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!!

General Conference!

this past general conference weekend was hands down the best one we have ever had as a family. i am so grateful for the chance we had to sit at the feet of the prophets and just soak in the togetherness! we'll see how the next one goes when seth is mobile lol 

we went and got donuts saturday morning. and look, kent scouted out a donut AND bagel place just for me =o]

i'm sure the workers all thought we were insane- this white family all in their pjs walking into their shop at 7am lol

when we got home the boys made eggs and sausage while the girls set the table and such. 

(not sure why this is sideways, but still) looks great, right?!? as you can see from the pictures below we couldn't have been more pleased with the meal! 

(seth had his normal oatmeal and fruit, but i'm sure by next time he will be ready to join in a bit of the fun!)

then comes the magic. in the past we have set up blankets like a tent to be like king benjamin's people. cool, but not actually that cool because they would fall and just be frustrating. so we set up the real thing in our family room and seriously the kids thought they had died and gone to heaven! here they are dancing around and LOUDLY singing about how great general conference weekend is lol

just look at them. best. idea. ever. 

here is natalie singing along with the hymn and reading the verses she didn't know by heart =o]

natalie asked if she could snap a picture of us in the tent with my phone. nbd. (this will come up later)

then sunday morning we did our tradition during music and the spoken word of making little cue cards so the kids can listen to the talks and when they hear that word/topic they get a candy/snack. good times =o]

this is the sunday afternoon session with caleb working on his packet. 

he asked if he could take a picture of us and our journals with my phone. nbd (again, this will come up later)

here is caleb circling the current speaker, which is another cool tradtion we have that the kids just love. 

(they made new cards for the second session)

this is the later part where the picture taking comes up again. little did i know that caleb was taking picture after picture of us in the tent. over a less than three minute period so far as i can tell, he took no less than 76 pictures all more or less like these: 

that kid. harmless. but mischievous. him and #3 both!

and then of course before priesthood session we updated our 72 hour kits. natalie has been worried about natural disasters since our 5.3 earthquake so doing this was another weapon in her anxiety-fighting arsenal. 

but aside from all the fun memories, more than anything this weekend was about feeling the Spirit of the Lord touch our souls as we listened to the words of God fill our home! we had discussed several times questions each of us had about things we need to know or do, and every single one of them were answered in some way. one of us would say "oh did you hear that? maybe that is what can help us." or "mom, see? just do that and you won't feel grumpy!" lol seriously though, i am excited to go back and listen to them all again and read them for deeper understanding over the next six months until we get to do it all again! we LOVE general conference!

Madera Spring Break Trip

we were so excited to go back to madera! the kids remember living there and have such special relationships with my parents and sisters, so they were excited to see them! sadly kent couldn't get off work so we went without him. we both feel differently about trips like this than we have in the past, and i'm grateful that our relationship has matured in this way. we are both independent people, but i am so happy that we can be interdependent as a married couple. it is a nice feeling. i hope it continues to grow! 

it has become a tradition to stop at grandpa jamie's farm on the way up, to be sure we get to spend some time with him! the kids got dirty of course and had a grand ol time =o] 

grandma and grandpa hansen stopped by and grandma stayed for dinner while my grandpa and dad went with jenae to a fancy FFA event. i'm pretty sure my grandma hansen is the kindest hearted person i have ever met! it was great to catch up with her and watch both of them interact with the kids. my kids are the BEST at greeting people when they walk in the door and making them feel welcome and this was no exception- i loved watching their faces as the kids shouted their names and jumped up from what they were doing to go hug them =o] we are so blessed to have them in our lives!

they brought jelly beans as a special treat so melissa busted out this little bag and my kids were in heaven! they took turns eating their beans out of the bag and pretending to get weird flavors. good times!

after finally getting the kids to bed i worked on the family history project with my mom until jenae and crew got home. jenae is such a character! she is super classy and talented and i just can't wait to see how high she can fly! she is only allowed to wear the top three most important pins she has on the outside of her FFA jacket, so she keeps the rest of the collection on the inside- they clink together slightly when she moves =o] she gave me the tour of her room and we chatted it up in the early mornings and late nights but true to junior year schedules i didn't see her much otherwise. 

on this day i also made yet another carrot cake. i'm done i think. it was good but again just not the same. and i know what i'm talking about because i had it again at another baby shower for a different girl in our ward and it is seriously rockin! what the heck does that lady put in that cake?!?! i'll never know. ah well.

here is caleb showing grandpa jamie that he can cross the monkey bars by himself now. he was so proud of his accomplishment, and of course my dad felt his muscles and looked appropriately impressed =o]

the old stomping grounds. sometimes i can't believe it really happened (i really lived with my parents!!) but i am so grateful they opened their hearts and home to us in our time of need. we all definitely felt (and discussed) the blessings of that time and how the Lord strengthened us all to be able to make it through, loving each other more for it none the less!

we went over to our best friend's house in madera while visiting and this is definitely becoming a tradition as well. i say "we" because i mean my, natalie, and caleb's best friends from madera are all in the same family. there is also a little girl jenna's age but they are still deciding about each other lol Sarah is expecting their SIXTH baby (so inspirational, right!?!) and we were visiting teaching companions and she just always was the nonjudgmental listening ear i needed. 

anyway, here are the kids playing out in their yard 

and here's natalie and maren =o]

i brought an easter craft for the kids to do with grammy while i was at the play with melissa (the musical this spring was urinetown- i miss theatre SO MUCH!) but ended up busting it out early and doing it with them. fun, but cheap and now most of them are junked up pieces that i will throw away when we pack up the easter decorations. thank you target dollar section. 

and here are the kids with quite possibly their favorite person alive aside from me and kent. and for good reason. aunt melissa is the best aunt ever! i try to follow her example when i'm with my nieces and nephews but i know i'll never live up to her coolness. they made a lot of good memories with her yet again on this trip! 

and then we headed home. rockin out to our happy hansen cd or listening to harry potter all the way, of course =o]