last day in st george

our third day in st george was a beautiful day.  we almost decided to give sand hollow another try.  we figured we could head out, play at the beach for most of the day, then make our drive back home from there.  however, i guess tyler and i aren't that adventurous.  we decided to play it a little more safe on our last day and do something a little more simple so we could get home at a reasonable hour.  in our defense though, we were tired.  the hotel stay was fun, but of course the kids stayed up later than normal and woke up nice and early.  we had so much fun, but we were excited for our own beds and our own rooms!  so instead, we played at a park and visited a local museum (which our kids loved).

we spent most of our time playing on the swings.  when daddy is there to play he always makes things 10x more fun.

swimming

we actually had plans for beach swimming one of the days we were in st george, but the day we planned to go happened to be a very windy day.  we drove out to sand hollow just to see if it really was as windy as the weather man claimed it would be, and yup, it was.  we were afraid the kids would just be eating sand and getting it in their eyes all day if we had stayed.  so instead we headed back to the hotel and let the kids swim in the pool.  they really didn't know the difference nor did they care.  success!

our attempts at a group picture.  we have about 10 more pictures that look exactly like these.  nailed it, right?

st george temple

while we were down in st george, we wanted to stop and make a visit to the st george temple.  the morning we went it was a gorgeous day.  the kids really enjoyed walking through the visitors center and seeing the beautiful flowers that were planted around the temple.

st george continued

right in the middle of st george they've built this great splash pad that looks just like the red rock you see all around.  this was our  second activity the afternoon we got down there.  the kids had a great time running around in the chilly water.  

katelyn made a friend at the splash pad.  they spent most of the their time running around hiding, so i didn't get a ton of pictures of her.  i kept trying, but they were too quick for me.

like father, like daughter.

katelyn found her frog prince while we were there.  pretty handsome.

st. george

we skipped out of town for three days down to st. george to take a family vacation.  we had prepped the kids by telling them about all of the fun things we would be doing, so they were eager for this vacation to come.  katelyn was all packed the night before and even offered to help me get everyone ready to go early the next morning.  luckily we didn't actually have to rush things.  we headed out by late morning and were on our way.  of course the kids asked for treats and a movie immediately, which we happily obliged, because hey, it's vacation!

our first stop in st. george was a new, free children's museum.  we figured the kids would enjoy getting out and just playing.  it was the perfect way to shake off their boredom from being in the car so long.

walking in the rain

one morning we decided to quit being lazy and walked to preschool instead of drove.  it was our neighbor's turn to teach, and she just lives right down the road.  it had rained earlier that morning, so everything was still quite wet, but the kids loved the little walk with lots of puddles.

when reese and i got back to our driveway, reese wanted to splash around in the puddles.  i tried to warn her about her blanket getting wet, but it's hard to keep track of such a long, flowy blanket.  as she walked and jumped in the puddles, her blanket definitely got wet.

happy birthday katelyn

 

our sweet katelyn is seven today!  she is honestly one of the most thoughtful, kind-hearted, sweetest little girls i know.  she is always amazing me with the kind things she does for her siblings.  she'll gladly give up some of her delicious treats or let them play with one of her special toys if they are sad or upset.  if one of her siblings is getting in trouble she is there to help them work through their sadness and frustration.  she really is the best big sister.  katelyn is a very responsible little girl.  she is careful with her decisions and listens to most of the advice of her parents and tries to always do what is right.  she is a very obedient girl! 

she is doing incredibly well in school and has many friends that she adores.  she loves a variety of fun activities like playing outside, swimming, playing with friends, vacationing, being with her grandma and grandpa and playing the piano.  we really love this sweet girl that katelyn is becoming.  we couldn't be happier to celebrate this special day with our katelyn.

a visit to the park

we have really been enjoying this warm weather we've been having.  we 've been trying to get outside as much as possible while still trying to get inside jobs taken care of.  even though we have a park practically in our backyard, we don't go that much.  it's so much easier to just go outside in our front yard to let the kids run around and play on their bikes.  but i try to get to the park every once and a while since the kids enjoy it.

this was brynn's first time sitting in the big seat in the stroller. she watched everyone playing with wide eyes.  it's a whole new perspective for her.

 

reese loves to spend almost the entire time in the swing when we go to the park.