I WANT IT. Then she said, "Seriously. That's what happened. And then I went into their garage and found all the toys and I said cool guys! There's floaties in the garage! And then everyone got them out and then lalalalala we got in the water and well, it's kinda a long story." She's still talking about it but I'm gonna have to cut her off now)

Kristy and I took the kids on a walk to feed the ducks.

Bestest Cousin Friends Tia and Aubrey. These girls are only a few weeks apart in age and they had so much fun together last summer. For months now Aubrey has been making plans for next summer when Tia comes to visit. For years Tia has been making plans for Steve to build her a house across the street from us. I only wish...

Feeding the masses

One day the kids and I found ourselves alone and went for a little hike.

This catches me up for July except for the last few days my whole family was here visiting. For the posts I have already done of that time you can click here. That will take you to day 5 of their visit and at the bottom of that post is a link to the rest.