Mini-Texodus, April 2014- Easter Party Fun

It was so much fun to be able to celebrate a holiday with our Grandma and Grandpa and cousins! The kids got to decorate (and eat!) a LOT of eggs this year. Grandpa is surprisingly serious about his egg-coloring, we learned :)

On Saturday before Easter, we went to the Easter party at Smiths. They close off aisles and scatter candy around and then kids can come and pick it up. It is separated by age group, and Bear totally killed it in the 1-3 category.  He had so much candy he could barely lift the basket :) 

It was a good thing he got so much, because Sam and EJ didn't get much- I don't think they were aggressive enough to push other kids over for some taffy. Bear was happy to share his loot with everyone.  Janie did pretty well, too and was very generous with her bounty.  After donuts and milk at the store, it was time to head back to Grandpa's for an egg hunt!

Aunt Cyndi had the great idea of color-coding the eggs and she was a really good hider. The kids had fun finding them all over the front and back yards. 

Each egg had money, candy, a prize OR a special "pick a prize" paper where they could pick from Grandpa's toys and other cool prizes. Best Easter party ever!

Mini-Texodus, April 2014, Part 3

Grandpa planned a big day of adventure while we were visiting! Aunt Cyndi took her kids out of school for the day and we went to the Tracey Aviary AND the new Aquarium! It was so awesome.

 The aviary is about a million times better than what I remembered from my childhood and really worth a visit! It was fun to just focus on all the different types of birds that you sometimes pass over at a zoo. They have a lot of interactive areas for the kids, too.

This crazy old man picture is just because we inherited my parents Great Horned Owl picture and it is hanging in our library. We have named the owl "Sheldon" after Dad and we dress him up for Halloween (the owl picture, not my Dad...).

After the aviary and a picnic lunch, we all went to the brand-spankin-new aquarium. It was really crowded, but still super-neat and well worth dealing with the crowds- even though some of the tanks weren't occupied yet. 

These pics were taken just before EJ told me that she wanted to explore with just her, Sam and Grandpa. Well, then. Birdy, Janie, Aunt Cyndi and Thomas went off as a group so that is why you don't see any pics of them!

Bear LOVED the jellyfish. We probably spent a good 15-20 min just watching them.

EJ is pointing out one of my favorites- the cuttlefish!

They had a ton of seahorses. They were really interesting to watch.

The "shark tunnel" was really neat. You could see the sharks gliding all around. Bear thought that was pretty cool!

Mini-Texodus, April 2014- Part 2

My favorite part of visiting UT is watching my kids get to hang out with their cousins and get to know their Awesome Aunts and Uncles better. We miss our family so much because we are far away. It is such a treat just to "hang out". As an added treat, my kids got to go eat lunch with their cousins Sam and Thomas at school. Their school lunch is awesome and WAAAYYY better than what my kids get!  The girls thought it was cool to see a different Elementary.

We were all excited that Aunt Cyndi's house was Kittenpalooza!  These babies were so fun to watch and snuggle. I had to seriously remind myself that 3 cats and one doggie are too many furbabies!

Aunt Cyndi really knows how to do holidays. She boiled up a ZILLION eggs for the kids to color and they had a great time together!

Sam wanted to know what it would be like to throw an egg at a house, so cool Aunt Cyndi let all the kids throw a (boiled) egg at the house :)

Mini-Texodus, April 2014- Part 1

 The kids were so excited to go on a "Big, Big Airplane" for the first time that any of them could remember (EJ and Birdy took flights as babies).  They were so cute rolling their bags through the airport!

Our gate was by a big window where we could watch planes take off and land. It also had a ramp where passengers got off their planes. Bear sat and waved at everyone that got off their planes. It was a fun people-watching opportunity to see who would wave back or smile at the cute kid welcoming them to Dallas :)

Getting ready to go! EJ was lucky because she got her own seat across the aisle!

When we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house, the local Smiths had a petting zoo with tiny week-old baby mini-goats. They were so cute I was trying to figure out how to smuggle one back to TX!

We learned Aunt Jenn is a pro at rainbow loom. She showed both girls some new tricks!

I took the girls to Temple Square in SLC to hear The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Broadcast. It was so cool! It was in the old Tabernacle, so that is always special. They had the orchestra and they sang selections from Handel's Messiah for Easter. It was really neat and the girls enjoyed it in spite of themselves... 

 After the broadcast, we toured the Conference Center. Our guide was great and took time to point out the great artwork throughout. The girls thought it was so cool to see the place where they watched General Conference just a week or two before!

We were so excited to see SNOW when we got back to Grandma's house!

The kids loved helping Grandpa take care of his plants. We helped clean out the garden for spring!

 Grandpa took us on an adventure to see the trains! Birdy was bored, but Bear and EJ thought it was a lot of fun!

Texodus: Two Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed...

Worth watching until the very end...

Texodus: Playin' in Heber with the Clinton Cousins!

We had big plans to go to Antelope Island with our Clinton cousins, but after all our adventures in ID and This Is The Place, we were TIRED.  They were so nice and decided to come to Heber to visit us and find fun things to do there. 

First, we visited the Daughter's of the UT Pioneer museum.  It is located in the building that was the public Library when I was growing up, and it was fun to see it. It has all kinds of local artifacts. The kids were really interested. They had a cute "scavenger hunt" for them to find various objects in the museum.  It is definitely worth a visit!

EJ was really excited to see a photo on the wall of our GGGrandfather, Joseph Stacy Murdock.  He was instrumental in making peace with the local native people. The kids were really interested to learn more about him.

Next, we went to the Jordanelle state park nature trail to play in the river.  It has a really great climbing tree- like a fairy house!  The river feeds into the reservoir and it was so beautiful! 

The kids had fun spotting (and trying to catch) minnows.

Bear was in heaven with his "big boy" cousin Will who played with him and showed him how throwing rocks in the river is done!  I love that sweet boy so much! He loves the little kids and is so good with them!

After a yummy cookout courtesy of Grandpa, the kids went to the front yard to play catch and practice their gymnastics. Sarah is taking gymnastics and she has some really cool tricks!

It was just really fun to see the cousins all hanging out playing "night games" and eating ice cream. A great end to a fun day!

Last of all, the little girl cousins got to have a sleepover! There was much whispering, talking and giggling, and there were some tired girls in the morning, but it was worth it for the fun they had!

Texodus: Logan Cousins

I want Ed and Tennille to adopt me.  Their house is such an awesome place to visit. I could just move into the basement.  Their yard is very edible (EJ and Bree harvesting raspberries to be mashed and mixed with sugar and turned into "jam").

They have fun toys like a personal cotton candy machine. Seriously, who has their own cotton candy machine?!?

The slip 'n slides are giant, and they have their own winter sledding hill.

There are chickens to chase, and doggies to cuddle.



 

And the bubbles flow freely!

Sadly, there was a stomach bug at their house and we had to cut our visit short :(  We were all bummed to have to say goodbye too soon. That just means we'll have an extra long visit next year!