Capitol Reef National Park - Spring Break

For Spring Break, we spend most of the week taking out the grass on our boulevard and west of our driveway.  Matt wants to convert the strip into a water efficient parkway.  Our awesome neighbor, Brother Prestwich, showed Matt how to work a sod cutter and helped haul the yucky weed filled grass off to the dump.  We were able to sneak in a day and a half of fun though.  On April 6th, we traveled to Grandpa Sorensen's house for tacos and cheesecake - in honor of Mom's and Gavin's birthdays.  We visited mom at her gravesite, but it was soooo cold that we didn't stay long at the cemetery.  The next day, we headed south to Capitol Reef National Park. It was pretty amazing!

Laynie wanted to pose on just about every rock formation!

We followed the cairnes as we hiked to...

Cassidy Arch,

Learned about the pioneer town of Fruita,

Saw Indian petroglyphs,

and hiked to Hickman Bridge.

At the end of our trip, we tried to skip rocks int he Fremont river, ate dinner at a curry pizza place (yes, that's curry on pizza) then drove all the way back to Saratoga that night.  It was a fun, but exhausting day.

 

Gavin Turns 10

Welp... Gavin is officially double digits!  He turned 10 on April 6th and we had a fun friend party for him on the 9th.  7 of his friends gathered at our house to go the Lehi Rec Center for an hour of swimming then it was back to the house for pizza, cupcakes, Nerf target shooting, and presents.  I sure hope this boy knows how much I love him.  Gavin is a social creature.  He loves hanging out with his friends.  Every school day, he is so good to do his homework and piano practicing, knowing he can play with his friends when it's finished.  He is easily overwhelmed due to his SPD, but I'm amazed at his ability to get back up after the sensory issues knock him down.  He is obedient, full of energy, creative and kind.  We love you so much, G-Man!

Popping "War Heads" into their mouths!

Oh... and this is HAIRY Potter - Gavin's birthday present.  He's a roborovki dwarf hamster.  He's taking a snooze, belly up right now!  Isn't he cute?!

 

As of Late... (Feb-Apr 2022)

Life just keeps getting busier...  I'm going to cram a bunch of photos in this post from the months of February and March!

Alayna had an "America on Stage" competition at Thanksgiving Point.  She got 2nd places in individual dance and 1st place over all in her group dance.

Her group danced to "Little Red Wagon."

Being on stage hasn't been easy for Laynie.  She's had to really work at it.  At times, her anxiety takes over, but she's come a LONG way and I'm so proud of her!

Laynie wanted to make a bunny cake - so here it is.  When I was her age, I also made a bunny cake.  If I can find the picture, I'll place it next to this one of her.  :)

Laynie has continued to excel in her artistic endeavors.  She checks out books from the library and follows the tutorials and comes up with masterpieces like this panda hanging out in a Chinese forest.  ;)

Or this kitty cat painted with acrylics.

She loves to make things with perlor beads too.

At the end of February, I was in charge of the Blue and Gold Banquet for cub scouts.  The theme was "Scouting is Magic!" and it (hopefully) was a magical night for all who attended.  Laynie got lucky and was chosen to come up and hold the bunny named Stuart.

Scouting has been good for Gavin.  I'm so glad we found a fun pack to be a part of.

Gavin, Laynie and I decorated some cake cars to be auctioned off at the banquet as well.  Grandma ended up buying it and giving it back to us! LOL!

Our family at the banquet.

I was able to attend 2 field trips with Gavin and his 4th grade class in March.  We went to the Museum of Natural History and the State Capitol then a week later, we went to Hansen Planetarium.

Gavin and 3 girls in his class that were in our group.

This was a cool color exhibit that the kids enjoyed.

Dino teeth are SO handsome!

Mrs. Thompson has a cute class of 9-10 year olds.

My drivers license slipped out of my pocket and I had to go back to SLC a few days later to retrieve it.  So... we paid to go to the natural history museum again so Gavin could see more of it and Laynie could experience it.

This was Gavin's group for the planetarium field trip.

This photo was taken at a cub scout pack meeting.

This photo was taken at an activity day that Chelsea was in charge of called, "Gospel King."  The boys recognized good qualities in each other and practiced giving and accepting compliments.

Gavin's activity days group also went to the fire station to be trained in 1st aide.

Gavin loves to create.  Here, he's made an entire farm on his bedroom floor.

On March 31st, I got to take my niece, Lexi's, Senior Pictures.  We went to Memorial Park and the State Capitol where the cherry trees were in bloom - Ohanami.

Matt wanted to take out the grass in our boulevard and flip our strip.  It's been rough manual labor, and turning out to be quite costly.  So far, my body has held together... let's hope it continues to do that through the duration of my laborious activity.

Bye, bye grass!  I won't miss mowing you!

Laynie got really into April Fools day and played the Brown E's trick on me!

Then on April 3rd, Laynie got invited to cousin Emily's 1/2 birthday party.  It was a princess party.  Laynie felt a little too old for the event, but I'm glad she let me do her hair for the occasion!