Isaac, Marcy, Sophie, Aspen, Luke, and Hazel

Disneyland 2022

2024-11-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

This year Isaac and I were struggling to come up with something to do for spring break. Our neighbor, April Pearson, casually mentioned that we should go to Disneyland with them. At first, I just laughed it off because I didn't want to intrude. But she mentioned it multiple times, so I finally asked if it would be okay if we did join them.

I made the kids some fun shirts to wear while we were there.

This made planning a little weird. I didn't know how much we were going to do with the Pearson's vs by ourselves. I was going to book a nicer hotel than the one they picked, but Isaac told me I should just stay at the same place they were. Then, we were trying to plan activities to do the half day we had in California before we went to Disneyland. Pearson's had their own plans, and didn't seem to want us to tag along, so we came up with our own agenda.

When we landed, we got our rental car, made a quick lunch stop at Subway, and went to the beach. It was April, so it wasn't super warm, but that didn't stop the kids from playing in the ocean. I think they're crazy.

Then, I found a place that had a pirate dinner. It was super weird. It was kind-of a play, with talking and staged fighting scenes. But it also had a trampoline performance, some silk performances, and other random stunts. Hazel fell asleep in my arms, and I was able to carry her to the car, buckle her in, and then carry her all the way to the hotel room without her waking up. I think the other kids had fun there. (There is another similar Renaissance dinner place with jousting that we will have to try another time.)

The following three days we spent at Disneyland (and California Adventure). Disneyland recently started a "Genie+" pass instead of the fast pass. Basically, you pay an extra $20 per person and you can select a time to go in the lightning lanes instead of waiting in the regular lines. I spent a great deal of time the month before our trip researching Disneyland. I hadn't been there since I was in high school, and there are so many die-hard people that go all the time, that if you don't know the system, you can't get anything done. So our family decided to buy the Genie+ pass all 3 days. April didn't want to spend that much extra money for 3 days, so they decided to wait until they got there to buy them. But that lead to them not buying the pass the first day. So we ended up splitting up from them the entire first day because we could go in the lightning lane. Apparently, this was a good decision for us because we got tons of rides done the first day. The Pearson's waited in line forever and had rides break down on them, so they got frustrated by mid-afternoon and just left.

Hazel was still too young/short to go on quite a few rides. But Isaac and I found that if combined our Genie+ with the Parent Swap option, we were able to ride most rides back-to-back with the other 3 kids (Isaac and I trading off sitting out with Hazel). This actually turned out to be a really efficient way to do things because our kids got to ride most rides twice with very short lines.

I also decided to let the kids try "pin trading". Apparently, before Covid, all the cast members at Disneyland had pins that kids could ask to trade with. But since Covid, they moved all the pins to little bulletin boards in the gift shops. While we waited for the others to come off rides, we could let Hazel go trade pins. She had fun doing this, but it was super successful for Luke. He's my kid that really likes stuff and is super tempted by gift shops, so it was really nice to allow him to go into a gift shop and feel like he got something. I just bought a big pack of "seconds" pins on ebay before we went. I told the kids it didn't matter if their pins were ugly, that was what they wanted so they could trade for better ones.

Anyway, Disneyland was pretty fun, but it was super crowded. Ever since Covid, they made people get park reservations and only let a select number of people into each park. Aspen's violin teacher, Abby Sorenson, had a season pass to Disneyland and wanted to join us, but the reservations were all full. Then, one day, all the reservations just opened up again. So it was the first time the park had reached capacity since things shut down during Covid. So without the Genie+, the lines would be unbearable. (Not all rides had a lightning lane.)

Isaac was the most excited to see the Star Wars land. He and the kids waited over 2 hours to go on the new Rise of the Resistance ride (because you had to pay an extra $20 per person for just that one ride). Hazel got a nice long nap as I wandered around Star Wars land waiting for them. But I parent-swapped him and took 2 of the kids on it a 2nd time super quickly.

The next day, we went to California Adventure. This part of the park had Cars land, which was really cool. It felt like we stepped straight into the movie. They also had an Avengers land where we saw a cool live-action show where Spiderman swung across the roof. They had a nice nature area with a river run that Isaac liked because it was a lot quieter over there. And the family all liked the "Soaring" ride. This day, the Pearson's decided it was worth it to buy the Genie+, so we were able to go on lots more rides with them.

This evening, we left the park and had dinner at Downtown Disney. We went to a restaurant called "Black Tap" that I wanted to try because they had crazy shakes. The shakes were good for photos, but kind-of weird to eat. But it was definitely pricey.

Our third day, we went back to Disneyland. Unfortunately, the Star Wars ride was broken the entire day so we didn't get to go on that again. It seemed like lots of rides were broken on this trip. Space Mountain broke frequently (once we were in line for a long time waiting for this before we had to leave), Pirates of the Caribbean was closed.

It was also a little chilly this trip, so we didn't want to get wet on the water rides. I brought some cheap raincoats, and think they made the splash mountain pictures look so funny because the kids (Luke) look like they are in bubbles.

The trip did end on a little bit of a bad experience. Disneyland was starting it's evening shows again on our last night. We thought we could see them, but people started camping out spots around noon for an 8pm show. We decided to go on a storybook boat ride and parked out stroller in stroller parking. The worker asked if it was our first visit to Disneyland when we were getting on. We said it was, and he asked if we got our "First Visit" pins. Isaac asked him, "Do they have last visit pins?" The poor old man looked horrified. But when we got off the ride, employees had moved the strollers because of the parade. Unfortunately, they didn't leave anyone there to tell people where their strollers were. So we wandered around in the dark for quite a while looking for our stroller, all the while, workers kept telling us we had to leave because we didn't have spots for the parade. We finally found the stroller and calmed the kids down who thought their souvenirs were gone forever. And they we had to pressure Aspen to hurry up and just pick a souvenir because she was indecisive for days.

It wasn't the ideal way to leave the park. But the following day, we had a few hours to kill before our flight home. We went back to the beach with the Pearson's. We also stopped for lunch at a place called "Taco Surf". I got a California burrito that had French fries in it and it was really good.

Overall, we had a really good spring break. We are definitely not Disney fanatics, and Isaac would probably be totally fine never going to an amusement park again. But I figure we will probably have to go one more time once Hazel is old enough to go on all the rides.

Easter 2022

2024-11-07T14:37:00.010-08:00

We had a pretty normal Easter this year. It was right before our week of spring break, so we were able to celebrate before we went out of town.

We had our annual neighborhood Easter egg hunt. This is always a lot of fun. Each year, I am amazed that an older couple is willing to fill thousands of Easter eggs, invite a neighborhood of strangers into their backyard, and feed everyone a hot dog lunch.

On Easter morning, the kids had an egg hunt and got their Easter baskets. It's always a fun, low-key holiday.

Girl's Camp 2022

2024-11-07T13:32:00.010-08:00

I got called to be a Young Woman advisor about 2 weeks before our ward was planning to go to girl's camp. The YW President, Angela Sorenson, asked me if I would be able to go up there with the girls. They were planning to go up to Aspen Grove for a very short winter camp. I was reluctant to go because I didn't know many of the leaders, and even fewer girls. But I decided to go anyway.

It turned out to be a lot of fun! First of all, I wasn't anyone's mom. I didn't have to worry about any motherly responsibilities. Also, Aspen Grove was in charge of all the food, so we didn't have to spend all our time cooking and doing dishes. I was just able to hang out with the girls and get to know the leaders.

We did a ropes course one day. I was one of the only leaders who participated.

We also went snowshoeing. I was following a group of the older girls and they wanted to climb up on an outhouse. I told them I would boost them up there. They seemed completely surprised that a leader would let them do something like that. But I didn't see anything wrong with it because they weren't damaging anything.

Then the girls jumped off the roof into the snow. But their feet sank pretty deep into the snow and they were stuck for quite a while. I had to help dig all of them out. We ended up being gone a lot longer than the other people snowshoeing.

I also got to know another leader, Diane Hardy, really well. She is an older lady, but super fun.

While I was gone, Isaac took the kids to the cabin. They played in the snow and checked on Isaac's bees.

Afton Cabin 2022

2024-11-07T13:20:00.007-08:00

For Martin Luther King Day 2022, we went up to the cabin with Lacey's family. It was crazy foggy while we were there.

The kids had fun playing in the snow and making a snow cave.

Luke's 6th Birthday 2022

2024-11-07T13:06:00.003-08:00

Luke turned 6 on January 13, 2022. Having a birthday 3 weeks after Christmas is difficult. On top of that, having a party indoors during the cold winter, is a challenge. But Luke is really into "Wild Kratts", so we threw him a Wild Kratt pet adoption party.

I made Creature Power Suit shirts for all the kids.

Each kid was able to adopt a pet and make it a house and collar.

It turned out to be a pretty fun party.

Luke is such a fun little boy. He seems to have endless energy. The kids is constantly running around, jumping on things, and causing chaos everywhere he goes. He just finished his first Jr Jazz season. It was fun to watch him run around with a bunch of the neighbor kids.

Luke love stuff. He is super materialistic. It doesn't matter what it is, like junk from a birthday goodie bag, but he will treasure that item for 24 hours and then want something new. We keep trying to talk to him about how his worth is not tied to stuff and to be grateful for what he has instead of looking for something new all the time.

Luke won the school fun run for kindergarten.

Luke is in kindergarten and learning to read. He really struggles to sit still, so it can be very frustrating working with him. But he is super smart and capable, we just need to channel his energy a little better.

Luke loves hanging out with his friends. He's always asking to play with neighbors. I love seeing him have fun with the other little boys.

Christmas 2021

2024-11-06T14:51:00.001-08:00

This year for Christmas, I really wanted to do more fun activities to celebrate the season. I love Halloween because there are so many fun fall activities: caramel apple making, costume making, corn mazes, pumpkin patches, parties, and it culminates with trick-or-treating where the kids run around with their friends. The whole holiday season is fun, with very low expectations at the end. I really enjoy the Christmas activities, but sometimes get discouraged that the actual holiday is all about getting presents. So I wanted to spend more time doing the fun, family activities.

Each year, the kids get to have their very own Christmas treen in their room. I think it is magical for them to fall asleep to the Christmas lights of their own tree.

I also made the kids some fun Grinch shirts with my silhouette.

This year we went to Luminaria at Thanksgiving point. Isaac's work was giving out free tickets to the employees, so we were able to take the family there. Sophie even invited her friend, Makenzie. The lights are really cool, and there's a really nice section with statues of Christ that you can walk through.

We went to see the elves at Gardner Village with Lacey's family.

We went ice skating at the Herimann ribbon one night.

We also went downtown to the Planetarium at the Gateway. The Salt Lake Temple is under construction, and the lights at temple square aren't what they normally are, so we decided to see a show at the Planetarium to make the trip downtown worth it. The kids always think riding the train is fun.

We made gingerbread houses. The pre-built ones from Costco are the way to go.

We also went to the Christkindlmarkt at This is the Place. I thought this would be fun for Isaac to go to, since he served his mission in Germany. But it was really crowded. There are all sorts of little shed that people sell things out of, but there were so many people it was hard to get into any of them. And I thought Isaac would really enjoy the food, but the lines were really long and the kids were whining about trying weird foods. Plus, everything was outside, so the food got cold really quickly. It was really cold that night and we had lots of very cold children by the time we left. I think it could be fun to come another time, but I would probably do a few things differently.

We went to the Ogden Christmas Village with Isaac's family. They seem to think that's the greatest thing ever, but I think it's just ok.

We also went to see Santa through Travis Sorenson's work event. This is seriously the best way to see Santa because the line is always short, the kids get hot chocolate and donuts, and it's free.

We also rented a theater to invite a bunch of our neighbors and friends to come watch Elf. We had a great turn out and it was a ton of fun. I never liked that movie much until watching it on the big screen again, and now I think it's a must every Christmas.

Isaac made his annual German dinner and we invited the Frandsen's over. And for Christmas Eve dinner, I made a fancy steak dinner. Then we read our new Christmas book and the story of Christ's birth.

On Christmas morning, we woke up and opened presents as a family. Isaac gave me some new pots and pans. I gave him a new mountain bike. Sophie got some books and a trail camera for the cabin. Aspen got a Gabb watch. Luke got a Harry Potter train. And Hazel got a kitchen and strider bike.

Then we went to Grandma Sugar's house for presents and lunch (and pickles and egg nog). And then finished off the day in Ogden with Isaac's family. Christmas is always busy, but a good day seeing how excited the kids are for everything.

Halloween 2021

2024-11-06T12:26:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year, we mostly re-used out costumes from 2020 since we were quarantined from Covid and couldn't wear them to school, trick or treating, or have a family party. Hazel grew too much to fit into her black cat costume, so she wore a witch costume, and I changed to the mummy.

Isaac was a vampire with his red contacts. Sophie was a ghost. I really like this costume. I found the perfect fabric for it at Walmart in the cheap fabric section. Aspen was a spider. Luke was a werewolf. His costume was a little small, but we stuffed him in there anyway.

The night of Halloween we went trick-or treating. Hazel loved it!

We also went to Frightmares at Lagoon this Halloween season. It was actually a lot of fun, and nice to be there when it isn't super hot.

We carved pumpkins. It has been so great to have the shop in the basement for things like this. It makes it so nice to not have to worry about making a giant mess everywhere.

I held my annual family Halloween party. Lacey and Justin were people from Stranger Things. James was a pirate, Avery a black cat. I don't remember what Erica was supposed to be, and Charlie was a pumpkin. Jamie and Steve were the people from Jurassic Park, and Milo was a dinosaur.

Gabe and Hannah were the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown since Hannah will be having her baby shortly. My parents were Mary Poppins and Burt.

Kevin was an underwater guy. Barry and Karla were Cruella DaVille and one Borris.

And Luke was just being a silly little dude.

Attempt to Catch Up

2024-11-06T11:58:00.001-08:00

As you can see, I have not kept up with my blog for many years. A few years ago, our external hard drive, where I stored all our photos, crashed. Fortunately, we had everything backed up on a cloud. But we then began the process of evaluating other photo storage options, and all our photos were no longer organized very effectively. So after thousands of photos needing to be categorized, a lot of time has gone by. I had intentions of catching back up many times, but was so far behind that it was very intimidating. But now that Hazel has started kindergarten, I hope to have a little more uninterrupted time on my hands to write and continue sorting through pictures. So here we go....

Tumblers

2023-01-29T13:37:00.000-08:00

My friend, Heather, started making tumbler cups a while ago. She gave me a cool Harry Potter one for my birthday once. I used that cup every day for years, and when I would look at it, I would think that I should start making them. So one day, I decided I was bored and needed a new hobby. So I watched a few YouTube videos about making tumblers, ordered all the stuff, and gave it a go. I started making them around Thanksgiving 2021. Over the next year, I made one for most of my friend's birthdays. I really enjoy making them and it is a good hobby as a mom because I can get one started in about 30 minutes and then have to wait 8+ hours before the next step. But each hands-on step only takes about 30 minutes, so I can squeeze it in to my schedule. But now I have given them to almost everyone I know, so it might be time to come up with a new hobby. Here are some of the ones I've made.

Hawaii 2021

2022-07-17T10:02:00.004-07:00

In October 2021, Isaac had a work conference in Maui, Hawaii. So he convinced me to leave the kids and go with him. We had both sets of grandparents split the time and help watch the kiddos.

The flight to Maui was really long. We had a layover in Portland, so the whole trip took about 12 hours. When we landed in Hawaii, it was already dark, so we couldn't see much.

We got our rental car and drove to the hotel in Wailea. Wailea was a fancy city. It basically had all the big, fancy hotels and a really high-end shopping complex. The hotel was strange because it was mostly outside. The atrium to the lobby had an open ceiling, and all the hallways were outside. But our room was very nice and we had a nice view of the pools and beach.

The next morning, Isaac woke up early and went to his conference. He was in lecture until about 1pm every day. I was worried about being able to entertain myself for days while he was away. I hadn't had time to myself like that since before Sophie was born, so I didn't know if I would be bored. But I would wake up in the morning and go for a run. One day I ran along the beach trail. Another morning I used the hotel gym. And another morning I got up and went snorkeling by myself. Then I would explore the hotel (which didn't take very long). And eventually I would end up sitting in a lounge chair by the ocean reading my book. One morning I took the rental car and found a grocery store for my breakfasts and snacks. And another morning I found a little flee market area in Kihei where I found some souvenirs for the kids.

The hotel we stayed at was very tropical and lush, just like I imagined Hawaii would be like. But when I left the hotel to find a grocery store, I was shocked at how barren and desert-y everywhere else was.

One of the things I was most excited about in Hawaii was the food. Isaac's work covered his food expenses, so we thought we could eat at nicer places. But the food was definitely the most disappointing thing about the trip. We just kept looking for nice little restaurants on the beach where I could drink from a pineapple, but we didn't find any until our last day or two.

After Isaac's conference the first day, we drove to the rainforest side of the island. It was like going to a whole different country, the climate and vegetation were so different. As one of our tour guides later explained, on one side of the volcano the storm clouds come and drop all their rain. And once the pass the tip of the volcano, there isn't any rain left so that side is desert. The spot between the highest rainfall and lowest amount of rainfall on the island is only 3 miles. But we found a hike to some waterfalls. I expected it to be crowded there, but we hardly saw anyone. We did see a few really pretty waterfalls.

And we found a weird spider.

One night we ended up having dinner at Ruth's Chris. We went to the nearest shopping area to our hotel and they only had super fancy restaurants. The food was fine, but we really wanted to have outdoor seating on the beach. Another night we were struggling to find somewhere to eat because we tried to go to Tommie Bahamas, but it was full, so we found the next closest restaurant. It turned out to be a super health-conscious vegan place. The menu was super weird, and we thought about leaving, but we didn't know where else to go. So we ended up staying, and the food was ok. But we felt like we needed to end the night on a good note, so we stopped and got some yummy ice cream.

Another day we woke up early to sea kayak to Molokini. Isaac found a tour group that would let you paddle to the crater of Molokini and snorkel, and then paddle back. Isaac had to fill out an extensive questionnaire about our health and paddling experience. Then the group called multiple times to verify everything and then try to talk us out of going. We talked to our tour guide, Zeke, about it, and he said they wanted to vet people really well to make sure they know what they are getting in for because the only way to "bail" is to call the Coast Guard to come save us.

But we started our float at 6 or 7am, so we got to see the moon go down and the beautiful sunrise. Isaac and I expected to have other people in our group, but it was just us and our guide. The guide said, "No one does this channel crossing. All the locals will think you are crazy." Tons of people get on charter boats to go out to Molokini and snorkel, but not very many people paddle out there. Our guide's group is the only group to offer that excursion, and he said they only get 1 or 2 people per month to book it.

Basically we just pointed at this little moon-shaped crater and paddled 4 miles across the ocean until we got there. Then we were able to get in the water and go snorkeling. This was the best snorkeling experience of the trip, and our guide followed us around taking our photos.

But the paddle back was kind of terrible. It was just really boring. Our guide told us that we just had to keep paddling, slow and steady. But the ocean looks the same everywhere, so the only way you could even tell you were making progress was seeing the shore very slowly get larger. When. we go rafting, the current will push you downstream, so there are plenty of times you can just float and relax. And because you are moving down the river, the landscape changes continuously, which is much more interesting. But this paddle back was tiring because you couldn't stop paddling the entire 4 miles, but the shore would look like you were close to being there, but it still took another 30-40 minutes of staring at the exact same spot to close in. But it was still cool to be able to say we paddled the channel to Molokini.

Another afternoon we drove to the rainforest on the other side of the island to go zip-lining. We stopped to grab some sandwiches and ate them on a cliff while watching the surfers.

Then we went to the Jungle Zip Line. The zip line was really fun. We had 2 tour guides that were interesting and told us lots of nature-hippie information about the islands. There were a few other groups in our tour that we talked to as well. I would definitely want to take the kids zip-lining if we ever come back.

Then we stopped at the "Twin Falls" hike. This was a really nice little hike, but way more crowded.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a pizza place and got kalua pork pizza. It was really good.

On our final day, we drove to Lahaina to take a boat tour to Lanai and go snorkeling. Lahaina was a really nice town, and what we were looking for the whole time in Hawaii. They had lots of shops and restaurants right on a boardwalk by the beach. I wish we would have had more time to explore here.

But we got on the boat, and Isaac and I got nice seats right at the front on the netting. After going for a few minutes, we saw tons and tons of flying fish. They were super cool. They were about 1 foot long and silvery-blue. The boat would scare them out of the water in huge packs and they would fly about 1 foot off the water for a really long time. I tried and tried to get them on video, but was never able to. But they were really awesome.

Then we came across a pod of dolphins. They came right up to our boat and were jumping and playing all around us. It was really fun to see them up close and personal in the wild like that. Sophie and Aspen would have absolutely loved it.

We finally got to Lanai and they let us get out and go snorkeling. The snorkeling was really good and we saw tons of cool fish and coral reefs. But the waves of the ocean were really choppy and after a while I started feeling sea sick. So I went back to the boat, where a lot of people weren't feeling well. But as soon as the boat started moving, I was fine, but if we stopped and just bobbed up and down, I felt sick.

When we got back, Isaac and I went back to town and did some window shopping. Then we stopped at Cheeseburger in Paradise for dinner before catching our flight.

We had a red-eye flight home with another layover in Portland. It was such a long flight. We had a great time in Hawaii, but it was a long way to go. And everything there was super expensive. All our tours, which only lasted 2-3 hours, cost more than full days of activities on our Florida trip. So we would like to eventually take the kids to Hawaii, but will probably wait until they are older. Until then, we think you get more bang for your buck going to places that have much shorter flights, like Florida.

Cabin and Afton County Fair

2022-03-27T15:32:00.002-07:00

In August, we went to the cabin again. At the beginning of this trip, some of us were a little sick. We didn't get tested for covid, so to play it safe, we didn't have anyone go up there with us.

After a few days, everyone was feeling better. The Afton County Fair was in town, so we decided to check it out.

We decided to go out to dinner first. As we walked down Main Street, all the restaurants were closed with signs saying the employees were at the fair. We should have taken this as a sign to just go eat at the fair. But we found one Mexican restaurant that was still open. We got seated and place our orders. After which we realized that the whole restaurant was being run by one guy. He seated people, was the waiter, and the cook. We waited for our food FOREVER! Tons of other people came in, waited 10 minutes to be seated, and then turned around and left because the guy never came. We were tempted to walk out and leave because it took so long, but felt bad because he was working on our order. I think we waited over an hour for our food. The kids were really good through the whole thing, so I let them get something from the gumball machine.

Then we went to the fair. We bought individual tickets because the wristbands were kind-of expensive. Fortunately the people were nice and would let our whole family ride for the number of tickets required.

There was an elephant you could ride. I've always wanted to ride an elephant, so we couldn't pass up this opportunity to let the kids ride.

Then we went and looked at some animals. Lots of the sheep were wearing ugly onesies.

Sophie wanted to go look for horses, so she and Isaac left. I took the kids back to the fair and we watched a fire show by "Zor the Fire God" (or something like that). It was actually pretty good.

Then we were all thirsty and got a huge jug of swizz. Hazel was hogging it and would scream if anyone else tried to get a drink. She is mean, but it was funny.

Basement Finishing

2022-03-27T11:00:00.007-07:00

In January 2021, we decided to start finishing our basement. My good friend and neighbor, Danielle, offered to help us. So she helped us find subs and coordinate everything.

At the time we decided to finish the basement, building material prices were going through the roof. Due to covid, there were lots of shortages on supplies. There was also a freeze in Texas that caused insulation to be really hard to get. So it took a really long time to get everything done. We finally finished in September, which took just as long to finish the basement as it did to build the whole house.

Danielle really loves her framer, but I wasn't super impressed with him. He kept charging me more and more money, even though I told him everything I wanted done the first time. And he messed up a few things that caused problems later down the road.

But the insulation, plumbing, HVAC, drywall, painters, and finish work guys did great jobs.

We got our flooring from Ogden's Flooring. They messed things up sooo many times. After waiting 5 weeks for our flooring to come in, we found out the sale's rep ordered the wrong stair pieces. Then after they were installed, they all started popping off within 3 days. Also, the carpet guy came and cut the carpet the wrong direction, so it didn't fit in the rooms. So they had to re-order that as well. It was a total fiasco.

Our cabinets were super back-ordered for 17 weeks, so that slowed us down a lot.

But the tile guy for a the bathroom was the worst. It took over 6 weeks for it to be completed, even though it should have been done in 4 days max. He had some personal issues going on. We tried to be supportive of his difficulties, but he was such a flake, and his quality of work was terrible. Eventually, the guy's dad came to finish the job. I'm still disappointed in the way it turned out, but what can you do?

Finally, the guy who built the built-in bookshelves (the same guy who did our main house) took forever to come. The shelves he built are a lot smaller than I was going for, but at this point I just wanted to be done. But eventually it was finished. It was a long, and often stressful process, but I'm so glad to have it done.

Here's what it looks like finished (I still need pictures for the walls and decorations).

Toy cupboards

Aspen's room

Sophie's room

Bathroom

Main room

Kitchen

Under the stairs

Gym

Miscellaneous 2021

2022-03-27T10:40:00.003-07:00

Here are some of the random, little things that we did during 2021:

Cinco de Mayo:

We had a fun little Mexican dinner. One of the kids had a pack of mustaches from the dollar store, so we decided to wear those during the dinner.

Horseback Riding Camp:

Sophie and Aspen went to a week of horseback riding camp during the summer. They had fun, but I've been disappointed with every horseback camp I have enrolled them in. They are at camp for hours each day, but only end up riding for 15 minutes or so.

Jamie's Baby Shower:

Jamie was pregnant and due August 2021. I threw her a baby shower. I thought it would be fun to have a Harry Potter baby shower, but we were worried people would think they had to get her Harry Potter merchandise. So we just had a wilderness theme instead. I thought it turned out very nice.

Girl's Trip:

In the fall, my friends Shayla Tucker, Erin Summers, and Lisa Moore went for a short, one-night, girl's trip to Midway. On the way up the canyon, we stopped and did a zip-line tour. It was a lot of fun and a great way to see the beautiful fall leaves.

Then we went up to the Zermatt. We stopped at a little deli for lunch. Then we went shopping at a little boutique shop.

Then in the afternoon we went swimming at the Crater. It was fun to do that again, but seemed really not.

We then went to a fairly fancy restaurant for dinner called "The Corner". The food was terrible. All of us were disappointed with our meals, so we went to an ice cream place called "The Inside Scoop". They had a 10+ page menu. It was insane, but much more delicious than our dinner.

We just stayed one night, then got up and hiked to Stewart Falls on our way home. It was a really nice little trip.

MCW Reunion:

A few of our medical school friends were coming into town at the same time. So we all got together at our house for a quick little dinner. It was really fun to catch up with people we haven't seen in many years.

Oakley Rodeo:

Right after the MCW reunion, we drove up to Oakley for the rodeo. We left Hazel home with a babysitter and only took the 3 older kids. This is definitely my favorite rodeo. It is so beautiful, and so much cooler in the mountains up there. Although, the half time show was disappointing this year.

Bluffdale Days:

This year, Bluffdale didn't do their bubble pit. They did a color fight with dyed cornstarch water. Luke and Isaac got really into it.

Hogle Zoo:

A kid in Sophie's class had a pass to Hogle Zoo and they invited us to go with them. The kids really enjoyed seeing the animals. It may have been Hazel's first time at the zoo.

Lagoon:

We still have our "Get Out Pass", which gives us tickets to Lagoon. We were so busy that we couldn't find a time to go all summer long. It was October, and Lagoon was going to close shortly, so we had to squeeze in a day to go before it was too late. So we ended up going during Frightmares. It was actually really nice to go when it was a little cooler. They also have a few additional Halloween things, but they weren't very impressive.

School Fun Run:

Every year, Riverton Elementary has a "Fun Run" as their annual fundraiser. This year Luke won the race for all the kindergarten boys! Congratulations Luke!

Other:

The kids were super excited for a fruit pizza I made.

The kids had a few lemonade stands to earn some money.

And we had fun going out for ice cream.

1st Day of School

2022-03-27T09:23:00.002-07:00

In August of 2021, the kids started school.

Sophie is in 5th grade at Riverton Elementary. Her teacher is Ms. Filion.

Aspen is in 3rd grade, and her teacher is Mrs. Stroman.

Luke started kindergarten with Ms. Mathews.

Hazel's 2nd Birthday

2022-02-27T10:02:00.002-08:00

On August 18th, Hazel turned 2 years old! Terrible twos, here we come. :)

We celebrated Hazel's birthday by inviting the grandparents over for cake. I made Hazel a puppy cake because she loves dogs so much. Every time Hazel opened a present, she would get so excited that she would run a lap around the house holding her new present. My parents gave her a new baby doll that she named "Rosie" and a stroller. That was a big hit.

Here are some things about Hazel:

Hazel still has trouble speaking. She was doing speech therapy until summer started and all the kids were home from school. Her speech therapist, Kimber, was super nice. But it seemed like a lot of money to pay for her to watch me interact with Hazel. And due to covid, we had to wear masks at the appointments, which I didn't think was helping much. But Hazel definitely has difficulties talking.
Hazel is a super happy girl. She smiles and laughs a lot. But she is also incredibly independent. She frequently pushes chairs over to the pantry or counters to get whatever she wants.
Hazel is really good at hiding :) She often calls me to find her in places like this.
She LOVES dogs. It is actually a little concerning. She really seems to show no fear whatsoever around dogs. She walks right up to them and grabs their faces. She pets them, but really isn't gentle. I'm terrified that one day a dog will bite her because she is too aggressive. But the neighbor's dogs are her best friends and she always wants to go outside and see Harlow.
Hazel is a mama's girl. I tried my very hardest to get her to become a daddy's girl, but failed miserably. She is constantly demanding that "mama do it". It is cute, but also really exhausting.
This girl can throw a fit just like Aspen used to. Her personality reminds me of Aspen as a baby in a lot of ways. They were both really particular, independent, and stubborn. Aspen has turned out to be a great little girl, but those are not easy traits to deal with in a toddler. She is constantly yelling, "me do it" about getting in and out of the car, picking her clothes, etc.
One Sunday, Aspen was helping my by putting Hazel down for a nap after church. Aspen had her sleep on the floor in the corner on her squishmallow. Ever since, Hazel has refused to nap in her bed. She yells "corner" until we let her sleep there. It's weird, but it's what she wants.
Hazel is super silly. It's hard to come up with specific examples, but she's just a funny little girl. She is frequently making us laugh with the strange things she does.
She is also the first kid who has shown interest in playing in the toilet. I feel like I avoided a lot of terrible disasters with the other kids, but she is causing chaos. I'm not sure if it's her personality, or that I am stretched in too many directions taking care of 4 kids that I don't have the ability to watch her as closely as the others. But this girl gets into trouble.
She is also my first naked child. She is learning to take her clothes off and I am always fighting her to put them back on.
Hazel has crazy hair. I try my very best ever day to do her hair, but it always looks crazy. She has a very strong cowlick in the back that makes it poof in the back. I've tried parting it on both sides and neither will make it stay down. It's also a little bit curly (a lot curly when we go somewhere humid). One side has more curl than the other, so it just looks a little wild all the time. Hopefully it will be tamed better as it gets longer.

Hazel is high energy and exhausting. But every time she falls asleep, she is such a peaceful angel. We love her so much.

Aspen's Baptism

2022-02-25T15:58:00.012-08:00

A little while before Aspen's baptism, Isaac and I took her to the Oquirrh Mountain temple where I took some pictures of her. The lighting was not optimal, but I still think we got some great pictures. Aspen is such a beautiful girl.

At the beginning of August, Aspen chose to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Due to covid restrictions, baptisms were being conducted a bit differently than they have before. Aspen was baptized at a stake baptism, but each kid was assigned a time and limited to a certain number of guests. It actually was really nice to have it a little bit smaller and more intimate. We all met in the chapel at the beginning, and each kid and their guest were called out one at a time. So only people in our group were in the room with the baptismal font and where she was confirmed.

Hopefully Aspen's baptism was a special event where she felt the spirit. I hope she always remembers that day and how many people love and support her.

Afterwards we came back to our house for a nacho bar.

Sophie's 10th Birthday

2022-02-25T15:38:00.001-08:00

On July 28th, 2021, Sophie turned 10 years old! I can't believe we've had her for a decade. None of my pets ever lasted that long. :)

She started her day with donuts!

She got her very own bee-keeper suit and tree for her bedroom.

Sophie really likes horses, and wanted to do something horse-related for her party. I looked all over for a horseback riding birthday party place, and couldn't find one. I would think that would be a huge market for all these elementary age girls who are obsessed with horses. I found lots of places where you could rent a Shetland Pony with a unicorn horn and take walks around the street, but nothing for lots of girls to ride real horses at the same time.

Then we had a great idea to take the girls to a rodeo for her party. Sophie thought it was a great idea. So all the girls came to our house for pizza. Then we gave them each a goodie bag with some treats and a drink for the rodeo, and a little toy horse. Most of the girls had never been to a rodeo before. I think some of them really enjoyed it, and others were bored. But it was a really easy party, and Sophie loved it.

Here are some things about Sophie:

Sophie is entering the stage where she is "too big" to play with the kids and wants to feel grown-up, but gets bored listening to the adults talk.
Sophie loves to read and will often vanish to read a book somewhere.
Sophie is good at playing the flute. She wants to be a good musician, but doesn't want to practice.
Sophie can be a really good helper with Hazel. She often sits and reads books with her. But she also lets Hazel beat her up too much and push her around. She is really patient with Hazel and often just laughs at her and always says how funny she is.
Sophie is a peacemaker and doesn't like to be around people who are fighting or arguing. She is very sensitive and wants to make everyone feel included.
She is a quiet leader. Sophie often gets the neighborhood girls to form clubs or play games that she invents, but she isn't pushy or bossy at all. She is just really creative and has good ideas that people like to join in on.
She is super artistic. She still loves doing crafts, but lately has been drawing lots of horses. She is also really good at drawing nature items--like flowers.
I think that Sophie is ready for school to start again and she is looking forward to seeing her school friends again.

Sophie is such a smart, kind, beautiful girl. We often get frustrated with her for leaving her stuff scattered all over the house. And she really doesn't like cleaning up after herself. But other than that, she is a really great helper and a good example to her siblings. We love Sophie so much!

Luke is 5 1/2

2022-02-25T15:23:00.000-08:00

On July 13th, Luke turned 5 1/2 years old. Here are some things about Luke:

Luke is a very, very energetic little boy. I swear he has the ability to suck my energy for himself. He is all boy and loves running around, jumping on all the furniture (no matter how many times I tell him not to), and hitting and kicking things.
Luke loves animals. His favorite tv show is Wild Kratts. He knows lots of information about various animals.
Luke loves stuff. He always wants new stuff. He doesn't care if it's a piece of junk from a birthday goodie bag. He will love that thing for a couple days before he will want something new. Isaac and I don't really know what to do about him always wanting things. We are trying to teach him not to be materialistic. He is very grateful for everything people give him, and he really doesn't care if it's a little dumb piece of junk, he will love it. So that aspect is good, but he seems to never be satisfied and always wants something new.
Luke loves playing with his friend Jett. They are together all the time.
Luke will be starting kindergarten soon, and I couldn't be more excited (except for the drop off/pick up schedule). He knows all his letter and sounds, and hopefully he will be reading soon.
Luke still picks on poor Hazel a lot. He is always stealing her toys and making her cry. I think he things he is "playing" with her, but we are still trying to figure out how to get him to be nice.
Luke is usually a really happy little man. He is really quick to laugh and giggle. And he still loves snuggling with me.

Luke is a tough little dude to hold his own when he is surrounded by sisters. Sometimes I worry about him because he begs me to paint his nails and do girly things. But I'm so glad there are a whole bunch of little boys on our street for him to play with. He plays with his friend, Jett, almost every day and is lost without him. Luke is a really good little boy. He's my buddy and I can't imagine life without him.

Aspen's 8th Birthday

2022-02-25T15:10:00.000-08:00

On July 9th 2021, Aspen turned 8 years old!

I had been preparing for her Harry Potter birthday party for weeks! I previously ordered an invisibility cloak for myself and wanted to make some sort of video scavenger hunt for the party. The Death Eaters stole the Sorting Hat and the kids had to help Harry Potter get it back by collecting the ingredients for a potion. At each "stop" they saw a video clue about what they had to do. (Sophie and cousin Daniel recorded the video clips beforehand. It worked out perfectly because Daniel just happened to be in town, and he even has a British accent!)

The kids first had to enter through Platform 9 3/4. This year I made my own brick wall. I think it turned out really nice. I also made some cute signs out of scrap wood.

Then, they got to get their wands at Ollivander's Wand Shop. Isaac is always entertaining at playing Ollivander's German relative, or whatever it is he claims. I had the living room set up with brick tablecloths on the wall. The kids know if the wand chooses them if it correctly plays music, lifts a feather, moves a truck, or lights a candle.

Instead of being sorted into houses, Dumbledore (Grandpa Dee) informed them that they couldn't be sorted because the sorting hat had been stolen. Harry needed them to to re-pot mandrakes in Herbology with Professor Sprout (Hannah) as an ingredient in the potion. I found some really cute little owl pots on Amazon that they were able to plant a succulent in.

Then they had to get some dragons blood that was locked in Professor Slughorn's chest. But they had to find the correct flying key in order to open the truck. There was a lightning blot drawn on 1 key in invisible ink that they had to find. But when they opened the trunk, a bogart popped out. They had to defeat the bogart before they could get the dragon's blood.

The kids then had to catch the golden snitch in a game of Quidditch to get the bezoar inside. Luke had a hovering drone thing we used that worked fairly well.

Then they had to go make the potion with Professor Snape (Grandpa Barry). Snape showed them a few potions, and then they made their own solution to take home with them. This part could use some more work because the kids weren't as engaged. But it was really nice to have a bunch of family to come help. At first it didn't look like anyone would be able to make it to the party to help, so Isaac was going to have to dress up as every character. He wasn't thrilled about that, so he was glad when he only had to be Ollivander and the bogart (because Steve was too wussy to hide in a cramped trunk).

Then the kids had to go to the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid (Gabe) to vanquish the dementors and get the sorting hat back. I spent a long time making a dementor before the party. The morning on the party, I asked Isaac to go hang the dementor in the forest. He decided it would be better if the dementor was on a pulley system and could fly at the kids. So he spent hours working on it. I was so mad at him about that because I had a million things to set up, and that wasn't part of the plan. We got into a big fight about it because "he wanted to be involved and have input in the party too". I told him that I asked for help for months, and he was never interested until the morning of the party. I didn't have time to waste on that. And it didn't even work well because only the first 3-5 kids even saw the dementor fly. The rest of them came while it was wadded in a heap on the ground and covered in leaves that are now permanently stuck all over it. Argh.

Anyway, after they got the sorting hat back, we went to the Great Hall to have a celebratory feast. I thought it would be fun to set up the dinner at an outdoor pavilion in our HOA grounds by the bird preserve. As we were setting up at this location (which was covered in goose poop that we had to spray off), Isaac got mad at me for going overboard and said it was ridiculous to spend so much time on a birthday party. So he kind of ruined the party for me. I was really looking forward to it, and put in a lot of work, and wanted it to be really fun for Aspen, but he made me feel really bad.

Anyway, this year we just had pizza for dinner instead of me making a big drumstick feast. It was definitely much easier, and the kids ate it better. We still had Butterbeer and Cauldron Cakes for dessert. Hopefully Aspen had a good party and knows how much I love her.

Here are some things about Aspen:

Aspen is very detail oriented. She is definitely my mini-me, and has a very similar personality to mine. She can be very stubborn, and doesn't like to be told what to do. But she's also super responsible and on top of things. If we want something done well, we ask Aspen. She is the best at cleaning, organizing, and babysitting.
Aspen is still very athletic. She hasn't been doing a ton of new activities, but is very graceful and strong. She could be great at tumbling, soccer, swimming, or anything she sets her mind to.
Aspen has been playing the violin for about half a year and doing great. She is really good at practicing, and I really enjoy the one-on-one time we can spend working on violin.
Considering how difficult of a baby Aspen was, I am constantly blown away by how great of a girl she is. I often feel bad because I put a lot of responsibility on her because she is so capable. But she is my best helper.
We love Aspen so much! And I hope she had the best 8th birthday.

Yellowstone July 2021

2022-02-25T14:51:00.001-08:00

At the end of June-beginning of July last summer, we went on a trip to Yellowstone with the Brinkerhoff's. The Brinkerhoff's live in Portland, Oregon, but they drove down to Utah to visit some family. The Brinkerhoff's have 3 girls, Claire, Anne, and Fay. Claire is about 1 year older than Sophie, and Anne and Fay are twins right between Sophie and Aspen's ages.

After visiting family, they came to our house, and together we drove up to our cabin. Somehow Julie was able to cram all their gear in their car to get to Utah. But on the way, they decided to order a car-top carrier and have it delivered to their relatives house. We kept remarking that it was a miracle they could fit in the car without it.

At the cabin, we went for a hike. Unfortunately I don't remember where we were.

We also hiked to Periodic Springs. The kids hit it off really well. Sophie and Anne had a ton in common with really liking nature and art. Sophie even found a fossil in a rock while we were hiking. And Aspen and Fay got along really well too. They were both more sassy and athletic.

We also went to Palisades Reservoir one day and let the kids play in the water. We had some tubes and our little blow-up raft. The kids had a blast playing in the water.

After spending a couple days at the cabin, we drove to Yellowstone. On the way, we drove through the Tetons. We have been to the Tetons a few times, but never got very deep into the park. So we stopped a few places and took some pictures.

Then we got to Yellowstone, and saw a bison walking right by the road as we were driving in. We stopped at one place to go hiking. On the way to the trailhead, the bison was heading down the road toward us. Our family hurried and ran down a slope toward the river to get out the the bison's way, but the Brinkerhoff's hurried back and hid in their car. We didn't know where they vanished to for quite a while. It was pretty funny. The Brinkerhoff girls named that bison "Hot Cheeks". The next day, while driving in the car, Luke asked, "What was the name of that bison again? Butt cheeks?" From then on, he named every bison "Butt Cheeks".

Another time as we were hiking along, I was right behind Luke and he was talking to himself. I overheard my favorite quote by Luke. He said, "I feel like I'm walking like an eagle with broken wings." That kid is nutso!

After the first geyser hike, we finally reached the campground and set up camp.

Unfortunately Isaac forgot to pack a sleeping bag and air mattress for Hazel. So the first night was pretty terrible. She was freezing and had to come in my sleeping bag, which meant that I didn't get much sleep. But then we ended up zipping Sophie and Aspen's bags together (which are really big) and letting Hazel sleep in between them. That ended up working much better.

We spent a day going to see Old Faithful and the geysers in the surrounding area. I didn't realize there were so many geysers in such a small area. It was interesting to see how many different kinds of geysers there were. Some exploded, like Old Faithful. Some went off regularly, and others randomly. Some were really steamy, others super stinky. Some were really clear, others were deep. Others farted mud (those were Luke's favorites). I think Brian took a picture of every single geyser we saw.

We hiked quite a few miles along the paved trails around Old Faithful. The kids were getting really tired of hiking by the end, so we stopped and got them an ice cream cone at one of the gift shops. I kept telling Isaac and Brian that ice cream makes everything better, and they seemed surprised that the kids perked right back up after that.

Another day we hiked to Yellowstone Falls. There were a few falls that we hiked to. The kids were getting really sick of walking by the end, so I had to distract them with spelling games. It actually worked quite well. Interestingly, Hazel was the kid who wanted to walk the most. She would scream and scream that she wanted to walk, but unfortunately she was also the one who wouldn't stay on the trail, hold anyone's hand, or not get distracted by every little thing. So she was the one kid that we didn't want to let walk.

We let each kid pick one souvenir from the gift shop. Sophie chose a pocketknife. She had a lot of fun trying to learn to whittle things.

One afternoon we decided to drive to an area of the park that was further away. The kids were all getting worn out, so we thought I nice long drive would give them a break. It turned out to be perfect timing because a big rainstorm came through while we were in the car, and ended just about the time we parked. We hiking around a little more and then walked into "town" to get more ice cream.

On the final morning, Brian and Isaac got up early to do one last hike before we had to pack up. They said the geyser was really creepy because a bunch of mist was coming off it from the cold morning air. The kids were sad to say goodbye. It was so nice to have friends with kids who got along so well (except for poor Luke being the only boy).

We stopped for one last lunch and played in the river for a few minutes before parting ways. The kids were all sad to say goodbye and are looking forward to the next time we can get together.

On the way home, we stopped at a pizza place in the middle of nowhere. It was actually really good, and Hazel was posing so adorably, we thought they should use it for their ad.

So far behind....I may never catch up

2022-02-19T13:42:00.003-08:00

I have been meaning to get on and post for months, but it just doesn't happen. So I'm hoping to take some time this weekend and catch up over the last 6+ months.

Florida Day 8: Orange Orchard

2021-11-07T15:17:00.007-08:00

Our last day in Florida was just a half day because we were flying home that afternoon/evening. So we got up and packed all our luggage and then drove to a You-Pick Orange Orchard. Brad really likes aquariums, and nature, so he likes things like orchards and botanical gardens. Brad and Kjirstin found an orange orchard we could visit and a Groupon for a monster truck ride through a swamp.

As we were driving to the orchard we passed a whole street or really weird shops. There was one with a giant wizard on the roof. I really wished we would have had time to stop and see if we could find some little souvenirs the kids could give their friends. But we were really strapped for time, so we'll have to save that for another trip.

We got to the orchard and went on our monster truck ride. This orchard was really weird. They converted a bus into a big monster truck. The orchard was something like 2000 acres owned by some old, reclusive doctor. We went through a swamp and saw a few wild alligators. Then we stopped a few times to see other random wildlife.

(Luke's smile looks like he's going to eat you.)

Once we stopped and the driver gave all the kids an orange to throw to a bunch of cows. The cows came right by the truck and ate the oranges. I never knew that cows liked oranges. Weird.

Then we stopped and saw some goats, and zebras. I have no idea why there were zebras there...

There were also other random things all over, like a gigantic hanging shark...

After the monster truck ride we had a picnic lunch by a lake. There was an alligator at the edge of the water. It was kind of small, maybe 4-5 feet long, but not very thick. So I went and poked it with a stick. That thing snapped really fast and strong. It made me super scared about having Luke or Hazel anywhere near the water. I asked Gary and Sarah how many of the millions of lakes in Florida probably have wild alligators in them and they said that most of them probably did (small ones).

The orange orchard had a least 3 little lakes around it and we saw little alligators in all of them. I wondered if only 1 alligator lived in each lake, but in the biggest lake we saw multiple. One of them was really big. Yikes.

Anyway, after lunch we went to a petting zoo where the kids could feed other animals like an ostrich, goats, donkeys, and turkeys. Shockingly, Hazel was super good at feeding the animals. She seems to have a very unnatural lack of fear of animals. She would just take her carrot and shove it straight into the animal's mouth. Isaac and I were worried she was going to get bitten because she had no fear.

Then we went to the orchard to pick our own oranges. We learned that natural oranges don't ripen to a rich orange color like we see at the grocery store. In order to get that orange they have to exposed them to some type of gas, or let them reach a certain cold temperature (I forgot the specifics). But we picked a few oranges and tried them. They really weren't very good.

It was super HOT while we were picking oranges, so we got some orange slushy/ice-cream mixtures. It was a bit sour for my taste, but Isaac really like it. And then it was time to go home, so we said our goodbyes to the Roberts and drove to the airport.

The orange orchard wasn't my favorite, but it had fun moments. I think Brad said it was his favorite part of the trip though. Afterward I added up all our expenses and our days at the beach and orchard were almost as expensive as the other days (largely due to getting such a good deal on our Discovery Cove package).

I just had a really good time on this trip. I thought we had a good balance of activities. We were super busy most of the time, so we could have re-arranged the schedule a little to balance things out a little. But I like to go, go, go on vacations so I feel like I'm making the most of my time. I thought our kids got along incredibly well with the Roberts' kids. They have been asking when we can see them again ever since. And I have come to really like Florida because I feel like there is a lot to do there. Every time we go I find other things we should look into for the next time, and there are enjoyable things I wouldn't mind doing again. So until next time...

Florida Day 7: Clearwater Beach

2021-11-07T13:08:00.001-08:00

On Friday we went to Clearwater Beach. It was about a 2 hour drive to get to Clearwater Beach. A night or two before, Kjirstin and I ran to Walmart and the Dollar Tree to find boogie-boards and sand tools to take to the beach.

Once we got to the beach we rented a little umbrella cabana because there was no shade anywhere without one.

The kids had a lot of fun playing in the water. Clearwater Beach is on the Gulf side, so there aren't really any big waves. That is good for kids, but not great for boogie-boarding.

At lunch time all the kids tried to cram into the tiny umbrella for shade while they ate. Isaac was standing outside holding his sandwich in one hand while talking. Suddenly a seagull dove out of the sky and knocked the sandwich right out of his hand. Then about 30 of them dove down and started fighting over the sandwich. It was insane.

Then Isaac started telling Luke what happened as he walked up holding his sandwich. Isaac was just saying, "Luke, watch out or the seagulls will steal your sandwich" when the exact same thing happened to Luke.

I was worried we were going to have to find somewhere to go buy a second lunch if the birds kept stealing everyone's food.

After we spent a few hours at the beach we decided to go over to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA). My kids watched a movie called "Dolphin Tale" about a dolphin named Winter that was rescued from a fishing net, but the back part of the dolphin's tail was damaged and they made a prosthetic so she could swim. CMA has some live cameras where you can watch the 2 dolphins from those movies, Hope and Winter, swim. It was Sophie's wish to go to CMA and see Winter in real life.

So we decided to check it out to fulfill Sophie's dream. (But CMA was really quite expensive to get into and there really weren't that many fish. I was expecting it to be a big aquarium, but it was actually a rescue center. So they try to rehabilitate animals and hopefully re-introduce them to the wild. Therefore they didn't have any aquariums that were designed to just see cool things.) I thought it was not worth the money we paid to go there, but Kjirstin said she saw Sophie's face as she walked into the room and looked at Winter for the first time. And she said that if I would have seen that, it would have been worth every cent. I'll admit it was cool to see Winter, although she was swimming without the prosthetic at the time.

After trying to stretch our visit at CMA to last most of the afternoon we decided to head back to Orlando. Unfortunately the traffic was terrible and it took a really long time to get back. We were planning to eat dinner once we reached Orlando, but traffic was so slow we had to pull off and eat on the way. But that allowed us to go to Fazoli's, Isaac's favorite restaurant (that has been out of business in Utah for many, many years).

We also went to a Thai ice-cream place called "32 Below Rolled Ice Cream". We got some weird ice cream balls called Mochi and some ice cream they spread really thin and then use a spatula to roll it up like a tortilla. It was strange, but fun.

Overall Clearwater was probably my least favorite part of the trip, mainly due to driving time. But it was very nice to have a more relaxed day. Next time I think we will have to schedule a day like this in between some of the busier days.

Florida Day 6: Discovery Cove

2021-11-07T12:36:00.009-08:00

On Thursday we went to Discovery Cove. This was the place I was most excited to go to. I found a great deal on Black Friday (during COVID) that gave us 1 day at Discovery Cove with the dolphin swim package, 1 day at SeaWorld, and 1 day at Aquatica for $150 per person! Score.

Discovery Cove is an all-inclusive day resort where you can snorkel and swim with fish and dolphins. I kept promising the kids that this place would be great because we wouldn't have to wait in any lines. We got there around 7:30am and had to wait in line to get in. All the kids were telling me I lied to them, but once we got checked in, the lines went away and they forgave me.

We first had breakfast from a huge selection at the buffet. We kept telling the kids they could eat as much as they wanted because we didn't have to pay for it. The food was pretty good too.

Then we went to a place where we got wetsuits (you could choose a full, half, or vest wetsuit) and life jackets for the kids. We put all our stuff in the lockers and headed to the "Grand Reef". This snorkeling was amazing for kids. We have only used our snorkels in swimming pools, but I've always wanted to try them in the ocean. But this was perfect because everything looked like the ocean, but there were no waves and the fish were locked into the "aquarium" so you were guaranteed to see them. The place had really nice sand with cabanas and beach chairs. And the reef had fake cracks and coral that the fish could swim in so it looked realistic. At first the Robert's were being super careful of the coral like you have to in real oceans (because they've been to real places before), but then they realized it was fake. Ha ha.

The kids all did great snorkeling. Isaac and I kept taking turns passing Hazel off. But the water was so clear she could kind of see the fish swimming from above, so she was entertained well. There was a section of the aquarium with a glass wall blocking off sharks from the main pool, but you could snorkel right up to the glass and watch the sharks swim. But in the main reef there were tons of colorful fish and lots of bat rays. It was really cool.

Throughout the park there were 4 or 5 different snack cabanas where you could get unlimited snacks, drinks, or slushies. The kids each had about 5 slushies. They also had chips and crackers, soda machines, warm cookies and pretzels. And there were never any lines. It was amazing for kids because they could have anything they wanted without us paying anything extra for it.

There was also a regular swimming pool (no fish or salt water) that you could swim in. We didn't spend much time there because there was so much other stuff to do. But that pool was also really pretty and had a waterfall, so it didn't look like a regular swimming pool.

Then we swam to a section that had a tiny island with little tiny monkeys on it. It was hard to find the monkeys at first, but we saw a few. We also went to the section that had a glass wall where you could watch the otters swim. It was fun to use the snorkels to see them swimming underwater.

We then found the lazy river. This was the coolest lazy river I have ever seen! It was about 1 mile long and there were places where adults could reach the bottom, but other times it would get about 8 feet deep so you would have to swim (they gave everyone a pool-noodle type floaty before entering). Isaac and I took turns holding Hazel down the river. She liked it until we reached the waterfall. The lazy river floated right through the bird aviary, so in order to get people in and keep the birds from flying out, there were big waterfalls you had to swim through. Hazel was not a fan of that. But Isaac thought that was really cool.

We also spent quite a bit of time in the aviary. This was pretty much the only place we had to wear masks. Once we entered the aviary we each got a little cup of fruit and nuts to feed the birds. We were all able to "hold" quite a few birds (those must be the best fed birds in the world). Some of the little kids had a hard time attracting them at first because they kept shoving the food at the birds and scaring them away. But eventually they figured it out.

At one point a bird pooped on Sophie's head. :) She was crying hysterically, but calmed down after we washed it off. There were a lot of cool tropical birds in the aviary too.

Then we had some lunch. The food was really quite good. Once again the kids could pick anything they wanted. I told them they could go get more if they didn't like anything, but they were really good about eating what they picked (which was amazing they could even eat anything after all the slushies and warm cookies they were eating). I got a steak with a yummy green sauce on it. Sophie got a Caesar salad (what a healthy, veggie loving girl). They also had pulled pork sandwiches, pastas, hamburgers, etc. All the kids picked chicken nuggets/fingers/strips everywhere we went for food. By this point we were begging them all to eat something besides that and fries. Argh. But I think they enjoyed it.

Then it was time for the dolphin swim. Isaac stayed off with Hazel and Luke (because he wasn't 6 years old yet). He was able to get Hazel to take a nap, so he and Luke were able to watch us with the dolphins. We were in a group with just the girls, me, and the Roberts. We first had an older dolphin come swim past us as we were able to pet him a few times. The trainers told us interesting stuff about dolphins and training them. Theron was really nervous about being by the dolphins, but eventually was willing to pet the dolphin.

Then they brought out a younger dolphin that we were able to ride on. We each went about 100 feet away and they showed us how to hold onto the dorsal fin and the dolphin would pull us back to the group. It was a lot of fun, and we got some really fun photos.

Then the dolphins did a little show where they would jump and do some tricks that we watched from up close in the water with the. It was a lot of fun.

Afterwards, the Roberts told us that was the best dolphin encounter they have done (I guess they have done a few in Mexico). They said we spent more time with the dolphins, petting and a longer ride, than they had done anywhere else. It was really cool.

Then we swam some more and finally cleaned up in the showers. At first we didn't know if we would be able to last the entire day there, but we stayed until it closed at 5pm. I would highly recommend Discovery Cove, and would like to go back again sometime.

We then went to dinner at a fast food Mexican restaurant that was nearby. At first I was annoyed that all the parks were closing early due to covid. But it was actually nice to be able to leave and go get dinner at more affordable (and possibly healthier) places. And it was very nice to get back to the condo at decent times to get the kids to bed. They definitely wouldn't have lasted nearly as well if they were staying at parks until 8 or 9pm and not getting to bed early each night.

Florida Day 5: Universal Studios

2021-08-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

The next day we were planning to go to Universal Studios. Gary and Sarah graciously accepted when we asked them if they could watch Hazel while we went to the park. So we got up really early to go drop her off at Gary's house. I was a little nervous about leaving her because she is a mama's girl, but they turned on some "Daniel Tiger" and she seemed just fine. We also learned that they needed to lock the door immediately, because on Sunday Hazel escaped from their house just like she did from the condo.

We got the the park and decided to start on the "Island's of Adventure" side because we wanted to go on the new Hagrid Motorbike ride. So we rushed over there first thing (thankfully Gary told us where to go because the line started a really long ways away). And even though the line looked huge, it moved quickly and we got on fairly soon.

The roller coaster was a lot of fun. It had some parts where you go backwards and then drop (I don't want to spoil it with too many details). It was pretty awesome. The kids all gave it their stamp of approval.

We then went on the other Harry Potter rides on the Islands of Adventure side. We did the Hogwarts castle ride and the Hippogriff roller coaster. The castle is always fun to walk through and see all the decorations and talking tapestries. But that ride seemed to take a long time. The Hippogriff roller coaster was a lot of fun and the line was short, so we did it multiple times.

I love the picture of Isaac and Brad on this ride, crammed into a tiny car but trying as hard as possible not to touch each other.

Then we tried to go on Jurassic Park. We waiting in line there FOREVER. Because of covid, they were only filling every other row and wouldn't sit people next to groups they didn't know. So if a party of 2 were going, they would take the entire 5-6 person row, then they would skip a row, and continue on. So it took an insanely long time to get on the ride.

Unfortunately that was the case for lots of the rides at Universal Studios. The 2 seater roller coasters moved at normal speeds because they could fill those to capacity. But any of the big car/bus type rides (like Hulk, the Hogwarts Express, the rafting rides, etc.) were soooo slow.

We tried to go on a few other rides, but the lines were too long, so Kjirstin and I waited in line for a table at the "Three Brooksticks" (because it had better kid options for food) while the dads and kids played at the Jurassic Park park. The wait to get a table wasn't too long, but it took FOREVER for our food to come. I called Isaac to come over once we were seated and they were sooo thirsty and finished all the drinks I got in a couple minutes. So we had to re-order a whole round of butterbeer. (And don't buy the "Gillywater" it is just bottle water in a different label. After we got home, Kevin told me I thought I was ordering "fishy green ale".) We got the "Great Feast" which was chicken and ribs, salad, potatoes, corn, and vegetables. It was a ton of food, but not very good. The potatoes were still crunchy and the corn wasn't great. But it was nice to sit and relax for a while.

I like these series of pictures with Luke's face. He was hot and grumpy when he came in, but perked right up after having a drink of butterbeer.

After lunchtime we tried to take the Hogwarts Express to the "Universal" side of the park, the line was over an hour long. Brad talked to the workers letting people on and I think they felt bad for us with 6 kids, so they gave us one-time front of the line passes so we could get on the train faster (which really was necessary because Theron had to go to the bathroom once we were almost on the train).

We first explored the Harry Potter stuff in Diagon Alley and went on the Gringott's Bank ride. We were hoping to go to Ollivander's to see a wand selection, but the line was too long because they only let in 1 group at a time. That was too bad because it meant that one of our kids would have been guaranteed to be chosen for the selection demonstration. We brought Sophie and Aspen's wands, but they weren't working well on the window displays. I tried to get them fixed, but it took too much time.

But we were able to walk through Platform 9 3/4, see Kreacher look through the window, talk to the Goblins at the money exchange, see the dragon breathe fire, and see the Night Bus.

Then we did the Men in Black ride (which I rocked at). The kids all had fun trying to shoot the aliens. It made me think I should let the kids watch that movie sometime. Unfortunately a lot of the rides at Universal are designed for older people, so my kids haven't seen many of the movies that are associated with the rides like: Jurassic Park, Men in Black, the super hero shows, the Borne movies, etc.

Then we hurried over to the new Bourne Stuntacular Show. Isaac and Brad were trying to get our stuff out of the lockers and were a few minutes behind us. Kjirstin, the kids, and I all got in, but Isaac and Brad were a little too slow and they shut the doors and locked them out. They texted saying they weren't letting them in, so I went and sweet-talked the entry people saying we would hold our "babies" (Luke and Theron) in our laps so we wouldn't take up any more seats. So they let them in, which was good because Isaac was telling me that Brad was contemplating ways that they could sneak in somehow.

The show was really good, but almost too good. It had a perfectly timed stage on a track system so the projected background and props would move in time and a stunt crew would do live fights as the stage moved (it's hard to explain). But the video scenes were so big it was often hard to tell what was real and fake (the best way to tell was that the live people all had on facemasks). So I feel like it detracted a little from the stunts because it was a little too movie-like.

Then some people did the Mummy ride and it was time to go because the park closed at 6pm. Overall Isaac and I were really disappointed. I have been to Universal multiple times on a park-hopper pass and always felt that we had plenty of time. But due to covid restrictions, we weren't able to go on very many rides at all. In addition, the park closed a good 3-4 hours earlier than it previous would have. Brad and Kjirstin didn't know what they were missing out on, so they didn't seem to mind, but we knew all the things we should have been able to do. Plus it was a very long, hot day standing in lots of lines. But it was amazing to not have to chase Hazel around the whole time.

We left the park, picked up pizza to take to Gary and Sarah's house for dinner, and got Hazel back. I worried that she didn't nap very well for them (I was hoping she would be so exhausted that she would sleep for 3+ hours). But Sarah and Daniel took her on a long adventure to a park. They said she walked about a mile and enjoyed chasing birds and other wildlife along the way. Sarah sent me a whole bunch of cute pictures and videos of her day out. It was so nice of them to take her for a whole day like that. It definitely made our day at Universal so much more enjoyable, and I think it was really good for her to have more of a relaxing day as well.

Universal (specifically Harry Potter world) has always been one of my favorite things to do in Florida, but it was disappointing during covid. Hopefully next time it will be more normal, or we need to pay the ridiculous fees to get the front of the line passes. But we still had fun. And even though we missed a lot of time at the park due to early closing, it was nice to be able to eat dinner outside the park and get the kids bathed and to bed at a decent time. I think it really helped them to get a good night sleep each night so they weren't too exhausted the following day.