Island Vacation

We hadn't, yet, taken a family vacation over the summer, so during family council one Sunday evening, we decided to discuss some options for a fun family get-away! We had all kinds of suggestions from our kids (mostly things we could definitely not afford). We didn't have a lot of time, and definitely didn't have much money, but we decided that an "Island" vacation sounded great. The island we chose? This one:

Antelope Island!! I grew up in Utah, and have never been to many of the iconic Utah destinations. I've never been to Moab (sad, eh?)... never been to Zions, Lake Powell, skiing... I'm sure I could come up with a whole lot more "Utah-places-I've-never-been." We decided that we are going to try to go to many of those places over the next couple of years... starting with beautiful, tropical (ahem) Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake! HEHE... Actually, it really is pretty. (See above pics). Of course, when you get to the island, there is mostly sage brush, and not many trees... but the views are awesome :)

We stopped at the visitor's center (which wasn't big, but atleast there were restrooms... and lots and lots of spiders. Seriously, they are huge, and they are everywhere!) Then we ate our picnic lunch at some picnic tables under a pavilion. We could see people walking up from "the beach" in their bathing suits, looking like they had just had the time of their lives. We asked someone (who had a major foreign accent) how the water was, I think he said it was great. So we decided to trek down and see. It was like a long, hot walk across a desert. I didn't mind so much, but I had a few "complainers". The sand was kinda deep, so our flip flops were a little hard to walk in. As we got closer to the water, we could see quite a few people out in it. I've heard legends of the Great Salt Lake, like the ones where the salt is so thick you just float. I saw people trying it out. But as we got closer, we could see a dark cloud of something... what on earth could it be? Right near the edge of the water... some kind of swarming, flying insects! We quickly (and I mean QUICKLY) ran through them to get to the water. We came this far, we couldn't NOT go in atleast for a minute. Once we got in the water, there weren't as many bugs... and our kids were actually very fascinated by all the brine shrimp. They are tiny, but very visible under the surface of the clear water. Hayden ended up falling in and getting completely soaked, but he didn't seem to mind.We only stayed for a few minutes, but we can say we've been in the Great Salt Lake.

Like I said, the views were quite pretty. I loved taking pictures of the sky, water, and island.

The walk back from the lake was longer, hotter, and sandier... atleast it felt that way. And poor wet Hayden fell in the sand, which of course stuck to his clothing. Awesome.

But we made it back up, got rinsed off (and changed one certain child's clothing) then headed out to explore the rest of the island. More gorgeous views (and a really funny seagull).

One thing we really loved, was seeing all the buffalo just roaming freely all over the island.

On one side of the island, there is an old ranch. I believe the brochure said that it's the oldest anglo-built (which we told our kids meant that the pioneers built it, rather than native Utahns) home still on it's original foundation. Over the years, it has been built onto, and it was actually a working ranch until the early '80s, but they have tons of old antique farming equipment. It was actually really fun to wander around and explore.

The kids had a great time "roping" calves.

And it seems like it was the ONLY place on the island with trees. It was quite a pretty little spot.

The kids had to try out the sheep stalls. They had some cool, old shearing equipment.

The coolest thing by far, was seeing this Buffalo. He had a little itch, apparently, so he found this nice spot to use as a scratching post. We got within just a few yards of him (safely inside our van, of course) but it was fun.

So, if you are looking for an "exotic" island get-away... look no further than Utah's own Antelope Island. While it's no tropical paradise, it is interesting and quite an adventure. I wouldn't recommend camping there, however (the camp sites have NO shade and are VERY primitive - yes, it actually says that they are primitive in the brochure) but for a fun day-adventure, this is your place. Will we go back? Maybe not, but we can say that we've been there ;) We stayed in Layton that night, and went to the Hill Air Force Base Museum the next day... that post is coming next!

Red Hot Birthday!!

Slowly, but surely, I'm getting things caught up. Hopefully I'll be ALL THE WAY caught up in the next couple of weeks. Hayds turned 5 back on July 16. I still can't believe he's FIVE!!! Time sure flies. This year, when I asked him what kind of party he wanted, he said "A Firefighter Party!" Sounded fun to me, but Jared had the best idea ever... to go to the Fire Station! I thought it was genius, so he called and set it all up. They had never done a birthday before, but they seemed so cool about it. Little did we know just HOW cool it would be. We decided to do all the games and everything outside, so we set up a table and made a cute "Fire-ish" sign for him.



He's just getting too grown up!



I always make two cakes... one for the family party and one for the friend party. I was feeling a little overwhelmed, so Jared decorated one, and I did the other. What do ya think?

Off to the Fire Station. They were SO COOL! On their white board, right inside the door, it said "Happy Birthday Hayden." When we walked into the room where they would talk to the kids, there were fire hats and coloring books for everyone (kinda like when you go for a field trip) but where Hayden would sit, right on the front row, was a stack of candy bars tied to a balloon!



The kids were so cute listening to the "Fire Safety" information, and asking and answering questions.



Next, it was out to the garage, where we got to see the Fire Trucks, and the kids got to dress up in some of the gear!



Hayden was first. He looked so tiny in all that huge gear.



Then B got a turn. What a handsome guy!



A few friends tried too, but even Kaitlyn got in on it.



Next, they brought out their little "friend." He talked to the kids about fire safety... He wasn't the best driver however. We got a great laugh when he crashed into the big Fire Truck ;)



Everyone really enjoyed seeing all the trucks and gear and listening to the Fire Fighters. At one point, a message came over their radios (and out to all the first responders out there) that said "It's Hayden Stafford's Birthday. Happy 5th Birthday Hayden!" It was so cool!



Then we went home for a pinata, presents and cake.





Hayds had such a great birthday party. We actually ended up taking one of the cakes to the Firemen. They were so awesome, we had to thank them somehow.

Bees!

On July 15, the kids and I piled into the van and drove up to Salt Lake to meet Jared at the Salt Lake Bees baseball game. The kids were so excited! Of course on the way there, we had one kiddo zonk out! Good thing Jared met us in the parking lot so he could carry Hayd for a minute while he woke up!



We found our seats and settled in. I wasn't sure how Hayden would do, since he gets bored quite easily (unless what he's doing involves trains or sand, then he has the longest attention span in the world)... we went up to get drinks from the drinking fountain a little too often!!




Don't we have some cute kids? They were having a great time :)




The boys were so excited to see the Bee (his name is Bumble) and they decided they needed to chase him down for a high five!



I bought each of the kids a pack of M&Ms before we left, and stuffed them into my purse. I figured at the first sign of restlessness I would pull them out. Didn't take long!! Atleast they shared a few ;)






We had the perfect seats (well, we thought so anyway) in the shade, not too close (don't want to get hit by any stray foul balls), but not too far (gotta see the game after all!) It was great.





My little Haydster. Just a few hours before the game, I gave him the best haircut I had ever given in my life. I was pretty darn proud of myself! He looked perfect for Birthday pictures I would take the next day. Unfortunately, about 2 hours before we had to leave, I ran to Target, only to get a phone call from K saying "Hayden cut his hair!" When I asked "How bad?" she didn't answer. I then said, "No. Don't tell me. Just answer this: Am I gonna have to buzz it?" "Yep!" was the reply. I almost cried!! I told her to prepare him, because I was coming home to buzz it off. He was NOT HAPPY!! He cried though the entire haircut, saying over and over "I don't want to be bald!" It was kinda sad. He didn't end up bald, but it was very short. Plus you could totally still see where he had cut chunks out, right to the scalp! Needless to say, it was a traumatic start to what became a much better evening!! (Check out the pic of his ear... don't you love how he pulls his hat clear down to where it makes his ears stick out? So stinkin' funny!)

I found a great trick to keep Hayden happy. I handed over my phone, and told him to just take pictures. Seriously, this worked for the majority of the game. He was in heaven clicking away. I also taught him how to just delete them afterward, so he could take as many as he wanted.

Fun, fun times!

Jared's friend and his son sat next to us, and at one point, the son decided he wanted to go searching for the Bee to get his autograph. He is a little older than Bryson, but asked if B could go too. You should have seen Bryson's face. He wanted to go so badly. Jared said sure (which shocked the heck out of me! I was very hesitant to let my 7-yr-old go wandering around a stadium with a boy only a couple of years older than him, but I gave in.) When they got right up above us, he waved down at us!! Then they were back on their quest to find "Bumble." Little did we know, that at one point, they ended up clear on the other side of the field!! We were just starting to worry when they showed up. They hadn't found the Bee anywhere!! So Jared took all three boys over to the other side of the stadium to find the bee. He signed their gloves and their hands. They were super excited!

Then the boys wanted to go down a little closer to see the action. It was pretty cute. They had to come back up, though, when an "usher" lady got mad at them. LOL!

We had a great time as a family at the Bees game. I hope we can make it a tradition and go atleast once each Summer. The kids really enjoyed it. Of course, we left a little bit early to avoid all the traffic, but I do know that the Bees were winning when we left. Go Bees!

Diggin'

My boys LOVE to dig. In fact, I know I've done a couple of blog posts before showing their love for all things dirt. This one is a little different...

We had all the cousins come over to hang out on July 14. They were having a great time, and asked if they could go outside. I said "Sure. Just stay in the yard." Pretty soon, Hayden came in and said "Can I dig?" I said "Sure. Just remember not to dig up any of my flowers." Well, pretty soon, my brother-in-law, Brad, came to pick up our little buddy Justice. I went out to say "Bye" to Justice, and noticed that the kids had apparently been trying to get to China! They had dug the biggest trench right on the edge of my flower bed! There was dirt piled up on the cement right next to it. I just laughed... what else could I do? Well, I could run inside and grab my camera. I wish Justice had still been there to get in some shots, since I'm sure he was a great contributor to the trench (sorry we missed ya, buddy!) But we got Sage and Syd in with our crazy boys. I took some fun pictures, then said... "Okay guys. I need you to clean up now. Let's get this dirt back into the hole. Oh, and next time, let's not dig such a huge hole, 'kay?" I'm not sure where all the dirt went, because there is still quite the dip where it should be nice and even, but it's a reminder of a fun time with cousins. ;)

Up next: Family time at the Bees game, and Hayden's 5th birthday!!

New Eyes

About a year after Jared and I got married, we took a trip to Virginia. While we were there, I noticed that I could not read the signs on the side of the road. I hadn't noticed at home, maybe because I was just so used to things and knew where I was going, but in Virginia, if I had been in a car alone, I would have gotten lost. The road signs were all a blur!! After we got back, I made an eye doctor appointment, and found out that I needed glasses. What a difference they made! I could see leaves on trees!! About a year after that, when I started working at the Vision Center at Walmart, I decided to try contacts. I didn't think I could put something in my eye, but since I had to know how to teach others to do it, and since I could get free contacts, I decided it was time. It turned out to be quite easy for me, and I started wearing contacts from then on. Over the years, there had been a few times that I had thought about Lasik, but it just seemed like so much money, and contacts weren't a big deal, so I would quickly forget about it. Well, a couple of months ago, my contacts really started bothering me. I went through a whole box of Acuvue in a week (when usually I could make a box last 2 months atleast!) I went back to glasses, only to discover and remember how much I disliked them. My sweet husband suggested that I look into Lasik. I was so excited... until I started pricing. Yikes! I think Jared became less excited at that point as well, however, we agreed that I should get it done. So on July 7, I got "new eyes!" I am so amazed at technology and what doctors are able to do!! I sometimes have to remind myself that I'm not wearing contacts. I can get up in the morning and just see!! I love it.

Thank you Jared for being so supportive, and even though you say you'll never get it done because it costs too much, I'm going to start a secret stash and save up for YOURS... it may be many years, but someday!!

I made my family pose for a few family pictures in our Red, White and Blue for the 4th of July... and they are the LAST PICTURES OF ME IN GLASSES!! It has truly been worth every penny, and I'm grateful every day that I can see.






BYE BYE GLASSES!!

Whew!

What a week! I just got back from girls camp, and WHAT AN ADVENTURE... complete with the most AMAZING thunderstorm I've ever, EVER seen. Nothin' like tenting it!! Anyway, our computer has returned from the dead (FedEx just dropped it off) so be expecting a whole bunch of posts SOON. YAY :)