Spring Break- Days 2&3

Spring Break 2018

Sunday, April 1st and Monday, April 2nd

It was so nice to watch General Conference in the place of my childhood, with my parents.  I have so many memories of watching conference in that basement, lounging in jammies, and even having a tickle train with Ashlee.  If you remember, Ashlee is the world's best tickler, so I was missing that aspect of General Conference, to be sure.  I love that Mira made herself comfortable next to my Dad.

Isn't she so adorable?

Between the 10:00am and 2:00pm session, we got to have a little party with Brooke and Danielle, and their families.  We missed Ashlee, but we had a seriously fun time with those that were there.  We had a delicious Easter lunch of Dutch Oven Ham, Funeral Potatoes, Salad, and King's Hawaiian Rolls.  They were all so good to host us-- we didn't have to contribute anything.  Except our awesomness, of course.  And then it was time for the 211 egg Easter Egg Hunt!

I got good pictures of all of the kids, but I don't want to show their faces, because they're not mine.

 Audrey (2.75)

 Drew (1.25)

   Kenyan (6 on May 3)

Payton (10)

 Keilie (14.5)

Shelby (11)

 Brennon (10) found the Golden Egg (although it's green)

Tyson (8)

We had such a great time.  Because Randy wanted to get on the road sooner, we left right after the Hunt, listening to the 2:00pm session in the car.  Oh My Goodness, the changes we heard while driving!  Exciting things are happening to Hasten the Work.

We arrived at Jackie and Darwin's with enough time to chat for a bit before bed.  It was special to see the decor they have in their home of the Boy in the Bed in Heaven.  I found myself staring, remembering, missing.  I loved every minute.

We woke Monday for some fun in Snow Canyon.  Since they've lived there for a few years, they took us to some of the favorite spots.  I love that!  We have so much pride in Richland, that when people come, we want to show them why we love it here.  I love experiencing places beloved to those I love.  Monday was a day of loves.

 We snapped a picture next to the prettiest backdrop.  I love the blue of the sky, the red of the earth, and the green of the tree.  Breathtaking views at every turn, for as long as the eye could see.

 At the entrance to the trail they wanted to take us, there was a sign-- No Dogs.  Mira was allowed on the bike/walking blacktop, but not on the trails.  The pictures below are of their vantage point.  The tiny people barely visible, waving up, with a dog on a leash, are Jackie, Mira, and me.

These are the views from my vantage point.

 Because it is already starting to heat up in St. George, the kids were already starting to sweat and complain after just one hike.  But I wanted to go to the top of at least one mountain, so we chose one close to our parked car, so that those that wanted to stay back had shade. Shelby, Tyson, and Randy made one more hike just for me.

 (The most beautiful view, if I do say so myself.  These cuties!)

 I love the swipes and stripes and layers of this beautiful red rock earth.  Gorgeous.

 The darker red is the trail the others took. 

 There was a little ravine at the top of our hike.  Tyson wanted to get in and see if he could "hide," while Shelby asked to jump over.  We captured this fun picture of them playing.

I love that there is green growing in the cracks.  The colors were so stark and gorgeous.  Life really can grow, strong and beautiful, even in the harshest, most unlikely conditions.

To cool off before our next adventure, we stopped for some ice cream.  Don't mind my chewed fingernails and stumpy fingers, I just wanted something to compare the size of my MINI shake to.

 We stopped to see the blooming flowers around the Temple, and of course, to snap a family picture.

 The first completed Temple in Utah.  It was fun hearing that a Temple was to be constructed in Layton, Utah, just 15 minutes from where I grew up.  Exciting stuff is happening in the Church!

For our last activity before our buffet dinner and travels to Las Vegas, we went to the Slot Canyons.

We all started into the Canyon, but once it got to a certain point, Brennon turned back first.  "Nope, not gonna do that!," so I turned back with him.  Randy went as far as he could, but ultimately had to turn back.  Shelby, like Brennon, just didn't have a desire, so she turned back as well.  As we exited where had had entered, it hit me-- that left Keilie and Tyson to come out where they did.  My heart started to really pound, worried they'd get lost, or hurt, or scared, or die (you know how my mind worries), and I wasn't anywhere near them.  I basically started running up the mountain, to find out where the trail let out.

 This was the first sight I could see at the top.  They were NOWHERE to be seen.  I almost started to cry, my anxiety was so piqued.  And then I caught sight of them...

 RELIEF!!!  And then scared again.  How were they going to make it to us?  Below, look for them under that cool puffy, round cloud.  That was how far away they were.

Without me there to tell them no, they got a bit adventurous, going out on cliff edges that I would have been frantically telling them to get away from.  But they made it.  We all survived.  I slept well that night.

I was really proud of Brennon here.  He walked as close to the edge as he dared.  At Time Out For Women a few years ago, we heard from a woman that is now in a wheelchair because she was jumping along red rocks, like these, and didn't judge the distance correct and ended up falling from a cliff that should have killed her.  I didn't judge her, only didn't understand that you can't really judge depth and distance of red rock until this day.

 Brennon is actually sitting on a cliff that would take him down as far as the cars in the parking lot.  In both, you can't even tell.  Had he been running, jumping from rock to rock with abandon, I could easily see how he could misjudge the scenes in front of him.  It was a learning experience, for sure.

My Brennon may not have been "brave" enough to go through the clausterphobic slot canyon, but he made it to the top of the world on this day.  *Don't you love the clouds?!*

Shelby was climbing all over, I think, wishing she would have gone with Keilie and Tyson.  Especially when they had to literally jump to get to us.

When they asked if they could jump, instead of taking a route along the back of where Randy is standing, Randy said yes just as I said no.  I had been trying to take a picture of Randy when I caught this of Tyson-- he jumped the second Randy said yes.  No fear, no hesitation, he just jumped.  Randy actually stared down at me, I'm sure thinking, "Did that really just happen?," since he really hadn't meant the yes, didn't think they actually would.  His horror mirrored my own!!!  So, naturally, Keilie had to do it, since Tyson, her baby brother, just did it.

Yeah.  It happened.

Not far was a short hike to what is known as Pioneer House, or something like that.  It's a cave that has places carved with evidence that shelves had been hung, a stoned in entrance to the cave to make an actual door, and a really neat chimney/stove that can been that can be looked down from above.

 Because the sun is shining so bright, you can't see Brennon looking down at me.  He couldn't see us at first, either.  It was pretty cool.  The views from the "front door" were spectacular-- I can see why someone would want that for their home in the days of Pioneer settlement.  Again, I was struck by the formation of the rocks, the layers and textures.  I love the red rock of Southern Utah almost as much as I love the Rocky Mountains of my childhood.  Utah really is a beautiful state in all climates.

 While I am disgusted at the graffiti, it was exciting for Tyson to find his name scratched out on the short hike.

After a delicious dinner at Chuck-A-Rama (much better than the buffet places we've banned here in Richland), we headed to Las Vegas in time for some sights on the Strip.  Making sure to counsel the kids on the filth that we were driving into, yet wanting them to experience the wonders of the destination location, we hoped that we hadn't made a huge mistake in choosing Las Vegas as an attraction.  We were pleasantly SURPRISED to see that it was MUCH cleaner than expected.  We didn't see scantily clad women, didn't have people trying to shove pornographic stuff into our hands, and only saw two advertisements that we told our kids to look on the other side of the road/sidewalk.  I'm not sure if it was because it was Monday and Tuesday, or if they've cleaned it up for real, but I couldn't be more happy with how it turned out for us!

 Our view directly out of our hotel entrance.  We stayed at the Hilton Tropicanna.  Two rooms, two nights, for FREE with Randy's points.  One benefit of not being able to travel much during cancer care.

 We walked the 2+ miles to see the water show at the Belagio.  We weren't able to squeeze into the center, but we still got a great view of the whole show.  It was really neat watching something that is a must-see in Vegas just one hour after our arrival.  It was almost like it made Vegas "real."

 Snapshots of our walk back to our hotel.  It was fun telling the kids they could tell their friends they'd seen attractions of both New York and Paris, without having to fly.

With the letdown of anxiety about pornography sightings, our safe arrival, and our jam-packed day of FUN, we were all pretty tired when we returned back to our hotel  Not one complaint that it was "not their bedtime," (remember, they can't go to bed until the clock actually says their bedtime) because of the time changes between Utah and Vegas (even thought Vegas is our HOME time zone).

I'm just going to say that as I closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to make my mind go black, I remembered that very night, six months before, when I slept on the floor of my room to be as close to Caden as possible, not knowing, or even imagining, that it would be the last of his life.  My prescription sleep aid helped me sleep through till morning, without a single tear being shed in sorrowed remembrance. 

Old?

I was listening to Jamie tell me of a woman that was very active and was running a half marathon basically every single day to train for other races coming up.  She made the comment that this woman's first marathon was run when she was forty.  I was shocked!  Forty seemed SO OLD to run your first marathon!  And then I remembered, that that will be my age in just three point two five years.  I won't be running any marathons then (my 5K's whenever I choose to run is good enough for me), but forty doesn't seem old at all when I think of myself, and how young I really feel. 

While on a walk around the neighborhood with Brennon, I asked if he'd told his classmates that he went to Las Vegas for Spring Break.  "Yep.  They all looked at me with big eyes when I told them we went to a magic show and the circus (Cirque Du Soleil).  I told them it wasn't that big of a deal."  Feeling exasperated at his obvious disregard for the magnitude of our vacation, I said, "Well, Brennon it is kind of a big deal.  A lot of people want to go to Las Vegas at least once in their lives.  And, remember, I didn't go until I was 36.  You got to go when you were ten."  His step slowed, "I did?!"  I turned on him, wondering if he was joking.  With a sheepish grin, "Oh.  Wait.  I am ten."  And we laughed and laughed.

Apparently, you can forget how old you are even when you're young.

Sometimes I forget my age, needing to subtract 1 from the current year (born in 1981).  Sometimes I forget that forty isn't that old.  Sometimes I don't feel old at all.  Sometimes it feels weird to remember vividly the age of one of my children.  Sometimes it feels like forever when I think Randy and I will have been married for 18 years in June.  Sometimes it feels as if my life didn't really start until he came along.  All I know is that if I could go back to when I was ten and say something to myself, I think it would be, "Your life is going to be beautiful."

Spring Break- Day 1

Spring Break 2018

Saturday, March 31, 2018

We woke on Saturday with plans to leave whenever we were ready.  I loved that we weren't super rushed to leave.  In fact, we couldn't leave until after 8:00am, because Randy had some shirts that he needed to drop off at the dry cleaners.  We woke when we woke, packed the remaining last-minute items (didn't need sleeping bags this trip, thank goodness!), and got out on the road early enough to make it to Utah in good time.

Since I hadn't seen Kimberly for two and a half years, Randy dropped me off at her house for a short visit, while he went to visit Steve.  It was SO good to see her face-to-face, but it wasn't enough time.  We've talked and texted on average at least once a week since parting ways five and a half years ago, but there's nothing like chatting in person.  I got to meet her little Daxton for the first time, too.  I'm glad we could stop, glad that our friendship is strong enough that distance hasn't dampened it in any way.  We sat down in the front room, just like old times, and just talked while watching our kids bustle around us.  Perfection.

 I have to laugh, because I knew where to look at the camera when it was portrait oriented, but I could not figure out where to look when it was landscape oriented.  Hence my laugh face below, not looking directly at the camera.  I can be such a dork!  I guess I better start taking more selfies...

 I love seeing the growth difference between Kennedy and Shelby.  Shelby is one month older and one foot shorter than Kennedy!  I stifled a giggle when Shelby said, "Yeah, I've had a bit of a growth spurt."  Ummmm.... those words should have been spoken by Kennedy!  I should have gotten a picture of Hailey next to me.  She's 12 (13 in just a few days), yet she's only like 1-2" shorter than I.  Nothing screams "passing time" like seeing the Lynn's after years, and then standing side-by-side.

 Too soon it was time to say goodbye.  I'm glad to know that we'll see them again in a few months, when I go down to help Danielle fix up our childhood home that she purchased from our parents one month ago.

Danielle and Taylor kept Drew up for our arrival.  I don't have a picture of our introduction, but I met him for the first time that night; 15 months old, and the sweetest little boy I know.  He captured my heart from the very first pictures after his birth, and has been a favorite ever since.

After Drew went to bed, we colored Easter Eggs with those that wanted to.  Using a method Danielle saw on our website {Dying Easter Eggs with Whipped Cream} we made a beautiful, fun swirly mess before bed.

 Distracted by the enthusiasm of Audrey and Kenyan, I failed to capture a picture of my Shelby!  Brennon and Tyson chose not to help, and apparently Keilie didn't know we were doing it (even though I had called up to her multiple times).  It was just Danielle, Audrey, Kenyan, Shelby, and me.

This little cutie would swirl her finger around and lick it, saying, "I love this birthday cake." *Remember it is whipped cream!*   She is so much fun!  And her dino jammies-- ALL THE HEART EYES!!!

I could have taken more time to evenly swirl the colors across the egg, but I loved the look of the first swipe. I didn't worry too much about covering the whole egg, since this was just a family thing and I wanted to show the vibrant first swipe colors.

 Seriously, this was a fun way to color eggs.  I'll do it again, absolutely!

After all of the kids went to bed, Danielle, Mom, and I filled plastic eggs with candy.  My mom is always so good to host an Easter Egg Hunt when we are together.  I think she said she spent something like $50.00.  I gave her a list of candy, some of our favorites, and she bought them all.  We filled 210 regular-size eggs, and 1 mega-size egg.  We laughed, because I still had like 50 eggs left empty.  Eight kids got to search for 26.4 eggs-- that's quite the Hunt!  I'm not entirely sure how I ended up with that many eggs, but suffice it to say, I'm full-up for the rest of our lives.  Easily stored in a plastic tote in our garage, being used only once a year, makes for easy storage of a million-and-a-half eggs, apparently.

The first day of Spring Break could not have been more perfect.  Richland to Roy was a resounding success!

Interstate 515

Another tender mercy this morning, reminding us of our Caden. Our last attraction in Nevada was visiting Hoover Dam, something that Caden himself would have loved to see. The main roadway  to and from is Interstate 515. Our Caden was born 5-15. We are still being carried by a loving Heavenly Father. These experiences speak to me, “I see you. I love you. It’s going to be alright.” The pinprick of sadness of his six month anniversary has been soothed by these “letters from my son.” I’m the luckiest girl in the world.

KK

Our two shows in Las Vegas today were incredibly amazing!  We saw some fun comedic magic from Mac King and some amazing comedic acrobatic skills at Cirque Du Soleil, Mystere.  AMAZING!!!  But the most amazing thing for me came by our seating.  At both shows, totally random, we were sat in section or row KK.  That was our nickname for baby Caden.  We had a KayKay and a KeyKey.  And today, we got to remember our KayKay for BOTH shows!  At Mac's show, we'd actually been seated in another spot, but because the kids couldn't see well, she moved us to KK.  My heart burned.

For our Cirque show, Randy dropped me off to grab the tickets, while he parked the car.  I picked up our six Cirque tickets, and our {six} buffet dinner tickets, bought as a package deal.  But when we got to our restaurant, she asked us, "Didn't you say that you had six?  Because I have seven dinner tickets here."  Seven.  We were able to give "Caden's" ticket to someone behind us, saving them $30.00 for a sensational buffet meal.  Seriously, when I can post pictures of the desserts alone, you'll know the value of this free meal. 

My Caden was with us today.  All day.  Always.  Six months.

Jinx

I should never have come "on record" to say that the boys were sharing a room.  While walking the kids up to tuck them in, Brennon said, "Tyson, I wake up more when you sleep with me.  You wake me up earlier.  I just want to sleep.  I don't want you to sleep in my room anymore."  My heart burned 1) wondering if Tyson's feelings were going to be hurt by Brennon's honesty, and 2) because I really didn't want them to stop sharing.

Without a moment's pause or hurt, Tyson shrugged and said, "OK," and changed directions for his own room, no sweat.  I almost cried.  They do not share anymore.