zions :)

zions! It's such a breath of fresh air. It is always so rejuvinating to be in this place. It is truly 'our place'. We love it. It was just so nice to get away from everything and enjoy eachother. This time we spent 4 nights and the Pearl and it was Heaven!!! We enjoyed favorite restraunts, beautiful scenery, family, rented movies, ate a lot of junk, and then hiked it off :) It was lovely and so hard to leave!

Such buddies :) They hiked 2.2 miles on their own! It was awesome, they did way better than I had expected!Kai... a true fisherman. Trying to fashion a pole from a stick to catch anything...

Kai wanted a pic of him trying to hold up the mountain :)I don't think we have ever been the only ones at weeping rock. It was so cool. The kids ran back and forth and we took pictures together we had it completely to ourselves for about a half hr. It was awesome :)I think this is the most handsome picture I have ever taken :)I absolutely love this one... It is so raw and so real, truly catches their personalities :)Rich had to go into St george to take his boards, so we hung out at the pool, watched movies, walked to the park, and spent time at the library. I just love this quiet little town :)The last day we were there all the cousins came to visit!D & Weston came down and stayed in the Pearl with us. Loved having them :)Nate and sarah even came down to check out zions, Meili and sarah were having quite a nice time together :)T turned 1 while we were there, so in celebration we went to the icecream place, but instead of ending up with that, the kids chose rock suckers :/ Whatever works I guess! Tristan even got one :)They were super happy and we sang T happy birthday and he laughed and clapped and danced all through it. He seemed to almost know what was going on. It was so cool and so sweet. Love this little boy!Back to reality we go :/

The Grand Canyon!

Well the grand canyon didn't disappoint. It was nothing short of grand. It was truly spectacular and I'm so glad we went! Our hotel was perfect and we took the kids swimming and did a little laundry from the 'incident' and enjoyed several overlooks. It was really amazing and as you can see we held on to the kiddos! Meili wasn't super thrilled about that... but ya gotta do what you gotta do. Sorry girl! It was such a fun trip and so glad we got to take nate and sarah with us, even though now I'm probably sure they'll stop at 1 kid after spending an entire weekend with 3 crazies... :)I also just needed to throw this in there. It's kai's ninja drawing to Dad complete with a dojo (ninja hut) :)

Bearizona! aka barfizona...

During a moment of spontenaety we decided to hop in the car with nate and sarah and head to the grand canyon before we are half way across the county and it's no longer an option! On our way there we stopped at this fabulous place in AZ called Bearizona. It was a cool drive through/walk through park with bears, wolves, and bison... oh my! The kids totally loved it, all except for Tristan who was having diarrhea and not holding down much either. We were driving through and right in the middle of barfizona T lost a large bottle of sweetpotatoes all over himself, me, and his carseat. It wasn't pretty. Needless to say no one could get out of the vehicle as there was ample wolves/bears to come across. We drove through as quickly as possible got him taken care of and then drove back through. Poor little man. Other than that incident it was a fabulous stop!This was just pre barf... :(complete with petting/riding zoo!
Seriously these 2 were obscessed with the snow. Meili could not keep herself out of mud, puddles, or the snow. It was so fun for them :)

post cleanup :/Their faces kill me in this picture, just had to put it up!

More...

So Rich was reading the kids a friend article and it was talking about trials. He said sometimes bad things happen in our lives so we can learn something from it. Meili piped up, 'Yeah like our car wreck'. Rich said, 'yes we did learn a lot from that didn't we.' Kai said, 'Yes, we learned to always buckle up.' Meili said, 'Yeah and I was crying and crying and crying and so was Tristan and so Kai sang us a song.' Rich said, 'Kai? you sang them a song?' Kai said, 'Yeah mommy was bleeding and didn't answer me and I was bleeding a little bit too, and Meili and Tristan were crying too, and so I thought it would make them feel better to sing them a song. I sang them give said the little stream over and over and over again until they stopped crying.' We have a special boy, one that at 5 years old, in pain from a broken collar bone, scared and alone, and bleeding himself, thinks of his 2 younger siblings, trying to comfort them in their time of need. It brought me to tears, ugh it was just too close. Apparently I was out for a while, it seemed to me to be seconds and minutes until help arrived, but it was long enough to sing give said the little stream over and over and over again...

Tristan

This little man is almost 1, cannot believe it! He is pure joy :) He started walking at 11 mo and has it perfected now! He has 6 teeth and loves balls and cars! He even makes a noise when 'vrooming' them around! How do they come up with these things?!? He loves his momma and has such a sweet personality, we are so grateful to have him, happy birthday little man :)

More bday shots

1yrHe loves himself some mommy :)

The kids made chef hats :) They love to bake!oh and last but not least, I may have possibly waited out on my balcony for an hr for Obama to drive by so I could get a photo during naptime... :) Second to Clinton that's probably as close as I'll get!

That sneaky little leprechaun...

Mr. leprechaun was very sneaky this year. Kai was sure he'd catch him with several booby traps he made for school. Unfortunately we didn't catch him, but did end up with a lot of green all over and some golden chocolate treasures... Yey! We hit up the parade with Nate and Sarah, we were lucky the downpour started just as it was ending :)