In April, we took a two week vacation to Hurricane. Yeah, maybe it's not someplace "new," but we absolutely loved the weather and visiting with family. The sun has never felt so good until after a Montana winter.
On the way down we stopped in Salt Lake City for the night so we could go to Aunt Jeanette's funeral the next day. Mom and I had researched to find a hotel with a suite, because our family has a hard time fitting in a regular size hotel room now, haha. Anyway, prices of everything have been SO expensive, and we thought we'd found a really great deal. But when we drove up to the hotel it looked horrible. Like, drug-deal-going-down condition. No joke, when we pulled into a parking spot, there was a broken window on the bottom floor and we were afraid to leave our stuff in the van while we unloaded, so someone stayed there to protect it all in the meantime. Jeremy was NOT happy about the situation. He was ready to find a different hotel, but I told him it would be okay, that we'd already paid a lot of money for the rooms and it would be okay for one night. So we start unloading. There wasn't even an elevator and our rooms were on the second floor, so with five kids and four mountain bikes and all our luggage and two dogs we had to get everything up there. It was ridiculous. There was like a smashed glass bottle right in front of the stairs to complicate matters. The rooms were old, the curtains were ratty and full of holes, and the bathrooms looked straight out of a horror film from the nineties, but we survived. I'm not sure Jeremy will ever forget that Mom and I chose that hotel, but the online pictures were NOT accurate! I mean, it was a La Quinta, which tend to be nice-ish (we saw one on the way to the temple that looked brand spanking new, only two miles away). But we definitely won't be staying there again. :l haha.
The night we got there, Jeremy and I were able to go to the Jordan River Temple while Mom and Dad watched our kids in our rooms at the hotel. I wanted to cry because I'd been wanting to go to the temple and do an endowment session sooo bad, in Montana, our closest temple is 3 hours away, and add that winter travel is not good here, and it just makes it really difficult. It was amazing to finally be there with Jeremy, though. I think it had been about four years since I had been able to do an endowment session, so it meant a lot and it felt really special. I needed it.
The next day we were able to go to Aunt Jeanette's funeral, I'm so grateful we could go and celebrate her life and see our extended family. We spent almost the entire day doing that, and then we headed down to Hurricane for the next eleven days. While there we celebrated Easter, went to the car show (one of our traditions), went to the Washington County Fair (the kids LOVED petting the baby animals!), I got my teeth cleaned at the dentist (whoo!!), we went mountain biking four times, Jeremy helped Jarom move his stuff from California one day, we went swimming at the Washington City Community Center, we went to dinner at Emily's house, and had lots of playtime with cousins. Jeremy and I also got out on two dates, one mountain biking, the other going to a really nice (expensive) dinner at Spotted Dog in Springdale that was absolutely amazing. The mountain bike trail we chose for our date was pretty short, out at Red Cliffs, and the entire first half was UP HILL. Oh my goodness. I thought I was in great shape, but dang it was hard. Even Jeremy was asking how much longer until it got fun. haha! Finally, we reached the part where we transferred onto the next trail and it's all downhill and Jeremy took off! He was taking jumps and cruising, I went a little slower, but it was so much fun. It ended up being completely worth the effort and such a nice time together. At Spotted Dog, Cade is the manager, he took such great care of us and it was one of the best dining experiences we've ever had. There was also a beautiful sunset on the drive home. We don't often get to go on dates, so my heart is full of gratitude for such a nice time.
We took Bridger and Beckham out on some real trails for the first time on the mountain bikes they got for Christmas. At first they complained a lot and had a hard time, but pretty soon they were doing better. Our favorite with the boys was the trail we rode on Gooseberry Mesa, the gnats were insane, but the trail was so fun! Bridger is still getting used to the bumpiness and the effort it takes to pedal up and down climbs, but Beckham was keeping right up with Jeremy and getting super far ahead. On the last trail we did, in the Gooseberry area, he was ready to keep going before we turned around! haha. It makes me happy that he's learning to enjoy it and I hope with time Bridger learns to enjoy it too. :)
We had to make the drive home in just one day, so it took us about fourteen hours. I was praying so hard that the kids would do good and the drive would go smoothly, and honestly, they did amazing! And the drive didn't seem THAT long, it was definitely a tender mercy from the Lord.
Here are some pictures, they aren't in order. :)
Gooseberry
Ander built this by himself!
Fair
Easter egg hunt
Fair
Easter!
Car show!
Temple date. :)
Jeremy volunteered to compete in the sack race, haha!
Swimming!
When we left Montana!! We couldn't believe it. It was like -14 and snowing crazy.
Benson finding his Easter basket under the table!
Fair. :)
Washington on one of our trail rides. :)
Mountain bike date, Red Cliffs.
Oh my gosh. Roz LOVED the ducklings. She tried to pick one up, it was adorable.
Spotted Dog date. :)
Aunt Kathie playing with Ander at Easter. :)
Swimming!
After church. :)
Roz's first LEGO set, her "kitty truck."
Car show! The owners of this car said it was family owned since it was brand new and they let the kids get in, it was really cool.
After church. :)
Swimming!
Helping Grandpa fix the wagon. :)
Fair!
Gooseberry. We LOVED this trail. When we go down again we want to finish it.
The weather was perfect! The kids loved being outside so much.
Annual family fair picture!
Trail ride!!
Me and Bridger. :)
Beckham and Dad swimming. :)
Bridger just finding his Easter basket. :)
Fair! Picture of the author who wrote a book we bought.
Easter!
Bridger. :)
Petting baby animals at the fair!
After church. :)
Uncle Jarom and Sage swimming with us!
Washington on a trail ride. :)
Anderson just finding his Easter basket!
Easter!
Fair!
Benson at Easter. :)
Naptime cuddles, Ander and Dad. :)
Of course we had to get a picture of Benson with the guinea pigs, he LOVES those and hamsters so much, haha.
Easter. :)
Cute boy. :)
Easter. :)
Easter. :)
Easter. :)
After church. :)
Beautiful sunset after our date. :)
Beckham swimming!
Easter!
Ander's LEGO set he got for Easter. :)
Beckham finding his Easter basket!
Easter!
Beckham's favorite car at the car show!
Benson's favorite car at the car show!
Fair!
Gooseberry. :)
Easter!
Fair. :)
Gooseberry
My handsome date at Spotted Dog. :)
Fair. :)
Fair. :)
Bridger finding his Easter basket. :)
