San Diego here we come :)

My Aunt Connie and Uncle Mike are serving a mission in San Diego (lucky them :) ).  So I made a suggestion to my mom a while back that we should go down and see them since they extended their mission a few more months.  Well with school ending we never really got around to planning anything.  My mom had been emailing Connie to see if she knew of any good deals on hotels and Sea World.  After school was over my parents found a good deal on a hotel at the beginning of June so we were heading to San Diego.

I didn't tell me kids until Saturday night after I got them back.  They were excited to be going some place but had no idea where we were going.  So we got up early on Sunday morning.  We had wanted to leave by 7am, we pulled out of the drive at 8:30.  Pretty good for us.  I made sure that I had things to entertain the kids.  I had books, ipods, movies and their iXL computers.  I didn't pull out any of the electronics until we got past Mesquite and they were out the rest of the trip.  Aspen would ask if we were in California yet.  She got confused on what California was.  So I tried to explain to her using Utah and St. George as an example.  I don't know that she completely understood but she didn't ask about it anymore.  My mom would turn around and check to see what the kids were doing.  She made the comment that we were born in the wrong era.

 At one of our pit stops, the McDonald's was a train car.  The kids thought that it was cool.

After we got checked into the hotel, let Grandpa take a little nap and got dinner we headed over to Old Town and the Mormon Battalion to find Connie and Mike.  (FYI we were going to take the kids swimming during Gpa's nap but the hotel didn't heat their pool.....it was freezing)  Mike came out and greeted us in the parking lot.  What great service!  We headed up to the front and took a few pictures with the statue out front.  Then the kids saw the covered wagon and wanted to go in.  So we took a few more pictures and let the kids play.  We eventually made it in the building where we found Connie behind a desk with a portable heater :)  It was so great to see them doing what they do as missionaries.  Mike took the kids out back and did the activities out there.  They panned for gold, pulled a water bucket out of a well, washed clothes on a wash board and "made" bricks.  We eventually were able to get on one of the tours through the museum.  This was one of the best tours I have been on.  They had talking pictures of the people whose lives they were talking about.  The pictures reminded me of Harry Potter and Colt was obsessed with them.  Both kids did well during the adventure back in time.  When we finished the tour, Colt asked Connie if she could teach the pictures to talk again.  She was sweet and appeased him.  We went up on the tower and looked out at San Diego.  The kids had fun looking in the binoculars.  When we were going to head back down, Aspen really wanted to ride the elevator.  Mike said that it is the slowest elevator in San Diego but that we could go down. 

It was a long day for us and so the kids gave no trouble at all when it was bedtime.  They both knew what was coming the next day....Sea World.  Although neither one knew what Sea World was, they were excited.

Summer of sleepover's has begun & Taeler finally got married!!!

All Aspen ever wants to do is have a sleep over with the cousins.  Well beginning of last week she finally got the first one of the summer.  She had been asking and asking, saying "But I don't have any school until August".  So she got to sleep over at Darcee's house with the cousins.  Colt was there too but he doesn't ask all the time like Aspen.  They sure do love living by the cousins and getting to play with them.  That doesn't mean that they always get along.  We have to break up little fights and work them through problems.  They are really acting little siblings.  Last Friday, my parents had gotten the entire family tickets to see Mary Poppins at Tuacahn.  I struggled with this one.  There was no action or any wow factors.  Colt did alright for the first little bit but I ended up sending him home with my dad at intermission.  Justyn, Rachel, Paige and Trent left a little before intermission.  The kids were falling asleep on their parents.

Saturday was the big day for Taeler Watkins.  He has found someone to spend his life and eternity with.  Doug asked if he could take the kids during the day, since they didn't need to be at the wedding I said go have fun.  It was nice not to stress about what my kids were getting into.  So I got to go see Taeler and Jenna sealed in the temple.  There was not a moment that they didn't have a smile on their face.  I am so happy for them.  My dad and I ran to the bank after we got dressed to get some cash for our upcoming trip.  When we got back Jenna and Taeler had still not come out of the temple.  So we joined the family.  My dad took over for Jay as the photographer.  We got quite a few good pictures.  Well it took Jenna over an hour to get her dress on (apparently her mom was having some issues) and come out of the temple.  We stuck around long enough to try to get in the family pictures but took off to go to Golden Corral to set up for the luncheon.  We didn't get all the tables ready before people started to arrive.  Paula and Kirk showed up about 20 minutes late but followed closely behind by Taeler and Jenna.  It was a great luncheon and Jenna got a nice surprise from Paula, Taeler's baby blanket and stuffed raccoon, Racky.  The family all laughed because we all remember how attached he was to that thing.  Now he can share those memories with Jenna.

It was a great day of family togetherness.  Not only did my immediate family get together but we also got to see Keith and Leslie and Bob and Marilyn.  Great to hear what is going on in their lives.

Last week of school and camping with the Headley's and Haupt's

Well the end of the school year could not come fast enough for me this year.  I have had some really tough classes and am ready for a fresh start.  One good thing about Aspen going to school in Washington County was that she graduated on Wednesday and was done with school.  So I brought both kids up to work with me on Thursday.  They went over to the Murray's house in the morning.  Then I went to pick them up about lunch time.  Aspen got to spend the afternoon in her former kindergarten class.  Mrs. Jone's really loved seeing her again.  Colt came back to school with me.  He did pretty good watching movies while I finished up work.  We actually spent the night in Cedar at the Baker's house.  Susan was my Relief Society President when I lived in Cedar, plus she was in our ward when we lived in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.....small world.  Later that night, the kids went over to my friend Denice's house while I went to Cedar's graduation.  I can guarantee that the kids had more fun than me.  Graduation was good, I just didn't have a deep connection with any of the seniors.

Friday, the kids played over at the Bird's house for a little bit and Aspen went to school again with Kenzi.  Then after school Kenzi was having her birthday party so we couldn't miss that :)  I had a end of year faculty lunner so Colt went back over to the Murray's for a little bit.  Afterwards, we headed home.  Hollee and Jonah were driving down that night.  I had planned on going camping with Darcee's family on Saturday but was hoping to see Hollee a little bit on Friday.  We got to see them for just a bit on Friday but ended up seeing them on Saturday morning.  Hollee had plans with a friend that fell through so she hung out at the house.  Rosalee also emailed me to see if I could watch her kids while her and Scott went to the temple.  I said absolutely.  She has done so much for me that I wanted to do something for her.  So we got a late start on our camping trip but finally made it out to Sand Hollow to meet up with Darcee and Candace.  When we finally got there, it was windy, windy, windy.  They had pulled in the boat due to the wind and playing domino's until the wind stopped.  It wasn't looking good for a while.  I was ready to head back home but it eventually died down a little.  Long enough for Jay to take the kids on a little ride before pulling the boat out for the night.

Darcee had borrowed a tent for the kids and me from some one at work.  But Colt and I ended up sleeping in the back of the suburban.  Aspen slept in the tent with Darcee's family.  Not the greatest night sleep but definitely better than sleeping on the hard ground.  Colt had asked if he could go to sleep long before we had a fire going, so I let him.  Jeramiah fell asleep in one of the chairs.  He was upset the next morning that he didn't get any s'mores.  Jay had tried to wake him up.  Sunday morning brought a little less wind.  We tore down camp.  Candace headed home because she wasn't feeling well.  The rest of us hit the water for a little bit.  I called it a day after we had been out on the boat awhile.  All in all, it was a great weekend.  So glad that work is done and I can just relax.  Of course by relax I mean get sick.  Monday was not the greatest day for me but I pushed through it got feeling better on Tuesday :)

Kindergarten Graduation :-) and :-(

Well my baby girl made it through kindergarten.  I have love/hate feelings about it.  At her end of level testing meeting, her teacher was nothing but complimentary about how Aspen is doing.  She was really impressed with her reading abilities.  She is reading at a first grade level already.  We just have to keep up with it during the summer.  I am very grateful for my principal for allowing me to leave work early to be at her graduation and to Joy Coates for watching my classes so that I could go.

Aspen had quite the fan club there.  Darcee, Jay and Jeramiah were there.  Rachel and her mom, Darlene, were able to make it.  Then Grandpa was there for a little bit and Grandma, Colten and I.  When the class started walking into the room, they all had smiles on their faces.  Mrs. Heger took them for a walk around all of the people that were there.  My mom came up after their walk and said I needed to get Aspen into some pageants.  Aspen apparently knew where the camera was and would always be looking at it.  She was so excited.  She did great in the program.  She said her part beautifully.  She even got so into one of the songs that she started conducting it.  I was all sorts of tears but was so happy for her.  She is so excited to be a first grader now and she will tell you so.

Great job Aspen!!!!!  You are one smart cookie so keep it up :)

 Below is how we kept Colt entertained during the program.  Don't know exactly how many pictures he took but he was quiet :)