Tulip Festival

Last night we went to the Tulip Festival up at Thanksgiving Point.  It was such a beautiful night and nice to spend time together as a family.

 

 

 

 

13

How is my son 13?  I can't believe it. 

He is such a good kid and there is definitely a reason Heavenly Father sent him before 3 girls. 

 

 I have such fun memories of me and Ethan as a baby in our home in Sugarhouse.  I was a new mom and while Jim was at work, Ethan and I would just hang out in that backyard  sitting on a blanket on the grass letting the day slip by us.  I would read a lot with him right next to me.  We read, and read and read books.   Sometimes I would read to myself while he just hung out next to me and a lot of the times I read to Ethan.  When I think of Ethan as a baby those precious times in the backyard come straight to mind.  I miss those times in that backyard next to that tree.  Life was a lot less busy.

Now he is an official teenager and sadly getting closer and closer to the age of 18 when he will go on a mission.  How can I only have 5 more years with him home with us?  It makes me so sad.  But it is an honor to watch him growing up into such a wonderful young man. He is caring, kind, smart, patient and spiritual.  I hope he continues to exemplify those qualities.

 

Here is a little bit of birthday festivities-

 

 April 16th- Date Night with Parent.  Ethan's date night with a parent happened to fall on his birthday week so him and I went to have some fun.  We had a buy one get one free coupon and were able to use it on a combo pass.  So we got to do video games, mini bowling, laser tag (2 times), and miniature golf.  It was a great night out although Ethan has no mercy on his mom in laser tag :)

 

April 17th- Birthday Eve

Ethan chose to go to Red Brick Oven.  This was the second year that is was just REALLY noisy there with other little kids that liked to scream.  But Ethan likes the all you can eat pizza so we go :)

April 18th- Friend Birthday Party
Ethan had a few friends over to celebrate.  His parties are so easy to plan.  I just buy lots of pizza and soda. They also had some brownies with ice cream and chocolate syrup.  They kept busy playing Wii and capture the flag.  And yes, there is one girl at the party :)

Grace, Will, Ethan, Nick, Daniel, Adi, Josh and Colin

April 19th- Family Party.  Thank you everyone that came out to celebrate Ethan's birthday. 

 And that concludes birthday festivities. 

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY ETHAN!!!!

 

 

Spring Break 2015

For Spring Break we were able to go hang out with some neighborhood friends.  We went down to Escalante/ Bryce. This is the 4th year we have gotten together with these 4 other families for Spring Break adventures.  Well technically just 3 for  us Harrison's since we did our Oregon Trip last year while they went to Moab.  I am so grateful for their friendships!!  We get together a lot during the year but our Spring Break trips are probably my favorite times to just be together.

 

Anyways, we all left early Thursday morning caravanning down to Escalante.  We set up camp, had some lunch and heading out for a hike.

 

 

Peek A Boo/ Spooky Slot Canyons.

These were the skinniest slot canyons I have ever been in yet. 

Teamwork was definitely needed in some places :)

 

A few of the moms- me, Jody and Stacey

 

Lots of sand to walk (or crawl) through

These 3 girls are so cute!!  So glad they have each other to grow up with.

Jim and Cameron.
 They worked together in the Bishopric until January of this year.

Teamwork needed here to get down :)

I made it!

 

Lower Calf Creek Falls

The next day we heading to a waterfall.  3 miles in and 3 miles out.  It was absolutely gorgeous.

 

Almost made it to the waterfall!!!!

Stacey and I had Twinner shirts!

Nice photo bomb Lilly

Lilly was brave enough to go into the water.  It was COLD!!!!

All the awesome moms- Julie, Jody, Alisha, Stacey, Julieann

Petroglyphs

After a little lunch we went and checked out some petroglyphs.

 

Bryce Canyon

On Saturday we headed up to Bryce before heading home.  Either I had never been or it has been so long that I don't remember but it was GORGEOUS!!!!  We hiked down sunset and up sunrise. Absolutely amazing.

 

Lilly was "done" for a little bit of the hike. 
 Overall, all the kids were such troopers for how much hiking we did. 
You know, like about 13 miles in 48 hours!
 

Happy now AND at the end of our hike.

Some of the kids on a rest break.

Cute silly girls.

Stunning!!!

Also stunning!

Afton and Lilly loved hanging out with their friend Maddie

Picture of part of the trail we hiked on.

Our new souvenir

Henri's Drive Thru

After Bryce we were all going to go eat at Ruby's Diner but it was still closed for the season.  So we drove to the next town and stopped at this hamburger place.  It was so funny because we basically took over the restaurant with our group of 29.  When we walked in it was basically empty except for one or two customers. .  We managed to fill up every single table/ seat and still have a few standing.  It was hilarious.

Here is a view with our group taking up half of the restaurant.

 

Easter Egg Hunt

Our final stop before heading home was a belated Easter Egg Hunt. 



Jody and I getting ready to watch the kids gather eggs.

Afton and Cassie.

And they are off!!!

  It was such a fun few days with friends, family and food.  Lots of hiking but the views and company made every step worth it.