Pioneer Trek

Will and I just made it back from our stake's LDS pioneer trek.  It was amazing.  We only have a couple of pictures, but we should get more sometime soon.

Here is Will on Wednesday morning right before we left for the Stake Center.  Doesn't he look like a handsome pioneer?

And here I am in one of my pioneer outfits.  We look all clean and fresh and totally unknowing of what was going to happen next.

These two pictures are of us pulling into Zion with our trek families.  You cannot really tell but we are super dirty and tired and covered with scrapes and bruises.  But we were so excited to get to Zion, and we brought our whole family with us.  Trek was one of the most spiritual uplifting experiences I have ever had.  It was just incredible.  We worked hard all day, but there were lots of breaks for pioneer re-enactments.  The stories were inspiring.  The pioneers must have worked so hard.  Our theme for trek is a scripture from Philippians that says "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth  me."  That scripture was very appropriate.  I don't think I could have made it without strength from Christ.  It was a hard journey, but oh so worth it.  We had a great family.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.  When we get more pictures, I will make another post.

And I give many, many thanks to my family for watching my kids while we were gone.  It was a blessing to know they were well cared for while we were at trek.  Thanks!

Graduation

It is time for a party!  We threw Whitney a party after working hard all year.

We invited another girl from church who also did home school Kindergarten.  I made some rice krispy treats and wrote their names on it.  I think they both liked having their names on the treat.

And playing at the bounce house gym.  We have been a few times and it is always fun.  It was extra fun because my family and the other family were also there to celebrate.

Megan took a couple of very quick turns on the rope swing.

After playing at the bounce house place, we went back to our house for the celebration.  Whitney walked across the coffee table, wearing Will's old cap and I gave her the diploma.  Then we talked about some of the things we learned this year.

It was a Dr. Seuss themed party so there were some Dr. Seuss games.  This one was doing a puzzle of different Dr. Seuss books.

And we made a bookmark.  It said "Oh, The Places You'll Go!"  We did a couple of other little games too.

And it was time for treats.  I made some based on the books - like these cute green eggs and ham.

And the kids liked making their own Dr. Seuss hats with chocolate cookie base, strawberries, and whipped cream.

And it isn't a complete party without reading some Dr. Seuss.  Grandma read a story while the girls enjoyed eating popcorn (Hop on Pop).

It was a fun party.  I am very proud of my little girl.  Now moving onto 1st Grade.

Memorial Day

Will had the day off for Memorial Day so we decided to make it a fun family day.

I thought going to Hat Rock would be fun.  It was perfect weather for a short hike.

Everyone made it up to the top.  Rachel wondered if it was a rock made of hats before we left our house; I think she was only a little disappointed that it was just a big rock.  It is still pretty cool (even if it is just a rock).

Here we eat our picnic lunch.  I bought a bunch of French bread and we even splurged on soda pop.  I let the girls come to WalMart with me and they begged for some root beer for our picnic.  It was yummy.

Then we went around to the other side of the part and used the rest of our French bread to feed the geese.  My girls have so much fun feeding ducks and geese.  I even got a goose to eat it out of my hands.  These were really friendly geese; I bet they know humans come and feed them good food.

Adam didn't really like the sun in his face.  But he did seem kind of interested in what was happening around him.

We went on a walk around the water after running out of French bread.  Can you spot the animal on the log?  I would have totally walked right past this turtle and not seen it if not for Will's razor sharp eyesight.

And this was neat to see; Will and I were thinking it might be a crane, but we aren't sure.  It was the only one of its kind and mostly avoided the geese and human crowd.

Whitney found a huge feather and Rachel found a bunch of little feathers.  Of course, we had to take all these home plus like five pinecones and several leaves.

And we stopped to throw some rocks and sticks into the water.  I think this was the spot we were at with the Jensens a couple of years ago when we showed them Hat Rock.  Anyway, it was really fun.  Afterwards we went and got some ice cream, but no pictures of that.  So it was a happy Memorial Day.  I love spending time with my family.

Going Camping

Our ward had a family camp out.  I was a little nervous about taking a baby but everything went fine.

Exploring is my favorite part of camping.  We found lots of bugs.

And a wall of hay (or straw, what is the difference?)  The girls wanted to sit on it and eat their suckers that grandma brought.

Someone in our ward starting the camp fire.  I didn't know there would be a campfire, but we were hoping.  Whitney was waiting for her opportunity to throw in a stick she found.

Time to make s'mores.  I brought s'more stuff, just in case we got lucky and we did.

There can be nothing better than a marshmallow roasted over a fire melting in your mouth - or on your cheek or in your hair.

Dinner came after s'mores.  Not surprisingly, the kids didn't eat much of their BLT sandwiches.  But they still managed to polish off almost a whole bag of chips.  Hmmm...Oh well.  It's camping.

There was this tree swing at the camp site that was a big hit for all the kids.

Adam enjoying the sun shine.  It was raining when we first arrived and we were worried that we might have to go home because Adam hated the rain.  Thankfully, the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy ourselves.

The fire was really fascinating to a certain small boy.  He stared intently at it for a long time with grandpa.  We were able to watch the scouts retire a couple of flags while we were there, so that was pretty neat.

And Adam the next morning in the sleeping bag.  He shared a bag with Will.  I shared one with Megan.  I think the kids all slept fine and were plenty warm.  Hooray for a fun camping trip!

The Elders Quorum treated everyone to some delicious breakfast burritos the next morning.  We city slicked it a little and brought our microwave so we could warm up Adam's bottles, but that is how it rolls with a baby.  Anyway, the kids definitely want to go camping again sometime this Summer.  We will see.