Good Family St George Trip 2015

We made our annual Goold family trip to St. George this year. We rented the same house we did 2 years ago (which 2 years ago was a nightmare with the girls crying the entire weekend!) 

This year we had so much fun.  It was between 105 and 110 degrees each day so we basically lived in the pool.  Luckily the girls love swimming now and Jaron, mr. water bug of course loved it as well.  As I've said before, Jaron has NO fear of the water.  He just jumps in and sinks to the bottom with total faith that someone is going to grab him at some point.  He swallowed so much pool water that he woke up every morning soaked through his diaper. But he had a smile the entire time.  We also turned Jaron's car seat facing forward for the trip and got him his own headset and he was so happy to finally be able to see the TV and watch some movies. He really didn't know what he was missing out on.

Aria, my most timid in the water did great. As long as she had her little inner tube around her she would jump and kick around all day.  She did pretty good jumping without it when I would make her but it was a fun vacation so I didn't force the issue of swimming without it (that's what swim teachers are for, which is happening in a couple weeks.)  I just realized we took lots of videos and very few pictures by

Siena was the most improved for sure this week.  She pretty much taught herself to swim.  She started with jumping into me, then I would slowly push her to the step and tell her to kick and I started moving back and back until she was swimming the width of the pool (well with a big push from me.)  Then she started swimming from one step to the other and I was so impressed that she not only could do it but was excited and wanted to keep doing it.  Then I got her to go down the slide by herself and once she did that there was no turning back.  She would do down the slide and then swim to me.  She did great.

We went to the temple on Sunday while we were there.  We showed up for church to find out we were an hour late for Stake Conference, so we walked around the temple instead.  It was also Father's Day so we celebrated all the Father's that were there with us.  Including Shane who does so much for his kids and is the best dad to these 3.  It was fun to spend the day with my dad as well who loves all his grandkids and children so much.  He would do anything for his kids.  And both these men mean the world to me so it was fun to spend Father's day together.

We also went to the Children's museum there which my kids loved, we stopped off at the carousel.  And one afternoon went to the splash park. 

We had such a fun week.  The kids were well behaved, the cousins even would entertain them with little movie times and play times which my kids love hanging out with their older cousins.  And they were very worn out each night and sometimes during the day.

Frozen Ballet Dance Recital

The girls had their first dance recital in June.  I was a little nervous how it would all go.  A few months ago Siena started having separation anxiety and even during dance class where she can see me through the window, she would cry and make her excuse of having to go potty just so she could leave.  Luckily we worked through it but neither of them were that excited when I would talk about the recital.

We got their costumes, still, no excitement.  We took pictures and put on makeup...still nothing.  In fact they hated the make up.  Siena started crying huge tears when I put her mascara on, which we all know what a disaster that turned into.  And as soon as we were done putting it on they were asking when we could take it off.  So unlike how I thought my 3 year olds would be.

But then the dress rehearsal rolled around and we drove up to Kingsbury hall.  Yes their recital was at Kingsbury Hall at the Univ. of Utah.  This is no ordinary, regular cute little girls dance recital. This is a full on production of a ballet.  It runs for 3 nights so they can fit all their classes into a dance.  So dress rehearsal came, they went up on the 'big stage' and practiced their dance once and came back down.  But that was all it took to convince them that this might be something fun they wanted to do.

The ballet this year was 'The Ice Princess' or otherwise known to the rest of us...'Frozen.'  The whole production was amazing.  They do such a good job and all the dances were cute and went off without a hitch.  The girls danced as Reindeer with Sven and Cristoff.  The day of the recital they kept telling me that only people from Arendelle are allowed on the big stage, so I can't come up on the big stage, but because they are reindeer they get to be from Arendelle.

As their time approached to come out on stage, I was feeling so nervous for them.  I wanted them to have fun and I didn't really care how they danced but I was just nervous.  They came prancing out and the dance was so cute.  I even got a little emotional, I have no idea why but I was.  They looked sooo little on that big stage but they did great.  They did about 1/2 the dance and then when the dance was over they were supposed to line up in a single file line in a train behind Sven and walk off.  I think they either forgot or were having so much fun they just wanted to look around some more cuz they all just stood there and looked around.

After watching them dance all year, it was such a rewarding night to see them up on stage.  We had dropped them off before the performance and they keep them downstairs doing dances, parades, singing, etc.  So after they came out for the finale we went and picked them up and they were so excited and you could tell they had so much fun and loved performing.  Now they keep asking when they can go back to dance class and do their dance performance again.  I have to break the news to them that their next performance is not for another year.

After we took pictures with family (My mom, Jennifer and Margene came as well which was super nice of them!) we were about to leave when we saw Elsa standing by us and her friends had just walked away and she was standing there by herself.  So we ran up and took a picture with her.  She was so cute and nice to talk to the girls for a minute and compliment them on their dancing.

 

The night was truly magical for me and for the girls.

London Day 7, 8 & 9

Day 7

We decided to head out of the city today to go see Leeds castle.  We had quite the adventure.  Let's just say if we were competing on Amazing Race we would've been eliminated today.  We bought our train tickets and went to the platform we were supposed to and hopped on the train sitting there.  Well apparently we were supposed to wait for the NEXT train on that platform.  So part way through the trip I realize we aren't headed the right way.  This nice guy tells us that instead of just going back to the station and getting the right train that we can take this train to the end and catch another one from there. Well we ended up taking 3 trains, having to get off at one station and walk to the next station over.  I had to take a picture at one of the train stops so we could remember what stations we had to go to and then walk over to, etc. Between the cold, the waiting for each train, it was a long morning.  Looking back now it's kind of funny and we met some nice people along that way that helped us out.

Once we made it to Leeds castle, I LOVED it.  The grounds were amazing.  We had this beautiful walk up to the castle.  Then they had these gardens in the back.  The castle had a real mote around it with a gate just like you imagine castles to be.  Then they had this really cool maze that you could walk through.  We walked around that maze for a long time and seriously could not figure it out.  We finally ran into a worker who gave us a hint.  Once you got the middle you could walk up this stone overlook.  Then you walked into this grotto (with this creepy face in this picture) and underground to get back out.  It was pretty fun.  They had a big display of falconry birds and it was just warm enough that we got to sit out on the grass and enjoy some lunch before heading back.

That night we walked through Hyde Park again to see the Princess Diana memorial fountain and we staked out Kensington Palace on the other side to see the personal residences.  There were lots of signs saying no photography, but of course, I took a few anyways.  After that we called it an early night.

Day 8

The next day we had planned to go to Windsor Castle but decided to do a few different things instead and it might have been my favorite day in London, although I am a little sad I missed Windsor Castle.

We woke up and found out Kate was in Labor.  Now the whole week we had been there everyone was waiting for Kate to have her baby.  She was 2 weeks overdue and the media was getting very anxious.  The dubbed it #thegreatkatewait  She was seen going to Buckingham Palace twice to go swimming and so I was on the lookout for every black Range Rover I saw.  So naturally after hearing she was at the hospital and the hospital just happens to be a block from the nearest tube station from our hotel, we, meaning I, decided we would take a stroll by.  It was sooo fun to see all the Papparazzi and the super fans that had been waiting at the hospital camped out for over 2 weeks.  We took pictures and walked around and then left, as I got to the tube station I checked Twitter and they had just announced that they had a little girl.  I loved being there that day.  It was so fun to be in the middle of all the royal fever happening in London that day.

 

After we left the hospital we went over and toured Tower of London.  This is where they did the hangings years ago, including Anne Boleyn.  There is so much history there and I loved hearing all about it.  And of course the crown jewels are housed there so we got to see those, which is incredible to see in person. 

 

After that there was one more stop I had to make.  Back to Buckingham Palace.  I had to see the official declaration that they put up for only 24 hours after the princess was born.  Shane was going along with this ok until we got there and saw there was a huge line across the gate and towards the back just to see the declaration up close.  At this point, he was done, but I was not.  I convinced him to stand in line for a few minutes and see how fast it moved and luckily it moved pretty fast and ended up only being about 20 mins standing in line.  So fun!!!

After that we headed back to our hotel, picked up our stuff and took the tube to the airport.  We flew back to Paris that night, stayed in a hotel by the airport and flew home from Paris the next day.

When we got to the airport to check in, they offered us a big credit if we would take a later flight.  It seemed like a no brainer to take it but I was so set on seeing my kids that night and this would mean they would be asleep when we got home.  But we did it and I'm sooo glad we did.  Now we can take the kids and go on another vacation somewhere with them.

The next morning when they woke up they all came running into our room and it was so great to see them.  I wish I couldn't captured Jaron's face, he came running in but I don't think he really realized we would be in there cuz as he came in and saw us his face just lit up with this huge grin on his face.  One look I'll never forget.  I missed them so much and it was nice to get hugs and kisses from them again.

We had such a fun trip and one we'll never forget.  It was also nice that I knew I didn't have to worry about the kids cuz I knew they were being well taken care of.  We skyped them each night and they were happy every day to talk to us and mostly excited to tell us everything they had done that day as well.