Wow! Summer's over and I haven't blogged a single thing about it! My summer began with an amazing adventure! I got to take 4 of my nephews on a road trip to St. George, Utah for a few days! We visited Daniel, Tyisa, and Danny and did so many fun things! It was so cute seeing the boys play together and I absolutely adore my baby brother, so it awesome to get to spend time with him!
It started on June 8th, when I picked up the boys after church. We packed ourselves into my car and headed out! Last time I took the boys to Utah with me, we had jobs: a food guy to pass out the snacks, and a trash man to be in charge of the trash bag and make sure there was no mess made in the car. This time, Aaron was the food guy because he was sitting in the front seat with all of the snacks and Cy volunteered to be the trash man. Then, Jonathan was very displeased to discover that there wasn't a job for him. "I need a job! What's my job?" Ummmm...that's a good question, Jonathan. So, we brainstormed jobs for Joey and Jonathan. Cy, who is only 6, was the brainstorming champ! He decided that, because Joey is the oldest and strongest, he could be the guy that opens stuff (Capri Suns, etc.) and Jonathan could be the holding man. That is, if someone needed to do something, but had something in their hands, Jonathan could hold it for them for a second. Those sound a little silly, but let me tell you, they came in handy! What a smart and amazing kid Cy is! The boys were really well-behaved, despite the long drive. Before the trip I asked the boys what songs they liked and we put together a playlist on my iPod that was specifically tailored to their requests. The most requested song on the entire trip? the Duck Tales Theme Song! It was by a landslide! We played that one over and over and over again and sang like maniacs every single time! It was awesome!
Anyhow, we made decent time driving to St. George, but got in very late. We spent the first night in a hotel and then stayed with Daniel and Tyisa for the rest of the trip. I wanted to make sure our morning got off to a smooth start, so I set out all of our clothes the night before. In all honesty, I was exhausted, but couldn't wait for morning to come so we could get the party started!
The next morning, I woke up and got showered and dressed while the boys slept, and then woke them up. That's when the fun began! haha! Like me, the boys are NOT morning people. BUT they were good sports and everyone was showered/bathed, and dressed by 9:00, which gave us a half hour to go eat breakfast. Oh man! We were quite a spectacle in the breakfast room. Each boy wanted something different, until they saw their brothers eating something else, and then they wanted that too! We just rolled with it! They're kids, for Heaven's sake, and we were having an adventure! So, to the old ladies chowing down on their frosted flakes and bran muffins, while staring at us with looks of disapproving judgement, we don't care what you think! At the end of the day, we will have had a great time, and you will still be grouchy and mean. For the record, the boys were reasonably quiet and well-behaved; they were just very very...hungry! ;) After breakfast, we went back to the room and had just enough time to catch an episode of Sesame Street together before getting back into the car to start our day!
The first place we went was to the Jacob Hamblin home. He was a really interesting man, known for his kindness and honesty, among the Native Americans. Because of this, the early members of our church didn't have to be as concerned about attacks, etc. The boys thought the house was super cool and they loved getting to see the cotton and homemade soap!
Aren't the precious???
Next up: Brigham Young's Winter Home.
The boys, even Jonathan, had done so well in the Jacob Hamblin Home, that I was extremely optimistic about taking the tour of the Brigham Young Home. However, it proved to be a little more of a challenge! The older three did fine, but Jonathan had had enough and was begging me to take him somewhere else! haha! I promised him that, if he did a good job there, I would take him to get ice cream. He thought I meant only he would get ice cream and he immediately begged me to get his brothers ice cream too! It was adorable! That's one of the things I love about my nephews; they really do have each other's backs because each of them have done this type of thing at various times. Once I promised to get ALL of them ice cream, Jonathan did his very best to settle down and I think he did a pretty good job, especially for a three year old!
Jonathan was trying SO hard to be good! haha :)
We made it and now we can go get ice cream!
Since I had promised them ice cream, and we had a little more time to kill before going to Daniel's, when Siri told me there was a Dairy Queen in Hurricane, I put it into my GPS and headed out! BUT when we got off the freeway, there were a bunch of signs pointing toward Zion National Park! I asked the boys if they were up to an adventure and 3 out of 4 said yes! So, it was off on a spontaneous adventure to Zion's! We got there just fine, but it was SO HOT!!! Like, living on the sun kind of hot. And the stroller was buried under all of our bags, beach towels, air mattresses, ya know...pretty much everything in the entire world! Once I was done excavating my trunk to unearth the stroller, and had drunk approximately 92 bottles of water (that may or may not be an exaggeration), we got on our way!
I realize that Jonathan looks like he's being tortured here, but I assure you he's fine! It was just bright! And 10 million degrees. No biggie. ;)
This was in the nature center at Zion's. They had a bunch of uniforms and Cy immediately asked if he could try this one on. He pretty much melts my heart! How cute is he!?!
Out in the sun...
In the nature center...the AIR CONDITIONED nature center, that is. Heaven.
He was teaching me all about this little guy! "He's little and he has eyes and he sits in the trees!" haha!
This mountain lion was super pretty, but I would NOT have wanted to run into it in the wild! The muscles in its legs were crazy!
We decided to postpone ice cream and head down to Uncle Buddy's (Daniel's) house! Once there, we all changed clothes and headed to the splash pad!
We LOVE this splash pad!
After the splash pad, we walked to dinner at Iceberg, where the boys were finally able to get their ice cream!
Mmmmmm!
It was a very full, fun, and exhausting day! At bedtime, Uncle Buddy read the boys a story and then we put them to bed!
When we put them to bed, they were neatly tucked in, each in their own space, but when we checked on them in the morning, this is what we found! The two on the bed had even traded places! Daniel and I had a good laugh over this, especially about how Danny was now sleeping on the floor, with no blanket, snuggled up to that huge, stuffed monkey!
We had another full day ahead of us, but it wasn't as hectic as the previous day! Daniel went to work and Tyisa and I walked the five boys over tot he Children's Museum! Oh my goodness, it was the coolest children's museum I have ever seen! We were there for HOURS, all the way until it closed and there was still more to do!
They LOVED "fixing" this car!
By the way, I totally got busted...by a very vocal 5 year old for letting them go through the baggage claim! She repeatedly told me, "You can't let them do that! They're not allowed!" When she realized that I didn't care what she said, she gave up on me and went to tell the boys directly that they were NOT allowed to play with that! haha! The way I see it, there was no sign that said not to, it was in a hands-on children's museum where everything is interactive, and if kids weren't allowed to go through it, they wouldn't have made it large enough to accommodate them. Also, she's 5 and not my mom! haha! ;)
Danny and Jonathan playing in the sound booth!
Sir Joey slaying a dragon!
Daniel came by to visit us on his lunch break!
There was a science room where you could make a bubble around yourself!
Jonathan and Danny playing in the kitchen!
Joey, Aaron, and Cy running the grocery store!
This place really was the coolest!!!
Later in the evening, we all went down to the St. George Temple visitors center! Danny told us the story of how Jesus got hurt and then he got better (aka the Crucifixion followed by the Resurrection). He is SO adorable!
In case you were wondering, Danny is laying on the grass behind us! :)
After this, we drove to a park and had a pizza picnic!
We ended our night with ice cream bars and a superhero movie, though I can't remember which one! Such a fun day!
The next day was sad. Our vacation was over and we had to say goodbye. :( I guess nearly all good things must come to an end, though. On the way home, we stopped at Whiskey Pete's to get McDonald's for lunch and to see the Bonnie and Clyde Cars! In the pictures, the boys look like it was them who just got shot, rather than Bonnie and Clyde, but I promise you they thought the cars were pretty cool!
This was one of the most fun trips I've ever been on! I love being with my family so much and I'm grateful that David and Melissa trust me enough to let me kidnap their kiddos for a few days every now and then! Until next time!
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