St. George 2016 with The Paces

As soon as school let out, Brigitte and I took the kids and went to St. George for the week.  Tyler's family has a house down there that the family all share and Brigitte thought it was a great idea to leave the husbands home to work and we take all the kids ourselves.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go and although it was a little tiring we had such a great trip.

We drove down on the Monday of Memorial Day.  So while everyone was driving into town we were just leaving.  We went at the perfect time too.  The beginning of the week was in the 90's and by the time we left it was 105.

We did A LOT of swimming.  And the best part was that the pool where the house is part of is an indoor pool.  Which means I didn't have to worry about putting on sunblock every time we went swimming.  The kids loved it and although everyone started of a little hesitant in the water, they all got braver and braver as the week went on.  Brigitte brought her 12 year old niece Maggie with her and it was so nice cuz she was so good to play and swim with all the kids.  My kids are still asking when we can invite Maggie over to come play at our house.

Each morning we tried to do a different activity. Then we would come back and give naps to those that needed it and go swimming. After dinner we watched movies, played on the back porch with chalk and water squirters, gave baths and tried to wrestle 6 kids to bed.  My girls, true to vacation form, decided to wake up early every morning.  Luckily they were pretty good to lay in my bed and watch videos on my tablet.  The first night I had them sleep in a different room together in a pull out bed.  They usually sleep fine in the same bed but this night I woke up at 4:30am to Siena screaming at Aria that she keeps touching her.  haha...although it wasn't really that funny at the time with a house full of people.  So after that they slept on the floor in my room and it worked out much better.  This picture is of Jaron so excited I let him sleep in the bed Aria and Siena were in after the first night.  He is pretending to be asleep.

One morning we went on a little hike/exploring.  We had so much fun and if it hadn't been so hot, we would've stayed there all day.  The kids all played hide and seek and had so much fun trying to find the best rock and 'cave' to hide in.

2 different mornings we went to the splash pad.  I was surprised both Jaron and Siena went to the 'big kids' part of the splash pad and were having fun one of the days.

Another morning we went to the park.  Although I kind of block this one out because Jaron rubbed sunscreen in his eye and ended up crying the entire hour we were there.  He's still traumatized and blames me for putting sunscreen in his eye.  We also went and saw the movie Zootopia.  The kids ate a ton of popcorn and I'm pretty sure my kids didn't understand the plot of the movie at all, but they liked the cute characters.

We also had dinner in the park one night followed by a carousel ride.

I also took my kids to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Goold's graves.  They loved hearing about my grandma that had red hair.

Saturday morning we packed and cleaned up and drove home.  Although my drives were pretty peaceful, poor Brigitte had cute Quinnten who does NOT like car rides and screamed almost the whole time.  Also, I apparently need to find someone a little taller to take a picture of Brigitte and I...or I need to lean down so I don't get my head cut off!

We hope to make this a yearly tradition.  Thanks Brigitte and Pace family for a great trip.  We had a blast.

May 2016

I always start out these monthly posts thinking 'Did we really do anything this month...I'm not sure I took that many pictures.'  Then I start going through them and realize we are always so busy and doing fun things, even if it's just at home.  So it's fun to document all this stuff.  This is in no particular order...

We planted a bunch of trees, flowers and bushes and Jaron was and is insistent on helping with the digging, raking and now watering.  Such a good helper.  Jaron also has been practicing his criss cross applesauce to make sure he's all ready for pre-school.  He was so proud of himself the first time he realized he could do it.  In this picture he's also wearing the shirt we got him in Paris and for some reason he calls it his Superman shirt.  If I try to tell him it's not a Superman shirt, he has a full on argument with me...so now that's his Superman shirt in case you're wondering.



The girls were all ready to watch the Kentucky Derby with me one Saturday afternoon.  Aria is truly obsessed and cheers the horses on. She loves to watch them get all lined up...truly a horse lover.


My Mother's Day was great as always.  The girls made the cutest cards from Pre-school.  The day they made them they brought them home, went upstairs and put them in a drawer and then made me promise I wouldn't look in there.  They were so good to keep it a secret until Mother's day and their faces just beamed when they gave me these cute cards.  Then the insisted that they help me scrub the dishes that afternoon...no twisting my arm there.


We took a trip to Gardner Village to see the Fairy villages on display.  And of course no trip to Gardner Village is complete without a donut.  And funny thing, we randomly went on the same day and time as Lilly and Michelle.


We bought a pass of all passes for all of us this spring.  So we decided to check out the Lehi Fun Center.  We had a good time riding the rides and letting the kids miniature golf for the first time.  And Aria actually got a hole in one!!


Just a cute picture of the CTR 4 class helping out in singing time.
Porter Jackstein, James Bonham, Lillie Johnson, Henry Marsh, Olivia Heath, Siena and Aria


Even though Aubrey got baptized a few months ago, we finally took her for her baptism dinner that I take all my nieces and nephews on.  She chose Texas Roadhouse.  Yumm.


Oh you know, just watching a show in the most comfortable bucket in the house...


We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house one day to hang out.  Everyone was amazed at the tall tower I could build and then of course they had so much fun knocking down.  And Jaron got to drive the jeep all by himself...safety first with his helmet in case he crashed I guess.


Jaron and I took one last trip to the aquarium on the girls last day of preschool.  Our passes expire in a couple months but I may sneak him out of the house one day this summer for one last jaunt.


The Pace's invited us over for a Cinco de Mayo party.  They made yummy tacos and empanadas. Then they had a pinata filled with candy for the kids.  Little did I know it was all an excuse to get rid of their leftover candy they had hanging around.  haha...it was worth it!  It was a fun night and no play date with The Pace's is complete without a group hug before we leave.  They're all such cute friends.


Katie from Jaron's nursery class came over to play one morning while her mom was sick.  Now Jaron reports to me each Sunday if Katie was in nursery or not.  When I ask who he played with he'll say 'Chris, but not Katie, nope Katie not there.'  Thanks for the attendance report buddy.


Just because I love him and his cute smile so much. He always comes up to me lately and says 'Mom, I love you sooo much.'  It's always just at random times and it completely melts my heart.