Sick

It's official. Everyone in the house is sick. DJ was the last, but he woke up this morning coughing and a sore throat. I'm running a fever now. I think Lindsie and Jarod are starting to be on the mend, but not 100 percent.

Anyone want to come over and clean my house and do some laundry? : )

Spring Break

We headed down south to Capitol Reef for spring break last week. Kind of had a rough start. We got down there much later than we had planned and the campground was almost full! We had to just pull into a spot we weren't thrilled with. Funny thing - a ton of people left the next day so we were able to move to a much better place.

Never get tired of looking at these mountains!

That night, Jarod started throwing up. That continued most of the next day. We're talking all over all of our bedding (don't worry Grandpa - only the bedding, not the camper). We ended up having to find a place to wash. Laundromats aren't exactly plentiful down there! It was also FREEZING and windy, so we ended up spending most of the day stuck in the camper with a puker. I was about ready to call it quits. He started feeling better, but the next night he coughed all night! Sleep was not in our plans apparently. Next morning was cold and windy again, so we decided to find a scenic drive. We have always wanted to go to Cathedral Valley and decided this was as good a time as any. Well, because of all the moisture they have had down there, the road to Cathedral Valley was washed out. We looked at a map to decide where to go instead and found out that Bryce Canyon was only 90 miles away, so what the heck.

I don't know if the mapmakers measured the 90 miles in the air or what, but it took us 3 1/2 hours to get there! Not exactly what we had in mind for a scenic drive. Keep in mind that we started out at about 1:30. At least the views were fantastic! I have never seen Bryce before so it was really cool, but VERY cold.

Well, now we had a 3 1/2 hour drive back home! Man! 7 hours in the car! With sick kids! By the time we stopped for dinner, we didn't get back to camp until about 10:30 pm. We all just kind of fell into bed.

Day 3 things were looking up. Jarod was still coughing, but feeling a lot better. We decided to stop by the nature center. We actually had to drag the kids in - they didn't want to go. But they had a blast. So much fun stuff to play with and explore. We discovered a fun "new" game to play - pick up sticks. It surprised me how much all three of them loved it. We ended up buying our own set to play back at camp. Another pioneer game for the camper Grandma!

Then we headed down into Capital Gorge and hiked up to the tanks. Oh crap. Who is behind the wheel? She was SCARED TO DEATH! The roads are narrow and bumpy. But she did really good behind the wheel. Dean thought if she drove he could look at the scenery, but he was to nervous with her driving to look at anything!

Day four was the Easter egg hunt at the Gifford House. Jarod woke up FIRST THING in the morning because he was so excited. They had some games for the kids to play before the hunt. This was some kind of race where the kids batted boiled eggs down the driveway and back. The eggs came back looking a little gross!
Finnaly the hunt begins. Don't know how I got a picture of just Jarod running around. There were a TON of kids everywhere. Jarod thought he ought to be able to go to the "under 2" hunt. The eggs were a lot easier to find!I got up early for THIS!?!?! He found 5 eggs. For some reason he thought there would be money in the eggs. The candy wasn't so exciting. It was kind of funny.Day five was Easter. Here is DJ looking for eggs in our camp. Dean hid them pretty good. They had a hard time finding some of them. Just for Jarod we put a dollar in a couple of them. He thought that was pretty cool.
Later that day we took a hike up to Hickman's Bridge. It was the nicest day of the whole trip, even if it was still a little chilly. Here is Mr. Junior Ranger Jarod. He was really into the whole thing. We had to keep stopping so he could fill out his book. Check out the ranger hat. Now he is looking to buy the whole uniform. Any idea where to buy a child's forest ranger suit?

This child is just not into camping so much any more. By day 5 she was done and ready to go home. Of course, I think she caught what Jarod had and wasn't feeling well. You must be sick to want to take a nap on a rock!

I think this picture was actually near the tanks, but I don't want to move it so just pretend it is at Hickman's Bridge. The view outside the camper. Everything is just so beautiful down there. We love it!

Fair warning. . . .

She can drive.

Missionaries

Just fed dinner to our stake missionaries, Elder Mata'u and Elder Grace. Elder Grace has been serving in Salt Lake City while he waits for his visa to be approved. He just got word this week that he has been permanently reassigned to Salt Lake City.

His original call? Mongolia.

Oh Man . . .

Just registered my daughter for HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!!!

This is so wrong . . . . .

Marta

Ok, ok Amy. I'll get my pictures posted! : )

Here we are at the airport waiting for Marta to come. We made these signs so she would find us easily. This was our first glimpse of Marta as she came out of the terminal.

Here we are driving home from the airport.

We managed to get her on the swing at your house. She really loved your backyard, even without flowers.

Scoping out your house.

We showed her your wedding picture. She told us that mom told her all about her big hairdo at the time of her marriage!

This is what she was referring to when she said she sat in your legacy chair. Not sure why she called it that. She said it was like the legacy movie. Is there a rocking chair in that movie?

Standing in front of your house.

The rest of the pictures I took were on my cell phone. I already emailed them to you.

We sure enjoyed her visit. Not sure how you can love someone so much that you only spend 8 hours with, but I already miss her terribly. I hope you get to see her again, but I hope I get to see her again too. She just fit right in with our family. She could definately be another daughter of yours! And she definately loves you. That's all she talked about!

Entrepeneur

This is Jarod in his "store." He has been open for business for about three days now. He has this little table set up in his room back in the corner. You can't see it, but there is a sign hanging above him that says "employees only." Can you guess what the name tag on his shirt says? You guessed it - EMPLOYEE. He tells us all when he is open and we have to come in and buy things from his room. Apparently he is selling off all his possessions. And he expects real money, too. I think he has raked in about 5 bucks so far (because we are all a bunch of suckers of course).

What an imagination!!!