Living Life on Adventure Mode: Catching up- End of March, April, and May 2018

I debated on blogging five different posts for the most significant adventures we have had the last couple months, but the problem with that is, I might never get all five posts done. :-0 However, when I blog all events in one big posts, it's harder for me to search when I go back to look at past posts. (I mostly blog for my own benefit-like a journal, although, I love sharing with our family and friends who actually like to read our family blog).

So, I have decided all five adventures are going in this post, and here they are, so when I do try to find them in the future, I won't have to read the whole post to find out if the adventure I am looking for is actually posted here. (Random explanation)!!

Spring Break 2018
Bandelier National Monument and Petrified Forest
Special Visitors
Kindergarten Step-up
Sequoia National Park and Orange County

Spring Break 2018

Since we now have a child in school full time, we can't just take off whenever we want. We can make the most out of Spring Break, however. This first Spring Break wasn't very epic, but at least we got to see a lot of loved ones. The plan was for us to go see family up North, but Josh ended up having to travel for work a lot that week. I almost didn't travel at all, but my tooth broke, and I had to get a crown. We go to the dentist in Ogden where Molly works. It shouldn't have been our excuse to go up North. We should have just gone because we wanted to see everyone. Don't get me wrong, we wanted to see everyone, but Josh was not with us for most of it. Anyway, Josh did drive up with me and back down, but was gone for the in between stuff. I got my tooth fixed, and we saw a bunch of our beloved family!!

We had a birthday get-together dinner for Zaylee's first birthday, but I failed to get any pictures of that night. :(

Cousins in Alpine, WY. -- We all stayed in a hotel because Tina and Brant moved out of their house like the day before. We had a little birthday party for Derek and went swimming. Then went to story time with Tina's littles the next day.

Visit with Grandpa Wilde at his house and at the Bishop's storehouse.

Meeting baby Tennyson, Jason and Chelsea's baby.

Dinosaur Park in Ogden with Grandma Molly.

Grandpa Jones and Mimi's cabin for Easter, sledding, and General Conference.

Visit at Grandma and Grandpa Mayo's.

Last Stop- Jarom and Laura's to meet Baby Adeline.

Bandelier National Monument and Petrified Forest

This trip was a tag-a-long for one of Josh's work travels. He had to go to the Navajo Nation, so when he wasn't working we took a few detours to visit Bandelier National Monuement and the Petrified Forest.

We drove on Route 66 and kept crossing over it, so when I saw this cool painting, I had to snag a picture!

Special Visitors

Molly came one Friday, then my parents dropped off my two nieces the next day, Molly left the day after that, and then Kayla came with Parker a couple days later after helping her sister in Washington. We did have Grandma Molly for half of Mother's day, so that was fun. I was able to go to Relief Society with her in my ward.

We took Grandma Molly to Red Rock Canyon and did a hike to a small water fall.

While we had Alexis and Brynlee before Kayla got here, the kids played in the kiddy pool, ate popsicles, rode bikes around the park, made homemade ice cream, and played, played, played.

After Kayla and Parker got here, we went shopping, swimming, and splash-padding.

Oh- and we played a game one night after the kids went to bed!

We loved having all our visitors!!

Kindergarten Step-up Graduation

After an adventurerful Kindergarten year with starting half day in Parowan, to homeschooling, to full day in Las Vegas- Payson graduated Kindergarten. First he had field day, then a couple days later his Kindergarten Step-up program. It was fun to see him "almost" singing; at least he did the actions during the songs. I did shed a little tear at the sight of my little boy growing up.

Teacher Miss Gessler.

Sequoia National Park and Orange County

Since this was our last trip, it is fresh in my mind! Aaron came with us, and he was a great help. It was a bit of an adventure. Every trip can't be perfect, and this one was certainly a bit interesting. None-the-less, we were blessed. Here's part of the adventure:

We were going to camp two nights in Sequoia National Park, but we left a lot later because of Josh's work. Plus, it was cold and rainy in the National Park. We ended up getting a hotel that night. It was a good thing because on the way, we blew a tire. It wasn't just a flat tire- it was a full blown blow-out. It is a good thing Josh pulled off the freeway when he did. The only thing was, the neighborhood that we ended up in, was a bit shady. Two guys were riding around on bikes when they asked if we needed help. They were a great help because they had tools at home that we needed. In the course of getting the tire changed, Josh and Aaron learned that the King of the Neighborhood was one to help us, and he would protect us from others. They learned all about the gang life. The one kid had been in jail, done drugs, and such, but he was so nice to help.

We did head to the National Park the next day where it was cold and rainy. Aaron and I hiked up Morrow Rock to see the view... uh, to be in the cloud since the view was clouded over. It was a steep hike, and the 300 stairs just kept going, but it was cool!

I took a video on the way down, and sped it up, so you could see how steep the rock is that we climbed on the stairs.

We did camp one night. We froze before we went to bed and in the morning, but I packed enough sleeping bags and extra blankets to keep us warm at night. Everything outside of the tent was wet in the morning, but luckily everything in the tent stayed dry. We had tinfoil dinners, campfire cones, and breakfast burritos.

We did two hikes as a family in the coldness- one was to see General Sherman Tree and the other was to see General Grant. Payson was pretending to be a ninja jedi.

After coming to a lower elevation more in the city, the temps warmed up to the 70s, We stopped at a park, ate lunch, and laid everything out to dry.

The second half of our trip was to Orange County. I say OC because we were in Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. Our hotel was in Huntington Beach, and that is also where we went to the beach. We saw a group of random people with a bunch of drums drumming away. One lady gave Avenly maracas, and she loved dancing to the drums.