Preschool Graduation

And just like that... my kids have all officially grown up!

Mrs Fun (Funderberg) runs a great preschool called Little Castle Preschool. Lilia, Ebony, and now McKinley have all graduated from it and all have learned to read while there. They LOVE Mrs Fun!

She planned a fun jungle themed graduation party and the kids performed their animal songs and showed off their ABC skills. My favorite was hearing the kids sing the Boogie Woogie song and watching them boogie woogie with their little bodies! LOL

After the program they showed off their eating skills at the snack bar. They put away an impressive amount of food while they waited for their turn for pictures with their teacher.

What an incredible legacy this woman is leaving!

Thank you Mrs Fun for being such a positive influence in the life of so many of my girls!

Fun Fact: I also graduated on May 23rd... from high school, many MANY years ago 😂

 

Capitol Reef 2022

Helen took Jaedyn, Lilia, and me down to Capitol Reef for another adventure. Our destination included a hotel this trip thankfully due to our tent misfortune last trip! Our trip included 2 canyons: Cassidy Arch and Leprechaun Canyon. Cassidy was old hat for the girls... They've done it before, but Leprechaun was new for all of us! Which gave us a little pause. Helen was reassured when she reached out to people online who had done it before asking if we were crazy to take kids. Their advice included "just don't let them scratch their name in the canyon wall". Oh come on! Not all kids are like that! It did help me appreciate my kids, we are no trace people but I can't imagine them doing something like that!

 

Here is the first rappel into the Canyon... see the arch? It's about 140 feet to the bottom and includes an overhang and free rappel. The kids were nervous hitting the first rappel of the year... but let's be honest, so was I! They all went right for it though and did awesome! It was cool to see their skill return as they worked their way through the canyon.

Above the arch, preparing for the rappel.

Jaedyn rappeling the arch just after the overhang.

I forgot to get Lilia until the end! But her she is looking super spiffy!

Penny for your thoughts Lilia? Something like "Woah that was high!"?

Jaedyn's favorite adventuring pose.

Nothing like a little refreshment on the run!

After the canyon on Friday we went and ate a lot of quinoa salad and then headed to the hot tub. Well some of us hit the hot tub. Others of us think people are gross and refused to get in (*Helen). It was overrated... the jets weren't working so the girls gave up and hit the pool while I showered. We then spent the evening watching Prince of Persia and eating Reese's popcorn. 

Saturday morning we headed out to Leprechaun Canyon which was about a 1.5 hour drive from our hotel in Bicknel. Well, it was supposed to be 1.5 hours. But the way Helen drives, we made it in just over an hour. 😂Leprechaun is super narrow so we downsized our packs and ate lunch at the trailhead.

Check out Lilia's fancy pack!

So exciting anticipating the unknown!

Check this canyon out! I mean, come on! It was so awesome!!

We were all super happy to be there and loving the technical down climbs. 

It got a tad squishy for our adult hips so we opted to stem a few areas. I was definitely envious of the kids hip size at times... they just slipped right on through... like buttuh (butter).

There was supposedly only one mandatory rappel in the canyon but I think we rappelled 3 times. Usually we just had a hand line and helped each other up and over.

Ooh look at how the light was hitting the canyon walls in these next few shots... gorgeous!

So of course we had to stop and take the photo op.

Get it from a few angles.

And not take ourselves too seriously.

PLAY!

Ha! Every time. I love it! Rest up girl, we are about to work ya!

This last drop we decided was the mandatory rappel. We descended, climbed through a crack and ran into a huge straight up canyon wall as the canyons converged. I guess I didn't mention there was a left fork, Middle fork, and Right fork. We did the Right fork route which is the longer of the 3 and so SO scenic. Middle fork is supposedly even squishier... though I don't know how an adult could have possibly gotten through anything squishier and come out the other side to tell the tale!

I didn't get any pix of the dark tunnel but it was cool to walk through after the light display just before it. We all started singing and came out to an open area. As we rounded the bend we saw a group of people which abruptly halted our musicality and ended up requesting they take some pix for us.

Being cool people, they agreed and we finally got a shot of our whole group!

Starting this journey we ran into a group of 6 adults as they were preparing to set up for a rappel into the canyon. We asked if it had to be rappelled and they answered that it was optional. Then after sizing up the kids with us they said "You'll probably want to rappel". Huh. We examined the entrance and decided we probably go for it without a rappel and asked if they minded if we went since they weren't ready yet. They were cool and let us. We started in and made it, no problem. Helen heard one of them say, "I wish I had started that young". Yay for those girls of mine! They did so well and have gained such great skill, have awesome attitudes, and such a sense of adventure! I was super proud of them for surpassing expectations. AND Helen and I were a little nervous that the group would be on our tails the whole time... but we pulled farther and farther ahead of them so after the 1st 30 minutes we couldn't even hear them behind us anymore. 

Oh, and we totally lucked out, there was supposed to be a 4 foot slog through water and it was all dried up... yet we had perfect 60 degree weather! Not even a sunburn... though Jae did pick up an awesomely gross tan line running half way down her calves from her capris. Ew. I hate tan lines. Hopefully she'll use her sunscreen next time! (wink wink)

 

Jaedyn Turns Fourteen!

This kid celebrated her birthday this year by playing Lucinda in the middle school's production of Into the Woods Jr. And then she had a bunch of friends over for a rather large cake, which to my utter disappointment didn't even come close to being fully consumed! She's got a good group of friends and it is fun to watch them interact.

She is the selfie queen these days so I would be remiss to not include one such photo.

The girls all get excited to spend their very own money on each other for birthdays. It warms my heart because I often ask what on earth I am doing wrong to not be raising these kids in a home where love abounds. There is just so much meanness sometimes! But then they show love and excitement to give a gift, or a little extra gentleness when not expected... and it reminds me that sibling spats are part of a normal childhood and to not be so hard on myself or my kids!

Jaedyn has this thing she says in a funny voice with her friends, "I want waffle fries". It is a tribute to Chick Fil-A and apparently their desirable fried potatoes. And maybe a little insight into the silly things that bring that group of kids joy. Regardless, Lilia decided she wanted to make a shirt for Jaedyn for her birthday and gift her with a gift card to Chick fil-A. Such a thoughtful gift and we had so much fun making it together. Lilia is rather independent and would have done the whole thing but I insisted on helping. LOL.

Here is the birthday girl sporting her new shirt and Lucinda hair on Friday morning. She loved the shirt and about died when she read it.

Ebony and McKinley went in on a thoughtful little gift too. Jaedyn has had a thing for little colored glass bottles lately and they decided to buy her some tiny ones to add to her collection. They're so little and cute! And then she got some adjustable weights (so she won't steal mine anymore) and a set of airpods which she has been dying to get for months. I didn't want to give those away too easily though so I wrapped them in layer after layer of grocery bags and packaging tape surround by styrofoam and packaging tape and a box with wrapping paper.  You can never be too sneaky.

It was fun watching this girl in her play. She played a pretty convincing Lucinda!

And here is the cow... she had one line which was "moo" but I couldn't take my eyes off her when she was on stage because her acting went way beyond her lines and she was just so fun to watch!

The kids did such a good job with their set, their individual roles, and the music. It was very entertaining even the littles laughed and enjoyed themselves through the whole show.

Jaedyn had invited Helen up to see and she came! So that was fun too.

Here she is posing with one of her good friends who played the tree. I can't believe it is the only pic I got with her friends the whole evening! Sad too. Several of her friends who weren't in the play, came to watch it before coming to our house for the party. I thought the support was pretty dang cool.

She was so excited to receive flowers from her Dad, and Lilia was excited to photo bomb the memory.

The kids came over for cake and presents and then promptly headed outside for night games and gym games. They played capture the flag, ping pong, pop a shot, and just ran around crazy until 1230. My one regret is that they didn't eat more cake! It was a day and evening well spent in celebration of our child who made us parents for the first time 14 years ago! Happy birthday BJ!

 

Lilia Turns Eleven!

Lilia wanted to have a chef party for her birthday this year. Together we came up with a plan to allow that to happen. 

And being the chef that she is, she insisted on making her own birthday cake. This cake was delicious! It was a homemade vanilla cake recipe with a chocolate buttercream frosting and a layer of concentrated pudding in between.

She decided to teach them to make her first favorite recipe which was pumpkin muffins into little bread loaves so they could each take it home. They donned their own little aprons (I love bulk purchases on amazon!) and she put them to work delivering instructions. As they were waiting to take their turn with ingredients, they copied the recipe onto little recipe cards.

The bread was a hit, as was the birthday cake. She made a haul in swedish fish and got lots of cute little gifts. Jaedyn bought her some art stuff and Ebony bought here shell necklace. McKinley bought her some yarn for her craft and Mom/Dad bought her some new basketball shoes, a world map, and some boondoggle crafts. 

We had a large nacho bar... 

Some of her friends stayed for a while after the party ended. They played basketball in the driveway and make chalk outlines in the driveway as if someone had died. Lilia has a large group of good friends and it has been fun to watch them change so much in the last year!

Happy Birthday Lilia!

 

Goblin Valley

Helen took Jaedyn, Lilia and me to Goblin Valley for their first adventure of the season!

Thanks Helen, for including us!

Car fun,

rest,

and anticipation!

Our first adventure was Ding and Dang Canyons and I LOVED IT! What a fun technical canyon but technical without requiring gear. Just a lot of stemming if you don't want to get wet!

Here we are just heading in.

The girls stemming for the first time. It was super fun at first but by the end we were so done stemming. The girls picked up some mad stemming skills by the end though. It was fun to see them figure their way across. They did awesome!

And Helen learned to do the splits!

Some of the stemming got a little wide for this one. She had to use her whole body!

And stretch much more than the rest of us! But she happily did it and was so independent.

Until she wasn't anymore. LOL It just got too wide and her arms were SO tired! She stemmed as far as she could without her arms and then her legs just weren't long enough.

So Helen played hero and took one for the team. I was grateful because I just did NOT want to get wet!

I mean... check her out! Go Jaedyn!

And all her various stemming techniques.

She totally worked it.

This is me stemming above Lilia.

We camped this trip not too far from either hike which made it nice for driving. The next day we headed out to Wild Horse and Bell Canyon which was about 8 miles without the technical stuff. Made it nice for a Sunday. 

It was fun to explore.

We found friends on the trail

And rested on the trail. LOL. There was a road that connected the 2 canyons that we had to hike on and it got a little hot. 

But such beautiful country!

We came back to find a wind storm had attempted to blow our tent away. Bent poles, a tent full and I mean FULL of sand, and we decided camping was over rated and packed up to spend our last night at a hotel. The kids did great with the change of plans and it meant showers sooner than we had expected... and a movie! So it was all good. Now I just have to see if Kelty will honor the tent pole warranty!