More stuff

we did on our vacation....

The Bean Museum at BYU. Plenty of dead things to be observed and enjoyed, as shown here by Aiden, Brenna and Jonathan.

Day camping, aka, cooking out at a campground and enjoying everything but the horrendous nights' sleep. We ventured up Hobble Creek Canyon and the kids loved playing in the water while the adults (mostly my brother-in-law Greg), built a fire and cooked up foil dinners and s'mores.

Nate kept asking my permission to go into the water, on the rocks, to the left, to the right, etc. Then he'd tell me, "Don't worry about me, Mom". That's funny....why would I ever worry about Nate?

Even Gwen loved the water, although I did not love her trying to pick things up out of the water and put them in her mouth. Hasn't she ever heard of Sheep Liver Fluke?! (C'mon, Jessica, you still laugh thinking about that, don't you?!)

We hiked, we explored, we spotted snakes, we visited the latrine a few dozen times. And then we headed back to the house for a lovely nights' sleep in a temperature-controlled room with a bed.

Life's a mess

Nate was supposed to be napping, so I took a shower. If you recall, horribly messy things happen when Nate is left unattended while I cleanse. This time, he got into the medicine cabinet in the kids' bathroom and painted himself and some of the floor with purple nail polish. I blurred out a key area, but in case you're wondering, yes: it is painted purple as well.

Yesterday Gwen enjoyed her yogurt a little too much.

Fortunately everything washes off with a little soap and water!

My favorite pics from Hogle Zoo

Gwen LOVED the carousel.

Ava and her cousin Anna are the best of friends, and they're very sweet to Nate.

Grandma and Grandpa Larsen with the grandkids.

The long hot day was exhausting, especially after all the big events and travel of the days prior.

I mean, good grief. Look at Brenna's face! I have never seen my girl look so tired! Bless her little heart, I didn't realize how wiped she must have been until I looked at these pictures.

Tired or not, we all had fun. My favorite part was watching Gwen....she was so thrilled by everything, especially the monkeys and the birds. I adore babies at this age.

Day 3

On our 3rd day of vacation we got up early so my sister and I could run in the Provo Freedom Run 5k. The race started at 7 a.m. so we were out the door about 6, which is 5 Pacific Time, which meant I was tired. Can you tell from this pre-race picture?

The race itself was great. Our goal was to finish in 30 minutes and we made it in 29:16, which we were both excited about. It was really fun to run with my sister. We kept each other going as fast as we were comfortable and encouraged each other as we made our way up the hill toward the end. It was an ugly one and lots of people stopped to walk it. When the finish line came in sight Julie took off. That girl seriously kicks my tail in a sprint. I managed to stay only one second behind her, sucking wind the whole way. Her mad dash, while painful, helped shave 20 seconds off our time.

I love 5k's. They're over so quickly.

After our lovely run we watched the parade, which was fun in a loud sort of way. Lots of sirens. Countless "beauty" queens. One chauvinistic marine who informed my daughters as he walked by that the military needs nurses (not doctors or soldiers, just nurses apparently). A Donny Osmond sighting. And snow cones:

We rounded off the day with my brother-in-law Greg's amazing ribs and baked beans, which I drool just thinking about. Happy Independence Day!

Day 2: Temple Square

On day 2 we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Kinghorn at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. My kids had never been before, so it was a fun and highly educational experience.

This is what Ava thought of the organ recital we attended in the Tabernacle. The rest of us were a little more impressed.

And one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip:

Home again, home again

jiggety jig.

We're back from our fab-o vacation to Utah, where we stayed with my youngest sister Julie and her adorable family. We did so much in what seemed like a short period of time.

Day 1 we were out the door at 6 a.m. to see the hot air balloon festival. My camera was left behind, which is just as well because it ended up being too windy for the balloons to launch. Still pretty cool to watch them get set up and inflated anyway. Then came breakfast at a local restaurant....absolutely delicious french toast with a syrup that was almost as good as my homemade buttermilk syrup, but not quite. Then later in the day my brother-in-law Greg had me follow him up a harrowing canyon drive (all narrow, winding canyon roads are harrowing to me, but that's what a healthy fear of steep mountain drop-offs and a car accident at the age of 16 on a similar road will do to you) to visit Cascade Springs and it was worth the white-knuckle drive.

Absolutely gorgeous. And thanks to a Sesame Street episode involving Jimmy Fallon that we viewed a few days before our trip, we were able to discuss nature a little differently than we would have otherwise. In the episode, it was explained that nature is anything not made by people.

Me: "Hey, Nate, is that tree nature?"

Nate: "Yes."

Scott: "Is water nature?"

Nate: "Yes!"

Me: "Is that rock nature?"

Nate: "Did a person make rocks?"

Brenna: "Jesus made everything."

Good point. So in the Kinghorn family nature is now anything that Jesus made, including us.

By the way, have I mentioned that in spite of the fact that I love toys, movies, theme parks, etc. I really, really enjoy doing things with my family that don't involve consumerism or child-focused marketing? It's so nice to be out in nature, appreciating the Lord's creations and discussing all of it with your kids in your own simple way.