Celebrating the Arts

The kindergarten from Davis Elementary performed at the district's Celebrating the Arts. Wy was so excited to be a part of this and play the boomwackers (basically a tube with holes and the kids hit them on their hands). The song here is about a dog who turns out to be a hot dog. After the performances we found his artwork hanging in the hall - he made a hamburger. So proud of these kids and so thankful for the great teachers!

Natural Bridges National Monument

Part of our trip to Blanding over spring break included a day trip to Natural Bridges National Monument. We had never been here before and it was so remarkable to see such scenery and beauty. The bridge pictured below is the Sipapu Bridge. There is a trail you can hike down to this bridge but it seemed a bit too tricky for little kids and pregnant lady so we settled with taking a picture from afar. I admit when we first got to the overlook I couldn't see the bridge as the background just seems to blend it altogether. Just so pretty!

 A group picture (yep Wy's posing again!) before we trekked down to the overlook for the Sipapu Bridge.

Grandpa and Lane are standing close to the edge of where the trail goes down to the Sipapu Bridge.

 When we first arrived at the monument Wyatt went with Grandpa to get maps and came back with the Junior Ranger book. He loves doing these Junior Ranger activities when we go places so he was quite excited to get this one too. On each trail he reminded us that he was THE junior ranger and to please stay on the trail and to follow him.  Unfortunately he forgot to keep checking on his "group" and thus far outdistanced the slow pokes - namely mom. Conner didn't do too bad with keeping up although on this particular trail we wished we would have put him in tennis shoes instead of cowboy boots. I kept thinking he was going to slide right over the edge with those boots (they have not traction whatsoever!) Thankfully we was okay!

 This is the Horsecollar Ruin. It was pretty neat to see it in such good condition. We zoomed in with the camera and could see inside most of the dwellings.

 Ranger Wyatt and Conner (yes, he now too strikes a pose) prepping us for the long hike down to the Owachomo Bridge. This hike wasn't really that long but when you have a 1 year old who decided at the top to walk all the way down it gets to be a bit long.

 See, here he is getting ready to go down one of the many steps. On one step we stopped and measured: it was longer down the step than his leg. Would he let anyone help? Nope! He sat down, scooted over the edge, stood up, looked at Grandpa and said "Let's go!" There's me in the background trying not to slip and fall all the way to the bottom.

 Brad and the boys made it to the bottom well before Lane, Grandpa or I. I paused here to take a photo and didn't go much farther.

 My boys!

 This is the bridge from the trail, not even down to the bottom yet although it does look like I'm on the canyon floor.

 As we made the trek back up Lane decided he'd like to walk by himself and Conner decided he needed to be carried. In order to keep him moving we told him we didn't think he could climb up various rocks and  outcroppings. Notice the smile on his face when he proved us wrong. He is such a monkey and he scampered over these rocks all the way back up the trail. Good thing kids are easy to convince!

We had such a fun time at the monument and Wyatt was able to complete his Junior Ranger book. We finished too late to turn it in but we still learned quite a bit about the monument, the area and some of the animals that live there. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Patterson for taking us!

Spring Break Part II

On Saturday morning we loaded the kiddos up and headed to Blanding's Easter Egg hunt in the park. This was Lane's first time at egg hunting and although he wasn't quite sure what we were up to at the beginning he soon caught on to the idea. Once his basket had eggs in it there was no taking that thing from him. On the way back to the truck we had to stop many times to recapture spilled eggs but he was adament: no taking his basket and no help of any kind thank you very much. (In case you were wondering, yes he is our most independent child thus far!)

Pre-egg finding anticipation

Post-egg posing

After the egg hunt we loaded up a picnic (yummy fried chicken, potato salad, deviled eggs, olives, chocolate chip cookies - ooohhh so good!) and spent a few hours at the park. Grandpa had to work for a bit so we played on the slide, the swings, the merry-go-round (pregnant women should not ride this thing!) and rode bikes while we waited. This was the first time Lane swung in a big swing by himself and he only fell out once. Way to go my not-a-baby-anymore!

The merry-go-round was such a success that it took a bit of coaxing to get Lane off the darn thing. I was sitting with him going round and round and tried to take his picture. He thought I was trying to take him off and made the grouchiest face ever. What a turkey!

Brad and the boys at the park

Abby and the boys at the park

Riding bikes

I have no idea where or when this started but lately every time we get the camera out Wy strikes a "pose" with his serious face, turned sideways of course, and his hand on his hip. It makes us laugh and we try not to encourage it but really so funny.

Spring Break Part I

Brad's parents were planning to come to Vernal to spend Easter weekend with us but plans fell through so we decided to pack up the boys and head to Blanding for Easter and Wyatt's spring break. Our plan was to leave EARLY Thursday morning and sure enough 10:00 am saw us waving goodbye to the outskirts of Vernal :) Since it was already late into the day we decided not to push and just take our time. We stopped in Price at Burger King for lunch and treated the boys to a kids meal. We were complimented on our cute and well-behaved  boys and we graciously said thank you and laughed at the well-behaved comment. Actually for having been in the truck for 3 hours they were rather good. Before we left I told Wy to go to the counter and ask for crowns. Wow were the boys excited about this. They even stood still long enough for me to snap a photo before piling back into the truck for the rest of our long journey. NOTE: Lane's crown was a bit big and I told Brad he reminded me of the kid on Fat Albert who always had a hat over his head. These three are my 3 little Kings and I love them!

We arrived at Grandpa & Grandma's house around 4:30/5:00 and told the boys to just go play and run around to get rid of all the wiggles. For being 6, 3, and 1 they sure are good riders on such long distance trips. Brad's great idea was for them to take a walk and he surmised that they would stop at the corner and turn around. NOPE! Lane saw the open road for what it was (FREEDOM!) and took off with Wyatt following him trying everything to turn him around. Conner turned around and decided he'd had enough, he was coming home and finally Brad decided Lane wasn't coming back and needed to be stopped before he hit the main road. So he hopped on the 4-wheeler and went to rescue Wy and capture Lane. SUCCESS!

 On Friday we promised the boys a trip to the park and so we bundled up (yep, southern Utah was cold!) and headed for a picnic in the park. Grandpa and Dad were nice enough to hold down baggies and water bottles while the boys played. Eventually jackets were shed and shoes and socks came off but this mom was still cold! Great Grandma Zufelt and Grandma Patterson sat in the car and watched as the boys played.

 Our little monkey was so anxious to show us his mad skills on the monkey bars. He did this several times and we were very impressed.

 Conner was brave and went down the slide all by himself. He even paused long enough at the top for me to capture the moment!

 Lane finally woke up (he fell asleep between the house and the park) and joined the boys. Grandpa set them up on the rock to take a picture so I snapped one as well. One day maybe we'll get them all to look the same way at the same time!