The Long Trip (Yosemite)

When you go home for a week and have to split your time in between two sets of parents and more siblings, you sometimes don't take them time to go see the sights that are just a little farther away. This time we ventured out of our normal routine as our friends the MacArthur's had planned a vacation to Yosemite (only a few hours a way) and we were in town for so long. The kids (and I) were so excited to see their good friends so soon after moving away. It was worth the quick one day trip to see them and the wonders of Yosemite.

Here is the west entrance. Isn't it fantastic? It was a beautiful entry to the park.
As soon as we found the MacArthur's the kids paired off with their friends and had lunch. They were so excited to be together again.

Two peas in a pod.

We hiked up to see the Nevada Falls. It was farther and steeper than we thought it would be, but it was well worth the hike!

Being in nature was a real treat.

Being with close friends was a real treat too. The only thing missing was Mike. It is not often you find a family where everyone pairs up nicely and has someone to hang out with.

The kids found a rock to climb up on top of, with supervision as it was a ways down if they fell.

We got to see a bear up close, safely from the shuttle we used all throughout the park.

Look at those falls. This was a view of the upper and lower Yosemite Falls. We hiked/walked to the base of the lower falls. It was just beautiful. And apparently May and June are the best months to see the water in Yosemite. It dries up by the end of July and you have to wait until the next snow runoff the next year to see it again.

You can see Christian and Kristin playing "Star Wars" here at the base of the falls while the rest of us enjoyed the sites and sounds.

Katie and Emily on top of the log relaxing in the background while the younger ones play in the foreground.

At the end of our day as we came out from dinner, we got a beautiful view of Half Dome.

The MacArthur's were great to let us intrude on their vacation. It was a real treat!

The Long Trip Part II

Finally, catching up again...but it must be recorded for me. We left for my California the beginning of June when Mike flew out of town for another scouting engagement. Quickly into our trip we pulled over at a rest stop because we needed too. The kids walked out onto the salt for the second time in their lives. They were very intrigued. I had to hose them off before they got back in the car or else it would have been a mess and made them really itchy.
The day after we got there we first went to the library (one of my favorite places) with the kids to pick out some books before we went shopping. As you can see, that idea was worth its weight in gold.

We just kept shuffling them along to other areas so they could sit and read.

We spent time at the park while we were there. And I must say, this little contraption is harder than it looks. They jump off while holding it and try to make it all the way back around to the other side of the platform.

They were very determined.

My cutie Katie. Loving the weather and being with the grandparents.

My Aunt Jean lives in the same town, which is where my parents are doing their square foot gardening. We got to see her a lot on this trip and Christian loved to tease her and then get tickled.

Christian had his actual birthday in California. Katie loves her brother very much as you can see and I was really touched by the card.

Christian and Katie looked forward to the times that they actually got to talk to their dad. With his schedule and ability to get to a working phone, it was not as much as they wanted. The talks were treasured and after three weeks they couldn't wait to see him again. I didn't realize how much they would miss him. It was hard on all of us, but I was so glad to be with my parents and other family to wait it out!

While we waited we went paddle boating...

on a green lake...(you can't tell from the pictures, but I warned the kids they wouldn't like it if they fell in :) ).

Aunt Melissa was really sweet and on Christian's birthday brought over a mylar balloon, bubbles and a jump rope for him (and some stuff for Katie too). She was so sweet!

The kids loved to go and garden in the backyard with Grandma and Grandpa. Christian had been helping cut off the dead flowers seconds before, I just wasn't fast enough.

Christian sat with Grandpa as he spliced an extension cord and expounded on the virtues of fixing and saving your money instead of just running out and buying new stuff. As you can also tell...Christian knew I had a camera. What a goof!

This is where Katie would go every morning as we all would be getting ready. She would sit and talk to my mom as she did her hair. I remember doing the same thing and still do sometimes, if I actually get ready before her.

We enjoyed visiting cousins which this is really the only picture of the three family of cousins that we saw while we were there. We had such a good time with all of them. Christian and Katie were so excited to see little cousins that they nearly smothered them the first time they were together and Amy fought back. So this was after the second of third time and she actually kissed Christian first. They made peace.

Grandpa with the kiddos...acting a little silly. Notice he is giving the grand kids bunny ears.

My mom was going to get her hair cut this day so her hair wasn't the way she wanted, but she was a good sport anyway. Because we had to get a picture. :)

Being with my parents for almost a month was really nice. We tried to be helpful and not be in the way, while also soaking up the grandparent time we got. We did errands with them, went and worked on their square-foot-gardening with them, and just generally enjoyed being there. I loved it! The only thing that made it not so sad to go was that I was finally returning home to my husband. Thanks Mom and Dad! We love and miss you!

The Long Trip (Part I)

When Mike got the job here in Utah, we discovered that in a 3 1/2 week period of time he would be gone training, being trained, on work trips that we could not follow him in during most of June. As I hadn't seen family in almost a year, we decided I would jump ship for the same period of time, journey back to California and visit with family and friends. Of course, being prudent and not telling people the house was vacant for a month was another a decision we made, so I have not blogged.

The kids really missed their dad. I didn't think it would affect them as much as it did, but they loved the conversations they got to have on the phone with him, cried at times that they missed him and were so happy to be home with him when we got back. It was a great discovery. I think they would miss me that much if I was gone that long...I am hoping more...but don't tell Mike. It just happens to be my full time job, so I hope it would have a bigger impact. At the same time, I would enjoy a nice cruise alone with my husband, but that is another subject.

Before we left we tied up a few loose ends. First there was some gardening that needed to be done. This is the front flower bed. It had flowers, but I felt it was a little anemic for my tastes. I have been looking forward to having my own gardening space for awhile. Next year I am hoping to put curbing by the entrance, starting at the closest corner of the cement below and then curving it around to the front corner of the house. Maybe even the back corner. It is a little sad back there. Then I will put in some nice bushes that will help the front window not look like a hanging space ship.
Here is the final product. I put in a Japanese Maple that will get about 10-11 feet tall. I moved all the pansies to the edge...saved some money there. Put in some more annuals and closer to the middle a bunch of perennials. It makes me happy to look out at my flowers.
This is the same place from the back. The backyard had a flower area also...you just couldn't tell. Getting all the grass out that had grown through the landscaping tarp took me most of a Saturday. Here is the back yard one. It is a little more anemic...I will add more perennials next year. I took out the "volunteer" tree they had let grow in this one also. It is still a vast improvement. The only problem I am having now is that because this is an aspen, there are bugs feasting on my flowers. I need to spray them to keep them healthy/alive.
Katie put flowers in her hair that had come out while I weeded hastily. It was very cute...
Before we left we also had to celebrate Christian's Birthday early so that Mike could be a part of it. Although that ended up being very confusing for him...it was what we did. We just did a really simple birthday cake with ice cream, opened presents and sang to him. He loved it. He got spoiled at Grandma's house when she wanted to make a cake for him there too. She didn't want him to feel unloved. It was a shared with one of his cousin, but it was all his as far as he was concerned. Katie is wanting three celebrations this year too. Life isn't fair though...
Christian lost a lot of teeth in the last month. On the "celebration day" he was sporting his Tow Mater look as the tooth loosened and stuck out. It is now gone.

Here is a little video from his party. Katie made up a little song for him.


(To be continued...)

Scouting is the thing...

After unpacking, shopping, meeting neighbors and settling in for two weeks the kids joined their dad on a scouting event. The kids had fun going with him and I had a much needed break to go and do some errands that would have bored the kids out of their minds (buying myself shoes and getting a haircut...much needed, I might add). It was time for this Councils Scout-O-Rama and the kids have always had fun going and checking it out in Phoenix. As Mike is new in his job he was apparently stopped every so many feet, much to the chagrin of Katie, but it was still fun. I got back just in time to see them get in a row boat. They had waited for 1/2 an hour for the chance to get it in one.
Christian wanted to sit right next to his dad and he was holding onto him for dear life at first...

but Mike quickly got him paddling. It is harder to see them here, but I think Katie's pink shirt sticks out in the sea of blue and orange. Isn't it beautiful there. Look at all the green...I am still getting used to it after all the brown and red in the desert.

They were out for a little while until Mike got tired, as he was the one doing most of the work.

They had fun being with their dad, on the job. I whisked them away with me so that he could finish up his day and clean up at the end. Scouting is fun!

Two Cars, Two States, Two National Parks, One Day.

After a restful night in Williams, Arizona we headed on up to the entrance of the Grand Canyon. It is not unusual for those living in Arizona to have never seen the Grand Canyon before. It is 4 hours away from Phoenix and it is common to hear people say that you go up, look in, and drive back. (In other words, it isn't worth your time). However, I decided since we were going to be driving "right by it" on our way to Utah, we better go look at it. Otherwise, we might never get back and do it. So off we went.

We stopped at the entrance to take pictures with the official sign. While taking the kids picture, Christian looked around and asked, "So this is the Grand Canyon?" We were still a few miles from the "hole", the innocence of children cracks me up.
Some wonderful people came by and took a family picture for us, so now we have proof we were all there.

This is the view right as you drive up into your parking spot. It was spectacular, quite amazing. It was easy to see why it is one of the official wonders of the earth.

Katie was enjoying the sights. It was really hard to get the kids to move on, they were really entranced by the vastness of the canyon.

This picture really doesn't do the canyon justice. It is really beautiful.

Daddy and Katie, she was really into taking pictures here...we had hardly any pictures of Christian...he was not into it.

The end of April was a great time to go as it was not yet too hot. It was gorgeous weather. A great time to move.

Double self portrait. I found a couple of these. They were having fun with the camera.

This is the first stop (our last as we were going out that way) from the eastern entrance to the park. We went in the lookout tower. You can go all the way to the top. It was really quite something.

It was really fun to go in and up the narrow stairways and look down the center of this very tall building. I stayed close to the kids, just in case they got the urge to see if they could jump and make down to the bottom. One of my friends told me they went to every stop and visitor center in 2 hours. They are fast. We way under budgeted our time there and felt pinched for time after leaving 4-4 1/2 hours after we got there. I could have stayed longer. We were way behind schedule, but we were glad that we made the time and effort to go.

A few hours later we crossed the border into Utah. The kids were excited that we were in Utah but were wishing we were closer to our final destination.

Our Mapquest directions took us on Highway 9 to get to Saint George, Utah to stay the night with some of our friends. However, that highway is now no longer free...I don't know when that changed...but as I pulled up to the park ranger station I was a bit frustrated. It is no cheap thing to go through a park. By law, he had to charge us again for both cars to go through a different park. After spending $50 on just my car in one day, we decided $30 more wasn't much to throw in there for an annual National Parks Pass. We just need to plan to go and enjoy. It was a spectacular drive, worth the price of admission. The summer after I graduated from BYU I had been to Zion's National Park and hiked Angel's Landing and the Narrows, but had not been back since. Some people have a natural and early appreciation for nature. My parents tried. We went to National Parks, camped (in trailers), got us out to see the world, but I just took it for granted. Now I appreciate it. It was gorgeous. Had I known that we were going to really go through there (and pay for it), I would have scheduled a day in to see it. It was really stunning and it has some great hiking there also. Here are a couple of pictures while I was driving slowly through the sharp curves. Don't worry, we were the only ones around at the time.

There is Mike driving in front of us. Look at this view! It is better in person. There were more that I could have taken...but I was being safe! Hopefully we will go back soon. Maybe a weekend this summer. There are so many parks in this state.

We finally got to Saint George, where we met up with my cousin four hours after we had planned. They were troopers and we were so glad to see them. The kids had been looking forward to seeing Miles for the first time. He is adorable. The next day we were someplace and supposed to be slightly serious (I don't remember why), and Christian started to bust up laughing. Mike started to get after him until I asked him why he was laughing. "When Miles was doing...", he laughed as he told us what he was remembering from the night before. Christian knows how to entertain himself. Thanks Rob and Staci for meeting up with us so late! It was fun to see you again!

We headed for one of Mike's past boss's house who retired in St. George. Kim and Cindy live in a beautiful historic house downtown, which I forgot to get a picture of. It was really pretty, beautiful gardens and they were such great hosts, ast we dropped in late and left early since Mike had an appointment the next afternoon. We loved getting to see old friends and family on the trip.