"The hole was so big"

Those catchy lyrics are part of a song that Cloudburst wrote about our trip to the south rim of the Grand Canyon!  Over spring break we took out the RV and drove towards warmer weather down south in Arizona.  Except it wasn't any warmer than Utah!  Oh well.  We left on Easter Sunday (we even had an egg hunt on the way!).  We started our trip in Williams, Arizona.  In the early 1900's Williams used to be the "gateway" to the Canyon and people would ride in on trains.  We wanted to do it old school!

It started with a good ol' shoot out with robbers and a sheriff who saved the day.

The train ride was a hit with all the kids and it was nice to be able to walk around during the two hour ride.  Our operator, AmberRose, was great, too.

Once we got there we almost got blown over the edge!  It was cold with wind gusts of 40 mph, but we were all still awed at the sheer size of the Canyon.  Most of us (including me) had not been to the Grand Canyon before.

We hiked on a trail around the rim.  We thought about venturing down inside the Canyon a bit, but then we noticed the lack of railings, felt the strong winds, and counted the bazillion kids we had with us and decided to stick to the safer route.

We traveled with our good friends again.  It is so fun to travel with friends!

Here we are in front of the Canyon.

I'm sure Cloudburst is getting inspiration for her song!

On the way home the robbers came through the train and "robbed" everyone (for tips).  Sunshine was very perturbed that the robber snatched the dollar that Thunder told him to hold up.

And did you know that a lot of Radiator Springs (Cars) was based on Williams?

Flo's Gas station...



Remember old Lizzie?

And of course the stoplight...


On Tuesday we got to stay in the park located inside the boundaries of the Grand Canyon, called Trailer Village.  We got a bit delayed by a bad traffic accident, but when we made it, it was nice to be so close.  The trams will take you all over the park, so we caught one in time to catch the sunset.

This is how Sunrise got around for the whole trip.  Thank goodness for the Baby Bjorn!  And thank goodness for a nice husband who will wear it!

On Wednesday, we loaded up and headed for Monument Valley.  We had a blast there.  Even though it wasn't really that warm, the first thing we did was swim!

We also hiked around a bit.  There were some natural arches and great places to explore.  It would be fun to go back here!  And yes, on the pic below, Sunrise is strapped onto Thunder as he's climbing.

On top of the world!

We had fun with Sunshine's new slingshot...

... and of course we had to roast hot dogs and marshmallows.  Thunder now has it down to an art.  His marshmallows are golden brown and you can DRINK the insides out of it. Mmmmmmm.

On Thursday we left Monument Valley.  We had to climb up a very steep, curvy road which had signs all over it (saying NOT RECOMMENDED FOR TRUCKS OR RV'S) to head to Goblin Valley....

... but we overshot Goblin Valley by an hour and ended up at Fish Lake instead!

By the end of our stay, we had some very dirty, happy kids.  Tornado also loved a secret hideout they made under a tree.

M. and I even fit in a run along the beautiful hills. Life is good!

Car Pool CD #3

OK, OK so I haven't posted any of our other car pool CD's.  But I thought it might be fun to tell y'all what we listen to in the car, coming home from school!  This is actually a CD I made for Kiersten when she turned seven.

As we drive, each kid gets to choose a song from the CD.  So which one is the most popular?  By far

Fireflies!

Here's the playlist:
Brown Eyed Girl Van Morrison
Fireflies Owl City
You Belong With Me Taylor Swift
(You Drive Me) Crazy Britney Spears
Haven't Met You Yet Michael Bublé
The Bird and The Worm Owl City
Love Story Taylor Swift Fearless
Particle Man They Might Be Giants
Be Still, My Soul Mindy Gledhill
I Run To You Lady Antebellum
For Good Wicked
Defying Gravity Wicked
Popular Wicked
Beauty And The Beast Beauty & The Beast
Home Beauty & The Beast
Colors Of The Wind Pocahontas
Let Me In Rigoletto
How Many Planets? They Might Be Giants
Solid Liquid Gas They Might Be Giants
Why Does The Sun Really Shine? They Might Be Giants
Ring of Fire Johnny Cash
Finding My Way Back To You Jericho Road

Random catch up...

So I'm a little behind.  I was going through pics and found some great ones from March.  So I figured that since April is almost over, I should probably post these.

We were able to go to the Fire Station with our neighborhood play group.  It was heaven for my boys!

Thunder kept telling the kids that there were tadpoles in the stream near work, so we headed over there one afternoon to catch one.

The kids were fabulous spectators...

...and kept thinking of ways to try to help.

We caught something- though it's not a tadpole!  We put it in the tank with our other fish. Too bad it died a few days later!  We think Elmo, our beta fish, was getting in a last kill before he then passed away.  We actually had a little funeral for Elmo a couple weeks ago.

We also went to a great neighborhood Easter Egg hunt.  We got there right when it started so the kids didn't get first pick, but they were still stoked!

And a few more random pics... this is how our kids prefer to eat applesauce. Yes, with straws.

And we continued our April Fools tradition of eating "dessert" first, followed by "dinner."   These "cookies" were actually chicken cookies.  I just made them up using Bisquick, chicken, and Cream of Chicken soup, and they were pretty good.

And then the main course? Tacos (fruit!).  These were so yummmmmmmy.  They are called Tricky Tacos and I found the idea here.

10 months old!

OK, so this post is a bit late... the little dude is almost 11 months old!  Oh well.... the pics were just so hard to get off the camera.  You know how it is.

So little Sunrise is 10 months old (and a little overexposed, I might add).

Since he started growing teeth (he now has 2) he has decided he doesn't like to nap anymore.

He does the "gimp crawl," with two hands, one knee and one foot on the floor (pic at the end).

He babbles constantly, though he says few real words.  "Mama" "dada," and a don't-put-me-in-my-crib-for-a-nap SCREAM!

He is enjoying his new independence found through crawling...

... and scooting...

... and pulling things over.

How do they know just how to pull on something to make it plop on the floor?

He is growing toooooo fast!!!!

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the Gimp Crawl.

If at first you don't succeed, tri tri again!

About a year and a half ago, Thunder participated in his first Triathalon.  He did it with R.H. (who will hereafter be called Nighthawk).  They hired a new guy (Tiny) at work and decided that doing another triathalon would be a great initiation to the company!

The swim was held inside the American Fork Rec center.  It was nice and warm in there!

Tornado and Sunrise played a fun game called "I steal your pacifier and you try to get it back."

This year the boys had a team name- TNT, for Thunder, Nighthawk and Tiny.

The biking portion had 2 laps and here is Thunder finishing the first lap.

The kids enjoyed the big open fields and sunshine!

Here comes Nighthawk, finishing his biking, and heading to the transition area.

Here comes Thunder!

Go TNT!

Here is Tiny heading into the transition area, getting ready to run the 3 mile loop.

Here comes Thunder in for the finish!

Wahoo, way to go!  He finished with a time of 1 hr. 34 minutes.

And here comes Tiny!  Way to go guys!!