April Fools! :)
SPRING BREAK!!
We left for St. George on Sunday morning. We were going down with Ben, Andrea, Elias and Teneya Ahyou, and the Catheys. We left from Cathey's house, loaded up the bikes, and listened to General Conference on the way down.
We arrived in St. George about 2 p.m. Jacob went with Catheys and Jason and I went over to Stephen and Hannah's to watch the afternoon session. It was fun to see them and visit for a little while after conference.
In hindsight I probably would not leave on a Sunday again. Too much of a distraction for Jacob.
We arrived at The Ledges, the place where we were staying and got settled in. Ben and Andrea cooked dinner...a Cup Bop copycat recipe, that night and then we went on a walk around the complex.
Monday morning Jason, Ben, Tom, Jacob, Elias and Jaxon went on a bike ride on Bear Claw Poppy. They seemed to have a good time. The girls stayed at the house and we hung out upstairs on the balcony.
They got home, had lunch and we took the kids to the pool. The weather was warm, but not hot, so it worked to go later in the afternoon. It was fun to see the girls and the boys beginning to play together. They had a fun game of chicken. Relaxing poolside making sure the kids don't drown. After swimming Jason and I fixed dinner for the crew. Baked potatoes and cookies for dessert.
Tuesday morning we headed out at 7:30 a.m. for Zions. All the kids had been staying up late so Jacob was tired before we had even begun. This picture is on the drive out to Zions.
Zions was chilly (which we expected) and windy (which we did not expect). Jacob did not bring a jacket and was cold. Jason had a rain poncho in this backpack and pulled that out for him. Helped a little bit.
We hiked the Trail to Sinawava first. Stopped at some rocks for the kids (and some adults) to climb. Took some side paths along the way.
We took the shuttle down to the lodge and went to the Emerald Pools hike.
The kids were very tired on the way home. But not too tired to......SWIM.
That night Catheys cooked dinner of Costco garlic chicken. Afterwards we play Cover Your Assets.
Wednesday morning Jason, Ben, Elias and Tom went out for a harder ride. Took all morning. Tom said his bike was having problems so he took it back to the car and locked it up. He then ran along side the guys and took pictures for them as they rode the Zen trail.
Beginning of ride
End of ride. Jason said he was out of shape for this one.
While they were gone I called an old mission companion who lives in St. George, Tina Loveland Huskinson, to see if she could go to lunch. She could so we met at Costa Vida. Her husband David came along too. 17 years ago she had a stroke that caused her left side to be numb. She had movement, but it is difficult. We had a good visit!
The rest were home and by the time the biking boys got home and we had lunch it was about 2 p.m. Jacob had been playing video games ALL day and was out of sorts. He had to get out of the house. So we headed over to the Thunder Junction all abilities park to hang out for a bit. Did the boys some good to get out!
Zip lines, splash pad fun!
Tom, the human merry-go-round pusher!
After about an hour the boys were done so we took them back to the house and swimming. The rest of the kids stayed to play. When all got home we got the kids pizza and the adults went out to dinner at a Thai place. It was good.
Thursday morning we drove home. Sad to see vacation come to an end!
Friday was a beautiful day here. Jason, for his 15th anniversary with Chevron, ordered a "smokeless" fire pit. We invited Randy/MarySue, Karen and Jared's family over to try s'mores with it.
With the fan on it did help with the smoke, but it made it burn really hot, which consumed the firewood and coals. No coals, no s'mores. Turned the fan down to get coals, but got smoke. :)
Jacob's friend, Itai, came over for the fire pit. Boys had fun.
Sunday, April 10th, was Juliette's baby blessing. After the blessing we went to Josh and Irina's for lunch. With Janette coming home, Daniel's mission call opening, baby blessing, Daniel and Abby's mission farewells....we have had, and will continue to have, many family get togethers over the next month.
April has been a busy month--thus I have been posting more than once at the end of the month! Easter! This year our Stake Conf was on Easter weekend. The Saturday evening adult session was so good. The Stake presidencies wives all spoke and did such a great job! I know how hard that is. Another sister also spoke about her very hard life and learning to forgive her father.
Sunday morning session was so good too. A brother spoke about choosing to live a different lifestyle and how at first he felt like he fit in, but over the course of many years that didn't work for him. He said, "You can take the boy out of the church, but not the church out of the boy." He was rebaptized and all of his priesthood blessings were restored...the Atonement worked and allowed to to be as if it had never happened through repentance.
I bought candy for Easter egg hunting months ago. Jason wondered if Jacob would be interested in doing a hunt. We asked him on Saturday and he said, as long as he got candy he would do it. 😅
Here he is hunting.
After Stake Conf. we went down to Heidi's for Easter dinner. We also celebrated Mom's (bday was on Saturday, Jen's (bday was on Friday) and Tanner's (bday on Friday like his grandma Jen's bday). Jennifer was here to celebrate with Tanner since she couldn't come to Julianna's wedding in May. Chris will come out for that one.
Kids playing a game. Hannah, Christian, Emily and Kennedy
Joy, Matthew, Jen, Chris, Amy, Mallory. Kennedy,
Hannah, Christian, Nathan.
Emily, Carter, Erick Adrienne
Megan (David's niece--Marilyn's daugher), Linnea, her boyfriend, Bryce, Sammie.
Jacob, Jason, Julianna, Koleton, Olivia, Mom
Heidi, David, Erin.
Kennedy, Tanner, Christian, Jacob, Me
Tanner "blowing" out his candle.
We had dinner, told Mom jokes--her request for her birthday, had cake/ice cream and visited.
It was a good weekend.
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