Day 6 and 7

Day 6 we did some early morning biking, the boys went golfing while the rest of us went to the playground.  Some shopping, some swimming, some watching of BYU basketball and some relaxing at the house.  Can you ask for more?

-Headed into the rising sun

-Conor and Jessica and the crazy swing

-Josie, Jessica, Conor and Kenzie

Josie, Conor, Lincoln, Mackenzie and Jessica

Dinner time finally! 

Day 7

Vegas it is!  Some more early morning biking, then it was time to head to Las Vegas.  We had tickets to the Donny & Marie show and it is always fun to wander down the strip for a few hours.  Kevin so graciously chose to skip this trip.  We decided our little family would be much happier swimming, so he was on Dad duty and the rest of us headed out.  Many times I was happy for this decision and I was free to wander the strip without shielding little eyes, just my own.

-We stopped at the Vegas temple before we headed down town-keeping it all in perspective.  Always neat to know that good prevails even when evil seems to be taking over and in this city, a very visual reminder is available.   

-Check out the size of this box of Nerds

-This jawbreaker was almost the size of my head

-Inside the Venitian

-Those flower balls are all real!  Pretty amazing stuff inside these hotels-I think this is inside the Wynn.
 

-Close up of the cool flower ball

Donny & Marie here we come!

-Julie and Janet just before the show.  Excellent show I might add. 

Day 5 Red Cliffs

The Witt's arrived!  Today brought the awesome Red Cliffs hike.  We had so much fun on this hike last year, that we knew we needed to take the Witt's out to enjoy it.  One of natures amazing natural playground. So many pictures, so hard to choose.

Witt and Kellogg cousins together at last!

I love this picture of Conor all by himself -immersed in beauty

Every member of our family managed to make it into this picture

 

Throwing rocks waiting for the big kids to come back

 After the hike we were all starving-time for some yummy lunch and then time for the pool

lunch time at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Jessica, Conor and Josie

High fives into the pool

 

Spring Break-Day 3 & 4

On Sunday we went to church, relaxed at Grandma and Grandpa's house and and  we wandered around the visitor center and St. George temple grounds.

-climbing the long stairs up to the temple doors

  
Day 4

Grandma and Grandpa offered to watch the kids for an extended amount of time this morning so we could go on a longer mountain bike ride. We got up before the sun even came up so we could take advantage of the kids sleeping and tackle the car travel time. The problem with no sun is freezing temps! Oh so so so cold, when we got out of the car at Goose Berry Mesa the temp was 29 degrees. My teeth were chattering. Kevin had done this trail before and was really excited about it. This was a difficult trail, ultra technical, brutal slick rock and some wicked terrain. I ended up walking my bike a lot-hate that. Kevin would go up and down some of these super steep ledges like a lizard on his bike and I would just shake my head, no regrets though, glad I got out there and tried it out.  This is a quote I stole from a Mountain biking site.  "Unlike Moab's Slickrock Trail, there are no brutal hill-climbs. Instead, the ride is a test of balance, burst strength, and reaction time: short ups, brief downs, and quick turns. You can rarely see where you're going to put the bike 20 feet later.  I couldn't agree more.  Here are some snap shots.  We only had our Gopro cameras on our bikes, so no stellar pictures.

-Gotta have a picture of me walking my bike.  I really like the rising sun in the back here.

-Included this one to show the Red EXTREMELY Difficult markings

-King of the trail

-So pretty-hard to stand on a sheer edge with unstable biking shoes. 

-That tiny black ribbon to the left and below Kevin is a highway

-Some of the calmer terrain

-The crowning jewel viewpoint.  Zion National Park is just to the east of the edge of this picture

After Gooseberry Mesa we headed back to the house so we could let the kids swim and wait for the arrival of the Witt family.

Spring Break 2013 - Day 1 and 2

Spring break at our house spells St. George! Time for us to hit the road and head south. Since the Witt family spring break was one week ahead of ours we decided to modify ours and pull the kids out a week early so we could meet them in St. George. Craig happened to purchase a beautiful, gigantic truck up here in Kellogg Idaho and needed it driven down to Boise. Since we were headed in that general direction we agreed to caravan to Boise. Our plan was to leave Thursday and head straight to Boise, Kevin drive the big truck and I drive the van. Good plan right? Unfortunately, we had to drive through an awful snow storm, I am talking slippery and so much flying snow you could hardly tell which way is up or down. I honestly don't remember the last time I had to drive in such awful weather. It was late, my windshield wipers sucked and I was trying to keep up with my crazy husband in this invincible truck. I was almost in tears. At one point we were talking on the phone and I kept falling behind him, I was complaining I couldn't see anything and begging to pull over-not a good option because of the semi trucks and location etc... Kevin's plan was for him to slow down, and me get as close to him as I could so I could see his tail lights and follow him, regardless of me being able to see clearly. So SCARY. I probably drove over 40 miles blindly following blurry red lights, not something I recommend. I was so tensed up, that the next day I had sore muscles. That was certainly not what I signed up for. We finally made it in to Boise, slept in a hotel for a few hours then headed to Jen and Chris's house to drop off the truck and meet their new baby Paisley! Meeting Paisley was a huge perk of the Boise detour, she was so adorable and sweet and I enjoyed holding her so much. Thank you Jen. After a short visit, it was back into the van to drive the rest of the way to St. George. We got there early evening, with enough time to let the kids run around the playground and get out some energy.

Kellogg and Lohner families

The kids wanted to hit the swimming pool the moment we pulled in, but promises of first thing in the morning appeased them. So, we spent the majority of the morning at the pool, then it was time for the real fun, MOUNTAIN BIKING. We headed out to the bear claw poppy trail and decided to take the Green valley loop. It had a bit of traffic on it, but we had a great time. We were headed back and got bogged down behind some bikers going up a hill. They stopped suddenly and Kevin had been right on his rear tire, he went to put his foot down to stop and was so close to the edge that there was no where to put his foot so he went tumbling over this ledge. I watched the whole thing, it was almost in slow motion. He rolled 2 or 3 times holding on to his bike. It sounds worse then it was....the dirt was soft, but the angle was weird so he kept sliding. He jumped right up and climbed out, and he was not happy. The chain ring had taken a bite out of his leg. We rode out, then Kevin drove himself to the instacare for some stitches.

Who knew milk jugs were such great pool toys?

Right at the top of the 3 fingers of death

No swimming for Kevin-I think he was secretly glad

March happenings

I finally finished my blurb book for 2012!  I can now catch up on 2013 blogging.

Here are a few snap shots of what our March looked like. We were able to hit the slopes one last time, Conor had the pinewood derby, Josie tried her hand at rollerskating, and Kevin had his 36th birthday.

-This day was beautiful and the tree skiing was amazing-What a way to spend a Saturday

-Conor and Kevin created an arrow car...not the fastest, but cool to look at

-Josie and Lincoln watching the end of the track

-The digger in our neighborhood

-Roller derby here she comes

-Lemon bars and candles.  Kevin is laughing because Lincoln blew the candles out before he had a chance.  Not only did he blow out the candles he blew powdered sugar all over.  If there are candles you have to be quick around Lincoln.

Red 2 Red

Red 2 Red Cross Country Cycle Race. Can you say hard? This was a tough tough race. 24 miles at a grueling pace with no rest for the weary. I only have one picture because when Kevin crossed the finish line I was still almost an hour out wishing I was anywhere else. There was something like 500 participants, 90 percent male and what seemed like 50 percent pro. I felt a little out of my league, but I am proud to say I finished and I wasn't last. Kevin breezed through it being the invincible biker that he is. I had some wicked leg cramping going on--I have never had my quads literally lock up like this. I couldn't bend them a few times it was crazy. Next time, if there is one, I will change up my nutrition for sure. It was a fun day and the kids were lucky enough to spend time with Grandma Kellogg.