Dream Vacation!

Just an FYI there are TONS of pictures

Doesn't that look picturesque? It is! I didn't even know this was my dream vacay until I got there. Mark's best friend from forever, Mike Taylor's grandma owns this ranch. It is amazing. Its in the perfect location. Best of all. There is no internet, cell phones or television. Having Mark connected to the internet 24/7 it was so nice to get away and really be away.
Saturday Morning Mark and Mike mowed the lawn. Mike had to go into town (Mt. Carmel, not really much of a town either) to get some gas. We walked down to the creek while we waited.




Andrew had a hard time getting to the creek. He loved stopping for everything interesting.

I captured Spencer in this awkward pose so I had to post it. So funny.

I brought a bug catcher kit down. The kids had so much fun putting all sorts of bugs in it. The first night we found lots of little frogs by the house.

Jake has such a funny sense of fashion. I love the hat over the hood.

Ryan posing for me.

This is how Andrew did most of his hiking.

Had to get a family pic. with that view. LOVE IT!

While Mike and Mark mowed the boys played this game.

We went on a short hike up the slot canyons. They were really neat. Jake would complain the entire time we were walking and then when he would see something he wanted to climb up he had all sorts of energy.

Ethan at the slot canyons

Andrew loved walking around up here. He was so funny to watch.

Another family picture. Mark was such a good sport too. Guess fresh air is good for everyone :)

Ethan and Ryan decided to hike back by themselves. This is typical behavior for Ethan. He doesn't like waiting and will just take off. Yes its frustrating for me. This time Ryan went with him. I think he thought we were right behind them. Mark caught up to me and took Andrew and then I hurried and caught up to Ethan and Ryan. Ryan had gotten a little scared since we weren't around. I stayed behind and watched. Ethan is such a sweet older brother. I love this picture.

Sunday night we made s'mores over the fire inside. It was so cold and windy outside. Spencer took this picture and said it reminded him of the pitchfork picture.

Mark made the most amazing s'more. I call it the "double mallow" we had the king size hershey bars which I typically don't like since the chocolate doesn't melt to my liking. (Yes, I am pretty particular about my s'mores) Well Mark did graham-mallow-chocolate-mallow-graham. Can you say best s'more ever. I don't think I'll ever go back to the single mallow.

Ryan enjoying his s'more

Sunday night Mark let Ethan play a game on his phone. I think Ethan was feeling some with drawls from video games. (not that I think he even plays that much)

This is the funniest picture to me. I think I love everything about it especially the crazy boy making that ridiculous face.

Fiesta

WE have a lot of May birthdays in our family. Emily's is the 12, Spencer's the 15, Max the 17 and then Spencer has a roommate Geoff that is the 15 also. So we had fiesta to celebrate everyone on the 15. It was so fun to have everyone over.

We had Navajo tacos. We made salsa, guacamole, beans, taco meat, Emily made Brazilian limeade, and we had our favorite Mexican dip its just a can of el pato (the green can) mixed with cream cheese. Try it you'll be addicted.

After dinner we had party games of course. We played pin the nose on the clown and had wheel barrel races. We also had a penguin pinata. So fun.

Mark made a delicious ice cream cake. Those are the only pictures I took and sadly they are mostly blurry.

Here they are blowing and posing for the picture.

Spencer is in the front left, Geoff is next to him and Matthew right behind him. Then Emily and Max. Sam is another roommie that came, Then Ryan and Jake getting close to the action.

Happy Birthday Everyone! Or should I say FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!

Our Saturday

On Saturday May 14 we had a busy day. We got up super early and went to my cousin's baptism in Mapleton. It was at 9 and a 45 min drive. I am amazed that we got there on time since church starts at 9 and is a 2 min drive and we struggle every week. It was a great baptism and little Dyllan is so stinkin' cute. After the baptism I took Max. He's my oh so cute nephew. Mark helped Matthew and Emily move out of their apartment.

When he got home he built these little boats with the boys. WE got the kits at the kite festival in April and they have been really wanting to make them. The package said you needed safety goggles and my boys were sure they had theirs on. Here is Jake hard at work!

Here is Max, my oh so cute nephew!

Ryan was in charge of the wood glue (and sadly my only picture of Ethan)

Here's Mark the happy helper!

I feel bad that I didn't really get a picture of Ethan. He did really good. He was so happy to hammer everything. I think he is going to enjoy cub scouts this summer.

To end the evening we had Matthew and Emily over for dinner. It was so fun. We hope they find some place close to move into.

the other day I had to look up a recipe online so I could finish my grocery list. Well I let time slip by and before I knew it was checking all my favorite blogs. My kids apparently were hungry and thought to make themselves lunch. Jake got out the bread mayo and mustard. Yummy sandwich! They packed everything up so they could have a picnic outside. I looked in Ryan's bag and he had his sandwich and olives and something else random that I can't remember right now.

They decided to eat their lunch on the swing set. I am grateful for the the few nice days that we have had so far this year that we can be outside without jackets.

Here's Andrew and Ryan. They love this swing set.

Here is my great story about my swing set. Out home teacher had been renting a place and they bought a home. He told me he wasn't going to take his swing set and we could have it. Mark immediately said no while I was so excited. Mark and I talked it over for a few days. He didn't think we had room for it. So I didn't really think anything else of it. However our home teacher is a Sysco man and Mark felt the need to order his birthday cake through him. (It was huge!) So when Dan came to deliver the cake he reminded me about the swing set and said it was still there. I called my friend as soon as he left. We headed over there with her truck and loaded it up (quite comical to anyone watching) Then we drove around the corner to my house and unloaded it. The only problem was it wouldn't fit through my gate. So Renee being as handy as she is got into our tools helped me take the swing set apart, take it in the back yard, and then put it back together again. Mark got home and I showed him my surprise. I told him if he really didn't want it he would have to move it. Needless to say we have kept the swing set and my boys are loving it.The only question now is where are we going to put our garden?

Easter

For Easter this year I made all my boys matching ties. I also made myself a matching pencil skirt. So of course I had to get a picture. We have a family in our ward that has 4 kids, 3 girls and 1 boy. The oldest is in preschool. Every Sunday they come matching (more like coordinating) with dresses and bows. I kept joking that I was trying to be like them. You really can't compete with girls and bows though. I also told Mark that I spent enough time on everything that we would be matching all month. He has been a good sport to wear his tie each week.

After church we colored our eggs. My parents were in town for my brother-in-law's graduation (MPA at BYU, valedictorian too!) So we had everyone over to my house for dinner it was so fun.


Here is my little table before dinner.

And of course we can't have Easter with out the Bunny cake. I feel like it has looked better previous years but I was grateful the head didn't fall off this year. Regardless of how it looked it was all gone by the end of the night. Ethan really wanted to eat the head. I felt a little weird cutting the head off but it made Ethan's day and it was funny to watch his reaction. I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Spring Break

For spring break I took the kids down to St. George to visit my fabulous sister-in-law Michele. I figured I could handle a four hour drive and four day trip with four boys and no hubby. I had threatened my boys that I would call Michele and tell her I was too tired to do this trip and turn around and go home if they weren't helpful and were fighting. We didn't have any problems! Ethan was a HUGE help. He sat in the front the entire way. He was super funny. When we had 119 miles left he began telling me every mile that we were a mile closer. I think he only missed about 5 miles from 119-0. He was really excited.
As soon as we walked in the door my kids asked to go swimming. So we changed our clothes and went swimming. It was a little breezy but the boys had fun.

The next day we went to this fantastic park. We stayed there for two hours. They have lots of fun things that aren't found at typical parks. I think this was Ethan's favorite thing. He never seemed dizzy when getting off. I don't know how he could spin around so many times.

Ryan would sit up at the top of this thing and yell, "I'm on top of the world!"


Andrew loves stepping down curbs and I think he did this the majority of the time we were there.

We took the kids to the St. George Temple visitor center. It was so fun to be there with them. This has been one of my most favorite temples for a long time. On Thursday morning I got up early and went and did initiatory. It was such a sweet experience to be in that temple. I kept thinking of the conference talk by L. Tom Perry in October 2009 I feel like these older temple are so sacred and being there was one of my highlights of my trip.

This is the best picture we can get with four squirmy boys.

On Saturday we went to the kite festival. It was so fun. So the last few pictures are from that. We let each kid have 3 tickets. Michele bought them all kites before we came down. They loved trying to fly them minus the help from the wind.

Of course I can't go to something like this and not get cotton candy.

Ryan went on this little ride and loved it.

WE had so much fun in St. George. Thank You so much Michele and Dan.

random pictures

I love it when my kids do this. I think all of them have. They find some random little toy with wheels and then sit on it like a bike or something. This is a car for a rescue hero. Andrew rides around on it all the time. Here is Jake before his tumbling performance. Jake took tumbling and Ethan did Karate after school this time around. They both loved their programs. It was fun going to the end of year show. They did great. Unfortunately my camera was charged all the way so this is the only picture I got. I think my father-in-law has other pictures or video on his phone.