April '17- Week 1- General Conference, Spring Break in St. George!

Darling Spring pictures! They took these while we were gone in DC so I'm thankful they turned out so cute! 

Saturday my sister babysat and we took McKenna to Salt Lake for her first General Conference INSIDE the Conference Center.  The weather was beautiful and the talks were wonderful!  Again...I felt like I listened better just because McKenna was there.  :) 

In between sessions of Conference Dan conducted a baptism for a neighbor and I went grocery shopping.  During the second session we got out Legos to help the kids be more quiet and engaged.  Afterwards, we played outside and I did some weeding, then Dan went to the Priesthood session.  The kids and I headed up to Grandma's house for soup, salad, and donuts!  The kids watched "Trolls" while the moms chatted.  The menfolk came around 7:45 and we got to hear about all they learned.    

Sunday we had our Conference french toast then settled in to watch!  I also worked on blurb and ordering Costco pictures.  In between sessions we went for a walk in the rain to get out some wiggles.  We had cereal and leftovers for lunch.  After the second session we did showers and baths then headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's house again but this time for the Conference Recap with popcorn and banana splits.  It's always so fun to hear some behind the scenes information from Grandfather.  We found out that his topic was actually assigned to him by the Quorum of the Twelve.  Usually topics are never assigned in Conference.  

Kid at the recap eating ice cream and popcorn! 

Monday started our SPRING BREAK! I ran 2 miles in the morning and played games with the kids.  The kids had play dates in the afternoon.  After dinner we did some yard work in the back yard and the kids set up the fairy garden we got from Grandma Kelly.  

Tuesday morning I ran a bunch of errands, we ate lunch, then we dropped Bethany off at Stewart's to nap while I took the kids to see Beauty and the Beast.  Grandma came too!  

We stayed up late at night getting ready to leave for St. George the next day.  

Wednesday we left at 9:45am.  I read a book most of the time and the kids watched the Lego Movie and played with the toys and books they brought.  We arrived at the Alexander's condo around 2:45 and we unloaded, then we headed to the Children's museum and splash pad.  Bethany loved "driving!" I barely saw the bigger kids.  Thankfully, we had a lot of grown-ups there to keep track of everyone.  Rachael got lots of great pictures too.  

It was kinda cold by the time we finished the Children's museum but the kids had a blast! 

That night we had Papa Murphy's pizza and watched Moana in our PJs.  The Moulton's got there by 9:45 and we talked and went to be by 12:45.

Thursday was Brittana's 8th BD!  We ate breakfast then packed lunches.  We headed to Thunder Junction All Abilities Park.

It's an awesome park but because it's new it was SUPER busy with a very long line for the train.  I wish we would have let the kids play longer instead of standing in line for so long.  Oh well.  After the train we ate a picnic lunch, rode bikes and went for a walk.  

Babies in the bike trailer. 

We got back to the condo by 2pm. Bethany had a quick nap in car and then we went swimming at the Sand Hallow Aquatic Center.  Such a fun place!  

 I loved watching the kids do this lily pad course.   

Brittana wanted to go to Fatty's (a burger and shake place) for her BD dinner.  Unfortunately they were SUPER slow with their service and the food wasn't even that good.  Good thing we had great friends to keep us company.  

We ran to the drug store to get Anna some cough medicine and they did cake and ice cream for Brittana.  We put the little girls to bed and McKenna and Ben went swimming with the big kids at the condo pool.  After the kids were in bed we talked and talked as grown ups and went to bed about 12:30.  

I love being with our friends for extended periods of time to observe all the different parenting styles.  I love learning from them! 

Friday Dan and McKenna went with John, Brittana, and Charley to hike Angel's Landing in Zion's!  They all did so awesome!  John is really good at telling stories and keeping kids distracted.  They loved seeing lots of chipmunks and having lots of strangers cheer them on when they found out how young they are.  

So proud and I'm excited for when I can go! What a view! 

While they were gone, I woke up around 8 and showered.  We ate breakfast and packed lunches then left for the Red Cliffs hike.  Love these little knuckleheads!

Because it was Spring Break it was pretty crowded and not a lot of parking.  I ended up staying with the kids while Rachael and Melissa went to park cars.  The Moultons went on their own adventure that morning and met us later at the Red Cliffs.  

Bethany loved giving me snuggles and playing with my hair while in the hiking pack.  

The hike was short and sweet because we only went to the first pool.  The older kids were pretty brave to go on a little rock slide but they said the water was freezing! Ben and McKenna only waded a little.  

All the kids except baby Ivy.  

That night we had taco salad for dinner and went swimming some more at the Condo pool.  *Note: Anytime I have put Anna in a swim diaper the last 6 months or so I have told her NOT to pee or poop in it.  For whatever reason she takes that very seriously and will get out of the water, pee on the side of pool and get back in.  That means she is totally capable of being potty trained, right?  So that night at the condo pool, she said she needed to go, John pointed to where the potty was, and she willingly went me and peed in the potty!!!  

  

We gave the kids showers and had a hair brushing party with Charley's hair then put kids to bed.  

Here are some cute pictures of how obsessed Bethany was with baby Alexandria Moulton!  She just wanted to hold her all the time!