Wednesday, April 15, 2015

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. 





 

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Easter 2015

Gorgeous Cherry Blossoms in our back yard Easter morning

Easter goodies

Lilly- 7 years old
 
Afton- 7 years old

Lizzie- 11 years old
Lucky- 7 years old :)
 
L squared- Lizzie and Lilly

Our 3 girls!  So Lucky!

Story of my life-
with 3 girls it seems at least one is always upset about something :)

Ethan- 12 years old.
  Or Secret Service Ethan since his glasses tint in the sun.

Our 4 beautiful, awesome kids!!!

And now standing, mostly to show height difference.
I thought this was funny- twins finding eggs in a very twin way :)

Me and my 7 year old cuties!


Opening up the eggs!


Checking out treasures!

Happy Easter!

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Date Nights

Jim and I have been wanting to do one on one time with the kids for awhile.  With 4 kids it is trickier to find time just with one child.  After about 2 years of talking about it ( I know),  we decided to just start!  So each week we will take turns.  The kids get $10 for their activity.  Whatever they don't use can be rolled over to their next turn.  We just rotate through the kids each week and they rotate what parent they go with.

Week #1 Lizzie's turn- (3/17/15)- Lizzie and I went and saw the new Cinderella movie.  It was way cute and it was fun to go with just Lizzie.  Plus on Tuesdays movies are only $5!!


Week #2 Afton's turn- (3/28/15)- Afton wanted to go ride the Scheels ferris wheel with Jim.  Then they stopped at Artic Circle afterwords and got an ice cream.
I was teasing Jim he may have had a little
 competition on his date night with Afton :)

 I just love these two pictures.
  Jim is such a good dad to his 4 kids.
  Afton's face is so happy to be spending some time with her dad.

Week #3- Lilly's turn (3/31/15)  She also wanted to go to the ferris wheel at Scheels with Jim.  She chose to spend her money on TWO ferris wheel rides :)
Lilly didn't want to sit on Abe's lap like Afton did.

Beginning of first ferris wheel ride.  Super excited!

This picture cracks me up.  Here they are near the top. 
She is quite nervous.  But loved it enough to want to go again :)

I am really hoping we can keep this going.  We have really enjoyed seeing the kids get excited thinking about what they want to do when it is their turn.  It is win/ win for Jim and I too.