Fall Break

This last week the kids had Thursday, Friday and Monday off of school for fall break. YEAH!!!

Well, our cousins and grandma and grandpa next door went to Disneyland and Legoland for the vacation, we hadn't saved up our pennies to go, plus I am not the hugest fan of the whole "HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH" My happiest place is with my family in a nice quiet uncrowded place, laughing at somebodies silliness. We decided to have a fun weekend our style so our kids didn't feel like they were missing out on Disneyland.

 

THURSDAY:  The kids and I went to the Aquatic center to play.  We were the only ones there for a little while and even after people started coming the numbers were low and we had a BLAST!!  Quinns favorite part was playing foot tag.  The kids are getting to be better swimmers so I didn't have to watch them like a hawk the entire time.

That evening Seth and I went on a date while Ellyn babysat. ( I am so glad she is responsible.)  We went to dinner and then went on a walk around backstreets in Cedar City.  The leaves were great and we enjoyed looking at all the old homes, I loved it.  That night after the kids were in bed we watched "The Avengers"  good movie.

 

FRIDAY:  Navajo lake.  We spent the day on the bottom of Navajo lake looking for sunken treasures.  The water level is down since the dike broke and we found fishing treasures and a boat anchor.  We fished and watch the dump trucks and tractors work on fixing the dike.  Then we took off on a hike.

 

At the bottom of the trail it was all snowy and muddy, but FUN!  Our goal was to make it to the saddle so we could see down the other side of the mountain.

 

The view was worth it.  We could see Zion off in the distance as well at peaks in Arizona, one of which had a fire on it.  Lots of Elk tracks up on the top.

That night was our family movie night so on the way home we picked up a pizza, and watched "Madagascar 3 Europes Most Wanted."  Another good movie.  Made us all laugh ALOT!

 

 

 SATURDAY:  In the morning Seth took me to breakfast.  Thank you to Ellyn again for watching the kids.  Then we again walked around some more streets in Cedar.  I love taking walks.  After going home and picking up the kids we headed to Parowan.  I love this small town.

 Destination: Hay maze!  We all loved it. Plus it was more tricky than we thought it was going to be.

 In the maze you could look for marbles and if you found one you could turn it in for a piece of candy.  That kept it interesting and I would definitely say it was worth the $3.00 per person.  The man who owns the hay maze, thanked us for helping him find his marbles.

 There is also a pumpkin patch there.  We didn't buy any pumpkins since we grew our own, but it was still neat to go walk through it and think about Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin.

Afterwards we played at the Parowan Park, complete with merry-go-round and teeter-totters!

That night Ellyn had a Mama-date she earned from playing piano.  We went to dinner at Applebee's, shopped at walmart then came home, blew-up the air mattress and watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  She is watching the movies as she finishes the books.  I told them they couldn't watch the movies until they were old enough to read the books.                                                                                                    

 

  

MONDAY:  RollerSkating. We went to the Cedar Skate and for much of the time we were the only people there.  Ellyn had some friends comes and it was so cute watching everyone learn how to skate.  We ended up staying almost 4 hours.  No one wanted to leave.

Finally, Last night the kids were playing in the leaves and Ellyn got some good pictures.  What awesome kids.  I love these amazing blessings!!!!



Fall Family Home Evening

By now you all know I love Fall, and family, and the mountains, so put them all together and that is me in heaven!!  Monday night we went up to Crystal Springs area for a hot dog roasting picnic, and family home evening.   Seth gave a lesson on faith and trusting in God.  He had the kids stand up on fence posts then fall backwards into our arms "Trust Fall."  Adi and Coulson didn't hesitate very long and thought it was "fun."  Ellyn was so tall up there she had far to fall and had major stomach tickles by the time we caught her, "kinda scary."  Quinn refused to do it, until I held onto his hand, even then it was hard for him to enjoy.

Afterwards we went on a small hike to Crystal Springs. Coulson had to hold onto Scouts collar most of the way so Scout wouldn't plop down in the muddy water, He loves WATER! 

 It was so beautiful up there, I just wish we would have had more time to spend soaking in the joy.  On the way back down the mountain we had a problem with our brakes. 

 

 Now, I know you're not supposed to ride your brakes or bad things can happen, so I am usually pretty careful about it, but as we were coming down the mountain we were looking at the colorful leaves and I was riding the brakes, not even thinking.  We stopped to pull off a branch of bright red leaves to take home and suddenly SMOKE was billowing out from the front of the vehicle.  Seth yells, "Drive slowly so the brakes will cool, but don't push on the brakes."

That solved the problem, but what a stink, burning brakes Stink!!  I am just grateful Seth knew what to do. I probably would have sat there and watched the vehicle burn.  Hopefully we all learned valuable life lessons that night.