I Heart Moab!

This year for fall break we packed up the kiddos and headed to Moab! James found a good deal on a used Jeep Wagoneer that was modified for rock crawling. He spent a lot of time working on the engine, putting a backseat in, and making it super cool and safe and everything! I don't really know anything about engines and whatnot, but he did a good job. We loaded it on the trailer and made our way south. We had a BLAST! We camped for three nights, the kids were in heaven. They all did so good, they slept just great in the tent, they ran around the campground, climbed rocks and got very dirty. We camped in the Sandflats Recreation Area but spent most of our time out on the trails. We did two trails, Fin's n Things, which actually starts right next to our campsite, and 7 Mile Rim which starts north of Arches. The last time James and I were in Moab we bought a book that tells you all about all the off-roading trails in the area. Both of the trails we did were rated difficult so I was a little bit nervous but the Jeep did amazing! Every time we would come to what I thought would be too difficult, the Jeep just hopped right over it. Both trails were so beautiful. Fins n Things is mostly all on slick rock and passes a very cool rock formation that looks like a dinosaur. 7 Mile Rim climbs to the top of the cliffs, then winds back down over slick rock, then ended up at Tusher Tunnel, a hundred foot long, narrow tunnel through the rocks. Each day we packed the Jeep with lunch and stopped to have a picnic on the trails. The kids loved it! Miles and Savanna were having so much fun the whole time. Avery had a hard time the first day, she kept telling James to slow down and I had to sit with her and hold her hands, but the second day she was laughing and kept telling James to go faster! It was awesome! Fins n Things was the first trail we did so we weren't quite sure what the Jeep could handle. We came to a really steep slick rock hill that some other Jeeps were taking their time on. We decided that the kids and I would get out and hike to the bottom and James would take the Jeep down. We got out and started heading down, I told the kids to stay by me and we would find the easiest way down. Savanna ran ahead and said "Here mom, we can just slid down on our butts!" Then she just sat down and slid all the way to the bottom! It freaked me out but she was totally fine! Miles and Avery followed right after her. After James drove the Jeep down (which was easy) the kids climbed up and slid down a few more times. The second day on 7 Mile Rim, we stopped near the top to eat lunch. Miles was running around and found a little wedge in the rocks and climbed in there for "shade". James noticed a metal box hiding back there and pulled it out and opened it. Inside were some random objects and a note book. The notebook said it had been left there in 2006 and if you found it you were supposed to write the date you were there, take something from the box, and leave something. So we wrote a note, took the GI Joe action figure and left...a tampon. We didn't have much to spare. I though it was so cool that we found it, it was really hidden away and you had to be in just the right spot to find it.
We had an amazing trip, saw some amazing things, and got to spend a lot of family time together away from it all! I love Moab and we all really loved Jeepin'. Can't wait to go back!

The steep hill the kids and I slid down

Eating lunch on the trail

Miles loved riding up front with James

Pretty girls!

Savanna and Avery sitting on the rocks that James just climbed in the Jeep

Sliding down slick rock became the favorite thing for the kids to do

View from 7 Mile Rim

P.S. In my last post I wrote about how James and I met in Mr. B's photography class. When we were in Moab we ran into Mr. B at the grocery store, he was also there enjoying his fall break, small world! 

J and C Forever!

This year James and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. I am so lucky to have been married to my bestie for a decade. James and I met in January of 2000. It was the first day of the new semester of our senior year in high school. I walked into Mr. B's photography class and there he was. Sitting in the back row, tall, dark, and handsome in his (fake) leather jacket. "Who is this boy?" I thought. He was sitting with a boy that I kinda sorta knew, so the wheels in my head started to turn, setting up a plan to meet him. I pursued him the only way I knew how, by acting like a ridiculous teenage girl. Finding out where his locker was and making sure to walk by it 10 times a day, leaving anonymous notes on his car, that kind of thing. We became friends and started dating just before graduation. My first boyfriend ever came in just under the wire, we were high school sweethearts. We fell in love very quickly and knew we wanted to get married someday, but were in no rush. We dated for two and half years before we got married. During that time we went through so much together. We grew up, transitioned from teenagers to adults. Ideas we were so sure of when we were young started to change as we matured and faced the future. We started making plans of buying houses, having kids, and James having his own business. The biggest change came when I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. James was a member but hadn't been active in a while, we decided we needed the strength, purpose, and blessings the church gives in order to have a strong marriage and family. On October 4th, 2002, we were married! It was an awesome day. Everything went off without a hitch, the ceremony, lunch, and reception all went so smoothly and we had so many family members and friends who celebrated with us. We had a really fun honeymoon in Bear River, coming home just a little early to start setting up house before we had to go back to work. A year later we were sealed in the Salt Lake City temple. The next nine years we spent buying houses, having kids, and James starting and successfully running his own business. We have gone through a lot over these 10 years, ups and downs, but I can honestly say that now we are stronger than ever. He is my best friend, the person I want to spend all my time with. The best times are when James, Savanna, Miles, Avery and I are all together and laughing. Like I said, I am a lucky girl. We celebrated our anniversary by having what has come to be know as a "stay at home date". After the kids were asleep we ate our La Casita take-out and watched The Walking Dead. Well, technically, we watched The Office while we ate then turned on The Walking Dead because it's hard to enjoy your enchilada's while zombies are being taken down in front of you. Best night ever!

First Day of School

It has been way too long since I have updated the blog! I am going to attempt to catch up! First big event: School Starts! If you read this blog you know all about my issues with sending my babies off to school. This is mostly about me losing them. I am a full time mom and when someone else is doing the parenting for several hours of the day, it is well, weird. With that said, I did much better with sending them off this year. Savanna had a really great kindergarten experience, and so did I. I loved her teacher and really loved being able to be involved. I also really loved how school added structure and schedule to our day so this year was not so sad for me. Savanna loves school and was very excited to start first grade. First grade come with new changes: she is at school all day, not just half a day, and she eats lunch at school. I lean more towards packing her a lunch. I think the school does their best with lunch but every time Savanna eats school lunch it's chicken nuggets, whats up with that? I enjoy packing her lunch with healthy things I know she will eat. I also really like mornings before school, even though it can be hectic. She had afternoon kindergarten so we would sleep in and waste the morning away before I had to take her to school. I like the whole family getting up early and eating breakfast together, it's been a good thing for our family. So far she has done really well in school, she is on reading level J and the books she brings home are really long! She is making friends and overcoming her shyness a little I think.
Another change this year: Miles started pre-school! He goes to Achiever Preschool, the same one Savanna went to. He loves it! He is so far ahead of where Savanna was when she started so I was kind of worried that he would be bored, but I think for him preschool will be more about learning to follow the rules and socialize with other kids. I hope it will help him to be more independent too, cleaning up on his own, doing his pants up by himself after he goes potty, that kind of thing. He can do these thing, he just won't, stinker. Changes are happening everyday now that my kids are getting older, new things come along and I am learning as I go. I am glad that my kids like school, hopefully we can keep that going for awhile!