Capitol Reef National Park

This was a trip that evolved over time.

When we got our trailer, one of my sister-in-laws told us that she used to love trips in a motorhome with her family growing up.  They thought it would be fun to rent one for a weekend and go somewhere with us.

This plan was mentioned in front of mutual friends, who also wanted to come, so it started to grow a little bit.

Then we found a great place to go and discovered that they have little cabins for only $35 a night.  Since it would cost way more than that to rent a trailer and drive it down and rent the parking spot, they decided to just do that instead.

And then that plan was mentioned in front of family, and they wanted to come too.  The more the merrier!

The friends didn't end up being able to make it, but all of the cousins had a blast together.

That's not even all of them- one was out of the frame!  Nine kids and six adults.  We watched the movie at the visitors center, and then headed off on a hike.

Everyone loved the hike . . . except this family.  They were good sports about it, but the littlest one doesn't like sand and insisted on being carried the whole way, it was really cold that morning so Dad was in long jeans for what turned out to be a hot afternoon, and the little girl wanted desperately to keep up with everything the bigger girls did.  I think they were the most happy to see the cars when we were done!

These pictures crack me up.  These girls wanted me to take a picture of them in the shady spot they found.

And then Jasmine jumped in, screaming because she wasn't involved in the first picture.  None of the other girls wanted to be around someone that loud and mad, so they left.  Which made Jasmine more mad.

Then I took a picture of how angry she was, which made her even MORE mad.

Too bad, little lady.

The kids all liked hiking, but their favorite was the tiny little pool.  It was heated, thankfully.  We noticed that every morning it was cold and windy while we were there, and then by 11 am it was hot.  The evenings were cool, but calm.  The cold and windy mornings didn't stop these kids, though.  They swam every morning almost the instant the pool opened.

I am so grateful for my husband on these trips.  I'm not a huge fan of swimming, and I'm just not a "goofing around" person.  Thanks to my husband, the kids all have a blast, though.  He spent a lot of time throwing them around and going into "submarine mode" with Tyler on his back.  It was non-stop laughter in the pool!

I've been experimenting all summer with how to run these trips.  Especially the meals.  This is a new thing for me, so we've had hits and misses, but I am learning.  One of my experiments this time was making my own "Kiwi Crate".  We are almost out of the real Kiwi Crate, and they wouldn't have enough stuff for 9 cousins anyway.  So I spent time on Pinterest and packed all of the stuff for a few crafts in a box, ready to go.  The "glow stick ring toss" didn't go very far, but the kids really loved making these "lanterns"!

One family only stayed one night, another stayed two nights, but we were able to stay for three nights.  Which means that our second day of hiking was all by ourselves.

Somehow, the part that excited Kaitlyn the most was the apple orchard.  We stopped there briefly with all the cousins on the first day, and she spent the next day and a half asking when we could go back.

Capitol Reef now contains what used to be a small, Mormon settlement.  I think the last people moved out in the 60's.  When they converted it to a National Park, they kept the orchards going.  Now the fruit is free to eat in season, and just a $1 per bushel to take out of the orchard.  We have an apple tree and a pear tree in bloom at our house, but we don't have the awesome pickers on a stick, I guess.

It was even a really sour variety of apple, but the kids still thought it was so awesome to pick an apple by themselves and then eat it.

Or, just eat the whole branch.  Why not.

Fill up every weekend!

I feel like we have been trying to cram every single weekend lately!  In fact, this last weekend, my husband wanted to go to the cabin for a quick trip, and I just had to tell him I wanted to stay home for once.  It was kinda what I needed.

One weekend we got back from a cabin trip in time to go watch a dirt bike race.  I thought that it would be something mostly for my husband, and sort of interesting for the rest of us, but it was actually awesome.  We are going every year, I hope!  They had races in all sorts of categories: amateurs (who feel down a lot and made my kids laugh), little kids, BMX racers, and even mules.  At first I felt bad laughing at the wrecks, but they are all wearing so much padding and they all wreck so much that I got over that.  This was clearly the way they expect things to go.

I wanted to take a picture of Tyler watching them line up, but obviously he just wanted to show off his can of pop.

My kids are discovering selfies . . . oh dear.

My poor iPhone camera had trouble with the dark lighting and fast movement, but I was impressed that it locked on while panning.  Here's a BMX guy heading into his flip.

So much fun!

The next weekend, we took the trailer out for another trip.  We didn't go far, actually, since this campground was only 10 minutes or so from our house.  At first I was a little put off by how close together the campsites were, but it actually wasn't an issue at all.  We had a blast hanging out by the river and going on walks, and never really noticed the other campers much.

(Jasmine loved throwing rocks into the water, and really wanted me to take a picture every time she did so!)

Of course the best part about this campout is that Grandma and Kylie Q came along!

Since we have four bunks in the back and three kids, Grandma came and took the empty bunk.  I'm so glad she was able to come!  I think she enjoyed having a little trip and spending time with our family, and we sure enjoyed relaxing with her.

Though it was funny- I forgot to pack one thing for each meal she spent with us!  My favorite was when the roll of "non-stick" foil ran out, and I remembered that my sister-in-law left tin foil from when they borrowed the trailer, so I just ducked in to pull that out.  And there was only 1" left!  We cooked breakfast in a pan and moved on, but it was just so funny.

I brought a Kiwi Crate along again.  I can't believe how much use we have gotten out of those few boxes my mom has bought us.  I love them any time, but they truly shine on trips.  This was the third time I have brought them on a trip, and it is so amazing to just pull out a little box and have everything they need to create a toy.  We made kites out of paper, stickers, crepe paper and yarn, and they played with them for hours and hours.

I can't convince her to keep her shoes on, sorry!  I'm trying.

They even came with us on our walk, dragging along like limp pets when the kids weren't running fast enough to keep them aloft.

The next weekend was Labor Day, and we tried to pack a few vacations into one weekend, it seemed.  Christopher's family wanted to camp out at his Grandmother's land in Indianola.  He has such fond memories of picnics and campouts there as a kid, and he was excited for our kids to go.  I just couldn't believe how much stuff we needed!  I'm spoiled by cabin trips (where I pack food and clothes) and trailer trips (where I pack food, clothes, and make sure everything else is stocked) that packing two tents and two cots and 5 sleeping bags and everything else was a shock.  We had a funny miscommunication- Chris spent over an hour getting the trailer cleared out and parked, and then told me he now finally was ready to pack everything in the truck, but I had already packed it all in the Pilot.  All his work for nothing.  So we got down there with barely enough daylight to set up the tents and left after breakfast (hence, no pictures).

Then we came home and quickly got everything ready to host friends to watch the BYU game.  I'm always glad when we win if we have people over, because having a party and losing makes it all just sad.  We took the kids on a bike ride that night, went to church the next morning, and then headed right up to the cabin for the evening.  Then we came down in time to go to a birthday party swimming at the reservoir, and left that in time for a party at Grandma's house before we could head home and unpack.

And that is why I was content to stay home this weekend!  Besides, home has kept me busy lately.  Along with all the prep work for those trips, I am entering "family pictures" season, with four families booked in the next three weeks, and I have a new toy to play with.

I've wanted an embroidery machine ever since I borrowed my friend's to make the Frozen costumes last year.  And it is absolutely as much fun as I thought it would be.

I've been embroidering towels, my hoodie, quiet book pages, t shirts, handkerchiefs, and even a door hanging.  Christopher's only condition with my purchase was that I had to find a way to make money with it, so I'm working on that part slowly.  For now, I'm still mostly learning it myself.

The kids are adjusting well to school, I think.  Kaitlyn has had to step up her game in her class, but she is such a smart girl.  Tyler's teacher reports that he is doing well . . . if he focuses and stops talking about zombies and Minecraft.  And Jasmine loves her school with all of her friends and her little backpack.

Funny story about the backpack!  One day she asked to take a snack to the store with us, and since I knew she should be hungry, I helped her find a pre-packaged little snack the kids usually take to lunch and then went upstairs to grab my shoes.  Halfway through the store, she solumnly tells me that "I think it is time for a snack" and opens her backpack . . . to pull out an entire package of strawberries that should have been in our fridge.  It turns out that she also packed the entire carton of blueberries just in case!  Punk.

In fact, there are other fun stories that I really should write down.  On day, Tyler accidentally dropped something on his own foot while we were at the cabin one day.  "I'm sorry!  I'm sorry!  I'm so sorry! . . . that I dropped that . . . on my foot!"  When he hobbled over to the couch so Daddy could look at it, he saw a little dangling piece of skin ready to come off.  So he yanked it off.  And Tyler shrieked and said "I'm going to be sad about that!"

Another time, Daddy was being silly and instead of tickling Tyler (which Tyler loves) he popped Tyler's toes.  Tyler apparently had never experienced that before, because he was laying on the floor, crying in agony that his feet were broken and he couldn't walk.  I tried to comfort him, but I could tell he probably needed an apology from the one who did it, so I told Daddy to come in.  And Christopher, in true guy form, just told him "Tyler!  It's time to go!  Stand up or I'll pop your toes again!" in a silly voice.  Well, Tyler didn't care for that, and actually started swinging punches at Daddy (which I told Christopher he totally earned.)  Christopher is not allowed to do that again, that's for sure!

Back to school!

There are things I love about summer- I love not having my life booked out solid, I like all the nice weather and fun things we get to do.  But by the end, I am so ready to have a schedule again!  I honestly wish I could have a balance, because during the school year, I feel like I never see my kids.  But during the summer, I see a bit too much of them, in a way.  Tyler and Jasmine have gotten worse the last two summers at picking fights with anything the other one did.  So even though I was nervous about new schools and new teachers, I was ready.

Tyler started school at Spectrum Academy this year, and while I am nervous about him being able to step up to the level that school is at, I am really good friends with his teacher.  That helps both of us!  She knows Tyler really well, and Tyler knows her, so they seem to be doing well.

We were late getting out the door that first day, that's for sure.  My kids had forgotten how to stay on task in the mornings.  It seemed like as soon as I went to help one kid, the other one wandered off task.  At one point I helped Tyler pack a lunch, and then turned around to find him eating it.  Ack!  So that picture was taken as fast as lightning before dashing off.

They love their Minecraft shirts, though.  I helped Kaitlyn design, cut and iron them on, and then Kaitlyn sewed the face onto those T-shirts.  It was a fun project!  We even made them for a bunch of her cousins.

The next week, Jasmine started preschool.  We are just swapping with some moms in the neighborhood, which is a first for me.  I'm nervous for my turn to teach, because it isn't my usual specialty, but it will be worth having free preschool for sure.  And she loves it.  She is so thrilled to have her tiny backpack and go to school like the big kids.

Mom is thrilled to have a minute to herself. :)

I cut her hair a day or two before school started for her.  I kept growing it out, thinking that I would love having hair to braid and play with, but it just didn't suit her like the little bob does.  She lost her patience with me towards the end of this haircut, but I think I got it in the end.

The next week, we got thrown for another loop.  John Hancock Charter School called to say that they have a spot for Kaitlyn.  I had put her name down years ago and forgotten all about them.  But after talking it over with everyone, we all felt like it would be a good fit for Kaitlyn.  So then we had another first day of school!

She wasn't sure about the uniforms at first- she told me they looked like "boy clothes".  But I think she is getting used to it already. She is sad about leaving all of her friends behind, but I am banking on her making so many new friends that she sails right on.  This school will level her up in math and reading, which the public school can't, and she will start learning the violin soon as well.

Somewhere in there we went to visit another school.  BYU does a "kick-off" every year, and as we stood in line this year, we debated our decision to go.  They ran late, which made us miss Pack Meeting.  The kids just love it, though!  It seems aimed at their age group.

Kaitlyn got to try gymnastics on a big set of bars . . .

the brave older kids got to hug Cosmo . . .

they played games . . .

got their faces painted.  . .

and got shy around the cheerleaders.

A happy day.

Last bits of summer

My younger brother flew out to spend a week with my oldest brother in Idaho, and since they were driving past us on their way from Vegas, we got to spend a little bit of time with them.  My kids LOVED climbing all over them and chasing them and playing on their laptops! I bet they were actually happy for a quiet road once they left.

I love this "I'm pretending to be asleep" look here.

As soon as they left, it was time to start packing.  Lake Powell time!

The girls were instantly in love with the paddle boards.

And Tyler was so thrilled with Uncle David entitled him "Captain Skarda" and put him at the steering wheel.  I thought he was joking, but he actually left him steering the houseboat!  David would go and adjust something, and then come back and tell him to turn one way, go fix something else, and then have him adjust another way.  Tyler was in heaven.

I was just thrilled to not have a "ladder-dweller" this year.  Each of my girls has spent a year or two where they don't trust the life vest and refuse to let go of the ladder.  Which means that each person who wants to get in or out of the water is invading "their" turf.  I spent a few days working with Jasmine in my neighbor's pool just to make sure that wouldn't happen this year.  It took a few hours and a lot of tears, but she finally trusted the life vest - if she had her floatie.  Which floated away halfway through the week.

Tyler spend most of his week on this tube.  He loved getting pulled behind the boat in it, but somehow the kids all thought it was the best toy even just sitting in the water behind the houseboat.  He would jump from tube to tube, throw each other off of it, you name it.

For my husband, it is all about the surfing.  Wakeboarding is pretty good, too.

One of the cousins brought his little kayak, and I was impressed that Tyler figured out all of the steering over the course of the week.  He loved it!

It was a really busy week at Lake Powell, that's for sure.  The invitation has always been for the whole extended family, but usually only about 25 or so come.  This year, we had 40 people for the first few days.  And then our hosts had to leave for a day or two to take their son to the MTC.  We kept telling them that they could cancel the trip, but they kept brushing that off.  We are truly grateful, because our kids look forward to that all year.