Dinosaur Island at Thanksgiving Point

While Kennedi, the kid's cousin, was in town, we joined her and Gawbie and Grandpa at Thanksgiving Point's Dinosaur Island. There were some new dinosaurs this year, so it was kind of fun to see the changes. They also moved all of the dinosaurs around to new locations and added some fun things like the broken fence with an alarm going off. Here were some of our favorite dinos.

Photo op

Gawbie can't walk the gardens anymore, so they rented a golf cart. The kids enjoyed riding in the cart for part of the time.

After the gardens, the boys wanted to stop at the curiosity museum for a bit. Kennedi wasn't able to come with us, but they still had fun.

It was a full day, and they were worn out afterwards.

Zion National Park

After setting up camp in the new campground, just east of Zion, we went out to explore the surrounding area. Our first stop was the Belly of the Dragon. We were able to drive right up to it and park there. It was basically this tunnel that went under the road that appears to have been carved out by water

We walked all the way through. It was surprisingly cool, and dark, inside the tunnel. We explored a little beyond the tunnel, too, but it appeared to just be an ordinary wash for as far as we could see. We didn't have sunscreen on and we didn't bring water, so we decided to turn around after walking just a little past the tunnel.

After the Belly of the Dragon, we headed farther south. We wanted to find the peek a boo slot canyon. The directions lead us to this dirt road that was drivable with our truck, but when it got to a turn off that looked more ATV sized, we decided that we probably couldn't get to the slot canyon without a smaller off road vehicle. We turned around and decided to head into east zion instead. Shortly after crossing into the park, we stopped at this pullout and let the kids climb up a huge rock hill

We drove on, through the mile long tunnel and the rest of that road and ended up at the visitor center. We stopped by the rangers desk to get Junior ranger booklets for the kids and walked through the gift shop. Ashley found a stuffed rattlesnake that she really wanted, so we paid for it and she paid us back later for it.

On the way back out of the park, we stopped again to explore at one of the pull outs. We found some pretty cactus with flowers.

And a lizard doing push-ups.

We also found a mini slot canyon so we explore it. We walked awhile along the wash. About a mile in, Ashley decided that she was too tired to walk all the way back to the car, so Danny went back to the car and the rest of us continued on to meet up with him at the next pull out.

We left the park after that and went back to camp for dinner. The next morning, we woke up pretty early so that we could get into the park early. We managed to get to the tunnel before they were letting big vehicles through. This was nice because we didn't have to wait to drive through. We parked near the visitor center and hopped on mthe shuttle to take us up the canyon. Our plan was to hike the 3 emerald pools. While we were on the shuttle, the driver informed us that the bridge to the lower pool was closed. This meant that we couldn't do the loop to all three pools. We would have to hike to them from above and then go back the way we came. As a result, we only made it to the upper and middle pool. It was a fun hike,

I hung out on the rock with the boys next to the upper pool for awhile. 

We had a snack and people watched.

After the emerald pools, we were ready for Angels Landing...JK. No way would Ashley have been able to do that. Maybe we will go back someday when the boys are older and tackle that one.

We continued up the canyon and stopped at Weeping rock. It was cool to see how much water was coming out. We learned that the water seeping out of the rock started its journey more than a thousand years ago. 

After weeping rock, we went to the end of the line and walked along the river. Ashley was done walking by this point and we were all hungry. We pulled them along and walked out to the point where we would have entered to hike the Narrows. It was closed because of the river flow being too fast and too much.

But the boys made the rangers nervous by taking off their shoes and dipping their feet in the water.

After this, we headed back down the canyon to the visitors center. For the junior ranger program, the kids needed to attend a ranger lead program. We chose one on dinosaurs that was located in the nature center. Danny drove us over in the truck as we quickly ate some of the lunch we packed and then dropped us off since the lot was full. The kids learned a bit about dinosaurs in the park and got to make fossils.

Then they took the junior ranger oath and got their badges.

It was a fun, but tiring day. The weather was perfect, too. We were expecting it to be much hotter than it was. We headed back to camp and through the long tunnel for the 4th time in 2 days after they earned their badges. We headed home the next morning. It was a fun trip. We missed having Alyssa along, but she had a tennis fundraiser that she didn't want to miss and she also was still recovering from her stress fracture and wouldn't have been able to hike.
 

Bryce Canyon

We took a trip down to Southern Utah in June. We took Gawbie and Grandpa's camping trailer and camped in Panguich and a campground on the east side of Zion National Park. We got to the Panguich campround on a Tuesday evening. We had planned on going into Bryce Canyon after dark to stargaze. So we hurried through dinner and cleanup and then loaded into the car around 9pm. As we were driving towards Bryce, we noticed lightning in the sky ahead of us. We guessed that it was probably right over Bryce, so we turned around and headed back to our trailer. We figured it wasn't worth the 30 minute drive there and back if the clouds were going to be blocking our view of the stars.

We headed into Bryce Canyon the next morning. We chose the Tower Bridge hike for our big hike this time. It was about 3 miles. The only problem with Canyon hikes is that you hike downhill first and the uphill part comes during the last half of your hike, when you are more tired. It was a struggle getting Ashley back out of the canyon, but she made it.

After the hike, we took the scenic drive and stopped along the way to see some of the sites. 

The boys had their scooters so I walked with them along the rim between 2 of the stops and Danny and Ashley drove. The weather was perfect and it really wasn't that crowded. It was a fun day. The kids also earned their junior ranger badges that day.

The campground we stayed in had a pool, so we made sure to get back early enough that the kids could swim. They loved that.

The next day we headed on to our next campground.

Saratoga Springs Temple Open House

The Saratoga Springs Temple had their open house from about mid-April through mid-July. We had the opportunity to serve as ushers (all but the boys) and we also took our kids through the temple. Danny and I also got to join in a VIP tour followed by a testimony meeting with the YSA Stake President and his wife and some of the YSA's that don't hold current temple recommends. All three of these experiences were super special. The colors in this temple are super unique and we are looking forward to having it open soon for temple work. 

The dedication will be on August 13th. Camden barely made the cut off to be able to attend. We are looking forward to it.

Tyler's 10th Birthday

 We celebrated Tyler's 10th birthday on June 1. He chose to have dinner at Chuck O Rama. His favorite thing there is the rolls with honey butter. They also brought him dessert and the room sang to him.

We knew that no one would be hungry for cake that night, so we decided to have his cake a few days later. He chose and "Anything Game" cake (which is the name of the imagination driven game that Ashley made up with her friend and introduced the boys to it). I had no idea how to design the cake, so I made the cake and frosted it and then turned it over to Ashley. We were limited on time, but she drew a couple of the characters from the game, then we attached them to toothpicks and put them in the cake. May favorite was the big one whom they refer to as Harper. She is taking up half of the cake. 😂 By the way, they actually refer to anyone they see that is super overweight as "Harper."

Tyler had a birthday party on his birthday. We rented a water bouncy house, which normally would be amazing on June 1. But this year has had such weird weather and it was a bit overcast that day and only about 70 degrees. As a result, the kids kept getting too cold in the water. So we also did some water balloon games and other water games so they could warm up.

This one is "Duck, Duck, Splash!"

Catching water balloons that Danny threw really high in the air.

Can you see the storm clouds in the background. It actually did start raining for a bit.

The kids liked to hide out in this tunnel under the slide because it was warm in there.

Tyler invited 3 friends from school, 3 neighborhood friends, and his cousin and siblings. 2 of the school friends couldn't come and one of the neighbors couldn't come. Everyone had fun, even though a lot of them did not know each other.

Alyssa's Track Season and Banquet

Alyssa had so much potential to do well this track season. But then the weather was not very good, for almost every track meet. And she injured her leg after the 2nd or 3rd track meet and had to sit out a week to let it heal. This was really hard for her because she was so close to qualifying for some of the bigger meets in her 100 hurdles. It also made her loose her momentum. She wanted so badly to go to state, but she was just under the marks for 100 hurdles and long jump. She went into her region track meet, hopeful that she could qualify by making it in the top 4. But then she didn't have a good race and missed the chance to run in the final and therefore her chance to go to state. It was probably a good thing because her foot had been hurting a lot the last week of the season and it was getting worse. We took her to the doctor the day after the region meet and learned that she most likely had a stress fracture. He said we could get an MRI done to be sure, but he recommended just treating it like a stress fracture and see if it gets better. So she came home from the doctor with a boot and instructions to keep it on all of the time, except for sleeping, showering, and driving. Funny thing is that her best friend, who is also on the track team, also had a stress fracture and had to wear a boot too. But she started treatment a week later than Alyssa because she went to state.

Sad part is that 3 days into the boot treatment, Alyssa's track coach contacted her and offered her a spot on the 4x400 relay team for state. Alyssa had to decline it since she had already started the boot treatment and we needed her to heal before tennis stuff started. As it was, we were pushing it to get her to heal before her first tennis camp (scheduled to start 2 1/2 weeks after starting in the boot).

Her track banquet almost got cancelled because of a problem at the school that afternoon with a nearby shooter. Fortunately they cleared it up and allowed the banquet to happen. It was kind of sad since one of Alyssa's best friends was graduating and going off to BYU soon, so this was their last season together. Here she is with her best friends- Emmaline, Leisel, and Kate.

She is considering not doing track next year so that she can just enjoy the end of her senior year and also to take away the pressure and disappointment of not doing as well as she feels she can do. We will see what happens as we get closer to track season again.

Finishing Up the School Year

As usual, there were a lot of end of school activities. The boys had a fundraiser called "the dragon dash." I was wondering this year why they don't have people pay for the amount of laps the kids run, but one of the other moms said that they used to do it that way and have since changed it. Now they just sell dragon dash swag to raise money. This year the boys got neon headbands, bracelets, a Snow Springs Dragon water bottle sticker, and a sinch bag. The boys were good to run for most of the 20 minutes they were out there. They especially loved the hurdles. This picture is the back of Camden with the orange shirt and orange headband.

Here is Tyler running through the tires. Green shirt and green headband.

The boys also participated in their school choir this semester. They had a concert where they sang "Fireflies," "Moa Li Hua"(or something like that), and a song from "Frozen." They loved singing in the choir and did a good job.

Fireflies was cool because they turned the lights off and had lights on their fingers.

Ashley had a final project in her World Wars class where she had research about propaganda during World War 2 and then come up with a short presentation about it for a World War 2 museum. She worked with one of her best friends. They did such a good job with their project.

The boys had a dance festival during their last week of school. This is a popular event. Camden's grade danced to a song from "the Goofy Movie." He did a good job with the steps.

Tyler danced to "High Hopes." I would post the videos, but they were too long. He did suprisingly well with his steps, too. We joked with him afterwards because one of his moves was to brush each of his hands along each of his ears. We called it the shoo fly move.

The girls were excited for summer break. The boys were sad to be done for the summer. They really enjoy going to school and thought they would miss their friends. But they have also enjoyed sleeping in this summer.