Spring Break Prequel...

 

Last Friday I got to go to Claire's Kindergarten class to help with their 100 book celebration. The kids got to dress up as a character from their favorite book. Claire's favorite book is the Pigeon series by Mo Williams. It was a bit tricky to dress her like the pigeon but we worked it out. Her partner dressed up as Sam I am from Green Eggs and Ham. Claire is a foot taller than most of the kids in her class.She was blessed with major height!!!

 

Mrs Burningham let Claire read her book to the class. 

 

We slit up into groups and the whole class read 100 books in 30 minutes. The class celebrating their achievement. .

 

Then all the kids that read 100 books by themselves got a reward and a book.

 

Claire was most excited about her free pizza coupon from Big J's. She is easy to please.

Since it was Friday the kids got out of school early. 

Kamie invited us to go hang out at their farm and have dinner. 

 

Claire has been begging for weeks to go see Uncle Tim's pigs. They were big, noisy and smelly. 

 

She loved every second. 

 

Reagan was excited to show everyone her animals. 

 

Harrison didn't want to get close to anything. He would point but wouldn't get close. He was even afraid of the dogs and cats. 

 

He was relieved when Kam brought out some toys for him to play with. He was stressed out. 

 

The newest addition to the farm is Paisley. Claire mauled this poor puppy to death. 

 

Melissa and Jenni joined us too with Wyatt, Lyndsee, and Carter. 

 

Riding Reagan's new set of wheels. 

 

When Uncle Tim got home he let Brad feed the pigs. I now understand the term "you are eating like a pig" or "your room is a pig-stye"  These pigs live up their reputation.

 

The kids were very entertained watching the pigs eat. 

 

Uncle Tim collected the chicken eggs and let the chickens out of their coop. Harrison liked them from a distance. 

 

Brad and Claire chased them around for hours. Poor things probably wont lay eggs for a week after all that stress. 

 

Carter and Reagan trying to show Harrison how cool the chickens are. He was still not convinced.

 

Claire and Lyndsee played house with the puppy.  They built a crib for her to sleep in. Seriously...poor dog.

 

After dinner Uncle Tim gave all the kids tractor rides. 

 

Every one took turns. 

 

I think Carter was the happiest!!! I love his grin. 

 

Poor Puppy!!!

Kam and I bathed the babies. While we were cleaning up we heard them laughing and giggling. They were sliding down the stairs then racing back up as fast as they could. It was pretty funny. This went on for about 20 minutes. I was happy they were burning off every last ounce of energy before bedtime. 

Yea for spring break!!!! This is just the beginning.

St George Trip...

We decided we needed a small vacation. We headed to St George for the weekend.

It was a long drive but the kids did great and they were excited to go. We stopped and had dinner with Steven and Kari on the way down. The first night we stayed with Jean and Shirley Mortensen's house in Parowan. The last time we stayed with them Claire was a newborn. We woke up to snow...we were excited to get to St. George for some 70 degree weather!!!

Our first stop was Red Cliffs. We took the Red Reef trial.  

The kids loved climbing and exploring all the rocks. 

Harrison was a trooper and wanted to walk the whole way. I was surprised. 

 This trail was breathtaking. The pics don't do this area justice. 

The kids loved crossing the water back and forth. 

This wall was fun to climb around the water. I am just really glad no one fell in. 

At this point Harrison and I waited at the bottom. Randy took the kids up the rock. 

  

Randy taught them to find a crack to help them down. Claire called it a rock wedgie. She thought she was pretty funny. 

Claire wanted her picture taken at every rock and crevice. All I heard was "Mom, take a picture of me. " I have a ton of pictures. 

After our hike we checked into the Hotel. This was Claire and Harrison's first time staying in a hotel. They were so excited. 

After checking in we went to the Children's Museum. 

Harrison loved this room. He loved to "fix it"

Brad and Claire spent the most time at this golf ball exhibit. We laughed every time they were so close to finishing the track then a random kid would come by and take a piece apart. It was very entertaining to watch. 

There were a ton of kids there but it entertained the kids for a couple of hours. 

Then it was pool time. 

Ahhh...swimming in March. It was great!!!

After dinner we were craving shakes so we stopped at Iceberg before heading to the Hotel. 

Yummy Yummy Yummy!! 

When we got to the Hotel the kids crashed. It was a long packed day. 

The next morning we got up early to take the "buggies" out for a ride. Jason met us there. Brad rode with him and Randy and I took Claire and H. 

We rode around Quail Creek Resevior. Then we went to Sand Hollow to ride the dunes. 

When we stopped for a break the kids got out and ran down the sand hill. 

Yes...that little speck is them. 

They were covered from head to toe in sand. 

Climbing back up was quite the task. 

Every time I asked H if he was doing okay he gave me the thumbs up. I got a lot of thumbs up on this trip. 

After they climbed back up the hill they wanted to jump into the sand. 

This was quite entertaining. 

Some of the big sand hills made H nervous. We looked back and saw Claire holding his hand telling him it was okay and fun. It did the trick. 

We found the preserved dinosaur tracks. 

The kids thought that was pretty cool. 

After the ride we went back to the Hotel for a quick swim and then showers. The kids shoes were FULL of red sand. We made them take off their shoes and dump them out in the parking lot. 

For dinner we went to Peppers. The food was amazing! This was the best Verde I have ever had. 

After dinner we went to the park to burn off any extra energy the kids had. The sunshine felt so good. 

It worked the kids crashed. They were so tired. 

The next morning we wanted to go on one more hike before heading home. We stopped at pioneer park. 

This was the perfect place to let the kids explore the rocks. 

The found a huge caterpillar nest in a tree. There were caterpillars everywhere. 

Then Brad found a baby rattle snake on the trail. Scared me half to death. He was about to pick it up. 

The kids were so good on the way home. The last hour was pretty painful!!! I was ready to get out of the car. It was such an amazing trip. We are definitely going again.