Miscellaneous March Pictures

Spring Break in Utah

This year for spring break we decided to hit the road to Utah so we could spend the week with family and enjoy all the many things to do in Utah.  The drive is always the worst - I get so stir crazy if it's too many hours.  Within a couple hours though, all four kids were asleep so I'd say the drive was a success!  :)

The kids couldn't wait to be reunited with all their cousins.  Being together really is the best.

Unfortunately, the cousins weren't all on spring break so we had some big family gatherings on the weekend, and then on the weekdays we lost some here and there when we couldn't convince their moms to let them ditch.  :)

Sophie gave this tiny cute Elsa dress to Karly and she loves it so much!!

Brad is always the fun adult who plays lots of games.

While we were there we were able to attend the open house for the newly renovated Jordan River temple.  The kids thought it was so neat to be able to go inside and see all the beautiful rooms.  I'm so glad we were able to have this experience together.

These girls were giddy with excitement over the idea of a sleepover.  They are so cute together, and growing up so fast!

Eden and Kadence made up a song together.  Eden played the music and Kadence sang. They were so cute.

Here's our 2009 triplets! Lincoln, Wren and Eden.

And here's the 2014 triplets - Olive, London and Cooper

We spent one day at the Museum of Natural Curiousity.  This place is awesome, but kind of chaotic when you have a big group of small people full of a huge room of more small people.  We did a pretty good job at keeping them all corraled in one room and moving them all at the same time though.  :)

Olive, London and Karly were quite the entertainers in the stage room.  These three were all competing with each other for the spotlight.

Erin was a good sport to come along and endure the squeals of playing children so we could hang out and visit.

I love my sisters and the opportunities we have to be together! Jesse had to work, but we were missing her company too!

At one point Olive had disappeared and we couldn't find her with any of the cousins anywhere.  Brad finally discovered her in the back room "helping" the museum worker assemble something.  Brad just sat back and watched as Olive just chatted away with this lady.

On another evening we were able to meet up with Brad's cousin James and his family.  Brad had many fond memories from growing up with James and he had told the kids about many of the crazy things they had done as kids.  When we got to their house and met James, his wife and their three girls, Olive said, "But dad, where's James?" She was expecting to see a little boy because of all the stories she had heard about the boy James.  She didn't realize that James was an old guy like dad now!  :)

Their girls were very sweet and all the kids played so well together!

Another afternoon we drove north of Salt Lake and met up for lunch with our friends the Mays.  It was so great to see them and the kids were so happy to reunite with the friends they used to be with every day before they moved!

And let's not forget that we enjoyed some delicious Cafe Rio.  I do wish we had that place here in NM!

These buddies always just pick right back up where they left off.  I wish they could be together more often!

After lunch with the Mays, we went over to see the Harding's new house in Ogden.  It was fun to see them in their own house and neighborhood.  They took us over to the club and park that they spend lots of time at too.  It was fun plugging into their life for a day.

On our final day there we were able to gather lots of cousins one last time to visit the farm at Thanksgiving Pointe.  This was an animal dreamland!  The kids had so much fun.

Michael's service dog Xxon was strangly popular there with this big brown lama.  Every time Michael walked by that lama followed making a weird bellowing noise and then all the rest of the animals would all quickly follow behind too.  It was a strange thing to watch.  Those animals were definitely communicating with each other!

Karly thought the feel of the cows licking her was the best thing ever.  She squealed and giggled.

Then we discovered the tiniest, most adorable little goat.  The kids were determined to touch him, even though he was standing where we couldn't get to him very easily.

Then there were the pony rides.  This was the first time for my kids (except Eden) to be on a horse.  To say they loved it is a complete understatement.  They were all SO EXCITED!

Overall it was a fantastic trip, that left us all worn out.  We were sad to say goodbye to family, but ready to get back home.  It was a fabulous trip - full of reconnecting with the family and friends we love.  I'm so glad we were able to make the trip out!

I sure love these siblings of mine!  I'm grateful for their friendships.