Westward Ho!

 Once again we had a wonderfully full May, so buckle up, this is going to be a long one. 

We started out the month with a field trip to a dairy farm. They had the most beautiful Jersey cows that were grass fed and so very spoiled. Everyone got to sample their creamy milk but my kids felt like it didn't taste as good with the aroma of manure in the background. I'll give them that...

At the end the kids got to walk through the fields with the cows. If I didn't know how much work a cow can be I would have been trying to smuggle one home in my van. It's going to happen someday...

Austin got to have soccer practice one evening in the William Penn indoor turf. Vivi had the little black rubber pieces all over by the end but she was happy. 

Mariah, Chet and Austin had their piano recital and all did really well. It's been neat to see the improvements they have made throughout the year. 

We planned on celebrating Eliza's birthday before our trip out west. She decided she wanted a Winnie the Pooh cake and did most of the decorating herself. She was very proud of the end result. 

Sadly, she woke up that night with a fever and threw up first thing in the morning. So we had to postpone her birthday. I covered her cake in saran wrap and tinfoil and put it in the freezer, praying that it would still taste ok in three weeks. She still opened her presents that day but felt pretty miserable the whole day. 

She was completely out on the bench. 

The next day was Mother's Day and the kids made me this card. 

They had so much fun making my card that they decided to make cards for all the women in the ward. They were so excited to hand them out at church; seeing the joy their service brought them was the best gift they could have given me. Eliza and Vivi stayed home with Tanner because they weren't feeling well still. Tanner made me a delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner and even wrote me a love note, which doesn't happen very often, making it all the more special.  

One day my mom asked if I could send her a picture of Mariah reading the scriptures for a member of the church there to use in a slideshow. I needed to do it quickly and Mariah was hesitant because she hadn't brushed her hair yet that morning. I told her she looked fine and went to take the picture. When I turned on the camera, this is what I saw: 

I had a good cackle and then asked Mariah if my appearance is what made her think she might need to fix herself up a little before I took a picture. Obviously it had been a morning...

Mariah and Eliza decided they both wanted haircuts so I attempted to do them myself. Thanks to Youtube they turned out alright and I was happy to not pay someone else to do it. 

We finished up the soccer season with a freezing cold last game. I'm always happy to be done with soccer and the kids are always sad...except for Eliza, she's probably happier than me. 

All but Austin got sick in the weeks leading up to our trip and we were just praying that we could all feel better enough to be able to still leave on time. Our prayers were answered and we were all healthy. 

The next morning we woke up bright and early to began the trek out west. The first night we stopped in Denver (Sorry again Tiffany for being the worst sister and not letting you know). We ate at an Indian restaurant where the food was delicious and we even had leftovers which we were grateful to use on Sunday so we didn't have to buy food then. We spent a little time swimming in the pool at the hotel and then had a great night of sleep.

We stopped for church in Vail, CO at a small branch house. We were definitely the loudest ones there, but everyone was very nice. We then had lunch at a really fun park by the river in Glenwood Springs. Tanner had made pepperoni rolls before we left on our trip so we enjoyed those for our lunch. 

We were all very happy to make it to Moab and headed right into the park. 

We did a few short, kid friendly hikes that evening and the kids had so much fun exploring the red rocks and playing in the sand. 

Vivi was a pretty good sport for the most part, but she just wanted to play in the sand the whole time and couldn't understand why we kept leaving. 

Because of the texture of the rocks, they were able to climb all over the place. 

We woke up early the next day to do a hike that isn't in Arches National Park but was so amazing. The kids were awesome on the way to the arch and Tanner and I had a hard time keeping up with them. When we finally made it to the Arch there was an older couple there who pointed to Eliza and said, "Your little girl was way ahead of everyone else." We just responded with "Yep, she's pretty amazing!" and they gave a look as if to say, "You guys need to step up your parenting game." But what is life with a big family if not to stress some people out every once in a while? 

Eliza's method on the steep parts often involved sliding on her bum so by the end she had a pretty nice hole in her pants. 

We hung out at the arch for a while and the kids got really creative with the echos from the canyon. Needless to say, everyone else on the hike knew a whole crew of obnoxious people were somewhere on the trail. We then headed back down and Eliza started to lose some motivation so we took it slow together. I had been praying lately for ways that I could better connect with her and that one on one time on the hike was an answer to those prayers. We talked the whole time and by the end she was jumping from rock to rock full of energy. 

We stopped on the way back to the hotel to look at some dinosaur footprints and then headed back to swim at the pool. 

The kids had a great time and didn't want to leave the water but we were hoping to do a few more hikes in Arches before bed. We first stopped at some food trucks for dinner and then headed back into the park. 

Eliza and Vivi fell asleep on the drive through the park so it was a little rough waking them up, but once they walked for a little while, they seemed to perk up. Vivi and I didn't make it to the base of these arches...she was so happy to play in the dirt so I decided to just wait with her while the others explored. 

Any time I asked if she wanted to keep going, or if she wanted me to hold her she said, "no thank you!" quite forcefully. She left with a little rock that she wouldn't put down for hours after. 

The next morning we headed for Nevada. We stopped at Lehman caves but found out that we had made our reservations for the following week...whoops. So we watched a video about the Great Basin and Tanner had the epiphany that I grew up in the Great Basin and he actually knew the area rather well. And now that we know, we'll make sure to have our reservations made so we can take a tour of the caves.

We finally made it to the ranch and Mariah wasted no time in finding the horses. 

Mariah and Trey spent a lot of time drawing together. And the kids had a blast riding four wheelers, jumping on the tramp, and exploring around the ranch. 

The kids also got to see the bummer lambs at the main ranch and had lots of fun letting them suck on their fingers. Vivi thought they were pretty fun too. 

These boys were quite the handful on the drive down to the main ranch. 

We tried our hand at fishing at the reservoir but didn't have any luck. It rained a lot while we were there and I was so happy with the wonderful, wet sagebrush smell. We spent some time visiting with Aunt Kelley and Uncle Paul and she spoiled everyone with warm homemade bread and honey. 

These girls had lots of fun together. 

Chet's awesome 4-wheeler hair. After leaving the ranch he told me of his harrowing experience in almost flipping the 4-wheeler. I asked if he had saved that story because he was afraid if he told me right after it happened I wouldn't let him ride any more, and he answered with a sheepish "yes". 

It wasn't long enough but we had a wonderful time with Dan and Katie's family. The morning we were leaving I was able to visit with some of my cousins that were in town for Karlie's graduation and that was such a treat. 

We then headed to Whitney, ID for the Crossley family reunion. Tanner and I were in charge of it this year but didn't feel like we had to do much because of Kaisa's awesome schedule from last year and all the happy helpers that made it such a great experience. 

Aunt Lisa brought a bunch of scrap fabric and helped with sewing projects. Everyone learned how to thread the machine and sew with it. They enjoyed it so much that they did it another day as well. 

Chet and Austin were excited to do an origami class and had fun teaching some of the boys their favorite creations. 

Vivi and Ruth were having a little moment eating their snack. They were just chatting away with each other. 

Aunt Natalie did a nature journaling class that had a big group of participants. Everyone seemed very pleased with their artwork at the end. 

We went on a beautiful hike up a canyon. There were so many wildflowers and the mountains were amazing. 

Tanner led a great devotional talking about our theme for the reunion, "Give me this mountain" from the story of Caleb in the bible. He used the quote: "Thee lift me and I'll lift thee, and we'll ascend together" and talked about how as a family we can help each other on our journey to our Heavenly Father. 

The youth were able to do baptisms in the morning and then the adults went that night to do sealings (where families are able to be together for eternity). It was such a special experience to all be together doing temple work for ancestors who have already passed. We were able to seal a family of 10 children to their parents and that was a really neat thing to see. That night we celebrated Lisa's birthday. 

My favorite part of the reunion was all the time the cousins had to bond with each other. I'm so grateful they have each other. 

Ty, Heather and Eliza decided to get fancy; Eliza wasn't so sure about it though. 

We took family photos in our reunion shirts

Played some partner soccer

Sang lots of songs...

We had a talent show with some awesome acts and a musical fireside. 

And I guess this is a pregnancy announcement: Baby boy due at the end of July! 

These five were all born within a year of each other

Same for these four. Austin and Eliza both have a group of five as well and I'm so bummed I didn't get a picture of them. 

Kathleen had a question and answer session to talk about her mission and it was such a neat presentation. I'm grateful she is such a great example to all her younger cousins. 

Sunday evening we had each family act out a family history story and it was so fun to see all the different stories. Mariah and Chet each did a great job reenacting stories that my Grandma used to act out for her grandchildren. 

Aunt Nattie brought a massager and here is a picture of the littles lining up for a turn. 

Austin wore himself out...

Eliza with Miriam Eliza

Aunt Heidi brought some fun minute to win it games with awesome prizes. 

Vivi was just happy to eat the ice cream at the end 

The reunion was filled with amazing devotionals, music, and time spent together. We were able to do yard work again for our service project and I was so impressed with how hard everyone worked. 

After the reunion, Tanner met up with his good friends Matt and Layton and I headed up to my sister Brittany's. 

Eliza and Levi got along great

We got lots of puppy time which everyone was thrilled about.

The boys had fun playing in the water. We all learned to avoid them with the squirt guns. 

Mariah enjoyed watching Aunt Boo with her training and even got to help her. 

Aunt Boo bought Eliza cupcakes for her Birthday which made her feel so special. 

On our last day with the Staples we went to a hot springs and enjoyed the warm water. We then headed down to Ty and Lisa's from there. 

Aunt Heidi made bath bombs with the oldest four and they really enjoyed the process and were so excited to have their own. 

Our kids have been wanting to go inside a temple for a long time so we were excited that there was an open house in Saratoga Springs. We loved having Aunt Heather with us. If you ever get an opportunity to go to a temple open house I highly recommend going. They are very sacred buildings with a special spirit inside them. 

Just in case you missed it...I'm pregnant...very pregnant. I was nervous about this trip and how I would feel with all the driving but I was so blessed to feel pretty well. 

The next morning we woke up and headed to a Badger Creek reunion. I worked at a youth camp in 2008 and it was such a transformative experience. Some of my best friends came from that job and I was so excited to be able to see so many of them. 

The kids got to go on a zipline

A giant swing

and rock climbing. I was proud of how brave they all were and they had a lot of fun. They also did some team building exercises. 

Such a great group of people! We didn't get to spend as long as I would have liked but it was still so great to be with those wonderful people. 

We then headed home, which is always our least favorite part of the trip. But the kids were amazing and we were grateful to make it home safely. Most times when we are traveling we don't get the best sleep because our youngest two are usually restless and wake us up a lot. But this is the first trip ever that we only had two nights of bad sleep. Vivi had a diaper rash one night that made her uncomfortable and Austin was feverish another night. But we were so grateful for the relatively good sleep that we got. 

I always feel a little sorry for our youngest on family trips because I know they would be a lot happier at home. But Vivienne was such a trooper. There was lots of bribery with fruit snacks and gum and we had a few meltdowns, but I was so impressed with her happy attitude. The older kids are so experienced with traveling that as long as there are lots of snacks and a good audiobook, they are pretty content. 

We're always sad to say goodbye to family and friends, but there's no place like home.