The Beach In UT??

Last week, while Newel was out of town, I wanted to keep ourselves busy doing stuff, to let time go by fast. My sister-in-law Helen, was also a single mom for the week, so we hooked up a few of those days, to keep each other company.

Last Tuesday, the cousins got together at my other sister-in-law's house (Kristen) and they had so much fun. All of the kids were playing so nice and the older girls were helping out with the babies, while we cleaned up after dinner.
We had so much fun together, we wanted to do it again, the next day. So we wondered, what do we do?

This is how the conversation went:

"Well, if we were in FL, we would probably go to the beach with the kids."

"Oh, well, there's a sort of beach at Antelope Island. It's the Salt Lake, it has a beach. Most people don't like it because they think it smells funny. There's also nothing there, but free roaming bison, different types of birds, including a flamingo named Floyd, and brine shrimp. It's pretty shallow, it's salty and there's sand."

"Great, let's go tomorrow."

So off we went the following day.

It was so much fun. The Lake level fluctuates, depending on the rain/snow it receives. So at the "beach" area, it was super shallow and we hiked about 1/3-1/2 a mile. It was a bit rough, but it was worth it.

The water temperature was great. The kids enjoyed the sand, the water, the brine shrimp, the bison,the sand, everything...except the hike, but no real complaints either.



Can you tell Mayita had a really good time?

Arden and his primas were very busy collecting brine shrimp and making a colony of them.

I thought it was so much fun, and the smell, well it wasn't bad at all. It kind of smelled like the bay, so it did feel beach like.



Funny side story: The previous day, my sister-in-laws and I were talking about polygamy and we were joking around, while we were trying to clean up after our kids, how we could totally look like a polygamist family =) The following day, Troy (Kristen's husband) went with us to the beach. He was helping us carry the bags, take care of the kids, etc...Kristen, Helen, and I started laughing, because we really did look, well, perhaps polygamist...we thought, "Hey, at least we'll give the euros who are visiting (and by the way, there were several Europeans around there), something to talk about when they get back."

Liberty Park

A couple of Saturdays ago, we went to Liberty Park. We love going there. There's a little bit of everything, especially stuff our children really like.

We met up with his cousins, and they went on the Ferris wheel. Arden really enjoyed that. As you know, he's our adventurous little guy.
After riding the wheel and other rides, we ate dinner and then, headed to the 5 canyons, water area. I love that part. I wish I was a kid again so I could splash around in the water, soak myself, and play for hours on end.

I did enjoy watching the children play in the water. This was Mayita's first time playing there. She really liked it. She worked so hard to get across the streams, it was so cute.

Then, onto more rides. This time, it was Mayita's first time in the carousel.

She loved it, of course. At first she was really excited to be sitting there, next to her cousin. She was very talkative. Once the ride started, she got quiet, and tried to take it all in. It was great.

Dinosaur Museum

What a crazy day!

It was Two Dollar Tuesday at the North American Museum of Ancient Life.

Well, it's a great museum, but it was packed. I knew it was going to be busy/full, but we weren't expecting to be waiting in line for 15 minutes just to get in (this was with cutting in line to be with my sister-in-law who had been waiting for 2o minutes).

The kids had fun, and all of the UT cousins were there. It was nice to leave the museum, and enjoy peace and quiet again. Well, it sounded peaceful with just our children being rambunctious, but it sounded heavenly compared to the noise in the museum.

We ended our adventure with a picnic lunch in my in-laws backyard.

Concert at the Park

Being unemployed can have its advantages, like spending lots of time together as a family.

After dinner on Tuesday nights, we like to go to the Concert in the Park series at Brigham Young Park.
They're great family oriented concerts, and they're free.
On this night the primas joined us.

I love spending time with our family. They're a lot of fun. They love to just munch of food, and somewhat listen to the concert.

Arden really loves spending time with his primas.

On our way back from the concert, the kids got to play in the river.

A few days ago, while Newel was out of town for a job interview, I told Arden what Newel was doing...

He told me, "No, I want to live in UT for a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time."

Grant it, today as we were driving in the car, we had the following conversation: "Mommy, do you miss Trader Joe's?"

"Yeah, I miss my Trader Joe's. What do you miss?"

He responds, "I miss my Ellie. May be she can come stay here with us. May be she can visit."

I suggested talking on the webcam.

You just never know, he might get his wish, and we'll end up living here. He's really happy here.

Grandeur Peak

This was our ultimate hike so far, as a family!
A couple of Saturdays ago, after the wedding, we got up very early and drove to Millcreek Canyon.

By 7:35AM we started our hike. Look how nice and fresh we look.
Newel's cousin Craig and his wife were supposed to hike with us, but Craig decided to ditch us. What a Newb! Yes, Craig, you're still on my naughty list =)

For those who are not familiar with this hike, it's about 6 miles long from beginning to end. Our little Jaguar did the entire hike unassisted!!
Here's the family at the top of the peak. I think we went over 2,000ft. in elevation!

We enjoyed a yummy lunch, and took in the view.

Arden was totally leveled up! We were so proud of his accomplishment. I think he was also proud of himself.

He still had energy to go exploring.





I love naked babies...they're even cuter at the top of the mountain.

After 5 hours of hiking (including our lunch break) we made it back to the car. We were tired.






This is what the mountain looks like from our place.

Very tired, but felt like winners.

Maya is 10 Months Old

Yes, she turned 10 months old, about 3 weeks ago.
Here's what she's been doing in the last month:
She gained about 2 lbs. while in FL.
She's gotten really good at begging for food, and getting really upset if you don't feed her, when she demands it.
Her personality is developing more. She gets more feisty with Arden.
Loves to watch and try to imitate her big brother.
She can make "indian" sounds with her hand and mouth (good coordination). I think she's been able to do it for a while, I just forgot to note it.
She started to feed herself, and has become more particular in her food. Does not like puree food, she prefers chunky food.
She can stand up, take a step, and fall.
She learned to wave hello and bye.
She can say, "Hi."
She stands on her tippy toes to reach for stuff.
She knows when she's eating something she's not supposed to eat, she crawls super fast, to get away, and then clenches her jaw shut.
She's cruising a lot more.
She doesn't like to miss a thing, she's constantly paying attention to her surroundings.
I love that little girl.

Matt and Jessica's Wedding

Newel's cousin Matt and his beautiful fiance, Jessica were married in the Salt Lake Temple last Friday morning. So, you'd think this post is all about them, the beautiful bride in her beautiful wedding dress, and the handsome groom, looking, well, handsome...WRONG.
After downloading the pictures into our computer, I noticed I didn't have a single photo of the cute couple...but, I did have lots of photos of the my kids and family.

After the wedding, I took Maya home, while Newel and Arden attended the wedding brunch...I left him in charge of the camera.

Most of the photos he took looked like this:

I'm sorry baby, but I think you're suspended from picture taking duty, for a little while. At the evening reception, I asked Newel to take some photos of Great-G-ma Olsen (Newel's maternal grandmother). I was bummed out. We cleaned up pretty well that day, there were four generations in the photos and they turned out blurry. It's too bad...Newel usually takes better photos than I do.

So, here's the better photo of the four generations.

Arden with Zoe

Here's the groom...Oh, I guess did get at least one of them in this post.

Hiking with the Primas

Last Wednesday, we drove to the top of Mill Creek Canyon. Had a picnic and then it was time to explore. It was such a wonderful day. The weather was gorgeous, the mountain air smelled so crisp and clean. There were wildflowers everywhere, and of course the primas were there, so that was a perfect little hike for Arden.

G-ma, Zoe, Tabitha, and Kristen
I think we're becoming more outdoors people.

Hiking Three Lakes

This was our first hike just after arriving to UT. We went with G-ma and Paka to Little Cottonwood Canyon, and at about 8500ft. elevation we started hiking a trail called Three Lakes, I think. At the third lake, I believe we were close to 10,000ft. elevation. This is why I have to post things as they happen. It's been about 2/3 weeks since we went on this hike and now I can't remember most details.

Well, I do remember as we started to walk uphill, I got a bit tired. Just arriving from FL and then climbing that high, was a surprise to my body. After my body got used to the altitude, I was fine.

It was a day was perfect for hiking...cloudy. It took us a while to get to the third lake, since some of the hikers kept getting very distracted with their surroundings...

Who can blame them? It was a beautiful scenery. There were wildflowers growing every where, the weather was perfect. It was really nice.

Here we are at Lake Mary??

Yep, enjoying some spring water, right out of the mountain...picky me, did drink the water...it was cold!

Lake Katherine? I might have this backwards...how come no one in my hiking crew told me this hat looked really dorky on me???

On our way back from our hike, we walked to the only patch of snow left over from the winter. Arden had a lot of fun making snowballs and throwing them to Paka.

It was a very enjoyable hike...and I didn't even complain when I twisted my ankle, a little bit.