Spring Break in Moab

This past week was Spring Break, so we went down to Moab with our friends the Larson's to camp. The weather was mostly cooperative, but pretty windy. Hiking was good though because even though it was cooler you were working up a sweat, so it didn't feel as cold. The first day we went and hiked to delicate arch. I had no idea how ginormous it was! I have to say too, that I think I'm really afraid of heights, once you are up there there are huge cliffs all the way around you. The Larson kids were calling it "rainbow rock," because of its shape. So of course Brooklyn was really excited to see a rainbow. Unfortunately once we saw it she was not convinced it was like a rainbow at all because "where are all the colors?" I tried to explain the shape of it was similar to a rainbow but she was like forget it mom, I don't agree.
Earlier that day Melissa and I took our kids on a little 2-mile hike by where we were camping. We camped at Ken's Lake right out of the city of Moab and they had some falls and little trails so we took the kids. Not so easy with Gavin who said he was tired three steps away from our trailer and wanted me to hold him. Then he slipped on some slickrock and Melissa fortunately grabbed him before he fell into a little stream, but not before his shoe fell off into it. Luckily she saved the day when she retrieved his shoe that got caught on a stick, so it didn't go down stream!



On Friday we drove into Canyonlands and the boys dropped Melissa and I, and her two oldest boys Cameron and Conner, off with our mountain bikes and we biked to Gemini bridge which is a huge bridge with major cliffs on either side. After we hiked over to that we hopped back onto our bikes and biked probably another hour and a half through slickrock, sand and steep hills! I haven't mountain biked lately so it made me a little tense. At the end Greg said there was a "little hill." Uh, not exactly...it was a big, looong, hill! But I already no what is little to Greg is pretty much huge to me, so I should have known better. It was still a lot of fun, especially to mountain bike, even if I couldn't remember how to shift the first half, road bikes are soooo much easier to shift! After the ride we took the kids to a sandhill that was huge and so much fun. Melissa and I were dying climbing it with our kids our calves were on fire!! Too fun though, for the kids and us!!

Saturday we went over to slickrock and the Larson's two oldest boys did the practice loop while we hiked around with the little kids. Our kids had a blast! Later we took them to Lake and let them throw rocks in the water! All in all a great vacation.

My Little Brooklyn

Yesterday I and the kids went shopping at the mall and they talked me into buying them some shades. When we got home Brooklyn wanted me to take a picture of her with them on, so cute!

Gavin is such a handful and so busy I feel like a lot of times Brooklyn is left in the shadows, so here are some things to get up to speed about Brooklyn this year.
Brooklyn is in kindergarten this year and has really loved it. She loves being able to be with friends and learn at school. It is amazing how far they progress in one year of school. When Brooklyn started kindergarten she couldn't read at all ( I know what a slacker mother I am, age 5 and she's not at a 3rd grade reading level! Shame! whatev...). But now she is reading so well and writing stories all the time. Brooklyn is such a sweet little girl. She thinks everyone is her best friend. She is naive to all the cliches (?) in her class (that I know exist b/c I go to her class every week). She is very accepting of everyone in her class. I'm so proud of who she is becoming, I hope she always remains as kind and caring as she is now.
Another new thing that I just realized she can do now is "pump." You don't know how long I've waited for this day, and she finally got the hang of it. If you look closely at the picture above you can see her flying through the air all by herself. I'm sorry to say I am a mother that dislikes pushing my kids on the swing (sad, I know). I don't know what it is, I think it kinda makes me nauseous watching them swing back and forth. So now Brooklyn pushes Gavin for me and then swings all by herself, does life get any better?
Finally, Brooklyn has been driving me crazy with all the pieces of paper constantly scattered ALL over the house accompanied by many crayons, markers, glue sticks and tape. She LOVES drawing and making things all the time, her newest creation making laptops for everyone. I had to laugh this morning when I got home because the one she made today actually had a "Google" screen! This one didn't have a mouse attached like the others though, pretty cute still.

Cholla Challenge and Camping

This past weekend there was a mountain bike race, part of the Intermountain Cup Series. It was called the Cholla Challenge. It was down in Hurricane, near St. George. We went with our friends the Larson's and pulled our trailers down to camp near the race track. The weather was horrendous driving down with rain and snow mix. It rained all night, but the next morning it was sunny and semi-warm. Good enough for the race at least. I was really surprised when Spencer decided to race, since he hasn't been riding much of his mountain bike, mostly road biking since his knee surgery last summer. Even more surprising he decided to move up a class and race in the Sport division instead of the Beginner. I was so proud of him because he got 11th place in his first race since his surgery AND he even moved up to a harder class! Way to go Spence!

Spencer getting ready for the race, putting his number on his bike.
Just finishing his second lap, going for lap number two.
Post race...wasted!
Brooklyn cheesing it on her new bunk bed, we sold our bumper-pull trailer and bought a fifth wheel, so now our kids have bunk beds! They love them!
Gavin, notice all these pics are inside the trailer, because it was pretty chilly! We spent most of the time inside watching movies, playing games and snacking. I know that doesn't sound much like camping but that is how we like it!