R's Last Day Of Kindergarten

 R's last day of school was May 17th. It was a little bittersweet for me. My little girl is growing up so fast! I am really excited for her to start 1st grade. The thing she is most looking forward to is eating lunch at school. This year was riding the bus, school lunch next year, I can only imagine what she will look forward to in 2nd grade!!!

R and a few of her friends. 

R, Ayleen, and Isabelle

 R and her teacher Mrs. Smith.

 Then we took a treat over to her bus driver, Carrie Money (yes, that is her real name) and she let the kids go inside. You can tell by the look on P's face that he was over the moon!

 He LOVED it! R decided that she wanted to ride the bus home, even though we were at her school. So the driver said she would be more than happy to bring her. R ended up being the only passenger on the bus. :) If I would have known that I would have asked if Jared or I could ride with P too. Oops, opportunity missed!

I am so happy for R. She has grown and learned so much over this last year. Its crazy how quickly kids pick up on new things! R is more than ready for 1st grade. I just hope we don't have to start all over again with being overly shy at the beginning.

Mother's Day

About a week before Mother's Day, I was searching on-line for the best price of a photo book. I really wanted to get my photos into a book. I finally decided on one, and started looking through my pictures to choose which ones I would use. I found myself not being able to choose just one or two. There were stories behind the pictures that meant something to me. I then decided that I would use more, but then I had no room to write anything about the pictures. I was getting more frustrated the longer I worked on it.

Then I came across a blog where the lady spoke about a website that would print your blogs.  This really intrigued me. Last year Jared was going to print my blog, but the place he found only could use one picture per post and it was really expensive. So I dug a little deeper and found the website the lady used. It is called blog2print. This was such an AMAZING find. I was able to print my blog! So I decided to print from the beginning of my blog, so the last few months of 2008, all of 2009, and 2010.

The website was SUPER easy to use. You just type in your blog address, and put in the dates you want to start and stop.  After doing so it even creates a  table of contents with all the blog titles and what page it can be found. SOOOOOO cool!

The cover choices were pretty minimal, but I loved the "blog" one. Also any different font or color shows up normal with no color, but I was 100% fine with that!

The picture sizes are a little small, but you can see them just fine. My favorite part was that all my journaling about the pictures was already there! It was GREAT!!!! So 10 years from now R and P can look through this book and know what is going on in the pictures!

 You get to pick a photo for the front and back of the book too.

 My book ended up being a little thick, 235 pages to be exact with 80 posts!

 But I couldn't be happier with it! I just can't wait until I make my 2011 and 2012.
Just for anyone interested my book only cost about $100, but when you sign up you get a 15% off code!
That is VERY reasonably prices compared, and it IS "Family History" ;) 

Jared also took me and his mom out to dinner at P.F. Changs for Mother's Day. YUM!!!

I am so happy to be a mom. I love my 2 babies so much. They bring me joy that I can't describe. They teach me little things about myself I didn't realize almost daily, and it amazes me how quickly they change!

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Big Springs-Provo Canyon

 On the 11th of May we decided to try a hike we had never done, Big Springs.  Our biggest downfall on this hike was we started too late in the day. No it wasn't too hot, or too busy. We started hiking about the time P takes a nap. Lets just say we didn't make it to "Big Springs". 

Like father like son!

It was  a pretty hike. You hiked next to a river/stream most of the way.

 After realizing we weren't going to make it, we just found a spot near the river and stopped there.

 Jared showed off and stuck his whole head into the cold water!

 The kids and I

 Then the girls turned on P and tried dunking him

 This is such a funny shot! I love all of our faces!

 On one
of the bridges you cross.

 A beautiful shot of the backside of Mount Timpanogos

"The Ocean"

When we first came home from Australia R and I were in Orem  driving down a hill and you could see Utah Lake. R in the backseat piped up and said "I can see the ocean!". I have thought about that every time I drive down that road! 

We decided to go to the other side of Utah Lake. Its a different view of the mountains and I love it!

My handsome boy who is FINALLY learning to smile for pictures!

My beautiful girl who is learning to pose more and more! :)

R was so hyper, she couldn't make a cute smile!

We spent some time teaching R to skip rocks. I was REALLY worried that someone was going to get hit, but they all made it safely into the water!

It was a little windy, but didn't stop us from exploring!

My kids were a little chicken at first,

but ventured into the cold water.

I like this picture!

See Jared was there! ;)

Jared found P a stick and the boy was so happy.  He could have played with that stick in the water for hours!

Me and my cute hubby!

P is catching onto R's camera skills. He is 2 and took this picture,

and this one. Not too shabby!

I can't wait to visit "our ocean" again when it is warmer. Maybe even pull the canoe out!

Arches

 Emma(Jared's sister) and Ethan decided they wanted to take a quick trip down to Moab. They invited the whole family, but only Diane(Jared's mom), Alex(Jared's cousin), and our family could make it with them. It actually was pretty nice going with only a small group of us.

We drove down Thursday April 4th, Jared's birthday! We got down to Moab and checked in just in time for dinner. We all went out and enjoyed a great dinner together. Then came back for presents and a some cake for the birthday boy. Then headed to bed for an early start in the morning.

Last time Emma and Ethan went to Arches they made it to the parking lot for Delicate Arch and couldn't find a parking space anywhere. So our plan was to start early and hit that hike first!

My kids are SO cute together!

I'm not sure what happened to this picture, but its still cute. Along the trail are these stacked rocks called cairns. They mark the path when no path is visible. My kids LOVED finding these.

 It was a VERY proud mommy moment when both my kids made it to Delicate Arch all by themselves. We brought the hiking backpack just in case, but didn't use it! It made me so happy! One thing I don't want to forget was how R made it up the trail. She would say "step, step, twist and turn" while shaking her bum on the twist and turn part. I joined in, and she thought that it was so funny!

My tough little dude! At age 2, hiked 3 miles (with only being carried a little on the way down) elevation gain of 480 feet / 146 meters; no shade. Open slick rock with some exposure to heights. No complaints from R, she did amazing too!

 I love my little family, and I love Delicate Arch so this is a special place for me.

 I could sit at Delicate Arch all day and just take in the beauty and serenity there.

 Except for this day. I was actually REALLY disappointed because it was SOOOOO windy! Not even a little annoying wind, it was hold on to everything or it WILL blow away windy.  Everyone was being pelted by sand, and everyone just wanted to get back to the car fast. It was the furthest thing from serene. I felt cheated!

The kids hiding from the wind behind these rocks for a quick snack! Even with the wind shield it was still windy. Ugg!!!

On the way down.

Then we headed for other arches.

This is Jared's version of the Lion King-Its A Circle Of Life!

 Alex, Emma, Ethan R (back row)

Diane, Jared and P (front row)

 Sand Dune Arch. It was a short hike, and like a big sand pit for the kids. The arch is surrounded by walls of rock so the wind wasn't too bad here!

 Jared on the top of the arch with R on the rocks underneath him!

 R and Ethan took time for a little rest!

 Then we headed to Landscape Arch.  The parking here was as bad as Emma and Ethan has said Delicate Arch was for them. It was HORRIBLE!!!! So while Ethan and Jared went to find a parking spot I captured this cute little picture.  These two are such good friends, I love it!

 Along the way P got VERY grumpy and I ended up carrying him. He fell asleep so I made it to Landscape Arch and found a semi-shady spot and sat and waited for everyone else to come back.

 Then we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed having the pool and hot tub to return to. We were all pretty exhausted and glad that we didn't have to drive home after hiking all day!

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to Dead Horse Point State Park. This is one of our new favorite places to take visitors who want to see the Grand Canyon. It looks like the Grand Canyon without the drive all the way out there! Its GREAT!

Jared, P and Alex

 This is my child, and I'm proud of it. Climbing a big rock in flip flops!

 Making it to the top, and she didn't even need help getting down!

 When we were in Arches R was really impressed with the petroglyphs that we saw. So at the visitors center I found this cute fake one and needed to take a picture with it!

 It really is beautiful there!

 Emma and Ethan

and Jared and I

It was a quick trip, but I love it down there. Jared says he is done with Arches, but would like to explore more of what Moab has to offer. I can see us exploring more down there, but still hitting Delicate Arch because it is one of my favorite places!!!