Spring Break Day 3

As I was researching what to do in St George before we left, Caleb was looking over my shoulder and saw that there was a wildlife museum.  This kid was so excited to go there!

It was a pretty amazing museum!  Otters have got to be one of my favorite creatures.  Caleb loves any type of wild cat!

The layout was really nice and it wasn't crowded at all!  I had all of the kids walk around and find their favorite display so I could take their picture.  Rylee loved the baby skunks.  Is she even my child?

 Even though skunks are a nasty creature...they babies were pretty cute!  And look at that bear!  HE IS SMILING!  They even had a room with some books and a tent and a tree house for kids to play!  As you can probably tell, I liked this adventure much more than the dinosaur place.

IT FINALLY HAPPENED!  Even though we had been in the pool a couple of times already, this afternoon was 100% dedicated to swimming!  My goggle squad.

Rylee and Taylor made new friends with the pool noddles.  Rylee ended up LOVING jumping into the deep end with her noodle.  It totally stressed me out.  But, we all survived.  Luke was so brave this time!  I've had another person attached to my side for at least the last 10 years, so I felt pretty naked swimming in the pool this trip!

After a few hours of pool time we headed to the beautiful Red Hills Desert Garden.  It was so beautiful and serene. 

All of the kids have been packing around their souvenirs so I figured this was the perfect place to document them!  Caleb's rattlesnakes tail even rattles!

I really loved this garden.  I must be my mother's daughter.  This little get away was so perfect!

After a delightful dinner at Denny's (cheap...kids eat free...no one got food poisoning...win!) we went to the temple visitor center.  We watched a video and played a few games they had.  It was the best temple visitor center that I had ever been to!  Casey was talking history with one of the tour guides so me and the kids went walking around.  Caleb had the idea to put the kids at the top of these stairs in age order.  I'm bummed he was in the shade!  Wish I would've noticed BEFORE we took the picture.

 The next morning we headed home.  As always it was bitter sweet.  I know that the memories I am making my kids probably won't remember much, but I hope to remember them all!  That is why there are a million pictures.  Time flies when we're having fun! 

I worked on my selfie game a bit on this get away.

Snooze fest on the way home.

 Watching a little movie...gas station treats...does it get any better?

This is the list I had made the kids before we left...I love so freaking much that Caleb illustrated it!

Spring Break Day 2

We started day to at the Dinosaur Track Museum.  This is the blurb on their website, "See thousands of fossilized dinosaur footprints at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm. This rare site preserves a 200 million year old lake ecosystem that includes dinosaurs, fishes, plants, sedimentary structures, and other animals."  

With that being said...it was kind of neat, but kind of boring.  Yes - there were fossilized footprints.  Old people.  An overpriced souvenir shop.  And a tiny outdoor area for kids to dig for fossils.  

 The tracks behind the kids I guess is the largeest preserved track known.  So, that's kind of cool.

 I could never make it as paleontologist.  But I'd look darling in the hat.

After that adventure we headed to Dixie rock.  It's fabulous red rock where you can climb all over the place!  The kids had a blast.

 Someone had carved a B inside of a heart.  Taylor said, "Look mom!  Someone made this for you!"

 Rylee was having a rough day.  She had tripped a couple of times, and fallen once.  BUT what was amazing is we saw her first grade teacher hiking around too!  What are the odds of that!

....so we had already been to the Dinosaur track museum and to Dixie rock.  That's enough, right?  WRONG!!  So we headed back to the hotel room to eat some lunchie and to have the kids change into their swim sutff.  We were headed to the Children's Museum!

I love this museum!  We went to the depths of the ocean....to mining country....back to the land of the dinosaurs and the science room is one of my favorites!!

The kids could've spent all day in the grocery store room.  The deli section you can make sandwiches and pizzas.  Weigh out and sort fruits and vegetables in the produce department.  Load your cart with all sorts of goodies and then check out with working cash registers.  Adulting is the best!

Want to know one of the best hings about the Cihldren's museum??  It's right next to the fabulous splash pad.  Not having to load up 7 people into blue steel (the mini van) is always a total bonus!

Before we got soaking we, there is a darling carousal next to the splash pad.  So we took advantage of that too!

They are mine...yep, all of them.

 Luke is a lot braver than you might think he might be.  He's an emotional little fella...but if he knows mom is right there, he's pretty brave!

 My other son is finding his sense of humor.  He thought he was quite hilarious pretending that one of the water streams was actually a pee stream.  He was cracking himself (and his parents) up.

 It was actually a pretty perfect day.  I love those.

As we were getting ready to go change for dinner we passed this painting and Caleb said, "Look!!  We did all of those things today!"  That is because your mom is awesome Caleb.  Please don't ever forget that.

Spring Break Day 1

I decided that we needed to get away.  And it was a fabulous decision if I do say so myself.  Crystal Inn has sold their St. George location and I had a gift certificate for a free room that I needed to redeem.  AND I had enough Crystal Reward points for a free room.  AND I got us 2 rooms, 2 nights for only $25 a night!  We had adjoining rooms and stayed for 3 nights and it was only $110.  That will probably NEVER happen again.  

The view from our room was fabulous!

Kids and vacations means that we are watching TV in the hotel room and swimming like a bunch of fish!  The girls got mermaid tails from the Easter Bunny and were so excited to try them out.

I had my darling mermen jump in for a photo as well.

After swimming we had some dinner and then decided to check out a park that we hadn't ever been to.  Thunder Junction.  It.  Was. Amazing.  It had a dinosaur theme so you know the boys were in heaven.  The ground wasn't covered in sand or bark, it was rubbery like and kind of squishy.  And it had an awesome splash pad portion with a waterfall AND a fossil fountain.

AND as awesome as the park was to top off the fabulousness of it all, WE WERE THE ONLY ONES THERE!!!  We were running around like crazy people looking at everything and trying everything out.

They had zip line type swings that the kids loved so much!  A giant teeter totter for 4 people.  A giant hammock type swing that Casey and I fit on together.  If you are ever in the area - this place is a must see!  We were there pretty late, but during the daytime they even had a train ride.

Easter

The Easter Bunny found us!!  The kids all get pretty excited when they find their basket - actually - they get pretty excited when the find anyone's basket!

 Luke didn't give 2 cares about the toys in his basket at first.  This little boy is all about the sugar!

 All of the girls got new swimsuits and the neatest mermaid tails!

 One of everyone's favorite Easter treats is the peeps.  Smart kids!

 Caleb got the new Jumanji on DVD and we had to watch it immediately.  It cracks him up.

 Rylee didn't waste any time getting into her new swim stuff, finding a comfortable spot and reading her new book. 

Easter Sunday fell on General Conference, so that was actually quite nice!  The following week the kids got to wear their new Easter clothes.  Everyone really liked their new clothes and Taylor & Rylee can't keep their hands out of their dress pockets.  The dresses didn't come without stress though!  Thanks to Grandma Mona's fabulous sewing skills, it all worked out.

 If you look in the picture above, Taylor's cheeks are swollen and red.  She was dressed and I was just about finished with her hair and she told me that she wasn't feeling good.  Poor girl got all dressed up and ready to go and ended up staying home with Casey.  BUT - she got a Slurpee.  That always seems to cheer up my sick littles.

Annual Anderson Picnic

Easter in March isn't my favorite - but somehow the weather cooperates with us 90% of the time! It was a great day for a promontory picnic!

And come one.  How cute are these??!!  It shocked me how many peeps were tore off of these kabobs and placed back into the tupperware.  Unamerican.

The Easter Bunny had managed to get all of the eggs hidden yet again!

Caleb had camouflaged eggs.  Hmmmm....that silly rabbit might have to rethink that one.  They were hard to find!  He got some practice in driving a 4-wheeler around and got to scare all of the girls with a lizard.  Successful day in any 10 year old boys head I would think!  He had just spent all of his money on his new Carolina Panther's hat.  He told everyone, "Now I'm broke!"  It was pretty funny.

The girls were are each other's little helpers during the egg search.  They are pretty dang cute when they get together.  Eva is LOVED to say the least by my 3 ladies.  Each of the kids got a whistle in one of their eggs.  That was F U N.

Luke, Luke, Luke.  He was pretty excited this year and each year he gets a little less whiny!  After he was told he had found all of his eggs, he wandered back to the picnic table and proceeded to open each and every one to see what was inside.  Magic!  This little boy loves a good campfire as well.  It seems to hypnotize him for a moment as long as the smoke is traveling in the opposite direction.

The girls started the day out with their cute bunny ears, but by the end of the afternoon they looked more like sheep.  My Alexa Loo is a little diva through and through.  Sour patch candies are always a good time with the little people.  And I think she liked the attention she got from Angela and Jeff exploring her Easter finds.

Guess who else came to the picninc??!!  PUPPIES!  Ashely and Derrick are on puppy duty every year!  Talk about cuteness overload!

Happiness is a warm puppy!!  As long as they don't breath directly into your face.

Jordon and Dylan are so awesome that they both wore them Choot Em shirts.  I bet they called each other and planned it.  I love and hate that my mom has to wear 2 glasses to take a picture.  Jackson is just a stud muffin.  And Rylee & Eva enjoyed watching each other open their Easter eggs.

Blake.  This kids smile has me feeling all of the feels lately.  Whenever little Blake has a sincere happy smile, I seriously melt.  And my dad has a way of cracking him up pretty much every time they see each other.

The day ended with a show.  "Let's go fly a kite"  Starring Grammy and Blakie.  It was the best show EVER.