Family Fun: Day One

  Our first stop on our Family Fun weekend was actually the InstaCare.  It turned out that Titus vomiting at the graduation was only the beginning of his illness over the weekend.  After a worrisome and sleepless night, Titus and I headed off to the InstaCare first thing in the morning while Jeff and the rest of the circus occupied the hotel pool.

  After a breathing treatment at the InstaCare, Titus was good to go so we were off to the Hill Airforce Base Aerospace Museum, which none of us had ever been to before.

 The kids loved it!  It was free and we could have spent even more time there.  There were two huge hangers full of all sorts of aircraft from all different eras.  We especially liked the Uniform room, the information about Vietnam...

 ...and the F16.

 The weather was beautiful and the kids loved running around and checking out the planes outside.

 They each got a "pressed penny" in the gift shop, and Levi and Isaac bought small toy replica planes.  They pretended to bomb each other in the back seat for the rest of the weekend.

 After lunch at Famous Dave's, our next stop was the Clark Planetarium at The Gateway, which was also a first for all of us.  This museum is also free!  The kids loved this plasma globe and the cloud simulator.

 I was a huge fan of this to-scale model of our solar system with info about each planet.

 While we were waiting for the movie to start (which was not free) we could not get enough of this fun scale that told you how much you would weigh at other places in our solar system.  Levi was fascinated with the concept that he would only weigh 11 pounds on the moon.

 We all loved the sky inside the dome theater.  It made us excited for warm summer nights so we can spend more time watching the stars.  The gift shop at the Planetarium was super cool, and since the merchandise was reasonably priced, it will certainly be a future shopping destination for me.  I loved the selection of cool stuff they had.  Daisy bought a "Newton's Swing" and Levi got a gyroscope.  And yes, I have thoroughly enjoyed playing with them.

Our next stop was City Creek, which we hadn't seen before.  We got there by riding Trax, which is a favorite for the kids.

 The trout pool was a big hit.  Jeff was all sorts of stressed out about keeping our circus from falling in, or worse, peeing in, the water.  He found himself wondering why we chose to celebrate his graduation as a family by spending a weekend in a public place where other people could see how crazy we are.

 The Apple Store was, of course, a huge hit.

After doing a little shopping, we were headed back to the hotel.  All Isaac wanted all day long was "all-white (vanilla) ice cream."  His day was complete when we finally spotted a Dairy Queen and made the stop.  It was a long, busy, wonderful family day full of new experiences, new places, and fond memories.

Graduation

 I can honestly say there were times I thought this day would never come.  When we took the leap of faith - because we made this life changing decision based solely on the answer to prayers - to sell our home and go back to school, I could have never imagined what a beautiful journey it would be.

 Jeff and I met in college 12 years ago.  We each graduated with an associates degree just a few months after we were married.  We soon built a new home together, Jeff worked while I continued my education, and then we started our family.  After Jeff was promoted and our family grew, we knew that what he was doing was not meant to be his life's work.  But knowing that and doing something about it did not easily go hand-in-hand.  It took years of pondering, discussing, praying, fasting, thinking, talking, and more praying to finally decide to leave the family business and go back to school.

 One of the first things we learned is that God does not usually illuminate the whole path.  His plan requires that we follow in faith, not always knowing what step will come next.  What we came to understand over and over again is that His plan is perfect, and that He will always provide a way.

 One of the overarching lessons of this journey is that God is absolutely aware of us.  He cares about the big things and the little ones, the long-term goals and the minute-by-minute details.  We have witnessed a continuous stream of miracles throughout the past four and a half years.  Jeff has learned so much about himself.  His capacities, talents, and perspective have all been magnified.  Our marriage is stronger.  Our family is stronger. Our faith is stronger.  Our determination is stronger.  We have emerged from this leg of our journey so much stronger.

 The kids and I were the only ones that were able to be there to support Jeff at the graduation ceremony.  We started out alright, but soon Titus became fussy, so I took him out to feed him.  As I was walking down to our seats on my way back in, he threw up (no, not spit up, we're talking projectile vomit) ALL OVER.  Turns out Titus wasn't exactly thrilled to be at graduation.

 Luckily he drifted off to sleep as they were announcing Jeff's department.

 ...and he wasn't the only one who caught a nap during the ceremony.

 Afterward, we were outta there.  There was some serious family fun waiting to be had!  We don't get to hang out with our dad a whole lot between school, work, and clinical hours, so we celebrated Graduation with a family weekend getaway.

 Titus was all smiles when we finally got out of the graduation and into the hotel.

 The kids could hardly wait to go swimming, and dad was a super great sport.

Titus (a.k.a. Skinny) and I mostly watched from the sidelines, enjoying the laughs and soaking up the memories. (Family Fun Weekend to be continued...)

Tuweep

 What is your ideal Easter vacation?  Camping?  Picnicking?  Hiking?  Sleeping in?  How 'bout this:  driving for hours and hours on dirt roads in a 15 passenger van with the whole family??  You bet that's what we chose to do over Easter weekend.  Here's the run down...

 Ok, this picture actually has nothing to do with Easter weekend.  This is a picture of Titus a.k.a. Skinny helping me pack.

 And we're off!  Isaac has his shades, his water bottle, his Avengers shirt and his cowboy boots.  We.are.set.

When we got to Grandma's the night before the big adventure, we colored Easter eggs.

 The next day, we all loaded up in Bertha for our big adventure.  Even the two dogs (boo!)  See, the Easter weekend plan was to go see where my pioneer ancestors homesteaded on the Arizona strip and ranged cattle on the desert (which my family lovingly refers to as "the ranch.") Only, the minivan isn't really cut out for hours and hours on dirt roads and rough desert terrain.  So my dad had the brilliant idea of renting a 15 passenger van so we could all enjoy this adventure together.  We named the van Bertha.

 And a brilliant idea it was!  My dad recently had foot surgery, so my mom was at the wheel.  We learned to hold on tight!  Let's just say she doesn't have her CDL.  But what do you know?  You don't need a CDL to maneuver this mama.  She did a great job putting up with all the backseat drivers and getting us where we needed to be.  And she kept things exciting too!

 We stopped for a quick photo op when we crossed the state line near Colorado City.  We fit right in with our 15 passenger van!  As a pickup hauling four-wheelers passed us on their way to the sand dunes we were thinking how jealous they must be of us.

 There were 41 of my family members making this Easter weekend trek.  Our first stop once we got to "the ranch" was this cave.  My great-great grandfather Foremaster would use this cave to store feed for his cows and as shelter when he was out on the range. His name is written inside next to the ancient writings of Native Americans who were here centuries earlier.

 We stopped at other ranch sites including this dug-out shelter.

 Levi was delighted by his archeological find and insisted we let it be an additional passenger in the van.

 After hours and hours of bumping along, we passed this sign. Hooray!  The Grand Canyon!  Until now, I had never been to the Grand Canyon before!

 There was nothing to see along the way except for sage brush and sand.  We never even saw any other vehicles besides the ones we were traveling with.  And then...tada!  We arrived at the "metropolitan" area, which consisted of everything you see pictured here: three buildings, a flag pole and a sign.  So of course I had to get a picture of the sign.  What's the definition of "metropolitan" anyway?

 Five miles past the metropolitan area, we arrived at the edge of the Grand Canyon.  It was amazing.

 Because it is so hard to get to, not many people see the Grand Canyon from the Tuweep lookout.  There is no entrance fee, no fence or rail, and no commotion - just beauty.

 The weather was perfect and the colors of the canyon were beautiful.

 ...and Jeff was sexy, but that's true whether we're at the Grand Canyon or not.

 Levi is my six-year-old stud.  (Incidentally, he is the heartthrob of his kindergarten class, but that's another story.)

 We tried our best to keep ahold of this circus animal so he wouldn't fall off the edge.

 Princess Daisy was just glad we didn't have to hike.

 I was so thankful to spend the time with my family - all 41 of them - and make these memories together.  I don't know how long it will be before I make it to Tuweep again (if ever) but I count this visit a privilege.

Wrestling Season

The wrestling season this year was tougher than we expected.  Levi was so excited to get going and worked really hard at practice two nights each week.  He is big for his age (he can thank his beefy mom for that) and when the divisions were made by weight alone, without grade divisions, Levi was most often grouped with 2nd graders.  He is in Kindergarten.  He took some really hard loses, but kept working and learning.  Levi had to work as much on his mental skills this season as his physical skills - which is the nature of wrestling.

Levi placed second at the Beehive Brawl in January.  Instead of being excited, he was totally disappointed.  It was so hard for him to understand that second place was something to be proud of when he took such a hard loss.

Jeff loves watching Levi on the mat.  Me, on the other hand?  It is really hard for me to watch my kid suffer and struggle through such an intense sport.  I keep telling him he should look into the marching band or something.

Baby brother is such a good sport to be hauled all over the state and sit all day long through noisy wrestling tournaments.  We are all grateful Titus is such a good baby.

Levi always enjoyed himself more when he had an audience.  We were always so thankful when family members made the effort to come support him.

Even Grandma Mary made it to a wrestling tournament!


Levi had to learn some new moves from a new coach.  He always made sure to practice them on his little brother.  His hard work paid off!

At the Youth Super State Championship, Levi wrestled hard and smart to take second place.  This time, he was excited about his placement instead of disappointed.

He has a love affair with his trophy.  It is displayed right in our family room (where else are you going to stick something that big??)

I was giggling as he was hauling it through the snow in the parking lot out to the car.  We were all ready for a break when the season finally ended.  Now we're anxiously awaiting the Little League roster.

Kindy 500

Levi participated in the Kindy 500!  The Kindergarten classes at his school participated in this fun project to learn about the symbols of America.  

 Jeff got to be Abraham Lincoln.  The kids came to visit him at the "Lincoln Memorial."  He taught them all about Lincoln and gave them a penny as their souvenir.

 He explained that Abraham Lincoln helped free the slaves.  Since they had no idea what slaves were, he explained that they were people that were owned by other people.  They worked in the fields and cleaned houses and prepared food.  He said, "Because of Abraham Lincoln, we don't have slaves anymore."  One little boy said, "Yes we do!  They bring us our food when we go to a restaurant."

 Each student built a "car" to "drive" around to each of the symbols of America.  Levi wanted a tractor, and his friend Porter built an airplane.  Levi worked all week long on his project.  He pained and glued and cut and painted some more.  The morning of the Kindy 500 he showed up to school with paint under his fingernails and hot glue burns on his hands.  Building his tractor together was definitely the best part.

 Levi had just been to the Statue of Liberty when he came to visit Jeff at the Lincoln Memorial.

Thanks to Levi's great teacher, Mrs. Painter, the Kindy 500 was a grand success!