Spring Break

With all that we've got going on this year, we decided we should stick around for spring break. These staycations are my absolute favorite!  There is so much to do really close to home that we never have time to do, that it keeps us more than entertained for the whole week.  And I get to sleep in the comfort of my own bed.

We did go down to Phoenix for a couple of days the weekend before our spring break and stayed at a hotel with my family and played with cousins.  And I am absolutely unbelievable!  My camera was dead and I didn't get a single picture!  Dang it!  We went to the temple, caught a movie, and swam and swam and swam. It was very short, but it was nice to enjoy the warmer weather!

We came home late Saturday night because Aaron and I had to talk in church on Sunday...my favorite thing to do!  I was actually thinking that was one of the perks of having a husband in the bishopric is that you don't have to talk in church...not so! 

The kids and I made a list of things we wanted to do during the week and then we just set to doing them!  First off...no alarm clocks!  We do have our little Adalyn alarm clock, but she did sleep in for us a little most mornings.  We had delicious breakfasts every morning and since I have this alarming love for food, that was a big one for me.  Then came what I wanted to accomplish, which was the chore portion of the week. Since there was not a big rush to get things done, even the kids didn't seem to mind the extra piano practice and extra chores.  I made a list of chores they could do for money and they had a heyday!  

Monday we went to Bearizona, a drive-through wildlife park about 30 minutes from here. We hadn't been here yet (except for Jenna for a school field trip) and Aaron's parents bought an annual pass to take the family this year.  So we all piled up in a borrowed 12 passenger van (I felt like I was in high school on a tennis trip) and drove to Williams to go to Bearizona. It was awesome!  And the kids have been talking about it ever since.

Tuesday we spent the afternoon at the park. Simple, sure, but something we haven't taken the time to do in a while.

Wednesday we drove out to the Grand Canyon.  We live about an hour away from the Grand Canyon and had never taken our kids to see it. It was phenomenal...of course...it's the Grand Canyon.  The kids were completely wowed and I think that we've got them all psyched to go hike it in a few years! (They actually thought we were going to hike it last week and were pretty disappointed when we told them we were just going to look at it. We did hike around a little...)  When we got back we got the kids all Wacky Packs at Sonic. (On Wednesdays, they're only $1.99 each) That's a huge treat for my kids, so that was fun.

 Thursday we went to Bookmans. That in itself doesn't seem like an excursion, but our bookmans gives $10 gift certificates to kids who read 10 books and write down why they liked or didn't like each book. So, at the beginning of the week, I told the kids to work on their book reports each day.  Kenzie and Jenna, of course did a fantastic job on all of their reports and I took a picture of some of Caleb's reports, which just made me smile!  On Thursday when they finished, they got to go spend their $10!  Awesome!  Then that night we had pizza and a family movie and watched Caleb's purchase...The Love Bug!  Great movie!

Then Friday afternoon we drove down to Beaver Creek (by Sedona) and went camping for the night.  The kids played by the creek...we ate way too much really good food...we went exploring...  All in all, we had a great time! I love one night camping because it never seems to fail that at least one of our kids sleeps really lousy, which translates to Mom and Dad not getting a lot of sleep. Well, this trip was no exception. The weather was beautiful down there, but it still gets pretty cold at night.  The forecast said a low of 40, but when we woke up,  anything we had left out was frozen solid, so it was cold.  Adalyn didn't have a sleeping mattress, so she got cold, ended up on my sleeping mattress, and I...well...didn't sleep much.  That's the beauty of one night camping though!  We came home, I went to bed early and slept like a baby!

Like I said before...it's definitely fun to go places...but I do love our staycations!