Trip of a Lifetime

We planned a trip this year that was a once in a lifetime vacation.  The kids looked forward to it for months and even got to miss the last 3 days of school to go.  And what exotic location did we find ourselves the first week of June you ask?  Well it was the Four Corners!  That's right a once in a lifetime trip...because after you've seen it there is no need to go back. :)  Don't get me wrong we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves it's just one of those been there, done that places.

And why the Four Corners you ask?  Well Ethan learned about it in school this year.  4th grade social studies curriculum is Utah History and when he learned about the four corners it blew his mind!  He talked about it to everyone.  "Did you know that at the four corners, 4 states meet?"  "Did you know that there is a place where you can be in 4 places at once?"  "Man, I want to go there so bad!"  "If I go there I'm going to do a handstand in all 4 states at once."  Now tell me how a mother can listen to that and not do anything about it?  Plus, I had never been to the Four Corners either.  I've lived in this state my whole life and had never seen this unique wonder.  I told JayDee that we had to make it happen. It was the mother and teacher in me. Expanding classroom learning with real life experiences is a way to get children to become lifelong learners.  Now I'm pretty sure I won't be able to take my kids to Washington D.C. next year when Ethan learns about US History but the Four Corners we could do, so we did.

Day 1
It's a loooonnnggg drive to Four Corners. Much longer than I anticipated, I thought it takes about 5 hours to get to St. George so it must take about that long to get to the other side of the state.  Nope, try about 8 hours.  We did stop for all 3 meals so that contributed to some of the extra time.  On our way we stopped at an overlook to stretch our legs.  It was called Castle Valley.  The wind was whipping around like crazy but the kids loved it and ran around and climbed rocks and saw lizards and told me that this was the best day ever!  Wow pretty great praise for a rest stop.  We hadn't even seen what we came to see and already it was the best day ever.  :)

We finally got to the Four Corners at about six o'clock and the wind was still going strong. I guess that is normal weather for down south.

 Here we are!

4 kids...4 states

 

Ethan's dream come true!

After our turn being in 4 places at once we did a little Navajo shopping.  Do you notice all the little booths built in around the four corners?  Well that's where the Navajo natives sit and sell their wares.  It's all reservation land around the four corners, each state represented there is a different native tribe's land but the actual monument is run by the Navajo Nation.  Ethan, Emma and Hannah bought jewelry and of course Isaac had to have a weapon of some kind.  That kid is all boy...he chose a tomahawk.  He wanted one with a real blade but settled for one with a rock in place of the blade. Phew!

We thought since we were in Southern Utah and had never really explored this area of our state that we'd see some other famous sites. Before we left we had already dubbed this trip our hiking vacation because that's pretty much all we did.

Day 2 

We drove into Colorado on our second day to visit a famous national park there called Mesa Verde.  It's all ancient indian ruins that date back to 600 A.D. It was pretty cool. 

I'm not sure if our kids were supposed to be walking ON these ruins but they've lasted for these thousand of years and there were no ropes as a barricade so....

 Keeping it silly while waiting for our Cliff Palace tour.

Cliff Palace from above.

Amazing isn't it?  This whole settlement built right into the side of a mountain. 

A little closer

Inside.  This guy was our tour guide.  

He was good but he had a lisp just like Syd the Sloth in Ice Age 

so it was a little distracting.

On our way out we had to scale some pretty steep passes and climb ladders straight up. 

The  kids said they felt like Indiana Jones.

These next pictures are from the Spruce Tree House.

If you've noticed all the holes in these previous pictures, they are called kivas.

Archeologists believe these were like underground living rooms.  

In the Cliff Palace there are 21 kivas.  They found them in all the sites

throughout Mesa Verde.  The roofs were made of timber and earth so they didn't last through the years like the stone walls did. But here at this site they recreated a roof and let people go down inside to get a feel for what they were like.

This is inside. Isaac is facing the fresh air vent and standing in front of the short wall built to keep the fresh air from blowing out the fire that is directly behind him.

 

 Bad lighting above...this is what we were standing in front of.

After all that red, dusty rock we needed to cool off.  Pool time!

Day 3 - 4

On day 3 we headed back North.  We stopped in Moab (another place we'd never been before - I know shocking!) and spent two days at Arches National Park.

Our first order of business at Arches would of course have to be seeing Delicate Arch.

It's just over a mile and a half hike in to get to it and everything was going swimmingly...

the kids were being nice to each other, we spotted some wildlife,

 Isaac informed us he was the best hiker ever and then a little trip and fall sent him into crying mode and this is how he spent the rest of the hike.

Poor JayDee.

There was no wind on this day so it was just plain HOT.

 Since this place is called Arches, we decided that we'd keep our eyes pealed for as many arches as we could find.  Ethan found this one close to end of our Delicate Arch hike and scaled the slick rock to get up there and discovered to his delight that our goal was just around the corner.

 It really is a sight to behold!  And it's perched so precariously on a ledge that it's a little frightening with small people around.  We did make our way over to it and here we are at the base trying not to fall off either side.

On our second day at Arches we did a few less dramatic hikes but I think our kids liked them best because they were more like leisurely strolls than real hikes.  And just as luck would have it, Isaac tripped again 10 minutes into our hike to Landscape Arch and poor JayDee had to hoist him up on the shoulders again.  What fun!

Landscape Arch

 Double Arch

I think my kids liked this one the best because once you get up there you can climb up and around and all over the rocks.  Definitely the most interactive arch we saw.

 

 We headed home after this and made sure that on our way back we stopped at the Monticello Temple.  I like to give my kids every opportunity to see and feel temples up close.  This one was fun because it is so small.  I think it was the first of the small temples built and it really is no bigger than a regular church building.  This temple is actually right next to a church building (so I got a good comparison for size) and they share a parking lot.

What a great end to our once in a lifetime trip! 

Oh and one more thing...it just wouldn't be a Gunnell outing without a few of these.

Yep, this is how we vacation.  It can be a bit frustrating to be married to a horticulturist but it's even more maddening when it's a horticulturist who is writing a book.  To suddenly swerve to the side of the road with an exclamation of "did you see that one" or back up on a highway to get back to "that flower" and then wait 15 minutes or more for the photo shoot can really put a damper on travel plans.  It's a good thing this book is gonna make us millions. :)

May Happenings

Boy, time sue flies!  May has come and gone...school is out and summer is here.  I hope.  Weather permitting.  Well my last post told how we got May off to a roaring start and here's how it progressed from there.

May 21st
Marathon day!  Well it was supposed to be marathon day but ended up only being half marathon day.  What a tumultuous training season this time around.  Not only did I stress myself with fundraising $500 to run the marathon but I had a bought of tendonitis in my left knee, what I thought was a stress fracture along the top of my foot (which turned out to be just one of those random running pains) to finally I.T. band issues in my right knee.  The hardest part of all of this was that after raising the money, working through 2 solid months of tendonitis and all the other little aches and pains, I fought my way back.  I caught up on all the missed training and was finally feeling good when WHAM!  that stupid I.T band had to rear it's ugly head 3 weeks before race time. 

Just 3 weeks from marathon day and I came to the unavoidable realization that I wouldn't be able to run it.  I cried.  I know it sounds strange but I was literally heart broken.  It's a pretty big let down when you've worked so hard for something and then can't see it through.  Anyway, with a lot of encouragement from my running partner, Shanna (who also wasn't able to run the full marathon either due to injury) I made the most of it and Shanna and I finished the Ogden half marathon together. 

It was a bittersweet day for me but there is really no better feeling than crossing a finish line no matter how far you have run. 

Coming down the home stretch!

I'm on the left, Shanna on the right. 

Almost there!  The finish line is about 100 yards away.

Yeah we made it!

 

Running for HOPE!

 Huntsman Cancer Foundation...Thanks for the amazing experience!

My biggest fans!

After race day it was time to start thinking about wrapping up another school year.

There were school projects, reading minutes, programs, etc.

Ethan had been working hard the month of May on his Utah Counties report.  He was assigned Iron County and we learned a lot about that Southern Utah county.  Parowan is the county seat and the first southern Utah settlement sent by Brigham Young.  Cedar City is the largest city in Iron County and Cedar City is also the most visited place in the county thanks to the Utah Shakespearean Festival, the Utah Summer Games and SUU.  

It was named Iron County because of the iron deposits found there.

As part of his assignment, Ethan had to make a power point presentation, do an at home project and perform in the 4th grade Utah program.  I was pretty impressed with his power point presentation (maybe that's because I have never done one myself) and his at home project turned out great.  He wanted to make a float of the most exciting thing that he learned about Iron County.  Can you guess what he thought was most exciting?

That's right, the Utah Summer Games.

I won't be surprised if we attend the games someday and it will 

probably be because Ethan will be participating in some way. 

Here's Ethan at school during their County Fair where they got to show 

off their projects and power point presentations.

I didn't get any pictures of his program but it was really cute 

and Ethan sung his little heart out.

The girls also had an end of "school" program but it wasn't sponsored by the elementary school.  Rather it was their end of semester recital for their singing class.  A cute gal in our ward started a little singing group at the beginning of the year and my girls have had the funnest time learning show tunes with their friends.  They spotlighted songs from Annie and Suessical the Musical.  The best part about their recital was that this was the first time performing for most of these girls (not to mention that they are all 7 years old or younger) so there was a lot of uncertainty and bashful voices.  The good news...cute Miss Megan has access to a real recording studio so they made a recording of the girls and everyone came home with a CD.

*These are not the greatest of pictures but remember I have possibly the worst camera in the world and their dad was taking these (he doesn't always wait for the best shot).*

 "Anything's Possible"

 "It's a Hard Knock Life"

 "How Lucky You Are"

"You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile"

 "Green Eggs and Ham"

Told you Miss Megan was cute.  :)

It was a fun night.  I can't wait for these ladies to get a little more experience performing in front of people so they can gain confidence and really enjoy themselves.

What a Weekend!

We sure did pack a lot of fun into a few days this weekend. 

With Hannah's 6th birthday and Mother's Day falling within days of each other it was unavoidable.

I started on Wednesday to make this lovely creation for Hannah's birthday on Friday.

I had quite a bit of anxiety making this beauty.  I'm not much of a "fun cake" mom.  Around here it's usually, "What flavor of cake do you want?" and I make it in 13 x 9 pan, frost it, add a few sprinkles and if they are lucky they get a couple figurines on top.  I have never used fondant and was pretty nervous hoping I could make it work.  I was extremely impressed with the end result.  It's not perfect (I kind of obsess over the imperfections) but still pretty good.  I know the Barbie cake is not a new idea but Hannah had never seen one before and she is in love with Barbie and Polly Pocket right now so I thought this would blow her away and make her feel extra special.  I made this while Hannah was at school so it was a complete surprise.  She knew I was making a Barbie cake, but remember how I described my cake making skills, I'm pretty sure she thought it would be a rectangle cake with a picture of Barbie on it.

It's kind of become a unspoken tradition that birthdays start first thing in the morning.  I always decorate the kitchen after the kids go to bed so that when they wake up it's birthday time!  I always want them to know first thing that WE know it's their birthday.  I never want them to feel like we forgot or are unprepared for their special day.   That's why all birthday pictures are in the kitchen with my kids looking splendid after restful nights sleep.  :)

That's the cake under the birthday bag.  

The other reason I wanted the cake to be a surprise is that the 

Ariel barbie I used was one of her presents.

Hannah got lots of barbie/polly pocket/princess things.  We went from no Polly Pockets in our house to an explosion of Pollys.  We gave her some, Aunt Jana gave her some and Grandma Taggart did to.  Good thing we don't have very small children in this house or we would have some serious choking hazards with all those itty-bitty clothes and accessories.

At school, the kindergarten had a Mother's Day program. 

Lots of songs they had learned throughout the year.  Hannah couldn't be happier that her show landed on her special day.

Another fun thing that landed on Hannah's birthday was the school's family fun run and carnival.  Wow!  What's better than a run and carnival to celebrate turning 6?

Well how about winning the race for your age group! 

That's right, Hannah was the first kindergartener to cross the finish line of the 5k.

Yay for families!  Yay for races!

Now I know you all know that I like running but I did not pressure this clan into running on Hannah's birthday.  It was completely her idea.  She wanted to run the 5k (not the mile route that was also an option) with everyone for her birthday.  So we all signed up, got cool T-shirts, and Ethan and I even won a little prize in the drawing at the end.

After the race we headed to the back of the school for the carnival.  And when I say carnival I mean a bunch of blow-up bouncy things and food stands run by the teachers.  

Not super fun for parents but way super fun for kids.  They had a ball.

 The best part were the friends. These are just some of the many friends she 

got to play with at her "birthday party."

It was like I had planned this whole thing but I didn't have to, the school did it for me.

What's a carnival, or party for that matter, without FOOD.

Playing sure whips up an appetite.

 

This is JayDee's "don't even think about sneaking any of my nachos" face.

After the carnival, we headed back home to finish the day with cake and ice cream.

Grandma and Grandpa Taggart, BriAnne and Joey, Milan and Eden

and some friends came to wrap up the celebration.

Oh and there were a few more presents.

A Rapunzel tower complete with a glowing haired Rapunzel.

Fancy!

I won't go into detail about the rest of the weekend but as you know Mother's Day was Sunday.

I had a lovely day.  Again presents first thing in the morning. . .lots of sweet notes, a homemade bouquet of flowers from the yard, a bowl of Corn Pops for breakfast 

and two new outfits for church including a smokin' hot pair of shoes.  

JayDee hit it out of the park this time.  He hates shopping for me (without me) because he is just convinced that he can't shop for girls but he also knows that I love surprises.  So he sucked it up and headed out to conquer and he did!  His confidence is greatly boosted as is my wardrobe.  :)

I got to take a Sunday nap (which hasn't happened in forever) and then off to my parent's house for dinner.  Any day I don't have to make dinner is a good day but when my dad makes dinner it is a real treat.  I wish everyone I know could come have dinner when my dad cooks.  

It is always amazing! He missed his calling in life.  He should have been a chef.  Seriously.

I love being a mom.  It is the absolute most challenging experience and though it changes as the years go by it never gets easier, the challenges change too.  But when I have a weekend like this one, with good solid quality time with the people that I love and see those beautiful smiling faces I can't think of one thing I want to do more in life than be a good mother.  I fall short of that goal some days but I constantly rededicate myself to my job because my children deserve it!