Jared's Birthday...Happy 29th!!

For Jared's b-day, I surprised him with a little day trip down to Zion's National Park. I packed the whole car and made all the arrangements myself, and the next morning surprised him by waking him and the kids up really early to leave for our little adventure. It was tons of fun! We didn't get home until about 3am in the morning and we both had to work that next day...but it was still a blast! This is a picture of Jared and the kids in front of Checkerboard rock...our first stop!
Just as we came into Zion's, there was an Indian ranch on the side of the road with hundreds of Buffalo roaming all over. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever!
Poor Lily got really car sick on the way down :(
The boys on the other hand did anything they could to try to get her mind off of it...Here's Seth wearing Lily's diva sunglasses, and Dylan's saying, "Check it out baby!" It was sooo funny and so cute to see them worry so much about their little sister!

More Fun in the Car...The boys rockin' out to "Pump it" by the Black Eyed Peas!

Weeping rock...one of my favorite places at Zions!
You can't see us very well, but the background is beautiful!

Dylan finally found a great puddle to splash!
Here we are on the inside underneath weeping rock. Wendy...it wasn't the same being here without you! Next time we'll have to plan a trip down together!

 This was one of our favorite spots...it looks like there is a blury line running down the middle of this picture, but it's actually a little waterfall that runs right off of the huge mountain and crosses right over the hiking trail. 
More of the beautiful scenery...
This was one of the views from our hike to the Emerald pools, looking down over the river.

Me and the hiking King!

Seth checkin' out all the little tadpoles! After our first hike we found a little pond underneath a  bridge. It was full of millions of little tadpoles that had just hatched...the kids love it!
Dylan loves to play in the mud!
Getting ready to eat lunch in a little grassy area we found. We were so hungry...good thing I packed it all the night before!
Next...a little nap
Then off we go for our last hike of the day...up to the Emeral Pools!

As we were walking by, the kids found this tree and loved it! They made up stories the whole rest of the afternoon about what they thought lived in their. We saw tons of wildlife on the trails...Deer...wild turkeys...bullfrogs...tadpoles...birds of everykind...tons of chipmunks, lizards, and lots more!
The kids playing in one of the 3 pools. Our feet felt so good splashing in the water after a long hike. 
All the trees and bushes were so green and pretty! It was amazing how they just grew right in the middle of all the rocks.
The family...after a r-e-a-l-l-y long 3 mile hike! The pay off...this beautful little pool and a huge waterfall! It was gorgeous!

The big graduation!

I can't believe how fast my little kids are growing up! This picture is at their big graduation ceremony. 
The 3 of them!
Jared's mom isn't able to get out much, so we were so happy that she was able to make it!

Check out my little soccer player!
Go -Seth- Go! What a great throw-in!
My little Champions! They had so much fun and did a great job playing this season...they're sad it's already over...but super excited for next spring to play again!

Another trip to the ER...with Dylan!

If you look closely in this picture you'll see a small blue speck...that would be what part is showing of a toothpick sticking out of Dylan's little foot! He was jumping down the stairs and somehow landed right on one. I didn't dare pull it out, because I didn't know how much was up in their and if any would break off inside. Of course this had to happen on a Sunday night, so we went down to the ER to get it taken care of. The Dr. said he thought he could just pull it right out in one quick motion, so he advised not to put him through the pain of numbing it up. Well he pulled, and it broke off half way through, so 4 shots later it was (mostly) numb. It was so wedge into his little foot that he ended up having to get a little scalpel and cut the rest out. Dylan was sooo brave and extremely glad when it was over. He was especially happy to find out that they had red popsicles (his favorite) waiting for him!
Here is part of it...the first half that came out...the rest just came out in little pieces as the Dr. cut it out.

Spring time in our front yard...isn't it beautiful?
Rainy-day fun!!! We painted rocks and the kids all named them...meet Dexter, Simba and Maggie