Timpanogos, Owls Game and the Salisbury's (Day3)

Friday I woke up early to get a shower and get ready before the gang all woke up. We had to head out by 9 to get breakfast and make it to Timpanogos in time. The family (minus me) had a quick bite at McDonalds. The kids thought this statue of Ronald was funny. I didn't eat there, but opted for a Clif Bar and OJ from a gas station. That was my favorite morning snack while I was up there. Our cave tour was at 12:30 and they suggested we start our mile and a half hike an hour and 1/2 early. Last time we did this hike, we did it with Joe, Billy, and my Mom 12 years ago. My Mom needed frequent stops, and we barely made it there in time, so with 4 kids I was panicked to get an early start on the hike. We made it up there with plenty of time to spare. Even with the frequent stops we had to make. There was much complaining from Ethan and Aubrie, Boston was a champ and didn't complain at all. We did sound like a broken record up and back as we had to continually remind them to stay a close to the mountain side of the trail. We heard that there was a recent accident there, which probably resulted in me being a little too protective the whole time, which I know annoyed the kids.

The hike was actually quite pleasant, I thought. It was shaded for most of the time, and it was so beautiful. We even saw some forrest critters on the way up!

Seriously, this boy is always thinking of poses for the camera!

I have NO idea what this pose is for, but he insisted I take it! I guess it's his "hiding behind the trash can" pose?

Since we got to the top early, we were able to take and early tour. Our tour guide was really nice. She put up with Ben's jokes, and enjoyed the kids. The kids loved the cave, but Boston was freezing from the 45 degree temperatures inside. He is my string bean with no body fat! I forgot how amazing the cave was. It was so cool to go through it again. The kids liked it, but wished there was an elevator to take them back down the mountain when it was over. Ha, Ha!

The hike down was even cooler. The wind had picked up and there was more cloud cover. It was a pleasant hike!

On the way out of the Canyon we saw this shaved ice shack in town. We stopped for a quick treat. Boston got the award for not complaining and Aubrie got the award for best listener. I told Ethan he wasn't going to be able to have one because he wasn't listening on the trail. He was so sad, but I knew that Boston would feel bad for him and share his, so I got Boston an extra big one. That way they both had enough. Boston got to be the great brother who shared, and Mom still got to follow through! I love when it works out that way, because I hate punishing Ethan. He is so pitiful when he is punished because he has such a sweet nature.

After our pit stop, we headed to the Salisbury's. (Ben's Childhood Best Friend) There we ate BBQ and hung out. They have 4 kids, also, so our kids had fun playing with them. We all got sucked into watching Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief in their theatre room. When we finally pulled ourselves out of there, we headed to the Owls game. Last year we went to the Owls game on the 3rd and they had an amazing firework show afterward.

This year we got regular seats, that were behind the first baseline. It was nice to be in the shade, and have back support. (We had grass seats last time). The kids did great at staying put. I did take them to the play area after the 6th inning, where they had a lot of fun. They were ready to go back to our seats, after the 7th though. I think they were tired from the hike earlier. The firework show was good, but not as great as last year. Budget cuts I guess. It was still pretty good for a small league game, though! After the game, we headed straight for the hotel, skipped the pool and went straight to bed! I think two days of hiking did us in!

Hiking the Y (Day 2)

Thursday morning came early for me, as I rolled over wide awake only to see the clock say 6:30!! That made NO sense since Utah time was an hour later. I should have been waking up at 8:30! I sat there contemplating putting on my work out clothes and hitting the gym. But then I was afraid I might wake everyone up. I'm glad I didn't work out, because the hike was a work out in itself!

We finally made it out of the hotel by 9:00. Breakfast was a stop at Jamba Juice and Great Harvest. We got our water supply at the BYU creamery on our way to the trail head. The kids were excited to see how high up we were, just at the parking lot. Sophia was the most excited, but of course she gets to ride on Ben's back all the way up. Ethan started complaining early on, and Aubrie complained because she had hurt her side in diving a few days before. It was a steep hike, and since we didn't get to the trail until around 10, it was also very warm. The switchbacks were short, but kids needed lots of breaks. Sophia on the other hand kept telling Ben not to stop. What a nice way to hike!

We finally got to the top around 11:00. The kids were so excited once they got to the top, and Ben and I were a little nervous as they were wanting to walk around the Y! We all sat down and had a snack and some water. We enjoyed the view for about 10 minutes, and then headed back down. Aubrie said it hurt her side even more going down. I felt bad for her, but half way down she forgot about it. It was a good time, despite the complaints. Believe it or not, that was my first time EVER hiking the Y! All the years I went there, and all the time I had friends foolishly hike it at midnight....I somehow never made it up there. It was great way to hike it for the first time...with my family!

This kid always like to pretend he his falling!

Dandelion anyone?

After the hike we went to the bookstore. The kids had fun picking out a few things. Actually, I don't think Boston got anything except a toothbrush that he forgot to pack!

After the bookstore, we walked around campus a bit. I dragged the family to the Widstoe building for a peek in the anatomy lab. What a rush of memories flooding back to me. I used to be an Anatomy TA, and the smell of that formaldehyde definitely brought back those memories of endless hours in the lab! I loved walking around campus, and realized how much I took for granted the beauty of it. It really is so beautiful there. I really hope my kids have the opportunity to attend BYU! What an amazing experience it is to go there.

After our walk on campus, we headed to Cafe Rio (YUM) for lunch! That place is ALWAYS a zoo, but it was worth it! We then went back to the hotel. I took off with the older three to the mall, while Ben stayed behind and napped with Sophia. The kids had fun at the mall. Boston tried to talk me into buying Ethan some skinny jeans that they found at the Gap, and Aubrie had fun finding all these cute clothes for Sophia. She loves picking out clothes for her. I nixed the skinny jeans, and got Sophia a great stash for school. Yep...school! Hard to believe she will be starting preschool this fall. Anyway, Boston kept bugging me to buy Ethan the jeans the whole time. Ethan didn't really care too much about them, which was funny. Boston even offered to pay for some of them. Gotta say that was pretty generous of him to want to spend his own money to help his brother dress "cool"! lol We did find Ben an awesome Boston Red Sox tie during our shopping expedition. After about an hour or so at the mall, Ben called and was ready for us to come back. We picked them up and grabbed dinner at Jersey Mikes and caught a movie with Amber and her husband. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that we saw Eclipse. Not because there is anything wrong with Eclipse, but because we took all the kids. The older 3 have seen the first two. They are way into the series. Boston was so excited for it to come out. I just figured Sophia would fall asleep during the movie, but she never did. And then there were some kissing scenes I didn't expect. Usually we screen ALL PG 13 movies before we let our kids watch them. I figured this one would be like the rest. Guess I learned my lesson, as I sat there thinking that the people around us were wondering why we would have our 6 and wide awake 3 year old with us! Oh well! Lesson learned, but for the record it was MUCH better than the first two! After the movie Ben took the kids swimming, minus Aubrie. She wanted to stay behind. I think she was hoping for a round of Yatzee, but seemed disappointed when all I did was crawl into bed. That 6:30 wake up and hike to Y, tuckered this old Mom out and I had another day of hiking ahead of me!!

Utah here we come! (Day 1)

So after discovering how awesome it was to spend the 4th of July in Utah, last year, we decided to try and make it a yearly tradition. We headed out for Utah on Wednesday of last week. The trip was pretty uneventful, which is a good thing around here. The kids enjoyed a day of being able to use ipods, play DS's and watch movies without having to use a ticket. ( Did I ever mention that this summer they have to earn tickets to do those things? They earn them by playing board games, reading, getting chores done without being asked, working on church stuff, doing flash cards, playing outdoors, etc. It's worked great! Boston knows his times tables, Ethan can read like a champ, and it keeps them from endless TV and computer time!) Anyway, we left home around 9:00 and got to Utah about 6:30. Our first stop was the Ellermeiers. They are old friends from North Carolina. We had a BBQ and the kids had fun playing with theirs, while we caught up. It was great seeing them and seeing how big their kids have gotten. We haven't seem them since I was pregnant with Sophia. (And I'm so mad that we didn't take any pictures! boo hoo) Time went fast visiting, and we realized, even though it was daylight outside, that is was 9:00 and they still had school the next day. We quickly left, and headed to OUR hotel. I say its ours because we have stayed there ever since I can remember. We always stay at the Courtyard by the BYU stadium. Its perfect! Maybe we like it because it's so close to Raintree (the apartments Ben and I lived in where we meet and got engaged. ha ha) It definitely is the best place to stay if you want to go to or at least see the fireworks that the Stadium of Fire puts on!

When we got to the hotel, the kids couldn't stay away from the pool. The boys had to stay behind for some reason (probably fighting) but the weren't too disappointed when I pulled out the Yatzee. That is their favorite game this summer. It's definitely great for their math skills! After the girls and Ben got back from the pool, Aubrie almost seemed disappointed that we were playing Yatzee while she was swimming! We tried to settle down to go to sleep. We had a big day ahead of us, which was going to start with a morning hike up to the Y! After a lot of talking and giggling, we finally fell asleep around midnight!

Circus Time

The morning after I got home from camp wasn't a day of rest either. The kids had their piano recital. The theme was show tunes. Boston played the Imperial March from Star Wars, and the Spongebob theme. Aubrie had Hedwig's theme from Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast. They both did great. The piano they played on sticks a bit, and that makes it hard for them, but they did really well for what they had to play with.

For some reason, their piano recitals always fall on a day that we have something, and so they have to go first and we leave right after. Last time it was the same day as Boston's baptism. This time we had bought tickets to the Barnum and Bailey circus that was to start an hour later. I'm sure the other students and their parents are probably thinking we are so rude to do ours first and not stay for theirs.

This time the kids didn't know that they were going to go first, because the Circus was a surprise. When we got there the kids saw the program and said, "Why do we always go first." I just commented how weird that was, and when they were done we pulled them out. They started complaining that they wanted to hear the rest of the songs and wanted to know why we were leaving. We made up some excuse about Ben having an appointment, but Aubrie is way to nosey and persistant. When I wouldn't give up details, she just kept complaining that it was dumb they couldn't stay. When we finally showed up to the circus they were so excited, and I said to Aubrie, "How do you feel about complaining that we left early now?" She got a big grin on her face and got the point!

The Circus was AMAZING! We had great seats- center aisle (important for those potty breaks) 5th row from the floor. There were so many acrobatic acts that kept us in awe the whole time. The kids enjoyed the show and all the food items, that I swear added up to be almost as much as the tickets! Really, how can they feel good about themselves selling cotton candy for 12 bucks?!!? The experience was all worth it. I was so excited when I first thought of the idea. I looked it up last year and found out they were coming. I booked tickets the day they were available and looked forward to a fun family experience. It's all about the memories for me! I knew this was the perfect time to take them, because if we waited much longer they wouldn't be excited for it like they were now. Of course, Ben and I were loving it, so who knows??!!!

Aubrie enjoying her 9 dollar snow cone and Ethan his 12 cotton candy, that came with that awesome hat! LOL

Tuckered Out!

FAKER!!! This boy NEVER sleeps in the car! Even when we go to Utah!