ATV Safety

Dylann & Rylie completed their ATV Safety Course today. We have had 4-wheelers for 3 years now, and have never really let the girls drive them too much on their own.

Summers around here are full of kids driving like 'Bats out of Hell' up past our house.
My kids, crying because I wont let them join in the bat like behavior.

Now they are certified to ride! The moment we returned home from the class, they were ready to ride like the wind. Thinking that the little card they received allows them to run wild and free on the 4-wheelers anytime they want to.

Ryann was VERY, VERY MAD because she was too young for the class.
She has had the helmet & goggles on for hours in protest!

I have my very own 12 year old!

Rylie turned 12 on the 13th.
(The attitude seems to be an automatic gift on the day of the 12th birthday!)

She had a slumber party with a few of her friends. Her class is small, so she has been friends with these same girls since Pre-school.

We made journals and did a little scrap booking.

Then I gave in and let them go out doorbell ditching. Sorry to those whom they harassed!

And now the fun has begun! Apparently, when you turn 12, all of the sudden you hate your parents when they tell you 'NO!". We are "ruining her life!" and "Never listen" to her. It has only been a week, I cannot wait to see what the future holds for her dad & I!

She really is such a good girl. Good to her sisters. Good to her friends. Not as sassy as she could be! It is a little strange to me that I have a 12 year old, who in now in Young Women, will go to Girl's Camp without me there,
and wears a bra (sorry mom, I know I am not suppose to talk about that!)

Ryann turns 4!

It's official! My baby is 4!
She had a super fun little birthday party with a few of her closest friends!Due to the two week down pour we were experiencing, a party at the park turned into a party at Aunt Laura's. I thought it would be easier to have it there, due to the fact that every child at the party is smaller than our dog, Kodiak.
This way, no one had to fight him off for cake eating :)

Ryann was so happy to have all of her friends over. We made homemade ice cream, which was a hit! Ryann's friend Jeremy was most interested on how the whole process worked, and had to have seconds, then thirds when it was all done!
All the kids loved the Buffalo Cake too! They all laughed when they saw it, wondering why Ryann wanted a buffalo for her cake instead of a princess.

There was a break in the rain, so everyone was able to burn off some energy outside. All but one little friend. He hid under my niece's bed the entire party!

The party was on Thursday, and Friday was her actual birthday. So for two days, Ryann walked around saying she was "The Birthday Girl!" and asking for more presents! What a kid!

Goblin Valley Trip

I have been in a little trouble with my kids for not posting our Goblin Valley trip on the blog. We spent Memorial Weekend in Southern Utah with my parents. We stayed at the Super 8 in Green River. Rylie was very upset to find that the pool was "as big as our room! That really sucks mom!" She even sent a text to her friend complaining!

Friday was just a drive day. We got to Price and had a little dinner at JB's and ran into Christopher's sister Tera. That was weird. She lives in Garland! Topher was in the salad bar line and looked up & there she was. Of all the places to run into family!

When we arrived in Green River, it was raining. So we piled into the hotel room and the girls took off to swim - in the tiny pool! It was so NOT fun for them because I forgot their goggles. My girls can only swim with their goggles on. Goggles for my girls are like Dumbo's feather. Without them, they cannot even doggie paddle! Good thing we caught Grandma & she could stop at the dollar store on her way down.

Saturday was my birthday, so I got to pick where we went for the day. I chose to go over to Dead Horse Point. I have always loved the pictures of that area. I wish we could frolicked on the plateau itself, but we politly observed from the observatoin point. It was a neat place. If you
stood on the edge of the plateau, you could see straight down into the Colorado River. I never knew why it was called Dead Horse Point until I read the little park pamphlet. It was a little tragic, cowboys rangling wild horses to the top of the point, fencing them in, picking the best ones and leaving the others there to die. http://stateparks.utah.gov/stateparks/parks/dead-horse/

My girls were on the lookout for old horse bones, until we told them they had to cross the river to actually get to Dead Horse Point.




We then made our way to meet Grandpa & Grandma Russell in Moab. We ate at a great pizza place called 'Zax'. Soooo yummy! http://www.zaxmoab.com/

Moab was hosting an Art Fair in the park. We spent a little time and money in the rain. Ryann and her dad watched the belly dancers perform while Dylann & I looked at every single jewelry booth. I bought homemade soap. It smells & feels so good :) My birthday present to myself :)

We spent the remainder of the evening swimming. now that the girls had their goggles, the knowledge of swimming came flooding back to them.




Sunday we made the journey over to Goblin Valley. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_valley The whole reason for our vacation. It was so cool. A giant valley full of Goblins! Kendall was a little scared, she imagined real goblins chasing us around!
THe minute we came up on the Valley, my girls all said, "This looks like Galaxy Quest!" We love that movie. They filmed the rock monster scene in Goblin Valley. It had flooded the Goblins the night before, so there were mud puddles everywhere. Ryann took a swim in a few of them. Grandma was the lifeguard.

On the way back to Green River, we took an old road, that was on the map! It was old and grown over, sage brush coming up through the cracks. There was thunder & lightning. Giant hail, huge rain drops. The girls were nervous. Grandpa & Grandma followed behind, hoping we knew the way. When we saw the highway ahead of us, I said "Wouldn't it be funny if there was a fence at the end of the road and we couldn't get to the highway?" And wouldn't you know it, FENCE! We stopped and had a good laugh! Found a dirt road off to the side and continued our adventure! We finally found the Green River Airstrip and a paved road leading to town. My dad happily followed along behind us on our off-road tour of Green River.

It was a very fun weekend. The girls loved being with Grandpa & Grandma! We all shared a hotel room; we reserved a 'suite' that had 3 queen beds. M y parents stayed with us, so the kids would not fight over who got to have all of Grandpa's attention. We put up with his crazy sleeping mask - it is better to listen to the hummmmm of the machine than the SNORING!
We had a lovely herd of elephants above us! They stomped around until after midnight each night and began again before 6:00 am. I did complain to the front desk. I felt a little bad, the manager said it was a family with 3 kids. She also told me that I was like the 5th person to complain about them. They slammed doors all night, jumped around & yelled. I know it is hard to travel with kids, and it was rainy, so it is hard to keep your kids cooped up and not have them go CRAZY!! But it was maddening! Every time my kids yelled, I prayed no one could hear them so I would not get complained on!

Maybe we will make it a yearly Memorial Day trip. There is so much to see down in the area. And I would rather do go in the rain - less likely to see snakes, get sunburns, see SNAKES!