For Spring Break this year, we didn't go far from home, nor do anything spectacular, but we did enjoy the time together and the kids had fun in the summer-like weather. The first day they pulled out the summer stuff and had a great time soaking each other and themselves in the cold water.
It didn't take long for Savannah to get in on the action.
"Boys, don't you dare soak me"
Another day we went up to the campground above the reservoir and had a campfire with hot dogs and s'mores. That's our favorite place to do a campfire because it's close to home and there's lots of grass and flat space for the kids to run on. Unfortunately, I've become a slacker with taking pictures, and there are none of this day.
On the last day, we went exploring in Diamond Fork Canyon. We didn't have too many plans, other than just stop and explore when the mood struck us. I had heard about this place from a Relief Society night recently, and we had never done any real exploring of the canyon before, which was unlike us. We drove for a short time before Scott thought a forested area just off the road looked interesting, so we got out and hiked a bit. It was pretty hot for April! We had to touch the water.
Savannah was a trooper and carried Boston around most of the way. She's his second mother.
We crossed this same stream several times as it meandered across the meadow. We kept coming on huge anthills, which the kids gave wide berth to, and we talked about the scene in the fourth Indian Jones movie where the ants ate the people. We came to a place where the river was dammed, and the kids really wanted to get in, but no one had their suits on.
After that little hike, we continued on to our destination, an area of red rocks for climbing and exploring. We spent about an hour or so hiking up to the top of the rocks (again, no pictures) and playing there. I was mildly disappointed in it; I expected a larger area. But the kids enjoyed finding small lizards, and seeing how far up the face of the mountain they could climb. The older girls made it to the top, while the 3 little ones and I decided we'd gone far enough and waited just below, while Scott and Boston made rock piles on the floor down below.
After leaving there, we continued on up the canyon. We passed by the stinky hot pots and saw sulphur deposits that reminded us of Yellowstone 2 years ago. We found this fun picnic/camping site further past the hot pots and stopped for dinner. We had sandwiches, but it had gotten a little chilly by this point, and we were wishing we'd brought stuff for a fire instead. We saw patches of snow still in places, especially as we got higher up the canyon. We thought this would be a fun place to come back to camp in with our Henry cousins.
Boston found the ash in the fire pit and covered his hands with it.
After dinner, we continued on up the canyon. I was amazed by how many people were camping up there. Not a ton, but with snow on the ground, it was pretty chilly, and didn't look appealing to me at all. A lady in our ward told me about this old cow pokes cabin. It was where the cowboys that herd the cattle stayed many years ago. It has since been abandoned and left to decay, but it was kind of a fun thing to stop and look at.
Other groups have obviously found it. I hoped these symbols weren't anything terrible.
I thought this view of the rising moon was beautiful.
Not far after the cow pokes cabin, the road ended in dirt, so we turned around and went back down. The kids had been asking to watch the stars come out, so we stopped at a camp ground and sat in our camp chairs with lots of blankets (it was downright cold at this point!) and watched as the stars came out. The kids were getting pretty spooked being in the pitch darkness in the canyon by this point, so we didn't stay long. Brighton, especially, was paranoid that bears were going to come eat us. Not sure if he'll be a good camper or not! We packed up and headed home, tired and cold.
There were also days spent just playing together. The kids found that if they paired up like this, it would be a pretty equal balance on the teeter totter.
The kids found the bucket of chalk I had bought months earlier for a reward system that didn't really work, and took them to the driveway in a very impressive display of their art skills (or so their mother thought).
This was Savannah's island oasis.
I had them sign their names to their artwork, so I could tell whose was whose.
We had just seen Frozen, so we're a little obsessed with it. Brighton's drawing included Olaf, and the caption, "Hi, ime Lolof [and] I like warm hugs!"
Waverly's Elsa
Hans
This was Keaton's house, with someone asleep in bed upstairs, and Olaf eating dinner downstairs.
Well, it wasn't Moab and Arches, or Disneyland, but hopefully the kids had fun and made good family memories of our Spring Break.
