Spring Break.... you'd never guess how it ended

I really have no clue what we're going to do this week.

Day One:  Park with some Mint Cyn. friends.  My kids are truly deprived and so in turn, they felt this was some heavenly gift to be able to go to the park with friends.  Turned out to be beautiful that morning.

Day Two:  1pm and I am just finishing up with Relief Society business.  The kids have been entertaining themselves in our backyard as well as Gay's.  I planned on going to the zoo today but considering Cole is just going down for a nap, I'm not too sure that'll happen.
*Nope, didn't happen.  Cole woke up, Andrew got home and I went to have a peaceful Chipotle dinner on my own.

Day Three:  Spa & Laundry party... I'm not exactly sure what this is, so I guess I'll have to update after the party.
*12:30-3pm Portia hosted a Mary Kay thing with pizza and Coke zero.  Yep, the coke zero made my day.

Day Four:  Last night Cole had a fever of 100.7.  Ugh, my eyes are still heavy.  This morning it was at 102.8 and considering we were contemplating going to Utah Friday morning, I decided to take him in.  Everything looks viral, go figure, but better to know than not.  I went to get his meds for other things and they weren't ready.  Everyone starving and cranky, or maybe that was just me, we headed to Rattlers for a quick easy lunch.  Gotta love kids' salad bars!  Yes, all was delicious but I'm still sad that we didn't get to go to the zoo with Paola.  The zoo and the beach - two things I wanted to do this week and we accomplished neither.  Bummer

Day Five:  I loaded up the kids and headed to Utah.  Yup, how's that for no plans!?!?  My mom wanted to go visit Markie on his mountain somewhere above Beaver, Ut.  Andrew has been asking them to go on a road trip for months and months and his wish finally came true.  It's just too bad he couldn't get away from work and wasn't able to join us!  I haven't seen him that heartbroken in quite some time.  But considering the kids and I had done very little over the week, I took my mom up on her offer to take us out of town.

 The kids and I began our journey alone and stopped at Las Vegas Town Square (thanks, Tristan).  This playground was a blast and I could only wish that one day we'd have something this "cool" nearby.  Honestly, Santa Clarita could really use more splash pads.

Once everyone else arrived, my kids were drenched and starving.  Lunch at Claim Jumpers was divine.

 The first night of our trip was planned to come to a hault in Cedar City, UT.  I believe we arrived somewhere after 7:30 or 8pm and the kids had had it.  There was some confusion with the rooms and the pool and dinner yada yada and this all resulted in some emotional meltdowns.  Andi missed daddy, Jackson wanted to be on the bed, Ryan wasn't willing to budge and Cole, well Cole was actually asleep within two minutes of his head hitting his pillow.  That was the best behaved he was all weekend.  I don't think everyone was asleep until 10pm but thank goodness grandma shopping was willing to help soothe the pills while I ate my Cafe Rio salad on the floor in the hallway.

Day Six:  Saturday morning we loaded up at about 9:30am, after an awful night's sleep, to do some more driving.  Surprisingly, I didn't feel too bad.  Before heading up the mountain, we tackled Walmart along side your typical polygamist.  Good times!

 At least there was a helpful Mexican at the local gas station....

Juana drove this two hour journey with us up the mountain.  We oohed and ahhed over the crystal clear creek chasing down the mountains.  Jackson suggested we stop to take some pictures but time, ie, Cole's time, wasn't on our side, so we kept driving.  Once we reached Eagle Point, Markie met up with us and informed us our cabin wouldn't be ready until 4pm... two hours from then.  It's a good thing the Grill was so delicious and comfortable.  I mean really, the best pizza, burger, onion rings, french fries, wraps, EVER!

4pm came and went and still no keys for our cabin.  This is when we made a mistake... we decided to dive into the thickest snow in our most California snow getup.

 You would take a step and sink, way down deep.  Jeans do not hold up too well when you're knee deep in the snow.  Cole was grumpy and over it before we barely began.  Jackson was hysterical proclaiming he was going to die on this mountain.  Andi was just kinda over it but RYAN loved it.  When we went to Brianhead, UT a few years ago, Ryan was the one out there sledding and playing long past everyone else.  Considering the circumstances and his attitude toward it all this time around, I'm pretty certain it's safe to say he's our little mountain/snow man.
Cole's Meltdown

See, can't you see it, Jackson is just barely hanging on to life right here!

"I'm going to die up here!"

 But not Ryan, he takes after his uncle Markie and grandma shopping - crazy people!

BUT, he still isn't much of a thrill seeker
First attempt
DSCN0768 from Rachel Anderson on Vimeo.

Ryan - thumbs down
DSCN0769 from Rachel Anderson on Vimeo.


I think we finally made it to the cabin about an hour and a half later and the kids had no problem stripping off their clothes and climbing into their pj's.  It was a good thing too because it took another half hour or so for us all the hike up and down unloading all our luggage and groceries.

Uncle Markie got off work just shortly before the kids were put to bed.  He loves them and they love him so I'm glad they were able to say goodnight!

Once the kids were tucked in and half of them were asleep, I made a couple more trips to the car for forgotten items.  Seriously, this was a hike and a total butt kicker on the lungs.

 That night did not bring any sleep but we were warm.

Day Seven:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Grandpa, grandpa!  Sorry Mr. Cole was at his worst this day.  This kid was so clingy all week and simply emotional.  I am sure he wasn't feeling too hot considering he could have possibly had influenza, test results won't be in until middle of this week - awesome insurance, and was constipated.  Good times.  Thankfully grandma got him distracted looking at the trees for a bit while I finished packing and loading.  Also grateful that Jackson helped me hike up one of our suitcase.  Jackson Ryan and Andi were all so helpful loading up the cars.

 We're also thankful Juana was there to help get the cabin in check-out status while we loaded up the cars.  This gave us a pretty decent start at the mountain for tubing.

Grandpa, grandpa and the kids on his birthday ride!  He spent most of the time at the bottom of the hill catching the kids so I'm glad he got at least one ride down.

Still being a pain, Cole wailed and shrieked all the way down the mountain.  Oh well, I tried!  And then I took him back inside to watch from the window and warmth of the lodge.

Markie worked the entire weekend so everyone was so excited to times he was able to stop by and play with us.

 For as much as Ryan loves the snow, he's still cautious.  But have no fear, by the end of our tubing time, Ryan was on top of the mountain with everyone else.

DSCN0843 from Rachel Anderson on Vimeo.

 Well, everyone but Cole.

DSCN0812 from Rachel Anderson on Vimeo.

 After watching, Juana decided she could totally do this and surprisingly, ito decided to join her!

She loved it!!!  If it wasn't for hiking back up the mountain after each run, she would have gone more. Let's hope and pray I'm flying down a hill at 80 years old!

DSCN0839 from Rachel Anderson on Vimeo.

DSCN0840 from Rachel Anderson on Vimeo.


This was quite the journey over three days, three states and a ton of miles.  I'm exhausted but so glad we did it and so grateful to my parents for making it happen.  And although I'm beat and wouldn't mind now taking a vacation, I'm grateful my kids did as well as they did.  To be honest, the trip home yesterday, 12 hours 8.5 of them in the car, wasn't too bad - major kudos to mom, though, for helping me make that drive.

 Our drive down the mountain from Jackson's perspective....

So, here we are, Spring Break and we played it by ear....