Bryce Canyon

Last weekend we drove down to Bryce Canyon for a fun family vacation.  I am still trying to recover from the trip- I am exhausted.  Even though the trip drained my energy, I am so glad that we went!

I spent most of Friday prepping and packing the food for our trip.  We were staying in a hotel that had a microwave and a small fridge and we planned on eating all of our meals in the room.  I bought an electric skillet so we were able to have scrambled eggs, tacos and pancakes/French toast. We all had plenty to eat and I was happy with our food situation. 

About 5 minutes after I decided that I wasn't going to take a shower before we left, I got a phone call from my friend Shelley.  She needed some help with her son's birthday party.  Timing was great, so I had a quick lunch and headed over to get some party prep done.  Carson invited Seth to the party and they even arranged the party date and time so that Seth could attend the party- we left for Bryce Canyon right after the party was over!  We had a great time at the party and it was nice to focus on something that wasn't the vacation for a few minutes! 

This was our first road trip with Jane.  We haven't traveled much since I have changed my diet- it is difficult to travel with my restrictions.  I'm doing better with my situation now, so perhaps I will be more willing to go out?  We'll see.  Anyhow, Jane did great with the 4 hour drive.  She only took a 30-minute nap on the way home.  She loves to be out and about, so she enjoyed the entire trip. 

Jane loving the ride

Two minutes later

The kiddos

The reason we went down to Bryce Canyon was because my brother and sister-in-law (Randy and Wendy) and their family goes down there for the Winter Festival every year.  Wendy's uncle teaches an art class during the festival, so a lot of her family goes down there for a little reunion.  I told Wendy that if she were to invite us to come along that I wouldn't say no! 

Jane Daniel and Seth

Kayaking- Daniel, Paul, Mark

Paul

Jane watching the kayak lessons

Wendy (and Mark photo bombing)

Randy, Jane and Daniel

We stayed in Ruby's Inn and had two conjoined rooms.  Randy and Wendy were in the two rooms next to us- it was great to be close to them!  We didn't see a lot of Tanner and Cooper- they are the same age as Mark and Seth- but we had fun with them when we did see them!  The boys participated in the archery class, kayak class, art classes, craft activities, went on a snow shoeing hike with Randy, played card games and board games, and went swimming.  Seth went swimming 4 times on Saturday!  I forgot Jane's swimming suit, but with her swim diaper and life jacket on, it didn't matter much!

Randy and Sherron

 

This is what happens when you ask the boys to put their arms around each other!

Oh!  They figured it out!  Mark and Paul getting ready for the archery lessons

The boys playing a board game- this kept the older three up until 2 am Saturday night- Seth called it a night long before that!

Seth during the watercolor painting class

Seth's painting

Randy helping Tanner and Seth with the chalk making craft

Jane putting the chalk mix in the mold

 

After two late nights and super busy days, we called it a day and headed home.  The festival continues to Monday, but we decided to stay for just two nights.  It worked out good because it gave everyone a day to recuperate before heading back to school. 

 

I really wish that we had taken a family picture while there.  We weren't all together most of the time because we were split up to go to different activities. All in all though, it was a very successful family trip! 

I'm Flying!

Daniel

When thinking about ways to celebrate Daniel's Golden birthday, I thought about trying to match events to things that he likes to do such as reading, playing computers, watching movies, golfing, etc.  I was working on a few ideas for his final installment of the celebration but nothing was working out.  I wanted to give him an experience that he had never had before. 

Daniel will tell me about dreams that he has where he flies.  He has these dreams a lot.  In his dreams he will fly everywhere and he loves it.  If it weren't for his profound fear of heights when he is awake, he would probably pursue hang gliding or something to that effect.  There is an indoor skydiving place called iFLY about an hour away from our house, so I set up an appointment for Daniel to go flying! We decided to have the boys join in the fun.  I wasn't overly interested in participating, so Jane and I joined as the spectators!  My brother, Dan, lives in Ogden, so we came along with us.  It was great to spend time with Dan!

An interesting thing happened with Seth.  He got a little bit scared at the last minute and decided not to fly.  He is afraid of heights and when you stand on the mesh, you can see down about 20 feet.  He was adamant that he didn't want to do it when they were getting their flying gear on. The instructor came over to him and tried to talk him into joining, I tried and Daniel tried, but Seth held strong.  I was rather proud of Seth for sticking to his guns and not letting other people persuade him to do something that he wasn't comfortable doing.

Daniel

Paul- the instructor is telling him to straighten his legs

Paul

Mark

Mark

Dan

 

Dan

Daniel had a blast!  He had a huge smile on his face the entire time.  It is physically exhausting to hold your body up in the right position to hover in the air.  Everyone had two turns that lasted 1 minute 15 seconds each.  Dan figured out how to do it the best and he was able to go pretty high! We all had a great time watching the instructor fly around, too.  He would go up really high and then dive down toward the side of the tunnel.  Jane was standing against the glass watching and he came down right next to her and frightened her.  She thought that it was really funny!   



The flying crew



My handsome family

 

And that concludes Daniel's golden birthday celebrations! 

Happy 40th birthday Daniel!