Strawberries!! Yum!!

Alli had a field trip with her preschool class to the Strawberry Patch!
This is always one of my favorite field trips. We get to pick fresh strawberries and fill our basket, plus eat as many as we want along the way. Allison loved it and I lost track of how many she ate! She was covered in strawberry juice. It was tons of fun! After the tractor ride and strawberry picking, we got to go feed the farm animals and play in the kids area. It was a great morning to spend together!

Spring Break 2009

Our Spring Break Began with a 2-night stay in Las Vegas, NV at Circus Circus campground. That was fun for the kids. We had a buffet brunch at the restaurant, played in the fun zone and arcade area and won lots of prizes. The kids loved it. We also cautiously visited the strip. We went to MGM Grand to see sleeping lions, a few fun hotel fronts and of course the M&M store! We had dinner with the Hoggan family, Barrett Hoggan being Jason's childhood best friend. Thanks Hoggans for a great time! Sorry we forgot to take pictures!

 

The next morning we headed off to Zion National Park!!


The first morning we woke up in Zion we were surprised to find it SNOWING!! What? The forcast we read said it would be cold and possible rain. It didn't say anything about snow! But it was on and off and still breathtakingly beautiful! It didn't slow us down at all! We stayed 3 nights and had so much fun!



Here is what it looked like from our spot in the campground. Need I say more?


Pictures of our various hikes and wanderings.

 

 

I had always heard about the "Narrows" in Zion. Well, here's part of it. Apparantly it is a beautiful hike beyond this spot, through the water, to even more beautiful sights. But this time of year is too cold so our hike ended at the water. Hopefully we'll take this trip again in the summer time to experience the Narrows properly.


Blake and Allison - either friends or enemies - this moment they are friends.
My heart is a flutter!




Just beautiful:


This is an natural arch that is a popular site to see. We saw it as we were exiting Zion and about to head through the tunnel that would take us out of Zion and on our way to the Grand Canyon.


This is what we saw upon arrival at the Grand Canyon! The sun was starting to set which made for some gorgeous scenery! Wow! It was a first time for all of us and we were not disappointed!

 

Our first evening we hit the gift shops. Jason thought it would be fun to have coordinating shirts/hats for our excursions the next day. So we all have our Grand Canyon t-shirts on. Aren't we cute?

 

Adorable!


What's with my family and standing on ledges? The boys thought it would be fun to "fall" off this ledge of the Grand Canyon.

 

 

Another view with the Virgin River


We lucked out and saw a California Condor! There was a guy that had been there with his fancy camera ALL day waiting to get a shot of one. Five minutes after we walk up, we're graced with the presence of this guy! It was amazing!!


We all love camping together as a family and it's something we very much look forward to. I'm so glad we tried somewhere new. It was a great adventure and a trip we'll never forget! These places are some of the most beautiful places Heavenly Father created for us! I'm so glad we've had the chance to enjoy them in person.

Another fun thing we do is have the boys earn their Junior Ranger Badges at the Nat'l Parks we visit. We've started a great passport collection along with prior badges at Sequoia and Yosemite. We're planning a few more places for the summer too. We'll be sure to post them as well.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Daddy had to work the day before Easter, so we colored eggs with Nana & Papa. In the morning we got ready for church and when Daddy got home from work we did a quick egg/basket hunt. Then on to church for the true Easter celebration... honoring our Savior Jesus Christ. That evening we went to Jason's parent's house for dinner and then drove on to Las Vegas to begin our Spring Break vacation. Busy day, but we still found time to be together as a family and enjoy the Easter celebration.

Cousin Hannah Turns 2!

Cousin Hannah had a bug party for her 2nd birthday. It was pretty fun! They had all kinds of creepy crawlies there. The kids all LOVED it! Especially Hannah! It's fun to look at the expressions on her Mom's face - all Courtney could handle was the lady bug. Hannah was loving it all - tarantulas, snakes, centipedes, iguanas, turtles, etc. She held everything!! I was amazed!!


Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you!

New York! New York!

Our 14th Wedding Anniversary we decided to live it up in New York!! What a treat! I am going to bore you with all the pictures and commentary because I need it for my family blog album. Feel free to just skim through!

Here is our hotel - the Belvedere. We were very pleased. It was clean and nice and very close to Times Square and all the theaters we went to. It was walking distance to most main things, and to all the theaters we went to.




Well, here it is! The heart of Manhattan... the famous Times Square! I have to say, that my first impression was, "Oh, we're here? This is Times Square?" I didn't even realize we were standing in the midst of it. Our taxi took us straight from the airport to our hotel. After checking in we walked the 1 1/2 blocks and were just there. Who knew? It's a different experience when it's dark. You'll see in later pics.


At first we did a little sight-seeing, window shopping and had a late lunch. Then, our first night in town, we went to our first Broadway Show: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA! I've seen this many years ago in L.A., but New York is just a different experience! What a classic! We both loved it!


After the show it was around 11pm. To our internal time clocks it was only 8pm though. We were ready to paint the town red! We mostly wandered around Times Square - that's me calling the kids. It was very cold out and we walked many blocks to check things out. My feet were so sore the next day, as I didn't change out of my dressy shoes from the Opera. Ugh! I'll pay for that the rest of the trip! We scoped out a few activities for the next day, our first full day in New York. There was a lot on our agenda! We couldn't wait!


Times Square that night. Amazing. So many people. So many lights. Wow!

Here are some of the shops we patronized:


Our plans were a bit foiled when we woke up the next morning (yes, with no kids we slept in!!) and opened our drapes to find SNOW!!! That was NOT in the forecast! We decided it wasn't a great day for the Empire State Bldg and Statue of Liberty. Too foggy and cloudy. Luckily, the snow subsided by noon and the skies cleared for us. But it was still very cold!


American Museum of Natural History - We changed out morning plans to be indoor. This place was truly impressive!! We needed a whole day to devote to this place, but we didn't have it this trip. We quickly went through the 4 floors but wished we could have slowed down to really enjoy its inhabitants.




DUM DUM wants GUM GUM!! - Anyone seen Night at the Museum?? We took this picture knowing our boys would get a kick out of it! They love that movie!




A real New York subway station! woo hoo!! After all the walking we did, I was very grateful for the $2 subway rides that quickly got you from on end of town to the other, and anywhere in between!


Central Park - well, a very small part of it anyway. It's beautiful!


Among the many shops we went in, Tiffany's was one of them. Jason bought me a ring to complete the teardrop collection he got me a few years ago while he was in New York with his brother. What a nice surprise and special souvenir for me!



Lunch at a little restaurant in Little Italy. Yum!


China Town - did some souvenir shopping here.


We walked down to the Brooklyn Bridge. The Washington Bridge is right behind it.

That is Brooklyn in the distance, across the water, or across the bridge.


While heading to our next destination, we watched some FDNY firefighters go to a call. Of course we stopped to take a picture.


Our next point of interest was the New York Stock Exchange. This is about as close as you get... they have security all over the building. You don't get in unless you are authorized to be there.


The Trinity church is definitely an amazing sight. It's hard to tell by the pictures, but was an amazing structure! The inside was beautiful too. We thought we could take a tour or something inside, but they just looked at us funny when we asked.


Our evening entertainment tonight was another Broadway Show: ROCK OF AGES!! This show was really good. There were some unexpected parts that were inappropriate for all ages, but overall it was FANTASTIC! If you lived in the 80's you would appreciate this show and it's humor. We never laughed so hard!



After Rock of Ages we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and TOP OF THE ROCK. (this Rock theme was unintentional, I assure you!) The TOP OF THE ROCK just means a long elevator ride to the top of the Rockefeller Bldg. for an amazing view! We chose to do this at night, and go to the top of the Empire State Bldg. the next day for a daytime view. That didn't work out so well, as you will see when you read further on. Anyway, Jason got some amazing pictures here. There was an unobstructed view all the way around the building. In the first picture you can even see the Statue of Liberty out on the water! Gorgeous!








After yummy crepes at EuroCafe this next morning, we headed to the Empire State Building. The line was VERY long. They told us it would take 1 1/2 hours, but after 1hour, the wait time was still 1 1/2 hours. We realized that if we waited, we would miss seeing the Statue of Liberty. They only sold tickets til 2pm and we needed to get to the other side of town to get them. We decided to sell our tickets to people at the back of the line and quickly head over to the Statue of Liberty line. Sigh... But here's a picture of the Empire State Bldg. from the bottom.


The line here wasn't as bad. We bought tickets, waited for the ferry to take us across. We needed to be there 30 min. earlier to have time for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. They made us pick only one destination. We chose the statue. Maybe next time I'll get both. (I hope there is a next time)

I'm not sure it's what I had always envisioned, but it was definitely breathtaking! She was beautiful!



Ground Zero was a stop on our way back to the heart of things. Much progress seems to have been made. It was hard to get a good view. They had put up a lot of new plywood blocking your view. It was still very sad and being there definitely takes you back to that day. Does anyone NOT remember where they were that morning??



A bit later, I actually got Jason to go skating in Rockefeller Plaza!! It was his first time on ice skates and he did GREAT! Not one fall! It was cold outside, but soooo much fun! I haven't done this in years! It was fun to skate with my sweetheart!



That night we went to another Broadway show: JERSEY BOYS!
Let me just say... AMAZING!! The singing was unreal! It's hard to pick our favorite because all 3 shows were so different, but all so entertaining and outstanding!!


For late night dinner after the show and shopping, we went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. We both loved that movie and the restaurant was decked out Forrest Gump theme. Good food too. I made Jason take me back to Magnolia's Cupcakes for late night dessert - I was dying to try their Red Velvet/Vanilla cupcake. I heard the banana pudding was scrumtious but they were out. The German chocolate cake was awesome as well.



We met many interesting (or strange) people along our way. Here are pics of a few of them:


Overall, this was an amazing trip! We had so much fun being together and doing so many exciting things! I can't wait for out next getaway, whenever that may be. We always have a good time together! Happy Anniversary Honey! Thanks for the best gift!