Cave of the Mounds

Nora has been wanting to go to the Cave of the Mounds since last summer when her friend went and brought her back a rock and told her all about it. It's kind of pricey for a family of 6 so we told her we'd go for her birthday this year. Well, we were in Utah this summer but of course she didn't forget that we had said we'd go for her birthday. Through our library summer reading program all the kids got a free pass so we finally went last week. It was only about 30 minutes away and a pretty fun place. They had a "fossil dig" where the kids could dig for jewels, bones and fossils. Of course they were all for sale, but the digging was free. They loved it. And our kids are learning to be like their parents, they thought the prices for the rocks were outrageous (which they were...) and were happy to dig up the rocks and then put them back, which made Brian and I so proud. :) 

The cave tour was about an hour long and Wesley was.... less than delightful. About 5 minutes in to it Brian and I knew it was going to be rough. But since we'd paid we decided to stick it out. He didn't seem scared or anything, I think it was more that we were walking slowly, not touching things and supposedly listening to the tour guide - all hard things for a three year old!

Luckily the older 3 kiddos had a great time. They all love rocks and thought this amazing cave was pretty cool and they loved learning about the formations.

Brian trying to keep Wesley happy.

Grumpy Boy.

Nora brought her money she'd been saving especially for this trip and bought a bag of sand and rocks to "mine". She loved every second of it.

One happy girl!

Me and my girls.

Daddy and Miles (Wesley wouldn't be in it...)

Such a pretty day!

Wesley by the mining area.

He was adorable after we got out of the cave and he could be crazy again!

It was a fun day together as a family. And since it was so close we still got a lot done on that Saturday. Hooray!

Vacation: Nora's birthday & Saying Good-bye

Nora turned 8 while we were on our trip and she got to have her ears pierced while we were there. She was pretty nervous (she is completely terrified of needles - I still have to pull her out from under the table and pin her down just to get a flu shot). But she did it because she wanted her ears pierced so badly! She was so excited.

Sophie gave her a pep talk beforehand :)

Her cousin Owen's birthday is two days after hers so our last night there we had peach pie and ice cream to celebrate.

Her gift from us was..... another American Girl Doll! She got Elizabeth and was very excited.

Our friends Jeremy and Andrea stopped by to say hello the night before we left. It was good to see them. And Brian had a hole in his shirt that I was covering up :)

Saying good-bye to some of our favorite people! Nora and Ava

Sophie and Dallin Paul

Patrick and Brian

Grandpa and Grandma with the kids

Isaac and Uncle Matt

Grandpa and Brian

Aunt Cathrine and Nora

We said good-bye to everyone - but we got to take Grandma with us! We were so excited for her to come home with us (and not just because she brought her ipad along....although that was truly awesome) We had some grand adventures on our trip home with Grandma!

Vacation: The Beagley's

We arrived at the Beagley's on Thursday evening and got to eat dinner with them, let the kids play and go ride their neighbors horse and feed their chickens. We were all convinced we could live happily in Castle Dale... if the Beagley's were there of course!

Wesley loved feeding the chickens.

It's so fun to get these two cuties together. Jannika is officially Sophie's first friend, they met when they were just 3 and 5 months old when both our families lived at the USU trailer court.

Nora and Kirsten are good friends as well. We actually lived near the Beagley's in Salt Lake City when they were born, so Janell and I got to spend a lot of time together when we were expecting them! Cute girls.

Sophie was pretty sad here and didn't want to leave. It's hard to say good-bye! Also, here is Miles and Claire who got along pretty good as well.  The kids all had a great time exploring the junk yard behind the Beagley's and playing in the hay bales.

We  love  the Beagley family!

Vacation: the drive to Colorado

We left for our family vacation on August 5th. We got up at 4am and drove to Colorado all in one looong day. The morning started a bit rough, the kids didn't go back to sleep as well as we thought they would and then Nora puked before 6am. After that things went pretty smoothly and we made it to my mom and John's in Colorado! I believe it took us about 15 1/2 hours with only 3 stops. Pretty darn good time with 4 kids and a dog!

 

 We only spent 2 days with Grandpa and Naunie, but we had a fun time. Of course we had to go to the American Girl Doll store while we were there! The girls got something there from Naunie (Sophie got two kittens for her doll Lainie and Nora got Kit's scooter), and the boys got something from the Disney store (Wesley got a Buzz Lightyear and Miles got a spiderman shooter thingy) Also, Brian's hard drive had to get replaced and we were pretty lucky they were able to do it at the Apple store in the short time we were there! Thursday we drove to Castle Dale, Utah. It's a beautiful drive and the kids were in awe of the MOUNTAINS we saw on the way. And the 7 tunnels we drove through were a big hit as well!

 

We stopped to see my Aunt Deb in Grand Junction. She's my mom's sister and we loved our quick stop to see her there. Next time I think Sophie will be taller than her - although she is super short so that's no saying too much!

 

Our next stop was to see my Grandpa and Grandma Anderson in Wellington. Wesley thought this fake little boy was funny.

We fulfilled one of Brian's life long dreams to stop at Green River and buy an official Green River Watermelon. It was yummy. Scooter thought it made a nice pillow!