Snowflake

We spent last weekend in Snowflake, AZ. My dad grew up there and I still have some family there. We went to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday. We had a great time escaping the heat and visiting with family. They also had a lot of activities planned for the 24th of July (Pioneer Day).

There was a Pioneer Day Rodeo that Bryce took Ethan to. I stayed home with the girls, but I heard it was a lot of fun.


There was a chicken chase for all the little kids. They made sure the kids came back good and dirty. Ethan came home looking like this.


We went to the parade the next morning. The kids came home with lots of candy that is now hidden in the kitchen cabinet.


Ethan and Caitlin with their cousins, Kyler and Brooklynn. Don't ask me why my kids all look crazy in these pictures. Ethan wasn't feeling well during the parade, but at least he's smiling. I think Caitlin was sad here because she didn't catch any candy.


And Noelle looks like maybe she caught too much candy. She's getting chubby!


Bryce and Ethan went fishing and Ethan caught his very own fish! Good job Ethan!


And on our last day we went to visit the Snowflake Temple. It was beautiful and had a great view.

Goodbye Utah

I promise this is my last Utah post. We had such a great time, but I'm glad to get back to work in real life. Here are a few Utah pictures that didn't make it into other posts.


Bryce met up with some of his friends for some good mountainboarding. I think he really misses those Utah hills.


My parents waiting for the fireworks to start on the 4th. We had great seats.


Who thinks Caitlin is having fun? (Love those mountains)


We had lots of good food while we were gone. Above: The kids at Crown Burger. Below: The girls eating Grandma's homemade ice cream.


These are at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. Awesome museum.



Some family pictures before we left.



Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Simons and everyone else for such a great time!

Seven Peaks

I hadn't been to Seven Peaks since I was a kid, so it was fun to go back. Although, it definitely cost more than when I was a kid. They charged us for everything, from parking to beach umbrellas. Other than that everything was great. I was really worried that we wouldn't be able to do it with 4 kids that don't swim, but it worked out.


They have new sections (new to me)that are for little kids. One that had waterslides for Caitlin's size and one that was good for Avery and Noelle. I was so grateful that I could just sit there in the water and let Caitlin and Avery go run around while Bryce was with Ethan on the big slides.


One of Caitlin's favorite things was to just sit in this little tube and try to drink all the water that came down. I know, gross. But entertaining.


Noelle had so much fun just kicking in the water.


Me, Noelle, and Cousin Brooklynn relaxing in the kiddie pool.


This is Ethan going down the lazy river. I can't remember if this is before or after my tube lost all of its air and Caitlin and I sunk to the bottom. By Ethan's face, I'm thinking after.


Bryce and Avery in the wave pool. We only did a half day, but that was enough for me. You can only have four kids in hazardous conditions for so long before you've had enough fun. It was nice that my kids weren't burned to a crisp when we were done. One more point for Utah.

Salt Lake City Cemetary

I didn't know there were so many historically important people buried in one place. We went to the SLC Cemetary and visited some of the people we love. This is a map with some of them written in:




Bryce with Orrin Porter Rockwell.


Me with Spencer W. Kimball. He was the prophet when Bryce and I were born.


My Dad, brothers Danny and Mikey, brother-in-law Brick, and the kids at Pres. and Sis. Hinckley's grave.

Museum of Church History and Art

On our visit of Salt Lake City we did some fun things we hadn't done before. One of those was the Church History Museum.


The cousins pretending they are on an immigrant ship.


Noelle and I being pioneers. Doesn't she know that pioneer children walked and walked and walked and walked? I don't recall them being carried and carried and carried and carried.


Upstairs in the museum, they have a space for each prophet that tells about their life and shows some of their personal items. This is Pres. Hinckley's.


Ethan speaking from the pulpit.


Caitlin outside the museum. It was really interesting. I could have spent hours in there. There is so much information to read, you would really have to go without kids to enjoy it all. But I'm glad the kids got to go. I tried to explain to them what some of the things meant, so they could have a better understanding of church history. There are so many people that have suffered so much, so that we can have the blessings of the church. I hope I can teach my kids how important these things are.

6 Months

Noelle turned 6 months while we were in Utah, and today was her doctor's appointment. She is:

15 lb. 3 oz. (25 %)
27.5 in. (90 %)

So, tall and thin, so far. She is sitting up pretty well now and rolling around like crazy. She gives kisses now, but so far mostly to Mom. She also is really busy and active. She loves to kick her legs (especially in water) and grab at anything she can reach. She is such a happy baby and is always smiling. Our vacation did a number on her sleep schedule, though. So right now we're working on that.

P.S. I looove Utah grass!

Balloon Fest

We celebrated the 4th of July in Provo doing all the Freedom Festival stuff. We went to the Balloon Fest at 6 am to see all the hot air balloons take off.


Staking out the perfect spot for balloon watching and freezing to death. Avery and Noelle (in stroller), Ethan, Aunt Sara, Uncle Brick (with cousin Cameron), and Grandma Simons holding Caitlin.


The balloons getting ready to take off. Can you find the piggy bank balloon and the Smokey the Bear balloon?


Bryce, Noelle, and me in front of the giant coke bottle balloon. I think they said it was eleven stories high. It was too big to even fly because there was nowhere big enough for it to land.


It was such a beautiful day for flying balloons, so clear and blue. This was one of my favorite things of the trip.

Monte L. Bean, We Love You!

Some of you may know that we love to go to the Monte L. Bean Museum when we visit Utah. It has become a tradition and one of the kids' favorite things.

Ethan and Caitlin being monkeys with the elephant.


Little Princess Noelle getting acquainted with the King of the Jungle.


Caitlin had to have her picture taken with the cutest animal there, the dik-dik.


Ethan's nickname is Bear, so we always get a "The Bear with a Bear" picture.

Avery mostly stayed in her stroller away from all the scariness. Bryce was there too, but he was always behind the camera.

And the moment you've all been waiting for....

Our kids with the Olive Babboon....

This was Avery's and Noelle's first year with our friend. They took it pretty well.

If you'd like to, you can see how our kids have fared in years past.

Weeee're Baaaack!

So we're back from Utah and it's time to update all our stuff. We had a great time, but are glad to be home.

Our trip started off with a bang. We had left at 4 am hoping they would sleep through some of the trip. They didn't. We weren't even out of the Phoenix Metro Area before we had two kids throwing up. Noelle only cried part of the way, so we're counting that as a win.

So, by the time we got to the I-15 I was glad to see it and was anticipating being at our destination shortly....


'Twas not to be.

About an hour and a half outside Provo one of our rear tires blew. Bryce managed to keep us on the road and safely pulled over. We had been in the 80 mph zone (going 90ish), so we were grateful to be okay. Our back bumper got a little beat up, but the car seems to have recovered. Thanks to the family that helped us with the tire!