Memorial Day Hike

I have to dedicate this post to the Krystal Girl.  She has always been kind of babied (seeing as she is the baby) - but, she struggles to walk long-ish distances (or even when we're shopping), hike with us, or hold her own at the zoo/carnival/etc. - and we've just always popped her in a stroller/shopping cart or carried her.  Bad Mommy!!

So - after she refused to hike the Y with us - we had a good sit down and talk with her.  She set some goals to be a LOT more independent when we're out and about - and to try her best to participate in our active family events.  Well - I am SO proud of her!!  We biked the trail up to Bridal Veil Falls on Memorial Day - 

- and Krystal did not complain EVEN one time!  She was happy and enthusiastic ...

... and rode her bike on her own nearly the whole time (Hanna's brakes on her bike broke - and so Aaron took Hanna up on his pegs - and Krystal let Hanna have a turn riding her bike for just a little part of the trail, and she rode on the pegs during that time).  She also hiked with us up to the falls!  Check out her happy face:

 

Aaron is such a great brother - and never stopped giving Krystal encouragement and positive feedback.  She's one lucky sista to have him by her side!

Krystal was so VERY proud of herself and kept saying, "I can't wait to tell my Dad-da!  He is going to be so proud of me!"

 

Nice work, guys!

Even though our little immediate family ended up split (Ty and Miss went with the Jenson clan to Peoa to put flowers on the graves -- and me and the littles went with the Miller clan to Bridal Veil Falls), we all had a fabulous time and were able to meet up that evening.

After biking up to the falls and hiking as well - Krystal was super tired!!  But, she was a major trooper and biked herself back to the park with a tired and satisfied smile.

They did it!!  Woot!  Woot!

Some good old tree climbing and relaxing were a sweet reward to a job well done:

 

Some of my extended family that we love to hang out with:

Great day!  An extra big shout out to my Krystaloo!  She knows that she can handle anything now!

Kool-Aid to the Rescue!

Summer wouldn't be official without some fun and crazy new style!  Marissa convinced us to try Kool-Aid hair dyeing - and hers turned out super cute!  (My strip -- I tried purple -- pretty much looked gray; and Krystal's we put in a part of her hair that was hard to see unless we looked close).  But - here is Marissa's cute new Summer Do:

 

Pretty girl!

Happy Summer Days

LAST. DAY. OF. SCHOOL!!!!

(That's gotta be like holiday or something, yeah?)

 But, I was seriously stressed out about all the extra cooking and cleaning that was heading my way -- so, we had to lay down some ground rules (in a fun, Summer-y, school is over!!! way, of course): 

A box of Donuts! 

 

It was a big hit - and the kiddos were even on board with keeping our Summer as structured as possible:

YUM!

Then we set up the tent for a First-Night-Of-The-Summer camp out (in the backyard).  They were so very excited.  And I realized how close we live to the train tracks - as trains were blowing their horns all freaking night long!!  (They have never kept me awake before when I'm inside)!

And now that I've finally posted this - we only have about 4 weeks left to our Summer Vacation!  CRAZY!!

Astrofest and the Solar Eclipse!

Trying to remain true to our "Family Time Importance" goal - we took the kids to the BYU Astrofest in celebration of the upcoming solar eclipse.  Ty and I normally shy away from things like this, because we can't stand crowds and/or traffic.  BUT - it was a free event - and we had the day to spend together, so off we went, albeit a little unenthusiastic-ally . And ... we have no regrets!  It was SUCH a fun thing to do!

Here are the kids racing their Dad up the many stairs to BYU upper campus -- :)!

They were pleasantly surprised to see the 'Y' on the mountain when they reached the top.

Marissa convinced me to try out the new "bow hair" style on her and Krystal before we left.  Cute, huh?  Krystal's hair is a bit too long for me to get it to work real swell - but Marissa's is the perfect length.

There was lots going on inside the Eyring Science Center - but, we opted to build the homemade rockets very first:

 

Then Marissa, Aaron, and I went around the building to explore the other exhibits while Tyler and Krystal saved our places in line for the next Planetarium Show to start.  We hefted small (yet extremely heavy) bits of meteorites and were really surprised with how heavy they were -- and how tough we were :)!

 

"HEAVE - HO!"

We played around with all the gadgets in the Eyring Science Center: 

 

We watched a cool Planetarium Show and enjoyed the seats that leaned CLEAR back :) - 

 

More fun with science:

 Then the kiddos launched their rockets -- lots of times!  Aaron tried to catch his every time - and did pretty good! 

Krystal's definitely went the highest of all three of the kids - and she spent most of her time with her little head like this - 

 

 (and lost her rocket coming down a couple of times too). 

 We tried and failed (aka - "nailed it!") a pinterest idea picture op on our way back to our car.  *chuckle*

And left with our nifty solar eclipse glasses in tow! 

 

The eclipse was really cool!  And the Astrofest was definitely fun - I signed up for the e-mail reminder for the next one :)!  Great day!