Fun with Family

On our way back from Disneyland, we stayed in Las Vegas for a couple days. Saturday afternoon we hiked Exploration Peak. It was a nice little but steep hike. Elliott had asked to hike it last time we were there but we didn't, so this time I made sure we did. It was a pretty view of the entire valley. Later that afternoon, all the family in Las Vegas came over for a family party. It was fun to see everyone before we head far, far away. We celebrated Travis', Ethan's, and Derek's birthdays since we were all together. I love spending time with family. We will miss everyone. Everyone is welcome to come visit us now that we'll live somewhere exciting. :)

Disneyland

We went to Disneyland for our Graduation trip. We had a blast! We left the Sunday after graduation and headed to Vegas. We stayed the night at my parent's house and then headed to CA Monday morning. We stayed in the Desert Palms hotel right behind California Adventure. The hotel wasn't great but it met our needs. It was nice to be within walking distance of the parks. We spent all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday playing. It was fun and really exhausting. Brent's brother Reid, his wife Portia, and their girls, Evelyn and Elizabeth, joined us both Tuesday and Wednesday. It was so fun to have them there with us. It had been a long time since we've spent time with them. It also made it really nice for the adults to be able to do rides, we could switch off kids and go together. Elliott had a blast. He had been looking forward to our trip practically since we moved to Utah almost 2 years ago. He was most excited to see Mickey Mouse. Derek had no desire to say greet the characters other than a distant hello. Derek did great. His favorite ride was the carousel, which he got to ride 5 times. He also really wanted to ride a train. Once he saw a train Wednesday morning, he kept saying "choo-choo-train" over and over until we finally rode the train that afternoon. The kids had so much fun with their cousins. Wednesday evening we took a break to eat our "dinner" of ice cream. The kids just ran around and goofed off for at least an hour. They had a surprising amount of energy. The first 2 evenings when we headed back to our hotel, Elliott wanted to run the whole way. Again, I don't know how he had so much energy. The park wasn't very crowded so we were able to do everything we wanted to and more by the end of Wednesday. So, Thursday we were able to repeat all the best rides and enjoy the Aladdin show. We even took an afternoon nap back at the hotel, which enabled us to stay in the evening when it was dark. It was fun to see the everything lit up. Elliott's good friend, Dakota, told him all about the fun rides before we went, which was really helpful. It helped Elliott go on rides I don't think he would have otherwise. He ended up loving Indiana Jones, Pirates, and Haunted Mansion. Brent even surprised me by going on the Tower of Terror! I was impressed. That is one crazy ride. We had such a great time. It was fun for me to go to Disneyland as a tourist. I hadn't been since high school when I had an annual pass and I would go every weekend with my friends. I'm glad we were able to have that time together as a family. We headed back to Vegas on Friday and came home on Sunday. Fun times!

Hail the Graduate!

He did it! Brent graduated from BYU with his Masters of Business Adminstration on Friday, April 23. We are so proud of him and all his hard work. We are also happy it's over! It was a great experience for all of us. Brent graduated with all A's and A-'s, a 3.88 GPA. He is in the top 10% of his class. Way to go Brent. He worked hard for it, even when it was hard to keep going. Congratulations, Brent!

We were happy to have so many family members come to celebrate with us, as well as all the well wishes from those who couldn't be here with us. Thank you for all your love and support.

Elder J. Willard Marriott, Jr, and Area Authority Seventy and chairman and CEO of Marriott International, was the keynote speaker at the Convocation ceremony. He gave an excellent talk about persistence. He spoke about his father and his life of hard work to build the company to what it is today. It was interesting to hear his story and what it means to be part of the Marriott School.

You can see Brent in the crowd - he's right in the middle looking at the camera.

Family Pictures

Last month we had family pictures taken by my friend Heather at Red Tulip Photography. She does great work. I think we got some good pictures. It was pretty cold outside so Elliott wasn't thrilled to be taking pictures, thus some funny faces from him. Overall it turned out well. It had been almost 2 years since we took pictures, so it was about time.

Saint George

Two weekends ago we were able to go down to Saint George for the weekend as a family. Stephen and Amy gave us 2 nights at a timeshare for Christmas. We stayed in a nice 2 bedroom place - bigger than our apartment and nicer too. :) We drove down Friday afternoon and went to Pirate Island for dinner. On Saturday we went to Johnson Farm Dinosaur Discovery Site. Just back in 2000 someone was preparing some land for development when they found a bunch of dinosaur tracks. They built a building around the site so visitors can come see them. The wall Brent and the boys are standing in front of is the longest single trail of dinosaur tracks in the world. It's pretty cool. After that we went to lunch at a delicious restaurant that my friend Michelle told me about, Bear Paw Cafe. It was so good! They have the best breakfast menu. The french toast was 1 1/2 inch thick cut in the middle and filled with vanilla brule. It was amazing! After lunch we went back to the timeshare for Derek's nap. Elliott and I went swimming. The pool was heated, so it was nice, but it's still weird to think we were outside swimming in 60 degree weather. Elliott loved being able to go swimming. They had a 2 foot pool that we stayed in. It was perfect.



After naptime we went to Snow Canyon State Park. We went to the sand dunes and then into Jenny's Canyon. Elliott and I hiked up to the lookout. It was beautiful - all the red rocks and red sand. We were hoping to hike one more trail that had lava flows, but the weather wasn't cooperating. It was getting really windy and starting to rain and we didn't want to get stuck outside in that. We still had a good time outside. We stayed another night and went home Sunday afternoon. It was really nice to get away as a family for the weekend.

Only 5 1/2 weeks left of school for Brent. It's hard to believe the end is almost here. We are looking forward to graduation. I'm heading to PA on Thursday to find a place to live. I'm hopeful I'll find something good.

Derek's Obsessions

Derek has recently become obsessed with trains. He LOVES to play with the Geo Trax. He will spend hours playing with them every day. The first day of his obsession he hardly ate anything all day, he was too busy playing. Yesterday we decided to put the trains away for a day to give us our living room back. All day long Derek would say "choo-choo trains" wanting to play. He would go to our room and drag out the train stations. He can't get into the rest of the box so he just kept asking for them. We managed to a second day without the trains, but I'm sure I'll have to give in soon. Derek has even figured out how to put the tracks together. Elliott is nice to help Derek build new tracks. It's nice to have the boys play together.



Derek has also fallen in love with the broom. He loves to push is around. He's a good little helper.

I did it!

I did it! I ran my first race - the Rex Lee Run 5K. I have been training for it since October with my friend, Laura. We had our doubts if we could really run that far, but we worked hard to get there. It feels great to accomplish a race. It was pretty rough but we did it and that's what counts. I don't know my official time but it should be just under 33 minutes. We even ran a bit faster and further than when we were training. We knew it would be a little longer we just figured we'd save the longer part for the race. :) Now to be motivated to keep running...