Our Adventures in Arches

We have lived in Utah for a quite awhile now, and thought it was about time we went to see some of it's beauty in Arches National Park.  It's about a 4 hour drive, and we planned on just making it a day trip.  Yes, we'd be exhausted, but we wouldn't have to spend the night in a tent or hotel room with Allie, who has never slept anywhere but her bed.  But then we found out that 3 families we know were going there together for the week, and they convinced us to spend the night and have some fun with them. 
So we were really excited; it's been a really long time since we actually had a vacation besides visiting family. 
So we set off with our minivan packed to the gills.  We were sick of driving when we got there, but our friends were headed off to hike, so we had to drive a little longer to get to the trail. 

The view was breathtaking.

There was super fine, soft sand that the kids loved.  Tyler got a cup of it to take home.  Now that I think of it, I haven't seen it since.  It's probably all over the floor of the van.

We brought a backpack to carry Allie.  It was really heavy with her in it, so we encouraged her to walk.  She did for about 7 minutes.  She loved going for a ride in the "packack."

After the hike we set up camp and had fun with our friends.  We ate dinner, made smores and banana boats, which are bananas cut lengthwise with chocolate and marshmallows put in the gap, wrapped in tin foil and roasted in the fire.  Delicious!

It was a very long, cold night.  The boys slept like logs.  Allie did good; she woke up several times and cried, but just for a few seconds until I reassured her, then she went back to sleep.  I didn't sleep at all, which is the biggest reason I hate camping.

The next day we went to Delicate Arch, which is the highlight of the park, the most famous arch in the world. 

Since our friends had little kids, and Jared and I were taking turns carrying Allie, we were taking it slow and easy.  Tyler and Jason wanted to go faster, so they went on ahead.  As I struggled up the trail in my out of shape state, Allie on my back, I said to Jared "This arch . . . (pant, pant) . . . better be . . . (huff, puff) . . . absolutely AMAZING!" 

 We stopped for a rest halfway up.

 In the pictures the arch looks huge, but it's actually not that impressive.  See?

 Just kidding

It really was absolutely amazing.   Pictures do not do it justice.  It's really a stunning piece of natural beauty, there's nothing else like it.

Jared, Joey and Jason went right up to it.  I was too tired, and needed to sit and rest for a while. 

This is right about the time I looked around and said "Where's Tyler??"

He was not there.  He was there when we got up, and we were all together for awhile, but now he was gone.  Jason said "He told me that he saw the arch, and was done.  He went back down."  Well we were pretty mad/scared/angry, as you can imagine.  We were going to hang out at the top and eat lunch and spend time with friends, then all go down and spend the rest of the day together.  But we couldn't leave Tyler alone, so we had to leave our friends and go find him.  He was fine, waiting at the bottom of the trail.  He wasn't so fine after the stern talking-to.  But we all got over it, and saw some other amazing sights.  We didn't see our friends again, since we would have had to wait a long time for them, and we had to go home that evening. 

 Everywhere you go you see something unexpected.  Like Sand Dune Arch:  You go through this narrow way, and it opens to this huge natural sandbox.  The sand is so soft and fine and clean.  We spent a long time here because it was just fun to sit and play in it.

 
We all love how Allie says "fingers."  She says it "fingerns" and so this picture is titled "Where Fingerns Go?"And this one is "There They Are!"

 

 

We saw a couple more arches, but at this point we were exhausted and ready to call it a day.  We headed home sunburned and happy, and vowed to go back again, because there is so much more that we didn't see.  It was a great experience!

 

Happy birthday Tyler

Eight years old! 

He requested white cake with red icing, and I surprised him with the mice (thanks pinterest!)

He was properly thrilled.

 
 

We had a family party, as usual, only it was a little rushed because Joey was heading off to a winter campout with his scout group.

 

 We went with the killer whale, in honor of their recent trip to Sea World.

And this year he got his "friend party."  He was so excited! 

When they got there we played a couple games; "musical papers" (we don't have that many chairs),  and "drop the q-tip in a jar."  Then we did a treasure hunt.  I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with this treasure hunt idea;  in the past I've done treasure hunts where the kids get a clue that leads them somewhere, like to the fridge, then the clue there leads them to the bathtub, or the tree outside, or something until they find the treasure, which is dollar store prizes and candy.  But they run like crazy people, and only the fastest ones see the clues, so it's only fun for some of the kids.  This time I put the names of one kid on each of the clues, so only that one could read it, that way they were all involved.  And each clue had a letter that they had to hold onto until the end.  The letters spelled out "Look in the oven" which is where the treasure was.  Great fun.

Poor Jason was sick all morning and missed out on the fun.  But we saved him cupcakes and candy, so it was ok.
Tyler had an awesome day. 

Christmas 2013

We had such a great Christmas.  Jared had both Christmas Eve and Christmas day off, and my mom and dad and Riley came.  We enjoyed each other's company, and looked forward to awesome surprises for the kids.                    

Since we live in our own house now and the boys are older it was about time that they had a pet.  I thought very carefully about what to get them.  I don't want to deal with nasty crickets or worms, and I certainly don't want to clean up animal messes on my carpet. 
So Tyler and Jason got mice.  I think they're adorable, but I understand that some people think they're nasty, so I'm sorry if some of the pictures gross you out.

Tyler named his Tiny Tim, and Jason's is Nibbles.

  They adore them!  Tyler's favorite thing to do with them is take off his shirt and let them crawl on him.  He giggles like mad.  It's pretty entertaining.

 

Joey got a parakeet, which he hasn't named yet.  If he doesn't hurry up, I'm going to take matters into my own hands, and he might end up with a girly name like Belle or Princess Peach. 

She's still pretty wild.  If we're very patient we can get her to stand on our fingers in the cage, but it will be a while before she's much fun.  But we all enjoy her anyway.

No pet's for Allie, although she likes the "mousies" a lot.

She got a little pink tricycle, which she liked for awhile, but she can't figure out the pedals, so hopefully this summer she'll have fun on it. 

She also got a My Little Pony train, a little dog that walks and barks, and a pillow pet that glows, which she calls a "pee-a pet" to our amusement.
The best surprise for the boys came from Grandma and Grandpa:  The Vacation of a Lifetime!  They left the day after Christmas and went to Disneyland, Legoland, Universal Studios, Sea World, The San Diego Zoo, and the beach.  They had a blast, enjoyed the sun, and made lots of great memories (and only a few bad ones, like the Cars ride for Tyler.  Look closely by my mom and you can see he was terrified). 

They were gone for 10 days, and we were ready for them to come back by the end.  Allie was bored and drove me crazy because I was the only one around to play with. 

It was an excellent Christmas.

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween

It was time for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  This year Allie was old enough to really enjoy herself.

She ran through this big hay maze so fast I kept losing track of her.  She could fit through little spaces that I couldn't, and she was happy to be running free of me.  She enjoyed it a lot more than I did.

"What is this stuff anyway?"

"It might be edible"

"Nope.  No good"

"No good AT ALL!"

 

They took turns burying each other in the corn sandbox

This year they took their shoes off, so I didn't get corn all over my house.

Then it rained corn

 

The first slide was really slow and boring.  The second was thrilling, but painful for poor Joey since all the corn at the bottom was gone and he landed on hard ground.

Horsies!!

She was not afraid of them at all.

Bye bye horsies!

We went on a hayride around the pumpkin patch.  We saw wildlife like cows, donkeys, and the horsies, and exotic plant life like weeds and pumpkins.

They loved it! 

This year Jason was Luigi, and Tyler was a Minecraft Skeleton.  When I asked Joey what he wanted to be he would always say he didn't know in a very uninterested way.  When it came down to the time he had to decide he said he doesn't really care about Halloween anymore because he doesn't want to dress up and he doesn't really like most of the candy that much (like suckers and gum).  I was kind of glad because I didn't have to make or buy a costume, and besides he's on the verge of being too old anyway (I had already decided this was his last year), but I was a little sad too that he's growing up. 

So he stayed home and handed out the candy, which was just fine with him.  I also bought him some candy he likes.

I had a hard time deciding what Allie should be.  The boys wanted her to be a baby Minecraft Zombie.  I thought maybe something to match Jason.  I just didn't want a princess because as soon as girls are old enough to have an opinion it seems like they won't be anything except a princess.  There's nothing wrong with that, princesses are really cute, I just thought since I still have the choice I'd do something different while I can.

Then one day she kept putting on Tyler's black cat costume (she loves cats) and was getting cranky because it's way too big.  So I made her one just her size.  She loves it.

 

She loved trick or treating, and went to every house the boys did, and said "Treat!"  (she couldn't say Trick or Treat), and after she got candy she'd say "Thank you 'a much!"

 

They got loads of loot.  For the first time Jared and I got tired before the kids did. Our neighborhood is awesome, and we all had fun.