All Things Dinosaur

Josh turned the big 5 this past week, and on Saturday we had our official celebration. First thing in the morning, he opened his gifts from Mama and Papa in Texas. He got to use his new bat at Tball that morning. While he and Daddy were at the game, the other two kids and I went to the park to set up the dinosaur themed party. Josh has a real love of dinosaurs. He knows many of their names, and whether they are carnivores or herbivores. He loves non-fiction books about dinosaurs, and so when I started planning a birthday party for him, I knew it needed to be all about dinosaurs. We spent a couple weeks planning, preparing, and anticipating our Dinosaur party.

When the kids arrived, I had them decorate a paper bag that I'd sponge painted a dinosaur on, with dinosaur stamps and stickers. That would serve as their goodies bag. Everyone got to wear and take home dinosaur masks, also. I also made Dino foot print sponges, and painted a table cloth to go along with our theme.

Our first game was a relay race. The kids all donned the dinosaur feet I'd made out of cereal boxes and craft foam. They had to put on their Dino feet, and carry a 'dinosaur egg' on a wooden spoon to the base, and then turn around and come back to pass off to the next person.Some of the kids found it easier if they held their egg in place...

Max figured out that he could go faster if he walked on his toes.I thought the dinosaur feet turned out really cute, and even though they didn't last past the party, it was totally worth the effort.

For our second game, we had blown up balloons with dinosaur figures inside them. We tied the 'dinosaur eggs' to the kids' legs, and they were supposed to pop the others' balloons. Unfortunately, the game went a lot faster than planned, because the balloons kept popping on the grass. Some of the kids were pretty upset when they had their balloons popped, as well.

I think Carly had the right idea of holding her balloon off the grass until it was time to get started.

We took advantage of the sand pit at the park, and had a dinosaur dig. Before our guests arrived we buried dinosaur toys in the sand, and then everyone had fun being paleontologists, digging for dinosaurs.

For our last activity I got a dinosaur pinata. The kids all took a couple turns hitting the dinosaur before it cracked open.

We had some real sluggers at our party.

It's funny to watch kids run after candy. The sight of candy on the ground really makes them swarm.

I made chocolate cupcakes with frosting I dyed orange, per Josh's request. He loves chocolate, and his favorite color is orange. On top of the frosting, I dyed coconut to look like grass, and placed a dinosaur figure on top.

Grandma Tess let us borrow her dinosaur candle holder, it was perfect.

Josh loved all his gifts.

He was very excited to have so many people come to his party. I was glad we had such a fun turn out, since he'd been looking forward to this party for so long.

The whole crew in all their dinosaur glory. Everyone got to take home a dinosaur mask, dinosaur stamp, dinosaur finger puppet, the dinosaur figures they found in the sand/balloons, stickers, pencil, and a dinosaur egg with grow capsules inside...all things dinosaur.

Best in the West

This was the last week of school. On Tuesday they had The Best in the West assembly where they recognized the kids who were teacher nominated for showing outstanding character in the areas of trustworthiness, responsibility, caring, respect, fairness, and citizenship. From Carly's class, she and her cousin Kaela were nominated, and their cousin Emma was nominated from another Kindergarten class. Sweet girls accepting their awards.
They scored all kinds of goodies, including several free meals, a free hair cut, a school bumper sticker, candy, and cup and pen from the principal.

Kaela and Carly are in the back, and Emma is front and center checking out her certificate.

We're so proud of the way Carly has blossomed this year in Kindergarten. She has excelled academically, and been rewarded for showing good character and being a good example to her peers. She is a joy to us.

Sunday in St. George

Sunday was Rachel's birthday. It was fun to help celebrate her. She got some fun stuff, and a hilarious gag gift from her mom. After lunch we took a tour of some church sites around St. George. Our first stop was Brigham Young's winter home, where he would stay while overseeing the building of the temple there.
The St. George Temple

Skinner Kids

Valdivieso Kids

St. George TabernacleJacob Hamblin's home

Before bed, we all made s'mores. It was a lot of fun.

Jack liked to catch his marshmallow on fire. Josh declined making s'mores, but was totally on board for eating the chocolate. That boy loves anything chocolate.

It was a fun way to end a really fun weekend. Thanks to Reed and Rachel for letting us crash their family vacation!

Zion National Park

(The Skinner Clan: Emma, Parker, Spencer, Reed and Mason, Rachel, Quinn, and Conner)

We started our day ready for some great hiking. Reed had planned out our trek, and we were all raring to go. The Skinner kids all had new hiking hats, and Reed was so nice to get our kids matching hats, as well.

The Valdivieso Familia Our trek began at the Court of the Patriarchs. From there we were going to hike up to the Emerald Pools area. We made the mistake of following the kids on what looked to be a short cut to the trail, but what ended up being a horse trail. It was really quite the adventure. I guess we should have known we were on the wrong track when we were the only ones on the trail, in Zion National Park, over Memorial Day weekend. Ah well. All these things build character, right?? We did stop at one point and get the map out and realize we should have been on the other side of the river.
Court of the Patriarchs: Abraham, Issac, and Jacob

A glimpse at part of the trail we were forging.

Josh didn't want to take a picture, he wanted to keep hiking.

Rachel affectionately named our path The Trail of Tears. Several of the kids were having a hard time with the sandy, uneven trail we were walking on. Poor Conner was done. We stopped a couple times to empty the sand out of their shoes and were surprised at the amount that poured out...ah the memories.

This is the end of our trail...right up to the horse corral.

After barely surviving the first part of our hike, we stopped at Zion's lodge to have lunch. Everyone felt much better after a little rest and some food. We went from there to Emerald Pools, and hiked to the lower pools. I was contracting the whole way, and so it was a little slow going for me. We got up there, and the wind started gusting. Carly's and Parker's hats flew off their heads, and down toward the pools. Reed came to the rescue and broke a couple rules to retrieve them.

The scenery was beautiful.

On the way back down Reed was staying close to me to make sure I could make it, and was having plenty of water. We stopped with Quinn and Jack to take a picture on this cool wall that was just off the main trail. Cute boys. They are about four months apart in age. My kids are lucky to have cousins so close to their age on both sides of our family.

When we caught up to the rest of the group, Josh presented me with this flower that he'd picked for me. He's such a sweet boy.

From there we took the tram up to the Weeping Rock trail. We were told that it was short, but very steep...boy was it!! It was totally worth the short trek. The view was breathtaking, and the seeping water made it cool and refreshing.

The cousins minus Mason who was strapped to someone's back.

Our final stop of the day was the Temple of Sinawava. It was nice to take a break and enjoy the cool breeze off the river. Carly was such a trooper. On our Trail of Tears, she was at the head of the group marching along and setting a fast pace. We had to call her back a few times to share the water she carried in her camelback.

Of course, Josh and the other boys enjoyed finding walking sticks on the trails, and at the end finding sticks and rocks to throw in the water.

It was such a perfect day. The weather was nice, and the scenery made us appreciate the beautiful earth that has been created for us.

When we finally made it home, we kept our promise to the kids and took them swimming after dinner. They thought we were the coolest, most fun parents around. I think we were all just too tired to say no at 10 pm. I'm sure they'll remember our 'night swim' fondly, though.

Cousin swimming

We took a little vacation over Memorial Day weekend. It was probably our last big hurrah before baby boy is born. While we were in Utah over Easter break, Reed and Rachel mentioned they were taking their family to St. George to do some hiking at Zion's National Park. Jarod expressed interest in joining them, and they were kind enough to let us tag along. It was such a fun weekend. We left early Friday morning, and met them at the condo and spent most of the day just hanging out, letting the kids play with their cousins.

After a little while we took the kids swimming. The water wasn't especially warm, and everyone was getting cold. Jarod had Josh doing jumping jacks out of the pool to warm up. Eventually, we gave up and went to the indoor pool. It was a lot of fun. Reed had bought some diving torpedoes for the kids to play with in the pool. Josh told us later that it was his favorite part of the vacation. Mason was very brave in the water...a little too brave. He would jump in the water, or step off the ledge, or lurch out of the arms holding him, with no fear. It freaked me out to see this tiny almost 2 year old kid launching himself into the water that way. He will be ready for swim lessons early!!

Big Kicks

Carly started soccer last week. She has been looking forward to this for over a month. When we got there, and there were only boys, she was pretty nervous. I had a hard time convincing her to go out and kick the ball with the rest of the kids. As soon as the other girl on her team showed up she felt a little better, but she was still pretty timid. She had a lot more confidence at her second practice. I got a kick out of watching her skip around. She was really enjoying herself.