Trip to Ivins!

for part of our spring break we went to visit various members of my family who were gathering at my sister's house near st george, ut. it was a long drive to make with the 4 kids alone (kent couldn't get off work) but i'm so glad we went. i think it is so important for us to have strong family ties! getting to be together to make memories is one of the easiest ways to do that, so there we go =o]

here are the kids playing barefoot and in pjs in the dirt at the rest stop while i nursed seth. mother of the year, right?

on the way there things were surprisingly smooth sailing and we mostly listened to harry potter and music the whole way napping some and snacking a lot! 

we got to the craven's house and shortly thereafter the murrays arrived. it was a blast for us all! one day at disneyland we saw these:

cars characters dressed up like star wars?!?! we couldn't resist buying one for each cousin for their birthday presents for the year, and bringing them with us for them to open in person! it took the entire stay for everyone to settle on which car to actually take home, but hopefully they will all love them as much as i loved the idea of them lol

 that day we played and talked and ate an amazing meal.

i thought putting the kids to bed was going to be terrible, but rebecca lent me her fan (why didn't i think of bringing one??) for white noise and we all slept soundly! 

one of my favorite parts of being with my family is just talking with them. i appreciate and respect them all so much that i love to hear their stories and get their opinions and theories about everything. i love a good conversation and neither night was a disappointment! phillip even chimed in on occasion which was great. 

we woke up early (who doesn't at family gatherings?) and the wild fun began immediately lol

katrina made us all waffles. if the cravens can do anything they can cook! they eat so clean too. i'm seriously impressed with their skills and thrift. we especially appreciated this breakfast since we would be missing saturday morning pancakes with kent. 

then we left the house for a day of adventures!

first stop was a short hike to a slot canyon. the weather was perfect and we made some great memories. 

i went through with the older kids while rebecca watched jenna and seth since her baby bump won't let her through anyway. it was a tight squeeze! it was a fun experience- the likes of which i haven't done in a long time. at first lydia didn't want to go, but when we got back katrina took her and the older kids through a second time.  

someone kindly took this shot of the whole group. classic!

the murray girls and caleb being adventurous! we heard little voices singing "i'm on top of the world- eh!" and i looked up to see they had climbed all the way up and around! little crazies =o]

next we stopped at the temple and i'm so grateful we made the time to go. it was a sweet little break =o] caleb is out in front running to the temple just like the picture up in his room- adorable!

of course we had to climb the steps for the full experience!

(lydia sweetly asked for a shot of her after i took one of just my kids lol)

then we ate clementines and crackers and talked about the temple and special things about the st george temple. like i said, it was peaceful just sitting there in the shade being together. so we left while we were still ahead =o]

we ended the excursion at the coolest splash pad/ mini water park! there is this whole artificial river to play in and the kids just had a ball! 

we also packed a picnic lunch that was eaten in snatches over the time we were there because especially the older kids just wanted to run free!

have i mentioned that caleb LOVES owen? well he does. (maybe overwhelmingly so at times lol) and when he saw that they had matching swim shirts he was overjoyed and has even brought it up a couple times since. i'm so excited for their cousin friendship to continue to grow!

i'm also lovin' these two little chickadees! it is only going to get better with time i'm sure!  

seth was done lol

we went back home and had a snack of frozen gogurts which we have never tried so the kids felt special. 

we worked on an easter puzzle that i brought, but honestly it probably caused more contention than fun and three of the pieces were missing (we found them when we got home)

so we headed to the park before dinner. some of us had fun! (others did not. from the pictures can you guess who?)

when we got home it quickly became apparent that peacefully making dinner wasn't going to happen without including Frozen in the agenda =o] 

we had another delicious meal, read lots of easter stories, played with our cars, and had an all around awesome time in the tent the murrays brought to sleep in the second night to make room for the hansens who would be pulling in after midnight. 

everyone was stoked to see uncle jonathan and grammy and grandpa jamie! i think caleb was the most happy about getting to hang out with jonathan though. i mean, they were roommates! they have a special bond for sure =o]

our last hurrah was a trek up to the petroglyphs. this was a rocky event in more ways than one lol 

we only brought crocs and jenna refused to wear her shoes. she was carried by either me, my mom or dad for about 3/4ths of the way. natalie slipped and fell and got legitimately hurt but in my opinion didn't need to cry as long or loud about it as she did. and caleb had to go to the bathroom so badly that he was in tears with at least a 1/2 mile to the car and i carried him on my back, with seth in the baby backpack in front, for a good portion of that way. that's right. (motherhood makes you stronger than you ever knew you could be!) but other than those things it was awesome! lol

after the tiring hike, and getting out the door hours after i had originally planned i was pretty stressed when we started out. and the trend continued. there was a rancher protesting something and had the freeway completely blocked off. i took the opportunity to nurse seth and count my blessings it was a relatively cool day. when we finally started moving again i decided we were going to change out of our grumpy pants and make a stop at the Las Vegas Temple. the fact that it took us 40 minutes to get from the freeway to the temple, and then 40 minutes again to get back didn't really help me, but the actual visit was priceless! they don't have a visitors center so we got to go INSIDE the temple to use the restroom. they have a beautiful atrium and it was so sweet to turn and see the kids reverently following behind me as we walked through it. jenna was even folding her arms =o] (but inside the boring bathroom it echoed horribly and i shushed myself hoarse!) the walk around the temple grounds was a beautiful breath of fresh air! 

and then the long drive back. we stopped for gas and a (nasty) dinner after which jenna passed the time by screaming to return to various members of the family. for example i think she sobbed to "go back lydia's house for two minutes mama" for at least 20 minutes then changed tactics and yelled "fine! fine! go see un jonfin" or "fine mama! fine! go grammy's house NOW!" for the next 30. just when i would think that she had given up and seth had stopped his wailing protest she would start up again with a new person and set him off again. the older two kids shifted between trying to convince them to be quiet to trying to ignore them while i stared at this:  

it was the only low point of the trip. and once the younger two passed into silent survival mode as we fondly call it, we listened to music and it was fine. but i still don't want to end with that. so i'll end instead by recording a few of my favorite moments.

reading a verse of the book of mormon with whitney and only having to help her with one word and getting to generously praise her and be rewarded with a smile before she scampered away

watching owen try to hold seth as he squirmed around to try and look at him

having the cutest conversation with lydia about her "mommy"

seeing natalie go through the slot canyon even though she was scared at first and be so happy that she made it through

jenna being so excited to go to the temple and have her tell me all about it again while putting her to bed

seeing caleb be so daring with his cousins on the rock climb

seeing what amazing mothers my sisters are

seeing how katrina and phillip work together to make their home a clean, healthy place to raise their family

it was a good trip! i'm so glad we got to go! when we got home kent asked me if i got my trip itch out of my system and i think i have, at least for a while. it is so nice to go see family, but at heart i really am a home body and love my routines too =o]

thanks for the memories!!