Bryce Canyon

Fred and I took a day trip up to Bryce Canyon. I learned after our last day trip to Brian Head not to wear capris so I wore jeans even though it was a beautiful warm spring day at home. We got about a mile from home and realized we both forgot to bring a jacket. It turned out that it was a great decision to go back home and get jackets. As we got further from St. George and nearer to Bryce we could see the cloudy skies and knew we were in for some cool temps and perhaps wet weather.

This is for you Jess. 

Fred has more hats than I have clothes. This one is from our Alaska cruise ~Juneau ~ 

This is one of my favorite looks of Fred. Picture taking. 

The other is when he is in his work clothes out in the yard or working in the garage.

What's that in his back pocket????

There it is again.

Closer.......

  Hmmmmm

Ah Yes - the magical Selfie Stick.

I was quite pleased that he brought it. 

 Still have to work on his skills. Like not getting the stick in the photo.

And not looking out the bottom of his bifocal lens. 

Now enjoy Bryce Canyon photos.

It did rain a bit and when it rained - it was COLD.

We drove through Panguitch to look at the home where Fred's Dad was raised.

Also ate at Henrie's Drive Inn on the way home.  

We sat in the last little booth way back on the left. Food was good. Nice crunchy fries.

I love road trips with Fred. I get him all to myself. I don't even mind sitting in the car all day.

When I think about a road trip, I don't think I want to go because I sit all week all day at work.

But then when we take off, I like it just fine.

The Last Day

On our last day we walked down to our neighborhood park.

We took our wagon full of toys.

 Fred bought these nerf ball shooters.

 Our BIG styrofoam gliders.

 Both of the kids played on the big playground toys.

  We also brought the bubbles. 

Whenever we go to the park, there are other kids around that watch with wonder at the great toys our grandkids play with. 

Fred always lets them join in. This time he didn't. 

It was mostly because the moms made absolutely no effort to corral their children.

They TOTALLY wanted Fred to take over the tending of their children.

It was so RUDE for these moms to sit back and expect that. Sorry - we weren't going to do it.

 Do you see the likeness of their posture here? 

Look at their right hands!

So we had such a nice time with these two.

They are at an easy age. They ate and slept well.

They didn't fight or whine. A pretty sweet gig.

Next is a trip to Phoenix!

We are very excited for that!!

Tuesday Spring Break

I'm pretty sure I got my story mixed up. This is definitely pictures from the cake day when I let Mima have cake for lunch.

After Corinne's family headed for home, we took Buddy and Mima to the Hidden Valley Park.

We loaded up our usual outdoor toys, but the toys are not quite as good a match for these two as they are for Corinne's boys.  

 The climb on equipment at the park is much better suited for these two.

Next we headed to Thunder Junction Park.

Can't go wrong with a train ride. This is the "make a face pose".

"Smile" pose.

Oh silly Grandpa.

We did everything today.

Went to McDonalds for dinner and they ate every scrap.

Bubble bath and bed.

It was a good day.

Monday Spring Break

On Monday, Corinne and her family got over to the house around 11:00 am.

The kids were all playing and being busy while Shannon and Brian were packing up to go to Las Vegas. They had a super offer on a 2 night stay, a free show and buffet. They also wanted to catch up with friends and stop in the offices that they used to work at. 

Fred and I were officially in charge of their two for the next couple of days.

After they left, we fed everyone. Well Mima wasn't in the mood to eat. Being a grandma, I said that's okay. I'm not going to push anyone, related or not. 

After lunch was cleaned up and I asked if anyone wanted cake and ice cream.

YES from everyone including Mima. I said sure. 

I'll never forget when Shannon went to a birthday party when she was probably six. They served hot dogs for lunch. Well Shannon doesn't like hot dogs so she didn't eat. When it came time for ice cream and cake, she didn't get any because she hadn't eaten her lunch. 

That did not sit well with me. I'm sorry, but it's a party, they are children. Get over yourself. 

Anyway - after eating we headed to the Community Center to go swimming.

The three older boys were self sufficient.

Ben went with Henry and Fred and I were in charge of Buddy and Mima.

Corinne came and watched. She did take a few pictures. I'm not sure why we did not take any pictures today. That's bad!

After swimming, we came back to the house and just hung around. 

I think I made spaghetti. The swimming wore everyone out so our two charges went to bed without any resistance.

I definitely need a new bathing suit.

 We have Buddy and I think that is Spencer & Garrett with Grandpa.

Sunday Spring Break

Sunday I took Ben and Brian with me to choir practice. 

We desperately needed help in our tenor section.

Ben and Brian both have really good voices.

Our musical number was gorgeous. 

Shannon walked to church with her kids

We only stayed for sacrament meeting because this was the only full day we had all together.

 We had a taco bar for lunch. It was a hit.

 As you can see we spread out. 

 While I cleaned up, everyone played games.

 I really wanted to make homemade sugar cookies for the kids to decorate, but I just didn't have the time. I bought some sugar cookies from the store, but I did make homemade frosting. I bought four bottles of sprinkles. Everyone had three cookies and their own bowl of frosting.  

 Blake made a triple cookie sandwich.

 Everyone had their own method.

 Henry did a really nice job. He is very careful.  

 My homemade cookies would have tasted better. Oh well. They liked the frosting best anyway.

 Fred had been saving up these HUGE boxes from work. 

Making forts was a hit.

 Everyone was a part of the action.

 How cute are these little pack of cousins?

 I think we have some grandpa engineering genes among the grandchildren.

 These two supervised from the swing. 

 The kids also liked our lawn golf set.

 All the kids got along really well. 

 There is always a few kids in our bedroom playing with legos, watching a video or playing with a race car set. I don't remember specifically what we did the rest of the evening. We are creatures of habit in our family. We like to be together and pretty much stay close to home. The kids are always happy to play with the toys and games we have here and we adults either watch them, play along or sit and visit. We don't require much for entertainment. We just enjoy being together.