my birthday and Memorial Day weekend

We've gone down to Goblin Valley the last couple of years.  We invited some friends to go with us last year and they couldn't make it... so they planned a weekend down there this time and invited us.  We drove down Friday night, spent my birthday in Goblin Valley and hiking in the slot canyons, Sunday we went to church in Hanksville and did all the scenic drives before going to play games at the hotel, then on Monday we went down to Capital Reef.  It has spectacular views and a fun history.  We did some minor hiking in the rain and then I sat in the car with the two younger while Jer took the older two on a more slippery hike in the heavy rain.  I don't trust myself to not snap my tendon again until I'm 100% again.  We finally called it a day a few hours sooner than we had planned on but we saw some spectacular colors because of the rain.

These are all phone pictures, I'll post camera pictures next.

We found a store that was built into the base of a plateau.  That was fun.

These are in Wild Horse Canyon

Evelyn's feet were starting to get sore as were mine by the second half of the day.... she stayed back, held my hand and chatted with me the entire time.  She kept asking when we could turn around and go back... I eventually talked her into the whole hike and she was much chipper on the way back out.

The kids dubbed this the whomping willow tree.

The hotel was on a rode out in the middle of nowhere.  It was at least 20 minutes away from anything... but it was so nice!  Our friends didn't realize that most hotel rooms need to know how many children you have in them and that most of them charge extra per kid.  We got there and there were some issues because of having 6 people instead of the expected 4.  We had brought a cot for Seth so that he wouldn't pee his bed on someone else's bed.  They let us stay anyways, didn't charge us extra and even said that they rarely have a family on the upper floors without getting complaints from everyone around them.  It was quiet, you could prop open the door and just hang out outside.  

I accidentally locked our hotel card and my camera in our room, so I took pictures on my phone instead.  

Phone pictures

Jer's homemade mother's day dinner.... yum.

Evelyn getting ready for her dance recital

Inside the cabin at the Youth activity during scripture study.

The Komens invited us over to eat leftover cotton candy after their daughter's birthday party the other day.  That was fun.

Put them to work young!

After Sam's 4th grade play

snuggle buddies

Evelyn's Baptism photos

It was raining when we went out, but this sweet girl smiled for us anyways.  Thanks Janelle for coming with us!

Weekend

Last Friday and Saturday were our Ward's youth conference.  We rented a campsite up at Heber Valley camp.  It's sooooo nice.  Cabins, bunkbeds, heated bathrooms, courses, etc...  It started snowing just as we got there and snowed most of the time there, but it was still fun.  We had 42 of us.  The three of us YW's leaders had our own cabin and even though we didn't spend too much time there, it was fun to chat for a bit.  The first day, we did the giant swing, something they call a life line, the zip line.  The second day, we went to the lake to go canoeing.  They had everyone paddle out to the middle of the lake, stop for 2 minutes of silence and then to sing 'I Feel my Saviors Love'.  It was beautiful.  The best part is that is was raining all the way up until we got into the boats, then it cleared up and was sunny and warmer... as soon as we put the boats away, it got cold and rainy again.  

There was a moose that liked our campsite and we saw it twice.  We heard that just a couple years ago, there was a momma and baby moose that lived at our site.  It was relatively drama free, just one little drama at the end, but not too bad as far as having a bunch of teenagers together goes.

They missionaries there have a very unique mission.  It's the cheapest senior mission you could ever do.  It's about $250/month plus food.  You don't go to the MTC and you must have your own camper/RV and ATV.  They say that people come up there for family reunions too.  I thought that was neat.

When I got home, I was greeted by Seth and Evelyn riding bikes with their helmets, backpacks, and snow gloves on.  It was really funny.  

Sam had his 4th grade play today.  He was so cute.  He told me that he was so nervous and his teacher told me that she told Sam that he either needed to sing quieter or to make sure he followed her exactly because every time he would go too fast everyone else would follow.  It was pretty funny.  They did it all about the history of Utah.... starting with all the different Indian tribes that lived here, the Spanish explorers, Fur Traders and Trappers, the Mormon pioneers, the transcontinental railroad and the current Utah economy and resources.  It was fun. Grandma Robertson came and sat with us too.  Seth thought it was funny that she kept teasing him about his toenails being too long because he was wearing dinosaur pajamas.   After he was done, they were having an easy day and Sam asked if he could go home with me.  He and Seth have been so cute.... walking the dog together, snuggling while watching The Lego Movie, Sam teaching Seth about shapes and lines on a math game.  Cute kids.

Evelyn's dance recital

Well, this is Evelyn's last rec center dance recital.  She's loved it, but they don't do ballet for over 8 year olds…. we're going to have to find somewhere else.  She was a red muse and they danced to Hercules songs.  She was super cute.  She really didn't want to wear the lipstick, and I don't blame her, but she survived anyways.