Sunny Saturday in Arches National Park

Ok...so there are a ton on pictures in this post!! I even picked and chose from the ones that we took!! Rob got the itch to head south and enjoy some sunny Moab weather on a quick day day trip. We headed out about 8 am with our friends Angie and Spencer and got to Arches National Park about 11...

So of course the first thing that we did was eat our lunches in Devil's Garden. I was busy getting lunch stuff shuffled from the car to the table when I saw this. Poor Jordan wanted to be up on that rock with Dad and Tay soooooooooooooooo badly!!

Tay and Jord ate very little!! We kept finding Jordan with sandy piences of her PB&J. There was too much to look at and explore!

After lunch, we headed for the Landscape Arch trail head. We had to get a family picture, because this is the first summer where Taylor is actually doing the hiking on her own!! She was so excited to not be in the backpack!!

She headed out with lots of smiles and energy!

Well, her energy ran out fairly quickly!! She rode on Mom's shoulders for a couple minutes and then would walk!! She walked more than she rode which was nice for Mom!

Here we are at Lanscape Arch...1 mile in!! We decided to keep going on to a lesser known arch which was about another .5 mile in.

While at Landscape, Jordie did a little face plant!! No tears, but a pretty good mark that we had to document!

Taylor and Jordan loved the sand and had to be prodded to keep going on the trail!! In the end, I think the sand slowed us more than Tay's little legs!

A little more of Tay hiking...Here she is scrambling down a little rock!!

Daddy and Jord!

Here we are at the second arch...we can't remember what it is called!

Jordan crashed on the way out!! (Which lead to her not sleeping a wink the WHOLE way home!)

Daddy and his hikers!!

We decided to end our day at Sand Dune Arch! The sand was nice and cool after a warm afternoon of hiking. You can tell that Jordan liked it!!

Again, Tay was in heaven making castles in the sand with Angie!

Jord got used to the sand and Dad decided to bury her!!

Tay wouldn't let Jordie be the only one to get buried!

And Spencer had to 1 up them! :)

Jordan loves her Daddy!

This was taken 2 minutes after we got in the car to head home!! A few chips and she was out!! My favorite line from the whole day was Taylor while at Sand Dune Arch..."Mom...Dad...This is a fun day!!" And it was!

Jumping Gym and St. Patrick's Day

Our ward has a playgroup that meets a couple of times a week that the girls love to go to. Recently, we decided to go to a "jump house" with the group and the kids loved it!! Here are a few pictures of the fun that was had...

Oh...and here is Rob's St. Patrick's day breakfast!! He is such a good Dad! Too bad the color was a little too much for the girls. Neither of them would touch it!! :)

The Ridge Yurt Trip

Rob's dad has been going to some Yurts in the Uinta's above Evanston now for 4 or 5 years. This past summer, he invited us to go with them to help do some summer upkeep on one of the yurts. As a result, we were able to get a reservation to use this winter!! Rob and I headed out for the yurt Thursday night, and spent some time wandering in the woods trying to locate it!! Rob took off into the trees to see if the yurt was up on the ridge, and managed to get himself stuck pretty good!! I, luckily, did not follow and waited patiently for him to emerge from the woods!!! I got this picture as he came out.

We finally made it to the yurt and enjoyed a nice evening, just the two of us. I forgot to bring cards and games to play, but luckily we had my kindle and we had fun playing crossword puzzles all night. Here are a couple pictures of the yurt. There is a nice little "kitchen" area, and the next picture shows the bunks.

Friday morning, Rob and I enjoyed a nice little ride up to the top of the mountain. About noon, our friends Kye and Kelly joined us. We spent the afternoon snowmobiling and then a fun evening in the yurt.

We were lucky enough to have a full moon and enjoyed a nice little night hike before heading back to the yurt!

Dancing Queen(s)

Taylor loves to watch cartoons, unfortunately for her, I don't like her to catch cartoons ALL day long!! She tends to get quite upset when I tell her that she cannot watch cartoons every second of the day...so I had to come up with something that would distract her! I finally came up with a solution. I turn on pandora, which is an internet radio station, and it will play all children's songs and the girls love them!! I wish the volume was better, but I think that the song that they are dancing to is "The Wheels on the Bus." In the second clip, you can see Tay pause to honk the horn! :)

February?!?!?! What's with this weather?

As much as I love the winter and playing in the snow, I must admit that I have enjoyed the nice "spring time" weather that we have been having!! The girls, with their friend Amy, enjoyed some time outside the other day!

Amy and Taylor enjoyed going up and down the slide and climbing up the side of the playset! Jordan was just ecstatic to be a "big girl" and ran laps around the top of the slide! This summer is going to be so much fun for the girls! And I am excited to have somewhere to send them to play!!

Strawberry Afternoon!

We decided to head for the hills (and there still wasn't much snow!) with some friends and spend some time with the kids in the snow. It was tons of fun to spend some time with Taylor playing on her snowmobile. Grandpa and Grandma Smathers gave the girls their little snowmobile sled for Christmas and this was the first time they have had a chance to ride it...And Taylor LOVED every moment of it! She also loved riding the big sleds and kept asking for more! Here are some fun pics!

Christmas Fun....I know I'm Late :)

We got together with some friends and did gingerbread houses! Taylor was very into the candy!

On Christmas Eve, the girls opened their new pajamas with Grandpa and Grandma.

Ready...set...open. Jordan wasn't too into it! :)

This by far was Taylor's favorite present. Princess outfit that didn't come off for weeks after Christmas.

New aprons for their kitchen.

We didn't take too many pictures, but we did enjoy the time with each other and

extended family. We are so blessed!