The Thomas Gang

Christmas at Grandpa and Grandma's

2010-12-22T21:19:00.001-07:00

We went to Colorado for a few days before Christmas. The advantage to that is we get two Christmas's. The kids love this. Another fun thing we like to do is go sledding. Well you would think Colorado in December, that would be easy to do. Well not this time. We drove for two hours and never found any spot to go sledding. It was crazy. The rain was coming down all over the western US and it was no different where we were. We spent lots of fun time with Grandma as we made cookies and she taught us how to make her famous bread. We enjoyed some time with Grandpa putting a puzzle together and burning all his wood in the fireplace. The kids enjoyed roasting marshmallows in the fire too. Only at Grandma's can you roast mini marshmallows in the fireplace. Grandma is a good sport too as she eats a few of those burned things. It was tons of fun and a very relaxing time. Good times were had by all.

Grandpa and Britton look at the new remote contol car he got.

Brooke shows off her new watch.

Grandma and Grandpa open their present from the kids.
They were way excited to give them the present. Gotta love those homemade gifts.

Every Child is a Story yet to be told. Lots of room for the other grandkids to put their hand prints on it too. Grandparents love those kids of gifts.

Family Picture Time

2010-12-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

This is the time of year I like, well except when trying to determine what everyone is going to wear. But taking the pictures and getting beautiful results, I like that. But on the other hand, fighting with Darin about doing them when I have to hear, "Didn't we just take those?" Yes Dear, a year ago we did. :) Now I have Matthew who loves pictures as much as Darin, so the battle was swift and final. I said we are doing this on this certain Saturday, be there, wear this and don't argue. It went rather well and the results I was very pleased with. Our session was short so I received very little fight from the big boys. :) Here is the Thomas Gang!!

Our Crew

Mother - Daughter

My Boys

Father - Daughter

My Kids

The Three

Mom and Dad

Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T11:38:00.002-07:00

Darin's parents had everyone over for Thanksgiving. It had been a rather warm fall so not many leaves had fallen. With Thanksgiving the leaves were finally starting to fall and oh what fun the kids had with all the leaves that day. Grandpa was pleased with the work since it gave them something to do outside and he did not have to rake up the leaves. :)

Mesquite Marathon!!

2010-11-21T21:31:00.001-07:00

After a disappointing run at the St. George Marathon, Darin and his friend Cory decided they wanted to try the Mesquite Marathon. Early in November, we had hopes of Darin qualifying for the Boston Marathon and the two of us going there to run the Marathon. With the record setting filling of the Boston Marathon, which only took 8 hours to sell out, our hopes of going to Boston were destroyed. He still wanted to run the Mesquite race, so we went to Nevada with some friends and had a great time. Well, a great time as far as being with friends and laughing and enjoying ourselves. The race was another story. The weather was terrible. Cool temperatures made for a chilly start. The wind was the worst for running. There were 35 mph gusts, and constant winds blowing the whole race. Not so good for running a 26 mile long race. Well, it was tough, but Darin finished 3rd in his age group, was 26th overall out of over 200 runners. He was pleased. I decided the marathon was a bit much for me, so I ran the half marathon. I was 1st in my age group and placed rather high overall. The wind was way tough on my little body, I felt like it blew me from one side of the road to the other. It was a fun run. Glad Cory and Mel could join us. We had another couple meet us there to run too, Glen and Kasey Watts ran. The men felt strong or were crazy, which ever you choose, so they ran the marathon. The women were more sane I guess you could say that was a matter of opinion. We all ran the half marathon.

Darin and I at Packet Pick up

Mel and Cory Reese - our friends who do crazy things with us!

Flags blowing straight out showing how windy it was. Cory recorded a short video and put it on youtube.com, watch it here to see how windy it was at the race. Mesquite Marathon!

Glen, Jason Smith, Darin and Cory at the beginning of the race.

The Mesquite Marathon, the half looked just the same. :) Not much scenery in this part of the country. The marathon went through three states though, starting in Utah, then Arizona for lots, then finishing in Nevada.

My Little Wolves!!!

2010-11-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

Pin #2 for each little boy. Fun stuff going on in scouts. They did great pinning my awards on me too. I wait for the day they poke my finger or theirs too. :) They are having fun learning new things and being with the other boys in an organized situation. They have really enjoyed doing different topics and learning interesting fun things. What a busy life they have.

My boys pin their mother pins on me.

I will do my best, I will do my duty . . .

Mom and her little scouts.

Banana Chair Catapult Anyone?!

2010-11-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

There are times you like getting phone calls from your kids and times when the caller says, "Mom, come home right now!!!" I did not question it and I ran straight home from the church. Of course all kinds of things go rushing through your mind as to what could be wrong. I knew it was not too bad, but still bad enough not to discuss on the phone and to head straight home, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Visit with your friends, just get home. Well as I ran in the house, Matt yells we are downstairs. I get down the stairs and there is Britton lying on the ground with a bloody paper towel on his head. I realized I can take pressure and gross things kind of well that night. We got things cleaned up and I called Darin to let him know we were headed to the doctor for stitches. Up to this point Britton had been rather calm, no tears, no freaking out, but at the word Stitches, he went crazy on me. I finally got him calmed down, but with the limited training I had I knew we needed them. The doctor was amazing and numbed it with some ointment and continued to let him know we had to close up the sore, but never said the "S" word again. We understood what she would be doing, but he did not, and he remained calm. Well, five stitches later and a nice black eye out of it, here he is. What fun a catapult on a banana chair can be?!! Whose idea was it anyway, brother? :)

Spooktacular Fun Run!!

2010-10-31T21:25:00.000-06:00

A few years ago we started a fun tradition where we ran a race sponsored by the Elementary schools. We start with a good stretch and then line up for a fun race. We started several years ago by doing the 1 mile run, but over the past couple of years have changed to the 3 mile run.

It is a fun challenge to run with the kids. This year though, Bryce and Matt were flying for their race. After the race Matt told us he was working hard to stay up with Bryce. Bryce is really starting to develop into a quick runner. I am sure he is faster than me and I think Darin would have to work really hard to keep up with him.

We all wore our matching green shirts so we could see each other in the race. It works good for us. We may get matching orange ones next with some silly quote on the back for our next races. We always love this race though, Bryce usually wins us some pumpkin cookies for being the fastest runner in his age group, he is kind to share too.

After running that far with the kids, we are all feeling silly and make some goofy faces. We will be preparing for our next race which is the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us and we can all run a quicker race.

Halloween Fun

2010-10-31T21:01:00.001-06:00

Halloween time is always lots of fun for us. We start the week before with cutting the pumpkins. They are old enough now I let them do the whole thing by themselves. Well almost all of it. I help take the gross guts out of the inside. Then they draw the face and take the amazing safety knife and cut it like they want it. Always an interesting face that is created.

Matt thinking of an amazing design for this year.

Brooke smiles with her master piece.

Britton never has liked his hands getting dirty and
this is beyond with all the slime and everything!

Bryce gives us the evil laugh as he cleans out his pumpkin.

Annual Costume Parade at the elementary schools are always fun. You get to see all the kids and the creative costumes. I usually let the kids pick two costumes - one for the parade and one for that evening at the Trunk or Treat. The school one is they want to be and the evening one is the Trio being something from a theme. This year we joined with our friend Jessica and her kids. We went with the Toy Story Theme and what fun we had. We started with school on Friday and party time. Then Saturday ran the race and then that evening went to the Trunk or Treat, then did our evening visits to many friends that want to see the Triplets all dress up. It make for a long evening and they are beat when we get home, but it is fun to show them off. Any ideas for next year and what the Trio can be, you just let me know. We start thinking a year in advance, but of course we are like everyone else and prepare the week or less before. :) Any suggestions?

Bryce as the Dinosaur from Toy Story

Britton as the Ninja for the school parade

Brooke and Bryce as Slinky and Rex

The Toy Story Gang - Brooke as Slinky Dog, Connor as Buzz, Britt as Sarge, McKendry as Jessie and Bryce as the Rex the Dinosaur. What a fun evening we had.

St. George Marathon!!

2010-10-02T21:35:00.003-06:00

After many months, miles and sore muscles, here we are at the starting line of the St. George Marathon. It's hard to believe that 18 months ago Darin wanted nothing to do with running and now here he was getting ready to run 26.2 miles.
We joined several friends who we had trained many miles for the race and another 7400 runners at the start at Central. It was an unusually warm morning. Unlike the other mornings of the marathon there was no need for gloves or warm clothes. It would turn out to be a problem as the 60 degree start warmed quickly to a hot 94 by the end of the race.

It was a gradual problem that many of us would not realize until it had hit us and heat stroke was setting in. We saw many people walking a lot sooner than normal. We both finished, but not in the time we wanted. It was a good learning experience and I am sure we will find another race soon, even if we say hate running and never want to do it again.: )

It is always a challenging thing to do a marathon, but well worth the sense of accomplishment in the end. Good times were had by all even if one of us had to find a garbage can to visit.

Our cheerleaders on the course! Always a better race to do with friends out there to cheer you on. Thanks tons!

My Little Scouts!!

2010-09-18T21:15:00.000-06:00

With the 8th birthday comes the start of Cub Scouts. I feel like I just got done helping Matt with his 9 years of scouting and now I am starting over. The boys are excited and remind us each week when it is time to go to their meetings. After a month we went to a Pack Meeting and I started my pin collection again. I love my little scouts, they are so cute. In September they attended the 100 year celebration of scouting. They had a great time making swords, shields and having a great time. They were reminded over and over to keep track of each other.

With the boys getting involved in scouting, Brooke is starting Achievement Days for the girls. I also have a friend who has a group of Girls Scouts, so she is doing that too. She is excited about it and we are excited because she will sell us Girl Scout cookies, who can turn those down?! : ) Fun stuff going on in our home.

Redrock Relay

2010-09-12T21:22:00.000-06:00

The running world has lots of different races to experience. Darin and I had been asked to be on a relay team, we needed to find a few more people for the team, so we asked Matt to be on our team too. The Redrock Relay is a 186 mile relay that starts in Brian Head and goes to Zion. There are 12 people on a team and everyone runs 12 to 19 miles each. Our team started at 11:30 on Friday and started a 25 hour run from Brian Head to Zion National Park. It was a great time. We all did a great job and had lots of fun. I would have to say one of the best parts was running the race with Darin and Matt. I was able to handoff to Matt each time. That was a fun experience.

Matt hands off to Daryl at the LaVerkin church.

Logan hands off to Darin as he heads off for the longest, hottest part of the run.

We arranged for Earl and Louise to have the three little ones at the exchange between Matt and I. They stayed with us the rest of the race and saw Darin run later and then all of us at the final stretch. It was fun having them with us. Our team was 9th overall and it took us 25 hours and 50 minutes. That's one race we would like to try again.

Baptism Times Three!

2010-07-31T21:51:00.000-06:00

With lots of family and friends there to support, we dressed up our three little ones and watched them on their Baptism day. It was a very exciting and spiritual day. There were so many people there to see the kids. Even our good friends Grandpa Clyde and Grandma Rose from Arizona came for the weekend. It was a great weekend with lots of people to spend time with us and be there for the kids.
It was definitely exciting seeing all three get baptized and then hear the blessings that they all got during their confirmations. Each one was unique and special to each of them. Afterward we had a fun gathering for all to attend and for everyone to visit for a bit. Crazy to see how time flies. Loving the moment though.

Pogo Anyone?

2010-07-20T17:48:00.004-06:00

Ok, I have heard a lot of funny things in life and presents people want, but when most kids turn 8 and you ask them what they want for their birthday you get the normal, a remote control car, a bike or 3 :) or maybe a dog toy, a stuffed animal or many of other normal young desires. Who, besides our little Bryce, would ask grandma for a Pogo Stick? Well he did and he is becoming quite the pogo boy. Today I walked up to my mom's and had him go with me. He almost made it the whole way. To begin his adventures he jumped about 17 times, then he was excited to get to 39, then all of a sudden he got to 100, then it was just a breeze after that. He got to 370 yesterday. It can be an annoying sound, but his little muscles are getting a workout. :) He is a funny boy and very determined. Him and Matt have looked up the world record and they found out you have to jump over 177,000 times for the jumping record or go a distance of 23 miles for the distance record. He is working on it now. Look for his name in the next book of World Records. :)

I Can't Wait to Turn 8! (But mom and dad can)

2010-07-14T21:46:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to Bryce, Britton and Brooke, Happy birthday to you! Now that is a tongue twister one on all those B's. :)
Eight years ago we had lots of people around too, celebrating that we were doing so well even if we only weighed, 2lb3oz, 3lb15oz, and 3lb9oz. Look at us now!

We are definitely not a family to settle down and relax much. We got home Monday evening and were up Tuesday for a run and a visit to the skin doctor. After an 8 year battle with a spot on my upper lip, the doc said it was time to remove some skin cancer. The first surgery was Tuesday and the second was Wednesday. To add to the events we had set up the kids big birthday party for Wednesday at the pool. Not knowing we would have skin doctor issues we mailed invitations from Oregon and had the party planned. Knowing I would have tons of help from sister-in-laws, friends, and Darin, we decided not to change the party. Oh what fun everyone had. The turnout was great and we had so much fun. I was a bit drugged up still from the medicine, but made it through the party with little problems. The kids had invited a few friends from school and then we invited cousins, neighbors, and anyone else we thought may want to join us for the big 8th Birthday. Can't believe it has been 8 years. Time has sure flown by from my days laying in a hospital bed looking up at three sets of tiny baby socks knowing I was doing it for them. I sure appreciate all the help and love that everyone from the village has offered in raising this group of three. I know the big brother will never read this, but big thanks to him. He is looked up to by not only three little ones, but mom too.
Britton takes a plunge off the low diving board, but would soon go for the high dive.
Brooke enjoys her watermelon.
Yes this is my good smile. :) And yes, I am still missing my two front teeth!I am the big brother and I am glad they invited me to this party. Who should I go tease now?

Yes, I am the cause of this day. ;) But all seem to love them and the party.

This was me most of the evening wiping goo from my stitches. The kids were concerned, but it did not slow down their swimming.
Brooke and her friends Gracie and Madi that came to the party.
There are sure some strong Thomas genes in these two cousins.

Headed Home!!

2010-07-12T21:26:00.000-06:00

After 20 days of well traveled bodies, it was time to head home. We had one more stop in Utah at my cousin Stacie's home. Her and Scott have three little boys that our kids love to play with. We don't see them as often as we would like, so making the stop is always a treat. The stop was about 5 hours from home, trailer travel time. We enjoyed our visit with them and the much needed shower after camping in Idaho at the reunion. The next day we got up and took our time getting ready to go to avoid that crazy Salt Lake traffic. It seemed to take longer than normal to get home that day, not sure if we needed more potty breaks or if it was because it was time to be home. We had left right at 21 days prior to today and it had been fun, but turning that corner to see our driveway was a great feeling. Funny one though, just 7 miles before we were supposed to get off the interstate there was road construction that slowed us to a stop. Talk about frustrating. Luckily it was not too bad and we got going pretty quick.
Of course you know Darin and he was seated in the computer room the following day plotting our course for the next summer's trip. Me? Well, I am ready to relax for a few weeks before we have to start the next school year. I have started thinking of places to go though. We had a goal to go back east, but with a future missionary, we decided we better save some money. We will still go on a trip, but six weeks may be a bit too long. Possibly to Arizona, New Mexico (to see Mesa Verde) and Colorado to visit family. Or maybe fly to Washington DC for a week. Who knows, keep watching our blog and I am sure by next January we will have started booking some reservations to something.

Family Reunion

2010-07-09T21:03:00.000-06:00

Funny how vacations work - we plan our trips way in advance, but it worked out that our vacation ended the same time as my family reunion was happening. We took a few days and stayed with them and had a great time. It was so fun to see some people we had not seen for a year or more. It's always great to see grandma even thought Bryce always struggles when he has to leave her. We had a good time at the swimming pool that was at the campground too. It was a hot pool and that works great for me. :) Matt found some girls to swim with and that helped make his trip. He was able to add a few contacts to his texting list. :)
To start the reunion my niece, Dru, came a bit too fast down a hill and tripped flying over a electric box, hit the ground and busted her arm. She is a strong girl though and still had a fun time with us. That cute frog shirt Kenzi has on was Dru's then Brooke's now hers. What a favorite shirt to pass down.
Aunt Dee with her favorite triplets!! She came from Arizona for the reunion to see us!
Bryce has always loved to run from Jenny and not give him hugs. She finally caught him with the help of someone, but he still pushed away from giving her a hug. :)
Bunches of cousins at the reunion. Always fun to play some football, horseshoes, swim and just chase each other, when you are with cousins.
My cousin, Travis's son, Conley. He is a great kid who the kids loved to play with. He can be rough and push his way for a touchdown or wrestle with the kids. Whatever it is he does, they love him.
Uncle Sam with the kids. Wish we could see him more, but he still lives in Wyoming. He lives right next to where we grew up. He was our second dad when we were younger, always keeping us out of trouble. Sure love him.

Next Stop Grandma and Grandpa's!

2010-07-07T20:55:00.000-06:00

A while back grandma and grandpa left the heat of Hurricane for the coolness of Boise, Idaho. We made our trip drop down to southern Idaho so we could see them. They both looked great and were feeling good. They were on their way for a drive with my aunt Elinda and uncle Barry the day we left. Good to see them. The kids always like to see grandma great and grandpa great. Darin gives them a few laughs to add some spunk to their day.

Downtown Seattle

2010-07-05T19:46:00.001-06:00

The Seattle Space Needle - What an experience!!
Us at the top on the observation deck of the Space Needle.
There are many commercials and shows where you see the Seattle Space Needle, so we wanted to venture to the top of it. So from a height of 520 feet we looked for our car and out over the city of Seattle. We could see the stadiums that the Seahawks and Mariners play in. It was a fun place to go. I must add that the St. Louis Arch is much scarier but this one was quite high. We then got on a monorail and went to downtown Seattle. It was there that we found the Public Market. Now that was a crazy place.Bryce looking for our car, but ended up seeing the back of Brooke's head. :)
My boys on the train ride over to the Public Market.

We kept hand in hand walking in this area because it was packed. Wall to wall people all asking for fruit or fresh fish. It was an amazing sight. Darin got his clam chowder in a bread bowl and we bought some fresh fish for dinner to barbecue that night. It was a fun experience.
Now that was an experience - the crowd was endless.Dinner!! It was really good.

We took a picture before we went up in the Needle. Crazy it was one of those that they did not charge us, but emailed it to us. Now that never happens. Usually they want their $18.95 for a 4x6 picture. :)

How do you know you aren't in Utah for the 4th of July?

2010-07-04T21:18:00.001-06:00

So you know you are not in Utah anymore when you actually watch fireworks on Sunday the 4th of July!! You also know you you aren't in Hurricane when you are wrapped in blankets watching the fireworks. :) This year we were in Seattle, Washington for the 4th. It was funny to sit in one area and watch fireworks for several different communities. We were a bit of a distance from all of them though, so it wasn't that great for sound. Our little RV park put on a bit of a show for all of us campers. It was like one you would put on at your home, so it wasn't too great, but was fun.

To start our day on the 4th we drove from Portland to Seattle. On our way we stopped at the Mount St. Helen's Visitors Center. That was a very interesting place. We watched a video that explained the history of the mountain, then looked at lots of pictures and displays. It was too cloudy to see the mountain that day, but it was really neat to learn more about the volcano. The kids liked it because it was a volcano and there were lots of neat displays. It was also fun to tell them stories about when we were there age and what we remembered about the eruption. We had ash in Wyoming I remember.
A bit farther down the road we stopped and visited with Darin's brother and his family who live in Washington. It's been almost two years since they left Hurricane to live in Washington. It was a good visit and fun to catch up on them and their lives. After the visit it was off to Seattle and our fireworks show!! Greg, Diana, Chris, Andrew and Kimberly in Washington.

Some of the cousins - Matt, Chris, Britton, Bryce, Andrew, Kimberly and Brooke.

OMSI - Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

2010-07-03T22:09:00.003-06:00

We went to Portland today. We left our previous place early so we could get to OMSI. This is where the teacher comes out in us. This place is a hands on museum of science stuff. It was an amazing stop that we all loved. When we first got there we went to a movie in the Omnimax about dinosaurs. It was pretty good. Then we went on a tour of a submarine. It was real fun because you could go through the sub and touch lots of parts. The kids really liked it. Then came the science play. We went to the chemistry lab where we got to mix chemicals and find out different things. Me and Britt learned how clorox works and how it can take stains out. Bryce and Matt put a wire in the flame of a bunson burner to determine why fireworks are different colors. Brooke and Dad learned why you take antiacids when your stomach hurts. There were places where we made a rocket from a 2-liter bottle with water and air. Then there was a place to look for insects and small animals like snakes and rats. There was a display for Einstein. That was fun try to explain who he was and what he had done. A good quote I like of his is "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”– Albert Einstein Probably one of the most intriguing displays was in the Life Science area where there were over 30 fetuses showing the growth of a baby from just weeks to birth. Brooke is a little more interested in that, so it was fun trying to explain how the development works. Bryce recently asked why we have a bellybutton. Being able to show him why seemed to make more sense than just explaining. The whole museum was amazing. We stayed there for 5 hours. Now for the bad part though, in all the hurrying, I left my camera at the camper. So the pictures are where we went and what we saw, just imagine we were in the pictures.

This is the USS Blueback Sub we went inside. There were lots of fun things to see.

There were several displays with electricity on them. We enjoyed playing there and shocking each other on some of the parts. It started hurting after while though. :)

Interesting display to read about all kinds of math things. :)

This Chemistry lab was really neat. I took a picture of us in our goggles on my cell phone. Any able to tell me how to get the picture from my phone to here? Let me know because it should be a good geeky picture. :)

Free Willy!! (and us too!)

2010-07-02T23:43:00.002-06:00

Today we went to Newport, Oregon where the Oregon Coast Aquarium is located. This is where Free Willy was supposed to have been taken care of. It was a fun aquarium. We saw lots of sea life. The kids really liked touching the Anemity (spell) that's where Nemo lived. :)
We were able to walk under a big tube where fish and sharks were kept. Sometimes it looked like the animals were swimming right to you. On our return trip we made a few stops by the ocean. Talk about cold and no desire to go swimming! Not them, they are all for it. It was fun watching them run and play and me trying to find seashells. Oregon coasts only have pieces, no real big shells. We made a quick stop at the Heceta Lighthouse and took a few pictures. What is this lighthouse known for? It is the most photographed lighthouse so I had to add to that statistic. : ) That afternoon we went to my aunt's who lives in the area. We figured it had been almost 20 years since I had see her son. It was good to see them. Lots of fun things everyday!

Bryce looking in the shark tank. Notice the shark on his left. They were all over the tank.

The family posing around the shark teeth at the aquarium.

How do kids run on a cold beach? Oregon does have some very pretty beaches. They were lots different from the California ones most of us are used to going to.

The Heceta Lighthouse. Most photographed lighthouse, that I photographed too. :)
My dad's sister, Ilene and her family Kenny, Scott, and Tia.

Like a Lighthouse!!

2010-07-01T00:13:00.001-06:00

Wow how time flies - already July! Where has the year gone? Today on our trip was the day to visit the lighthouse. We found one you could still go on a tour of. Ever been to the top of a lighthouse? Not us, so we decided to give it a try. Now we need to watch that movie Pete's Dragon to show the kids how it works. Old movie for us old folk, most of you probably don' t remember it. :) This light house Cape Blanco is the one furthest west on the Oregon Coast. It was real neat inside. The kids liked it and were mostly good inside too. :) After visiting this lighthouse, we decided it was time to head North to Florence. Lots to see that direction too.

This was a fun walk up to the top. About 70 stairs and a pretty view.

The lighthouse guide described how the lighthouse worked and told us that the light was visible for up to 21 miles. This glass for the light is directly from France. One of the few remaining types like this. It was very interesting to see how these things work.

Beware of the Tsunami!!

2010-06-30T23:16:00.001-06:00

Today was basically a travel day. We headed for Bandon, Oregon which is one of the further western points in the United States. The closer we got to the coast the colder it got. Being this direction helps me appreciate the warm Utah weather, but it helps Darin think he would like to move somewhere cooler. The temperature was 62 degrees and our crazy kids still wanted to get in the pool.

Our camp site was way cool though. It was nestled down in lots of trees. It was a real nice site, but a bit too much away from the sun. I think the part that was the best of the day was the Tsunami signs. The signs are located all up and down the coast highway. They are preparing for a tsunami around here. There is another sign describing what to do if one hits, but the sign says one happened about 1700. Better prepare for it now in 2010. It was a much needed sign for a good laugh.

Crater Lake National Park

2010-06-29T22:57:00.000-06:00

After all the excitement of San Francisco, we decide to head north to the more isolated area of Oregon. One can only handle so much of that excitement. We stopped in Goldhill, Oregon near Medford. It was not far from Crater Lake National Park, so that was our next visit. This trip has definitely been one of many weather changes. From heat and sunburns to cold winds off the ocean to snow! Yes you read that right, snow. At Crater Lake, which is about 6,000 feet. there is still lots of snow. Part of the park was still not opened due to snow removal still going on. We posed by this snow drift that was well over 10 feet tall still. The path we walked to look at the lake was covered in parts. Don't worry, that snow did not stop us or our fearless children. Of course Bryce's shoes are still wet, but would you expect anything less?
We are contemplating using this picture for our Christmas card this year. Ready, Aim . . . but it was a bit off since the front of the truck was my tripod. : ) We ate our picnic lunch in this area. As you can see Matt and I are a bit weak. No one else wears their jackets in the snow.

If any of you have ever been here, you can appreciate this park. To be honest we did not really know why we were going here. Our National Parks pass that we bought a year ago was about to expire and since we were near this place we decided to go, I guess. It is not a well visited park with less than 500,000 people visiting it each year. Zion has over 2 million, so there is a comparison for you. This lake was once a volcano that collapsed in on itself and is now a lake. The snow that falls here melts and fills the lake. There is no inlets or outlets for this lake. The sides are so steep too that there is only one way down to the lake that has been made. The water is amazingly blue.
This is a picture of the lake with Wizard Hat Island. They said the island looked like a wizard hat, thus it's name. Guess it was inspiration for Harry Potter movies. The water was so blue we could not believe it. If you have ever been to Hawaii, it was a close race with that ocean water. If you have ever been to Quail Lake, well it was not even close to that brown water. : )
Bryce enjoys posing for me with his serious little looks. The other two just do it because I make them. ;) Oh well, I am mom and they are obedient.

The Golden Gate Bridge and other scary sights!! : )

2010-06-27T22:14:00.008-06:00

We decided to venture into San Francisco one more time. Not that the excitement of one day wasn't enough. The people, the close and tall buildings, the traffic, and the public transportation could not keep us away from one more adventure. So we left the safety of our trailer and drove to the famous place. When we arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge, the clouds were low and the fog horn kept going off. I got several pictures where you could not even see the bridge there was so much fog.

Our first goal was to walk across the bridge. It is just over 1 1/2 miles long, so we thought it would work out for us to walk it and have Darin drive across and meet us walking. The traffic was not so nice looking though, so we decided to walk to what we thought was the middle. It was a very chilly walk at points when the wind off the ocean blew. We continued to walk and look out at Alcatraz, Pier 39 that we had seen the day before, and the city of San Francisco. We got to our turn around point and realized we had basically walked across the bridge. We only had a little farther to go and we were at the other side. It went fast though as we turned around and walked back to our car. The bridge is amazing. I am glad the engineers and architects that made this bridge did not skip any of their math classes. : )
This picture of Darin is him by a phone. It was crazy - the sign said "Crisis Counseling - There is hope make the call. Consequences of jumping from this bridge are fatal and tragic." I guess all our traveling had pushed him over the edge. :) Actually he knew his friend Cory would get a good laugh out of the phone so he took it for you, Cory!!

After walking the bridge we drove over to Fisherman's Wharf and ate at the Rainforest Jungle Restaurant. It was all decorated with jungle scenery and animals. Every so often the animals did a show for you and there were saltwater fish tank on all the walls. It was a fun place to eat.

After that we had one stop to make. I had promised two boys there was no way we were going to San Francisco and not stopping at the 49ers stadium. I had it all mapped out to get there and did not think it would be much of a problem, but I had forgotten one other item that San Francisco is known for and that there had been a big Pride Run the day before, so of course on one of the main roads there would be a big party. For any of you that know Darin, yes plug your ears because he is still cussing about what we saw. The contest the day before between Darin and Matthew was to see who could spot the worst couple. They had some pretty normal looking people, but then a group of about five walked out of a store that were pretty bad. The winning couple was finally spotted by me as we waited to turn a corner. I could not even take a picture and I apologize to my kids for allowing them to see it. They had on longer boots with little strings with puffy balls on the ends, no shirts of course, and covering the remaining parts were leather speedo looking "pants". Oh it was bad, you are welcome for the visual by the way. ;) This was a normal sight around the town.

We had done so well not see too many, but that corner did it for us. We hustled over to the stadium and then left the great island for our last visit there. Of course it is one of those places to visit once, but I think I can find a few more places to return to and this would probably not top the list. : )

The home of the favorite football team of my two oldest boys!!

San Francisco - Pier 39 - Fisherman's Warf and Baseball

2010-06-26T23:13:00.003-06:00

Pier 39 with Alcatraz in the background. Fun stop to see lots of things at.

Friday was a travel day from Yosemite to a KOA a bit east if San Francisco. It's just one of those places we had to visit once, so we gave it a try. It did not disappoint either. We had a few things we wanted to do, so we took two days to get them done. The first day we went to Pier 39. It was a crazy place with lots of tourist, so we fit right in. :) We watched a magic show, took pictures of Alcatraz and saw a ton of seals. We then ventured down the street a bit to see the famous Fisherman's Warf. It was full of lots of crazy people too, but interesting to see. So many people had some talents to share to see if we would pay money to see them perform. Most of their talents should have remained hidden.

Our other goal for today was to go to the baseball game. We were at AT&T park home of the San Francisco Giants who hosted the Boston Red Sox. We got their way early and watched the Red Sox in their pre-game warm-ups. The players were hitting and several went foul. A guy was standing near Bryce when a ball came there way. He caught the ball, but tossed it to Bryce and told him he already had one so Bryce could have his. Brooke a bit later was able to get another ball autographed by Dustin Richardson who is a pitcher for Boston who did pitch that game. Then during the sixth inning Matt caught a ball the center fielder threw after warm-ups. It was a fun filled day.

We really didn't care who won, but we enjoyed the game. You could definitely tell we were not in Utah anymore. By the 7th inning stretch, drinking had taken its toll and things were a bit wild. We had 5th row seats just over centerfield. A few homeruns when out to our right and one to our left. It was a good experience for the family.

Matt thinking he's cool with the ball I told him to wake up and pay attention to so he could catch it. Seconds later it was thrown to him. Crazy how quick this kid listens to mom. :)
Now the return trip back to the car is another story in itself. I definitely don't like public transportation. Good thing we are a fit family. We have made our poor kids walk way more than should be legal. :(

Sequoia National Forest - Home of the Big Trees!

2010-06-24T22:55:00.000-06:00

Today was an amazing day. I would have to list Sequoia National Park on one of my top 10 favorite parks. I have been to many too, but it was great. These pictures don't even do justice for the size of these trees. They are just massive!! This tree above is the General Sherman Sequoia. It is the biggest tree in the world. There are other trees that are taller, but this tree has the biggest volume ever. Meaning for you lack of math knowledge readers : ) this tree is bigger in the base and what is inside than any other tree. It was amazing to see these trees. We read lots on them and found that the Sequoias and the Redwoods are different. The Sequoias are more massive, but the Redwoods in Northern California are taller. I think I will stick with the Sequoias they are great. We did lots of hiking today too, but not as much and way less uphill walks. Today was an adventure though. There were lots of people in the park, but at one point we were the only people on a trail in the forest. It was a bit scary especially when we know animals wondered close to the people. We also hiked up Moro Rock which is a mountain of over 400 stairs to an amazing view. My little Bryce counted the stairs and he got 477, and I listened to him count, so I will go with what his final count was.

This gives just a small idea of the size of these trees with Darin in the picture. They were amazing. My little family gets so tired of me telling them to pose. : )

Darin and I on the top of Moro Rock. It was kind of like Angel's Landing. Amazing and beautiful from so high up. We did not stay long. Found out many of us do not like heights. ; )

Gross - What is that?

Yes, it belongs to this little fella. It was so crazy, we saw four bears. They could care less about the people though, they just kept eating. I wanted a little better picture, but the closeup lens was working the best it could and there is no way I was getting any closer. Today was great. Decided I am going to write a book. Want to title it "Taking them to all 50 - A family guide for vacations." Okay, maybe not really, but I have came across several things to share with people. Where to go, what to stay away from and many other tips I think would be helpful.

Yosemite National Park

2010-06-23T22:07:00.004-06:00

Yosemite National Park was a pretty fun area. Our first stop was Bridal Veil Falls. Brooke and I needed jackets because of all the mist from the waterfall, it was cold. We then went to Lower Yosemite Falls. The shuttle service at Yosemite is not as good as Zion's so we got a bit frustrated at a few points. We were still able see lots of places and did lots of walking. One hike was to Vernal Falls. It was a 1 1/2 mile walk one way, but a bit strenuous. At the top there are lots of steps but they get real wet from the mist from the falls. When the steps got too wet and many people were starting to back up on the stairs we decided it was time to turn around. There were no rails and the edges were a bit too close for these parents. The kids were great and hardly complained at what we had put them through today. It was a fun day. Long and hard, but it was good. Yosemite is known for all the waterfalls and for Half Dome a huge mountain.

Robin Hood?!

2010-06-21T23:01:00.003-06:00

At our first stop in Calico, California they had an archery range at the KOA. We tried our best to see how well we could do on the targets. Fun little activity we have never really done as a family. We are no Robin Hoods, but we weren't far off Legoles of Lord of the Rings. : )

Let the trip begin!!!!

2010-06-21T22:29:00.003-06:00

After the success of two other years, we have started our third summer trip. This summer we have decided to head to the west coast. None of us except Darin have been to Oregon and Washington, so here we go!! Our trip goals are to go to Northern California and then follow the coast and make a big loop through Idaho and Utah to come home. Our first night we are in Calico. We can hear the ghosts of the town of old miners from the 1880's. Ok not really and we did not have a chance to go on a Ghost Town tour but we did go swimming and shoot some arrows. Just call us Robin Hood. ; ) We are excited for the many places we will visit. We will be by Fresno tomorrow where we will look at some giant sequoia trees. Enjoy our trip with us!!

Graduation!!!

2010-05-27T22:01:00.001-06:00

We can't believe it has happened to us. We have joined the ranks of the old with a graduate. : ) Matthew graduated this spring. Can't believe our oldest has reached that milestone. I think the part that gets me most is knowing I have to drive by myself to work, won't be able to text him during school hours to come see me : ) and to know that he won't be in my math class anymore. Starts to bring tears to my eyes still. It was a great graduation though. He had so many people come to support him. It was great to see everyone that came, grandparents, aunts, uncles, lots of cousins and bunches of friends. Thanks to all of you that came and have helped him. I have finally been able to get him to write Thank You cards, now getting those delivered is our next goal and chore. Don't worry, yours is coming. His plans as of now are to go to Dixie State for a year and then next summer wait for his mission call. Hopefully we can all handle each other for one more year and not drive him crazy. You know how parents get after the young adult has graduated. : )

2010-05-11T20:22:00.004-06:00

One More Sunset

2010-03-30T21:16:00.001-06:00

If we weren't playing we were looking at the sunset and walking on the beach. Saving our money to take the kids there someday. We have 19 states covered, so we have a while before we make it there with them, but it will happen.

Final Sunset in Hawaii

2010-03-30T20:59:00.002-06:00

We had a great time on the trip. It was one of those things where you prepare so long for it then it finally comes and just like that it was over. It was a great week that we will never forget. After we had played all week and did so many things we all had one final request to be back at the resort early evening. Our resort was on the west side of the island. I am not sure there was a better place to see the sunset. It was beautiful. It was the perfect end to our perfect week. I know many of you have gone there, but if you haven't I would encourage you to go. I have to admit I enjoyed the time with just Darin, but truly missed my kids after two days, but would not have traded the time with Darin and friends. These pictures will not do justice to the real thing, but hope you like a few of my sunset pictures.

Catamaran and Body Surfing!

2010-03-29T21:36:00.003-06:00

For the next couple of days we continued to be regular tourists and enjoy the island! We had to go on the ocean so we reserved our spot on the Catamaran! It was a big sailboat that took us on a two hour tour! Did you want to start singing the Gilligan song right then? It was fun and we were able to see a battleship, a submarine, a turtle and lots of dolphins. I tried to take lots of pictures, but only got a few good ones. After the boat ride I ran all over the island looking for the one souvenir I had promised Bryce, a basketball from Hawaii with the word Hawaii on it. I finally found it in the University of Hawaii store. Then on Saturday we went up the coast and played on the beach. We did some fun body surfing. Darin can't read and disobeyed the sign and jumped off the cliff. It was so fun that day. We did everything we wanted and more. The people we went with were great. One more post to come with a few more sunset pics.

Snorkeling, Waimea Bay, PCC, SHAVED ICE and more!

2010-03-25T21:31:00.005-06:00

Wednesday we spent some time at the Swap meet so we could purchase our souvenirs. After Darin got tired of shopping, yes it was quick, then we headed over to the beach to try some snorkeling! It was a fun activity that took me a bit to get used to but it was worth it. After I got the hang of it we swam out a ways and saw lots of fish, a sea turtle, a scary electric eel and lots of weird people! It was a fun. Then we spent some time with friends from Hurricane that had taken their girls to Hawaii. It was a relaxing barbecue. Thursday we went to Waimea Bay for a nice little walk. Part way up the hill it started to pour on us. Not just a little rain, but tons! We tried to hide under the trees, but still got drenched. At the top Darin, Jess and Josh swam to the waterfall. From there we headed to the Hawaii Temple and the PCC. The temple was closed and would be for another year. We had gone to a luau on Tuesday at our resort, so the PCC was fun, but seemed to be a lot the same to me. It was enjoyable and I am glad we went. On our way home we found the famous Muotosue's Shaved Ice. It was really good Thursday, but even better on Saturday. That's story in itself and would not be given justice in writing, so ask Cory or Darin about that one someday. : ) Fun times were had by all.

More Hawaii

2010-03-25T21:09:00.002-06:00

We had tons of fun on our trip. We stayed at a fun resort on the beach. The resort had four smaller private beaches and a cool swimming pool. We are excited to take the kids there in the future. On our first day, Monday, we just hung out and rested from our flight. We found the stores for food and supplies. We also found a McDonald's which sold SPAM. It is a popular meat in Hawaii. Funny thing is both Darin and I remember eating Spam when we were kids. We will be having a meal with Spam, rice and pineapple soon, all are welcome to come!! : ) On Tuesday, we went to Pearl Harbor. What an amazing place. We walked through a submarine, toured the area then took a short boat ride over to the USS Arizona. To walk on the deck of the memorial and see the oil drops in the water, it was all surreal. After that we went on a hike up to Diamond Head. It is an extinct volcano and was a great hike. Cory and I tried to run up part of it, but kept getting stopped by people who were wearing flip flops or heals. Serious? On a hike? It was a fun hike. More days to come . . .

Hawaii

2010-03-16T22:11:00.003-06:00

After more than a year of preparing we did it. We went on our trip to Hawaii. The group that ended up going was Cory and Melanie Reese, Josh and Jessica Jensen and Darin and I. We were sad when Silas and Mel were unable to go, but with work the way it was he was unable to get the time off. We left Sunday March 7th and returned Sunday March 14th. It was seven days of good weather, although the wind blows there too, walking lots of places, hiking a volcano, touring history, swimming with the fish, eating shaved ice that is better than SnoShack's : ) and just having tons of fun with great friends! It is tough to say what was our favorite part, there were so many fun things we did. I am glad I have over 600 pictures though to look back on and laugh about. I have posted a few now and will do my best to get a few more on in the next little while. I did have to post our snorkeling picture because one, it was just lots of fun to swim with the turtle, the eels and the little Dori fishes and two, this is just a glimpse at the type of people we are and that went with us. What a group of goofballs! More to come . . .

First Season of Basketball

2010-03-16T21:32:00.003-06:00

Well our first season of basketball has ended. It was a fun season and we had lost of support and fans. Darin and the kids attended almost all the games and got to know the girls well. As far as the wins and losses goes I would rather not base our season on that, but on what we learned and how much fun we had. : ) We made some great improvements and have many of the players returning next season. The girls were lots of fun and a great group that wanted to learn. For all the new plays and defenses we threw at them they did a great job. We lost several close games that could have gone either way, but usually not ours. I am excited for next season when we can continue where we left off this season and have a great season next year.

December Fun

2010-01-03T20:31:00.005-07:00

December is full of parties and fun. The kids are doing great in school and sure enjoy all the different aspects of it. Especially their friends and the class party. Brooke and I invited Grandma and Carol to our traditional activity of the Forgotten Carols. It is a play in St. George by Michael McClean. Brooke and I went last year and had so much fun we wanted to go again. It was so much fun we want to go forever. Brooke even said I could take her and her daughter. : ) Other parties for the month included school parties, City Council party and a big party with our big group of friends and their families. It was tons of fun. Another gathering we had was the Christmas Eve tradition of opening one present from Grandpa and Grandma Kidd. Well my mom had gone the extra mile and made a few extra pajamas so we had some friends over to open gifts and read the Christmas story in Luke. We had tons of fun!! I enjoy December and all the gatherings, but it sure is a busy month. One down side to this month involved my running. I had struggled with a sore knee since the marathon in October, then the sickness in November. I had been unable to commit to running the Boston Marathon because of the two problems. After finding out the beginning of December my knee would be fine I decided to start the training and enter the race. Well, when I tried to enter the race the registration was closed. So I will not be running Boston this year, but will next year. Maybe Darin will be running it with me since he is turning out to be a running maniac! Other than that, the month of December was great!

Thomas Christmas Party

2010-01-03T20:15:00.002-07:00

December started with Darin running a relay race with four other guys. I had planned on running it with some friends, but after getting sick I was lucky to be able to run a mile. Darin had a great time and their team did good. They each ran about 10 miles during two different legs. It was an all day event which was good for us at home so we could put up our Christmas decorations and lights. If any of you know Darin, him being gone while we did that was good. : ) The next weekend was the Thomas Christmas Party. There were lots of family for that and it was good to see them. Kayla was back from college and Josh came over from St. George. We missed not having Gary, Jill, Calais, Jordyn and Camille who are in Texas. We also missed Greg, Diana, Chris, Andrew and Kimberly who are in Washington. It was a fun party with our family, Amy's family and several other cousins and grandparents.

Where did November go?!

2010-01-03T19:46:00.002-07:00

I have gotten way behind on this blogging thing! After the marathon my training decreased quite a bit. Running just wasn't as fun anymore. I enjoyed being with Darin and my friends but did not go too much. Darin, Matthew and I did run the Butch Cassidy 10K the beginning of November. It was a good race and we all got a medal for our respective age groups - old, young and younger! : ) The week before Thanksgiving I started to get a pretty good cough. I came home from work Thursday and called a sub for Friday. But Friday morning I was headed to the doctor. Well with all the hand sanitizing and precautions we had taken, it did not matter, I had gotten the H1N1 virus. I don't think I have ever been so sick. It hit fast and very hard. I was about 5 days in bed and several days after that with little energy. It is now January and I am finally over the cough. I immediately had the kids get immunized for it. I did not want them to feel like I did. I was out of commission the entire week of Thanksgiving. Luckily we had a family party at Darin's parents' home so I did not have to prepare the meal. Thanks to extended family for the party. While I was sick my family was great. Darin took care of the meals and the kids. Matt would come home during breaks at school and lunch to check on me. I found out that Britton could go only two days without physical contact from mom, then he needed a hug. Love that kid. Brooke was the little mom and helped with the family. Bryce brought me breakfast in bed one day. It looked great too, but since I was unable to keep any food down for four days I had to fake eating it. As a mom though, I showed my extreme appreciation. The house did continue to work and everyone was good. Amazingly no one else got sick, so I had that to be thankful for. On Thanksgiving morning the other five ran a Turkey Trot race. They are amazing. I love to watch them run! They destroy lots of people too. Just a little side note. : ) Well that was November and it was here and gone so fast. Maybe because I slept through so many days of it at the end.

Trick or Treat!!!

2009-11-07T21:46:00.003-07:00

Halloween is always a fun time for us. Last year I started a new tradition where the kids can be whatever they want at school for the parade, but for the evening Trunk or Treat and the few homes we go to, they have to be something that goes together in threes. This year was one of our best I think. During the day Bryce was a boxer, grandma made him a shiny robe and I bought him some boxing gloves. I also blacked his eye with some face paint. He looked good. Britton was a ninja. He had a fun costume with black body suit and yellow robe, we painted his face some too. Brooke was Pocahonatas. Grandma and her neighbor made a fun costume that looked like buckskin. They even made her little boots. They had fun at school and looked great in the parade around the school.

Now for the evening events they changed into another costume. They all had gray sweatpants with gray sweatshirts. Then grandma made three tails and masks. They already had sunglasses and I made three canes that were white with red tape at the bottom. Got the picture? Yep, they were the three blind mice! They were adorable. I dressed up like the Farmer's wife who cut off their tails! We had a fun evening. We went to a street that was well decorated and gave away fun stuff and lots of it. Then to the church for the Trunk or Treat. From there Mel and Jess came over for a Pinata time. Had fun with that, then we had to go to our regular Halloween visits. Saw Brother and Sister Cordell, Amy Fawcett and Roy and Jane Hoyt. That one is always fun, Jane buys the kids a box of cereal since about 4 years ago they went in her pantry when we were there trick or treating and each took some cereal. It was a fun evening. Already thinking about what we can be next year. Any ideas let me know! Had ideas of Three Musketeers or Three Stooges. :)

Break from School

2009-10-23T22:16:00.003-06:00

With Friday and Monday off from school, we decided to take a little trip. We met Amy and her family for a camping trip in Valley of Fire. What a fun time we had. We enjoyed a fire for Tin Foil dinners, marshmellows, and S'mores. We definitely did not need it because of cold, it was 90 degrees and the kids slept in a tent, so weather was great. The kids had a great time climbing the beautiful red rocks with Ryan and Jared. I was smart mom and found yellow shirts for everyone to wear so I could count five "mountain goats" very quickly. Speaking of mountains, the kids spotted a mountain sheep not far from our camp. We took a few pictures and just enjoyed watching him eat something from the desert ground. On the final day Darin and I went on an hour long hike around the mountains with the kids. We caught a lizard, which by the way five days later is still alive. We had a great time. The kids said they wanted to come back every year. It was a nice relaxing get a way. Valley of Fire is a state park, so there were some visitor spots we went and visited. We saw some petroglyphs and went to the Visitors Center. Fun times we had.

Cross Country

2009-10-23T21:54:00.003-06:00

Running and then more running! We finished up our Cross Country season on Wednesday, Oct 21st. The week prior my kids ran Region in St. George and took 3rd. The boys qualified for State, but the girls were 4th, so they did not make it. We have the toughest region in the state, so we were looking forward to a high finish at state. Since we did not have very many kids, we took two vans to Salt Lake. Darin and I took one with three crazy boys, Matt and two of his friends, Ben and Rush. The other van was driven by another runner's parents, Ben and Angela Ashcraft. We got there Tuesday night and of course ate at Olive Garden. The race Wednesday afternoon was good. Grandma and Carol were also there to watch. The runners did well and placed pretty good. Our top runner was Rush who placed 12th. Matt had a good race and ran the race in 18:08. Our team placed 6th which was a good finish for us. The season was good and we had lots of success.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-14T21:31:00.003-06:00

We decided to go to the pumpkin patch this past weekend. It was lots of fun. We met Jess and her family there so the kids had a great time playing with McKendry and Connor. They played on the horse swing, rode the train, pet the animals and played on the barn swing. After playing for a while we got on a tractor/trailor and rode out to the pumpkin patch. We walked around what seemed like forever to find the right pumpkin. We finally got them and rode back to the main park. It was a fun afternoon. We now have our pumpkins, but wait a week or two before we put pictures on of our carving party!

St. George Marathon

2009-10-10T21:55:00.003-06:00

Well it was extremely difficult to sleep Friday night, October 2nd. After a restless night I got up at 4:00 and prepared to leave for a most exciting day. So many early mornings of running and making my friends bike with me or Darin and Matthew run with me, we left for the marathon. It was an exciting morning with all the people gathering around the fires at the top of the mountain by the starting line. The wait went quick though and there we were getting ready to start the race. Yes, over 6,000 people had paid to run 26.2 miles! My knee started hurting at mile 5, but I got help at mile 7 with that and it was ok the rest of the race. Mel and Jess were at mile 16 to cheer me on. It was a much needed sight since I was really starting to get tired. I hit the wall by 19 and struggled up the hill at Ledges. By the time I got to 20, I could see St. George, but I still struggled for a bit. With three miles left I had the adrenaline I needed to complete the race and started watching for people I knew. The kids had made three posters that said "Go Shelly", "Good Job, Mom!" and then "Pick it up! Merthon Mom!" Well all the cheering, many miles and hard work paid off because I ran a 3:36 and qualified for Boston. It was well worth it but I am sure I will pay for it for quite some time!

Eye Surgery

2009-10-10T21:35:00.003-06:00

It took years to convince me that it was ok to have the Lasik Eye Surgery. Well it actually took Bryce to get a piece of Pampas grass stuck in his eye over spring break to let me see it really would be okay to do it. Well on September 25th, I took the challenge and had the surgery. I went on a long run Friday morning to relieve a little stress. Then at 9 AM, Darin and I drove into St. George to the doctor. I was extremely nervous, but with a little Valium, I was ok! :) The surgery part was a bit uncomfortable, but as a mom I can guarantee I have had more painful moments! After the long 10 minutes surgery I was instructed on what eye drops to take when and what medicines to take. We came straight home and I enjoyed the afternoon of many naps! By that evening I was seeing a lot better, but it was not until the next morning that I could see real good! It was worth it and I wish I would not have waited so long to have the surgery. If you are considering it, do it!

Family Fun Run

2009-10-04T17:03:00.008-06:00

About a month ago Bryce and Brook asked us when they could run a 3-mile race with us. My first thought was "Why are you going crazy like the rest of us?" But I refrained from saying anything and told them soon. My friend Karrie was putting on a Fun Run in Hurricane. It was a nice 3-mile course easy for the kids to do. We trained a little for it and then came race day. Earlier that month, Britton had told me he did not want to run, so I did not force him to, but did tell him that he had to be supportive and cheer for the other two. He agreed and did a great job. He road around the course with both grandpas and grandmas and cheered at several corners. Matt ran the course in 20 minutes and took 1st overall. Shortly behind him in 5th overall was Bryce at a time of 26:32. I ran with him and it was fun hearing him say, "Mom, can we go a little faster?" With about 1/2 mile left his shoe came untied. I told him not to worry about it that it would not fall off. Well, mom was wrong and as we turned the corner with 50 feet left it flew off. Funny thing to see, but he kept running. Brooke was the 3rd overall female runner of the day and did the course in 27:58. Watch out high school runners, this girl is faster than you! Dad ran with Brooke and said she chatted the whole way. If any of you know Brooke I am sure you can imagine that! She would say things like, "Dad, hear those birds? They are saying, Thank you for the bird seed you leave at your house. I like it." Oh, the words of Brooke always make me laugh. It was definitely an enjoyable race. I am sure we have lots more to do as a family.

Cross Country

2009-09-18T17:34:00.002-06:00

It's crazy to think the season is about half over already. It has gone fast and we have had some fun. When I started this coaching thing 14 years ago I had about 8 kids on the team. It made for short practices and meets. Not sure if I was faster then or if they were just slower, but I could run with all of them. With this season I have 35 kids and all levels. I have to ride my bike now to keep up with the first ones and check on the back ones. I still run with them sometimes, but much easier to bike. Matt has done a pretty good job this year. He has struggled with some times but still runs on the varsity squad. We went to Vegas last weekend and he placed 15th in the race and got a medal. The boys team took 2nd to a California school. They performed pretty well. We ran in the small school division, which has fewer schools, but did well. We will be running a fun run 5K tomorrow in our town. Brooke and Bryce said they wanted to run a 3 mile race so we are going to give it a try. Britton will be our biggest fan, but really isn't into that running stuff. He is too cute, so I will keep him in the family anyway! : ) I will write tomorrow to let you know how we all did.

Winning Pictures

2009-09-07T21:38:00.004-06:00

We had a fun Labor Day weekend. Friday was full of running some errands and cleaning up a bit. Brooke and I hung out with Mel and her girls. It was a fun girls day out. We went to Pirate Island Pizza, which made the boys a bit upset. They got over it pretty quick, but I am sure they will remind me I need to take them soon.
Labor Day weekend also brings Peach Days for Hurricane. Friday evening we went to watch Jess and her team play in a volleyball tournament. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to see some of the displays at the school. I entered six pictures that we took on our trip this summer. The four kids and I all entered with some pretty neat pictures. Matt and Bryce got a second place ribbon on their pictures. Brooke and I got a first place on ours. Britton had two good pictures he entered and got first on both of his. It was fun to see them find their pictures and see they got a ribbon. I also decided to enter some peaches for the fruit display. Out of all the plates of peaches, mine was the best looking one! I got a first place ribbon on them too. They are really tasty too. We have had peaches and cream a few times. On Saturday morning, Matt, Darin and I ran in the Peach Days 12K race which is a 7.4 mile race. You have to guess your finishing time. Matt and I were a bit off, but Darin was only 18 seconds off his guess. He won $40 for his close guess. Matt earned $20 for how close he was. We all ran a good race.
Monday was started with a very long run. I am still training for the marathon and it was my longest run of my training. I have some great training partners that really help me. Today Darin ran the first 13 miles with me. He is great company and helps me keep a good pace. Matt met us at mile 13 and he ran the next 10 miles with me. Yes, add that correctly, I ran 23 miles today. It was a tough course. They both kept me going at a good pace, but I know this course was lots tougher than the marathon course. Every mile helps prepare me for the long run I have in less than a month! We ended our evening with a little barbeque with the Jensen's and the Cowden's. We missed Jess because some people have to work on Labor Day!

Class Reunion

2009-08-15T22:17:00.002-06:00

It only happens every ten years, so I was mixed on going, but curiosity got me. For my ten year reunion I thought I had achieved some good things, but with my changes over the last ten years, I had to go to Rawlins. My family was not too excited to go, but I had to show them off. I knew there would be some people I would recognize and some I would have no idea who they were, but it was a great time. I went to a school that had only a few LDS students and most of my friends were not. It was fun to see the few that came, but crazy to see how many of my classmates had not changed. It was a long trip here, but worth the time to see my Cross-Country coach, visit the high school (yes, view my two school records that still stand) and to see so many of the students I spent four years with.

Pioneer Days

2009-08-15T22:12:00.000-06:00

On the 24th of July there is a 5K run and some fun activities at the park. Darin and I decided to do the run with some friends. It was lots of fun. I don't have any pictures of the race, but will post our afternoon activities of the lake. I do have to mention the run though because we ran it in 22 minutes. I thought it was a good time and it was an improvement from Bryce 5K for Darin, so now he is looking for the low 22's or even a 21 5K. I think we have created an Animal! After the race and some fun park things, we headed to the lake with Mel and Silas and Jess and Josh. It was a lot of fun. We are not normally boat people, but I think we could get into this some, especially with the people we get to hang out with!! We all had a chance to ride the tube and the kids loved jumping into the lake and just swimming around.

Bryce Half and Coming Home

2009-08-15T22:04:00.002-06:00

Friday night, July 17, lots of our friends came to Bryce to run the Bryce Canyon Half. It was good to see so many people after our trip around the eight states! We had a pasta dinner that night then ran the race the next morning. Darin had prepared for the 5K and did a great job. He ran it in 24 minutes and was pretty pleased with his time. He has set his sites on some other races and improving his time. Matthew' s ankle was still hurt, so he was out for the race, but became the designated photographer for the 5k and some in the half. We road the bus to the starting line of the half which started at Ruby's Inn. It was a cold morning, but I was excited for the run. My goal was to beat my Hurricane time of 1:47 and that I did. I finished this one in a 1:41. I had a great race and really enjoyed the course. It was fun to see some of the places we had visited in the two days before along the path of our run. I was doing great in the race until mile 11. I had pushed myself way too fast too early and paid the price in the end. Several people passed me toward the last mile, but I pushed on. I learned a lot with this race and will be ready for the next half I do or for sure the marathon which is coming fast. After the race we ate lunch with Mel and Silas then they headed home. We thought we were supposed to hang out with Karrie and Cherie, but the weather forced them home early. Earl and Louise had come up early to tour Bryce Canyon with us and to watch the race. They took the kids home, so with everyone gone and the heat beating us, we loaded up the trailer and headed home too. It had been a great journey of about 25 days and lots of fun, but my home was calling me. So the trip was over and we headed home!

2009-08-10T21:30:00.003-06:00

So when our friends came to Bryce Canyon, I stopped updating my blog. Sorry about that! Thursday July 16th we decided to explore Bryce Canyon. It was a fun day starting with it being the kids' birthday. What a great place to be on Bryce's Birthday!! A crazy story did happen that day. At a few of the parks, we had the kids do the Junior Ranger Program. At Bryce Canyon, the Ranger asked for some volunteers. Six kids raised their hands with three being ours. We had been talking to a couple before the presentation. When three girls with matching shoes, similar hairstyles and similar heights all went to the front, I turned to their dad and asked him how old they were. He answered, "Eight." I said, "Triplets?" Well yes they were. What a story. With only 14 people in the presentation what are the chances there would be two sets of triplets? We took a cute picture. The dad was a teacher and they were on a six week trip from New York. That will be us in a couple years. The other cute story about our day. In that Ranger presentation the ranger asked each of the kids what their name was. Britton and Brooke were cute about telling her. When she asked Bryce, she looked twice at him when he replyed, "Bryce" What a fun trip.

Traveling Day

2009-07-15T22:04:00.002-06:00

We left Moab this morning after a nice run and breakfast. We drove to our camp spot outside of Bryce Canyon. We are here until Sunday morning then we will return to our home base after 26 days of traveling. We stopped in Richfield for fuel and a lunch break. We even waved at the town where our dear friend Josh was raised. He was raised in one of those small towns along the interstate in Utah. I understand and feel for his teasings from Darin since I was raised in a small town along the interstate in Wyoming. Darin is forever teasing me about where I grew up. Oh well, not all of us could be raised in large communities like Vegas, Delta or Roosevelt! Well our campground is in Cannonville, Utah. It is about 20 minutes from Bryce Canyon and near the end of the race for the Bryce Half Marathon we will be running on Saturday. We have lots of friends coming from Hurricane to run the race, so it will be a fun weekend. After getting here and getting things set up, we went swimming. Darin's parents showed up about 3:30. We had made plans to meet them at this point of our trip. After dinner, Grandpa and Matt challenged Darin and I in horseshoes. I thought they would give us more of a challenge than they did. Actually I think Darin could take on all three of us, give us a 10 point lead and still beat us! I was given about a 10 foot advantage and was proud that I scored a few points, including two ringers! Matt does pretty good, and Earl taught Darin how to play, but we don't really have a chance against him. The kids had fun playing at the playground and bugging grandma.
Seven years ago a few of you may remember I was not as calm and relaxed as I am most of the time. This was about the time reality hits that you are pregnant with triplets and they are about to be born! Tomorrow is their birthday. This will be birthday number two for them this year and we will have one more with friends when we get home. How time flies! It has been a fun 7 years and we look forward to many more summer trips to add to the fun. Well I better get to bed, they will be waking soon to ask me again what I got them for their birthday!

2009-07-14T21:46:00.004-06:00

We ventured into the Arches area today. The temperature here has a high of 98 degrees, so we left the trailer at 8 AM to start some hikes. There were some interesting places to see and all of them required some hiking. We saw Balanced Rock, North and South Windows, Double Arch, Delicate Arch, and Sand Dune Arch. Delicate Arch is the arch on the Utah license plate. Double Arch is where we took the picture above. It was a fun area to walk around and climb. Our paperwork said Sand Dune Arch is loved by the kids, so we knew we had to go there. That was our last stop in the park. They were right, the kids really liked it. You walk in a ways and there is a lot of sand. There is also an arch in an area where you can stop and rest. The kids took off their shoes and socks and ran wild for a little bit. It was also in a shaded area, so it cooled us all off. We stopped by the visitor's center and the kids did the workbook to become a Junior Ranger at this park too. This park had lots of lizards, so they enjoyed watching them. We came back to the camper and had a relaxing afternoon. We went swimming for a bit too. Matt has met two kids from Amsterdam that he has been able to do a little with. They are 15 and 18. It gives him some teenage conversation and fun. We leave for Bryce tomorrow. Our Bryce is excited for that. We tell him they named the Canyon after him! : ) It has been a fun trip. We have seen lots, but I think most of us are ready to get home to our own beds, showers and friends.

Back in Utah

2009-07-13T19:42:00.003-06:00

Well we left Utah on June 25th and entered back into the state today. We still have more places to go, but it was nice to think we were back in our home state. We are in Moab for two nights now. We want to go to the arches tomorrow. There are a couple of things I have forgotten to write about so I wanted to add those in now. The little kids have their birthday on July 16th. We decided to do a birthday party with grandpa, grandma and Carol. Each of the kids made their own birthday cake with the help of grandma. They turned out beautiful and tasty. They are excited because we have decided to have three birthday parties. One in Rifle that we just had, then one on the 16th in Bryce Canyon, then one in Hurricane with friends when we return. Matt's ankle is doing lots better. He is walking around almost normal. It will be a week or more before we think he should run again, but he is taking good care to ice it lots. One more crazy thing we did - you know Darin and Bryce like to have real short hair. Bryce keeps asking me to shave his head. Well I was decided yesterday was a good day to try it. He likes it, but I did not really care for the shave cream and razor idea. It scared me and I thought I was going to cut him. Everyone likes to give his head a rub and he is a good sport about it. Now he really looks like Lance, Jess!

Saturday and Sunday - Just relaxing!

2009-07-12T17:19:00.002-06:00

Saturday we just hung out in Rifle and then went to the movie. The kids had all wanted to see Ice Age 3, so we went to that one. It was a cute movie. Sunday we went to church with Grandma and Carol. It was nice being a visitor again. Not many more of those though before we get put back to work in our home ward. It has been nice relaxing at with my parents and not being on the go. We leave tomorrow for Moab. A week from today we will be home. So any of you that may miss us, not much time left before you see us! The kids have not seen the Arches, and I think they will like them.

Broken or Just Sprained?

2009-07-12T16:31:00.003-06:00

Friday we went on a hike to a local cave/waterfall area called Rifle Falls. It was a great hike. We went just before lunch and the weather was great. We knew it was just a short hike, but the kids have a lot of fun exploring some of the caves. Matt was being a boy and was running and jumping over rocks when he completely misjudged a rock and came down hard. He grabbed his ankle and started rolling around just nearing the crying point. Darin went to pull the car closer to us and found someone to help him carry Matt to the car. Side note, the guy he found was a young man going to UVU in Orem on a javelin scholarship. They carried him back to the car and we called the insurance so we could decide what we were allowed to do for him and not be charged an arm and an ankle. : ) Well, we went to the Instacare that evening for an x-ray. It came back with a little chip and we were told the snap that we all heard could have been his ligament. They said he would be off it for a while and it may be two weeks before he can run. He is glad it is not broken since Cross-Country starts in about four weeks. That pretty much was our day. Rifle Falls and the doctor took up most of it.

Rifle, Colorado and Our Truck

2009-07-09T18:20:00.002-06:00

After the long day yesterday, we decided to sleep in a bit. We are at my parents' home now and plan on staying here until Monday when we leave for Moab. First thing this morning we got a call from the Ford Dealer. They can't find anything wrong with our truck. They tested it over and over, drove it a bit and still nothing. I guess it really did just need a rest. Going so long and trying to climb such a high mountain was not in it's plans yesterday! Darin and Matthew went the 120 miles back to get the truck. It was pretty much a relaxing day. Time to catch up on the blogs, play with grasshoppers, and take a nap. Tomorrow we have a plan of going on a run and going to a waterfall/cave area grandma and the kids like to go to. Hope all of you are having a great summer!

Wednesday's Travels

2009-07-09T16:49:00.003-06:00

We left Douglas this morning for a 400 mile long day. We figured we could make it to Rifle, Colorado to my parents' home by about 4:00 that afternoon. We were doing great and making good time. We cruised through Wyoming. It was good to see all the antelope and rabbits. Time for reminiscing since I grew up there. We continued south until we got to Denver then went west for Rifle. Denver is about 5280 feet, thus the name Mile High City, and we had to go over a mountain pass that was almost 11,000 feet. I guess the truck was getting pretty tired because it made some serious clanking noise and then lost power. We pulled over to the side of the road. If any of you know the road we were about a mile from the top just about to go through Eisenhower Tunnel. Our check engine light came on so we called the tow truck. They gave us an estimated arrival time of one hour. Well about two hours and a bit more later he pulled up. He towed us about 20 minutes away to a Ford Dealer. My mom picked us up there about 8:30 and we were to her house by 10:30 that night. So much for a early arrival to grandpa and grandma's!

Leaving South Dakota

2009-07-09T15:21:00.003-06:00

Well it was time to leave South Dakota on Tuesday, July 7th, so we packed up and headed straight south to Hot Springs, South Dakota for a small stop. We had read about the Mammoth Site in the area so we decided to stop. It was an amazing place. Several years ago someone was preparing the spot for a housing development and scraped a tusk of a mammoth. They stopped preparing the land for houses and built a building over it and now have a huge site. It was a neat tour and very interesting tour and setup inside. We allowed the kids to get a souvenir from here and two of them selected a dirt cube that has mammoth bones inside it that you dig out and then glue together. My little Britton in liking this paleontology work. I told them they could be whatever they wanted to be as long as they lived by me when they grew up. : ) He can work in St. George at the dinosaur place there! After our stop there we got on the road again and headed south some more. This part of the trip took it through the state of Nebraska. We went through the top corner by Chadron, then headed straight west to Wyoming. Very flat and landscape boring drive. Not many animals or houses in the area. We got to Douglas, Wyoming that afternoon for our stop. We did the swimming and playground thing for a while. It was a good stop. We also learned a new game called Blongoball or Ladder Golf whatever you want to call it. Google it and you may get some other name. It was better than playing horseshoes with Darin and getting beat over and over. Well, kind of, he still beat us every time but it was a different game. We will see about playing that at our next party.

Evans Plunge

2009-07-06T20:57:00.002-06:00

Well I guess there is only so much history and walking you can make 6 year olds do, so Darin and I decided to treat them to some kid fun today. It was a place we knew all four kids would enjoy without any complaining. We went to an indoor water park. It had a few hydro tubes, a swimming area, Tarzan rings, and a lap pool. It was a lot of fun. Brooke almost cried when I made her go down the tube by herself, but then she wanted to keep doing that by herself. Bryce and Britton got real brave and followed Matt to the steep tube that even I didn't care to go on. They thought it was fun though. I guess I am getting old. :) Matt tried to get across the Tarzan rings, but could only go a few rings. He got farther than many, but we did see a few make it across the pool. It was a fun few hours and a good change from the many things we have been doing. This pretty much rounds out our days in South Dakota. We will be leaving tomorrow and staying in Wyoming. By the way tomorrow is our two week mark. It has sure been a fun trip, but we have some more to see!

Mt. Rushmore and Jewell Cave

2009-07-06T20:04:00.003-06:00

The Internet is not available from our camp site this time, so I had to make the walk to the front office to the game/book area to write tonight. Yesterday, Sunday, was a good day. Finding a church in South Dakota is not like finding one in Utah, on every other corner, so we had to skip church. We did our best to make it a calmer day and rested a bit. Well you know me, I rested more than the rest since we drove a bit. Good thing I trust my driver. I make sure he has his directions and away we go. We started our morning by going to Mt. Rushmore. It was an amazing place. We walked part of the trails and read lots of history. We watched a few video clips about the area and just stood and looked at the mountain. It is amazing to see how they made the men and the equipment and work that went into constructing it. I am glad they listened to their math teacher because there is some serious geometry in that monument. : ) The kids all liked it and even told me some stories about George Washington that I did not know! It was a good morning walk.
That afternoon we had made some reservations to walk through Jewell Cave. It is about 20 minutes from us and is the second longest cave in the world. It was a real neat cave. It was actually quite different from the Meramac Caves we visited in Missouri last year. Now that I understand caves a bit they are different because of the moisture. Missouri is much wetter than South Dakota. It was a fun experience though. One of the funny parts about the cave is the discovery of it. Two brothers were riding their horses by it and they saw the a hole in the mountain. The older brother attached a rope to the younger one and dropped him in. He went in quite a ways then he pulled him back out. Just a funny thought though as I thought about Bryce making Britton go into the cave to see if it was okay for him to go in. The National Parks have a program where the kids can become a Junior Ranger. I decided to let them do the program at this cave. They had to do some writing and reading and then answer some questions by the Park Rangers. They are now official Junior Rangers. They really liked the cave and learning about it.

Custer, South Dakota and Flintstone Village

2009-07-04T19:52:00.003-06:00

We started off our morning with a run. We found a real nice dirt trail that ran along the mountain for many miles. Darin and I ran 6 together then I stopped by the trailer to get Matt to run a few more. It was a neat run seeing some rabbits, a beaver, lots of birds and 6 deer on the path near us. It was a nice 12 mile run. At the end of our run we were talking to a couple who had kids playing at the playground. Come to find out they are originally from Utah and have ties to St. George. Small world! To help with our activities yesterday she said a friend of hers went to the fireworks at Mt. Rushmore and stayed in the rain for all those hours then left part way through the show because the clouds were so low the fireworks were not any good. That made Darin and I feel better.
After that we went on a drive to a cave in the area and made reservations to go to it tomorrow. We then came back to our campground. We are staying at the Flintstone Village RV Park. I stayed here as a kid and thought it was neat. It has an amusement type park so we hung out there part of the day and then walked around the town of Custer. We are watching the fireworks here in town from out RV park. They are supposed to be really good.
We hope all of you have had a great July 4th and remember the people who serve our country. Enjoy your barbecues and fireworks with family and friends!

Miles City to South Dakota!

2009-07-04T19:10:00.003-06:00

Well things have been going so well for us, there was bound to be a problem! Ok, I am usually very optimistic, but this was crazy. Somewhere along our trip we read the fireworks were on July 3rd at Mt. Rushmore. That being the reason to be there a day early, we did not want to miss it. So I made some phone calls learned you had to be at the park by 12 to park in the garage and any later you would be walking and that could be up to 3 miles. Therefore, we left Miles City, Montana at 4:30 AM on the 3rd to make it. We arrived at our camp spot dropped the trailer and went to Mt. Rushmore. As we got to a certain point we started to see cars parking along the road. It didn't really hit too hard until we drove 1/2 mile more and then saw the sign that said 2 miles to the monument! Now we are in shape to walk, but 2 1/2 miles uphill in the pouring rain was not sounding too fun nor even possible with our three little ones. It was only 12:30 and the fireworks did not start until 9:30, that is IF they happened with all the rain. You had to carry in your food and put your chairs down in your spot, then stay with them until the show started. You were not allowed to leave your items unattended. Well after many moments of deciding what to do, we decided to keep our marriage in tacked and our kids from disowning us, so we opted to miss the fireworks.
With that as our plan, we had to switch our days around and make up something else to do. We decided to go to Reptile Gardens. We had the chance to watch an alligator show, a snake show, pet a few snakes, turtles and tortoises. It was fun and the kids really enjoyed it. Yes, they keep asking me for a snake as a pet, but I keep holding my ground. The vote is 1 to 5, but I have more authority! I told them all our friends would not come to our house, so please be on my side!
After 8 hours in the car, Reptile Gardens and battling four kids and two dogs, that was enough for the day. We played miniature golf at our campground and the kids played on the playground, but it was early to bed for us.

Custer's Last Stand

2009-07-02T21:28:00.003-06:00

This morning we started off with a good run in the area. Running at an elevation of 4,000 ft is much easier than 7,000 ft! As many of you know Darin has a running schedule he has to stick to. He is on the "Couch Potato to 5K Program." Today I told him I was going to run 6 miles and he, in his little competetive mind, decided to run with me. It was actually nice having his company. We didn't talk much, but it was a good run. So for those of you who know his routine, yes he really did it and he changed his routine on his own! : ) After that we packed up and headed east a bit. We made a detour to the Custer Battle Field. It was a neat place. Lots of history there. There is still some controversy in the area with the white men and the indians. They have changed some things in the area even as recent as 2003. It was fun trying to explain this site to the kids. They enjoyed it though and Britton really caught on to some of the stories. He was retelling me some things and you can tell he understood. The weather did not cooperate too well with us at this site, so we did not stay long. It was a good stop for lunch and yes another sandwich. Brooke is already tired of them. : ) We then went 150 more miles to a small town called Miles City. We are staying here tonight and then getting up way early to go to South Dakota. We rented the kids some bike type things to try and wear out their little legs. Then after dinner they went swimming. We have a busy day ahead, so I sent them to bed early. We will hit two new states tomorrow so we can put those new stickers on the trailer map. We found out Mount Rushmore puts on its fireworks July 3rd, so we have to be there way early tomorrow. I will let you know Saturday how things go since we will get home mighty late tomorrow night. There are supposed to be thousands of people that go to the show, but it is also supposed to be one of the best. I hope so, I have looked forward to this part of the trip for a while! I really like fireworks. That could go back to my past and illegal activities, but I have repented so let's leave that in the past. : ) Well that's about all for tonight. I will keep you posted on our activities for tomorrow when I can.

Museum of the Rockies - Bozeman

2009-07-01T22:16:00.007-06:00

What a fun stay we had in Yellowstone, but that too had to come to an end. We headed north to Bozeman, Montana where a wonderful museum is with lots of dinosaur stuff. Our kids love dinosaurs, so it was a must stop for us. Britton now wants to add paleontologist to his list of want to be when I grow up. The museum also had pirate treasures, Indian artifacts, wild west history, and lots of other stuff. It really was quite the place. We spent a couple hours there, then headed east to a small area called Big Timber. It is a nice KOA where we had plenty to do for the evening to keep us busy. We went swimming and I got my laps in for my cross-training while dodging the football that was coming at me or the three smaller people doing a cannonball or belly flop over me. Then we ate dinner and the campground host taught us how to pan for gold. Never know when you may need that talent. Darin decided he would just go to the jewelry store for Brooke's gold items. After that we had to try out the jumping pillow and the basketball court. I lost quick in pig to Matt and Darin, so I headed over to the pillow. It is a huge trampoline/bounce house put together. It was fun. As you can see from the picture I can jump! Ok, not really it is just the position of the camera because these legs have no jump in them. I guess that's good for now. I better get my rest, we have lots of miles to run and drive tomorrow!

Yellowstone - Big Springs - Mesa Falls

2009-06-30T20:38:00.010-06:00

Today was a bit less walking, but still lots of fun. We started by going to Big Springs where I used to go when we would come here to visit my grandparents. Yes that was long ago, even long before some of you were born! You can go there to feed the fish, but the mosquitoes had ideas of eating of their own so we did not stay long. Of course we left the insect repellent in the camper so we stopped to by some more and spend $10 on a small bottle. Tourists, we will buy anything. :) We then drove past grandma and grandpa's old cabin. They sold it a few years ago so we couldn't stop, but it brought back memories. (Sing it for me Jess.) Then we drove to Mesa Falls. That is always a neat place to go. Scary if you are like me and a bit afraid of heights, but always a neat place. I made sure we read the plaque about the history of my Great, Great Grandpa Hendricks too, so that added to the stop. We went through a room where the kids could feel all the types of furs of the animals in the area. They enjoyed that. That was our morning. We stopped by the trailer for lunch - mac and cheese, mom, not a sandwhich - just a joke for mom since we fed her those all last summer on the trip. That afternoon we went to the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center. We saw a few bears and wolves there and went through the educational part of it too. Can't take the teachers out of us. After that we went uptown to the Old Tyme Photo store. I love those old photos where we dress up. I was a great looking saloon girl with my outlaw boys and cowgirl. You will have to come by the house after our trip to see that picture. By now we were tired and it was time for dinner and a swim so we headed back to the trailer. It has been a fun visit here, but we head out tomorrow to begin our trek across the state of Montana. More tomorrow!

Yellowstone - Old Faithful

2009-06-30T19:51:00.004-06:00

Well, the internet is sometimes not available everywhere and the mountains yesterday were not cooperating with me so I will catch you up on yesterday before I put in our activities for today. You would think my family was training for a race or something with all the walking we are doing!! Yesterday I think we walked about 5 miles. The kids did great too. We left the camper and headed for Old Faithful. We made a few stops before and walked around some geyser areas and mudpots. As long as I let the kids take pictures they were happy, so if anyone would like to have a copy of the 552 pictures we have let me know! :) We then went to the Old Faithful loop and walked around it. At the beginning of it a buffalo was resting right by the benches. We got lots of pictures of that then started to walk. It got up and headed for the path. I told the family we needed to continue to walk and hope it did not follow us. I can see how people get hurt by the animals in the park. Last week a man was mauled by a bear while on a hike in the woods. All the more reason for us to do laps around our campground on our morning runs. After the end of our walk we stopped and watched Old Faithful go off. During our wait the boys and I enjoyed watching a bug carry a catepillar into its hole then cover it up. Bryce of course wanted to cover it up with a big rock but Britton and I just kept taking pictures. Yes, those will be included on your free CD! That was about all for yesterday. I must add that one of my favorite spots was the geyser called West Triplet Geyser! Yes, it has some meaning to me!

Yellowstone - Grand Canyon of the Park and Mudpots

2009-06-28T22:10:00.005-06:00

Well, after a nice visit in Idaho, we hooked up the trailer and headed north east for Yellowstone. Our campground this time is about five miles west of West Yellowstone. It is a nice place, but busy. We went minature golfing Saturday when we got here. Bryce and Britton showed us all up making a Hole in One on the 18th hole!!
Sunday morning we found a church and enjoyed being visitors in a ward! Then we went for a drive through part of Yellowstone. We saw some mud pots, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, some hot water spots and lots of buffalo. It was great. I must add the favorite animal of the kids were the squirrels that were running around all over! I guess the 30 buffaloes, elk, and bald eagle were no big deal to them. :)
I will post a picture of the kids in the sulfur area. That may be one of my favorite parts. They were complaining about the smell so bad. "Who did that, was it you Matt?" was Bryce's comment. They really liked the bubbling mud, but one of their favorite parts was Dragon's Mouth Spring. It was a hole in the rocks with steam coming out that sounded like a dragon getting ready to blow fire at us. They loved it.
If you read my post about Cove Fort you will enjoy this part - Bryce and Britton keep telling Brooke and I we should pick up the buffalo or cow chips every time they see one - and that's lots! It was a fun day but plenty of walking. More for tomorrow though, so I better get the kids in bed! Enjoy the reading! :)

Visit to Idaho Falls

2009-06-28T21:33:00.003-06:00

After our visit with our aunt, uncle and cousins in Northern Utah we headed to Idaho Falls. I was born there and still have family that live there. It was lots of fun. We stayed at a campground about 1/2 mile from the Temple which had a nice running loop around it that was useful a few days. Matt and Darin took a few runs around the loop and Saturday Matt and I did a 9 1/2 mile run in the area. It was a fun run.
We also had a chance to watch a few little cousins race BMX bikes. That was interesting, but fun. None of us have ever been to those types of races. We met up with a friend of mine from Wyoming that now lives in the Falls with his little family. It was great to see him. We also took the kids to a Drive In movie. We went to Transformers. Matt wanted to see it and we try to please all the kids. : ) We had the back of the Expedition all set up for five little kids to watch the movie since we still had my sister's kids. Only Darin and I had been to a drive in movie, so it was an experience. The movie started at 10 pm and all the kids were out by 11. Oh well, probably not the best movie for kids anyway.
It ended up being a great two days seeing lots of people and having great fun.

Oquirrh Temple Open House

2009-06-27T17:06:00.002-06:00

On our way to Staci's house we decided to stop by the temple. "I love to see the Temple!" We talk about the temple with our kids, so we decided to take the opportunity to walk through the temple. There were 11 of us - including a 9 year old, three 6 year olds, a 5 year old and a 2 year old. I had a serious talk with them about reverence before we went in. They must have all felt the spirit because we and no problems. They loved the baptism font, the sealing room mirrors and of course the cookies in the reception tent! :) Now when we say things about the temple, they can understand it better. It sure helped when trying to explain things to Matthew.

Our Summer Trip Begins!!

2009-06-27T16:24:00.006-06:00

We left for our 25 day long trip on Tuesday, June 23rd. We began with a stop at Cove Fort. We have passed by the spot for years and the kids have never seen it, so we decided to stop there. It was pretty interesting. We found out that Britton would have to fill the wood box, but Bryce would have to empty the potty pot each morning! Mom and Brooke would have to pick up Buffalo Chips for fires, so it was an enjoyable teasing moment!
That evening we stayed in Manti and went to the pageant. It was really neat. We met Grandma and Carol there who brought my two nieces and nephew from Washington State. We had lots of fun. We saw about four different groups of people from Hurricane. That was funny. We also met up with Gentry, who is the sister of my friend, Jessica. She is from Delta and had come over to watch the show. We all enjoyed the show and it sure strengthens the testimony seeing the reenactment of the Book of Mormon and Pioneers.