Zion at Last

We finally made it back to Zion. It has been a long time since we went to the park. We were up in Springdale a couple years ago while Kevin tiled for my friend MaryJane, but never went into Zion.

The last pictures we have are of Samantha next to a weeping rock when she was about 15 months old. We took Pete to see Zion (He's from Kevin's mission in England and yes Kevin baptized him).

The first time Kevin and I went to Zion together was actually on Kevin's brothers wedding day. We went to kill time before the reception. Kevin and I were just dating but soon to be engaged.

We realized while were there that this was the first time that Derrick and KayDee have been to Zion. We are so grateful we went.

We saw and hiked the Court of the Patriarchs, Weeping Rock and the Riverside Walk at the Temple of Sinawava. The kids did great, although we learned to not let Samantha sip on the water backpack because it made her bladder have an excessive, continual flow. We practically ran down the 1.5 mile Riverside hike to get to the bathroom, just to have her dancing in the shuttle for 15 min to get to the next bathroom!

KayDee loved being in the backpack and that she could hold on to the bars in the shuttle. Derrick loved to wear my hat and the water backpack.

Preschool

I started doing preschool with a neighbor for Derrick and of course KayDee gets to do it too. We do it twice a week and take turns every other week teaching. I figured I might as well use my college education for something, since I took preschool classes when I found out I was pregnant with Sam. We follow a similar format from the college and it is easy to prepare and do. We have 4 kids in all.
So here is what Derrick did for preschool. He actually made a really cool helicopter with noodles (its on the bottom, under the "D").

Picture Tag

The rules are you have to take pictures of the following things, and you have to do it right away. No cleaning, straightening, or wiping your child's nose (and I mean it!) Then tag 6 others.

We'll I'm sure everyone is dying to see how I keep house! I am actually surprised my house was having a good day.

1. Kitchen Sink: Lucky! I just washed dishes and washed the dehydrator trays.

2. Laundry Room: Nothing too exciting except I have stackables and love them since I have space in the room to walk now!

3. Fridge: We have a busy fridge and it makes us do our errands!










4. Bathroom: I ripped off the paint that was bubbling to see what was underneath. I do like the green better than the light blue, but it doesn't matter since we will redo it soon anyway.







5. Closet: Yes, we have a messy closet.







6. Favorite Room: Honestly, I don't have a favorite room. I am just grateful I have a house!

7. Favorite Shoes: Love shoes. I would have more but...it's excessive...sigh...

8. Self Portrait: Still not photogenic. It took me 5 tries to get my eyes open and not doing a funny face.





9. Children: Always cute. Sam's at school.




10. Dream Vacation: How am I supposed to have a picture of my dream vacation? I haven't been on it yet. I just need to figure out where I would want to go first. I have too many other obligations for me to make a choice like that right now. Right now it is not a specific place, its an atmosphere... Children not fighting, doing fun things like hiking, biking, swimming, etc...

TAG: Bonnie, Rachel, Suzy, LeAnn, Elisa, Sheri

Don't have too much fun!

Laub and Shepherd Reunion

Kevin has been friends with Sam Shepherd for a long time! They met working at Big O Tires while Samantha was a baby. We try to hang out with each other when we can and so far it ends up that we visit them once a year and they visit us once a year. Sam's wife brought a cake with all the decorations and gave it to us to celebrate our reunion so we made it and ate it before they left. And yes, that is Gumby! I gave that lighter to Kevin for Father's Day, since that was his nickname from wrestling in High School. I can proudly say that I am now more flexible than he is, which really is an accomplishment.