Easter Weekend

Our family SO needed some sunshine this weekend - with a massive snowstorm headed to Orem for Easter weekend, we packed up the kids and headed for the desert. This has been the first family trip that my WHOLE family was able to make it down South at the same time.

I learned last year how much trouble it can be traveling with two wound-up kids for 4 hours, so we left at 4am - hoping that the kids would sleep right through the drive. It was perfect - except that Ethan was too excited to sleep! So he & I started our day really early. The drive was so great! There was no traffic, the moon was out, and I got to listen to a book while the family (sans Ethan) slept. I was wide awake - having gone to bed at 8pm the night before, and there were the most amazing cloud formations that were lit by the 3/4 moon. It was incredible.

We arrived in St. Geo at 8am & went to breakfast at Denny's - even though we weren't actually served for an 2 1/2 hours, we still had so much fun chatting with my sisters, nieces, nephews and parents. 

With the whole day ahead, we went to the dinosaur tracks - I haven't been there since I was 12! Braving an empty gas tank and really sandy roads, we arrived and had a great time playing in the sand and tracing our fingers in the tracks. Ethan loved the little baby dinosaur tracks the best, as his hands were the perfect size! Aubrey loved the big 3-toed tracks (about 12" square), and showing them to Grandpa Dino - who was also amazed.

 

 Ethan's favorite part of the weekend was playing with his cousin Eli - pictured here running along the 6 large dino tracks together - can't you just hear them roar?

Aubrey's new favorite person is Auntie Jen - who voluntarily became Aubrey's Sherpa for the hike - lucky girls! I'm not sure Aubrey was sold on Jen's favorite desert herb - Brigham Tea, but they had fun sliding down the rock slide anyway.

Our next stop was to Red Rocks, where we watched our little monkeys scamper up the slickrock.

Aubrey loved the mini Arch!

Jen took us through a great squeeze that was really fun, and we were so proud of Ethan - he was really nervous about going inside, but he DID IT! We also somehow convinced Mom and Dad to come through as well (nice job Mom & Dad!!)

 That night - after some much needed downtime, we met at Granny Morton's house for dinner with our whole family. Mom made really great-smelling BBQ pork - though I didn't taste it, as I was busy explaining to everyone the merits and pitfalls of my being a vegetarian. It was so great to chat with everyone - especially my nephew Steve who just got home from his mission in Texas. 

Ethan got to sleep over at his cousin's house that night - going to bed at 11pm I am told - which tally's his day at 19 hours of being awake. Poor kid. 

 

On Saturday, we had a picnic up in the Cedars near Jen and Eric's house, where somehow, the Easter Bunny left eggs for the kids! They had fun with their cousins searching for the remarkably well-hidden eggs. How does a bunny get 6 feet up in a cedar tree? Hmmm.

There was great sand at our campsite, and the kids played with their cars and of course, Ethan's Legos for hours.

 The drive home was amusing to see our little ones literally passed out from exhaustion (this pic was of course taken at a long stoplight).

On the way home we even managed to get the guys some fishing time in at a local pond on top of the bluff - the kids loved feeding the ducks and reeling in Grandpa's fish. (Notice my brother's feet - sleeping in the background!!)

On a side note, remember to tell Aubrey that St George mud is STICKY!

It was an amazing weekend all together!