Field Trip - Antelope Island

The 4th grade got to go on a field trip to Antelope Island and I was a lucky Mom that got to join the fun. We spent some time at the visitor center learning about the area, then went down to the beach for lunch. The seagulls joined us there to help us finish off all the crumbs. Then we went for a little hike up to Buffalo Point. The kids did great on the hike and loved climbing around all the rocks. I think the kids had a great time and the weather was actually nice. Here are a few of the pictures of the cute friends of Brookelyn's (Abbie, Taylor, Kelsi, Emily, & Maddie).

Camden's Birthday

Yep, its birthday time at our house. The 6th of March was Camden's birthday. He wanted to take a couple buddies and go skiing. Blake being the awesome Dad he is did it all on his own. I was at a volleyball tournament all day with Brynnley, so Blake headed to Snowbasin with 4 six and seven year old boys (Camden, Dallin, Cort and Jonah). They enjoyed the little cat lift, but also ventured to the top of the Needles lodge. They all made it down with only a few tears. They had cupcakes, lunch and hot cocoa in the lodge, then back out for more skiing. They opened presents at the gas station at the bottom of trappers. Nice huh! What awesome boys! These guys have such a fun time together I hope they can stay close and have lots more fun memories of birthdays and other days on the ski slopes.








Camden also got some fun stuff from the family. He got a new mountain bike, and boy is he ready for the snow to be gone so he can have some real fun on it. Once he learned to ride a bike he has always loved it. Now he is ready for some real mountain biking with Dad!

Brookelyn's Birthday

Since we were in Panama for Brooke's birthday, we had to do some celebrating when we got home. She turned 10 this year. We got to go to Tepanyaki for dinner as a family. We always enjoy the show there! Brookelyn also got to have a couple friends over for some late night fun. They made cookies, watched a movie and just had girl fun. She has some great friends and they had a great time! I think even though her birthday celebrations were a little late, she still had a great 10th birthday!

Panama - Part 5

For the last part of our adventure we left from Bouquette and took a 3 hour van ride to Bocas del Toro. Bocas is a very popular surf town with great surf waves. I have to say I kind of like the cross country drives to see how people really live. There had been a storm last November that had washed out some of the roads and hillsides which made the ride even more exciting. We made it to Bocas early evening. Part of getting to Bocas required a water taxi which was another experiences in itself. The people obviously knew we were tourist and were trying to take us for all we had, we were happy to get on the boat and get out of that area. Once on the boat I got to sit next to a little Panamanian man who was very tired and chose to use me for his pillow. I could not stop laughing, which kept waking him up, but he would quickly fall back to sleep with his head on my shoulder. Funny!










Once we made it to our resort, we felt a little more comfortable as people could actually speak some English. Yea! Apparently the storm washed out their dock too and we weren't supposed to arrive via water taxi, (hence the caution tape in the photo), but oh well. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the pool, playing a little volleyball and enjoying dinner for Brooke's birthday. The next day we scheduled a tour to see dolphins, go snorkeling and visit red frog beach. It was a great day we enjoyed some relaxation and play in the sunshine! It is such a beautiful area, with little islands everywhere! I would love to come back some day and try my hand at surfing! The 19th we had to take another little plane back to Panama City to catch our flight home the next day. We had a great trip and certainly saw a lot of the country. Everything went as plan and I think all the first time world travelers had a good experiences (my kids included). My best memories were spending the day on the island in San Blas. What an eye opening experience as to the role these missionaries have in keeping the church running throughout the world. WOW! And,how grateful I am that I don't have to spend my day finding food and water for my families next meal. What a life these people live (although some days is sounds nice to simplify our crazy lifes a bit).

Panama - Part 4

Next we headed off on another little airplane to a town called David. This is the second largest city in Panama and the hottest. We didn't spend too much time here. We did meet one of my brothers mission friends and enjoyed an icee in the town square. This seemed like a pretty cool city, we would have loved to spend more time here.






























From here we took a taxi van up to a mountain town called Bouquette. This is where we were spending the next couple of days. We visited an botanical garden which had some gorgeous flowers. Brooke had her 10th birthday celebrated in Bouquette and got to do a zip line through the jungle. It was a little colder than we expected up there, but it eventually warmed up as the sun came out. The kids all did it with us and loved it. I was impressed with how brave Camden was. He is usually afraid of things like this, but he sucked it up and loved it! The jungle, volcano and coffee farms were beautiful to see and made this area of Panama definitely different the the other Panama we had seen so far.

Panama - Part 3

After leaving the San Blas islands we headed back to Panama City and spent the day relaxing in the city. We didn't see too much of the city as we were just happy to be somewhere with power and water. We swam at the hotel pool (until it decided to rain) and tried to do a little laundry. Unfortunately it was Sunday and most laundromats were closed so the one that was open was super busy. So we decided to do laundry in our hotel room which is all fine except when trying to get everything to dry in 24 hours. Needless to say, Blake rigged up a clothes line in our hotel room. Most the clothes got dried with a little help from a little ironing. We did have clean clothes to start the next half of our adventure.

Panama - Part 2

On the 14th we got up early to take our flight to San Blas and the Ticantiki island. Here is the plane that take us to the strip of asphalt next to the jungle where we could board the boat to take us to the island.













Here is the boat that all 9 of us climbed in to take us over to the island. We were lucky to get the large boat with a motor on the back.















These is part of our welcoming committee on the island. We were very well taken care of and loved bay all the little ones.












We starting the day by setting up our hammocks in the hut behind the church, that is usually used for primary. We had little Kuna Indian kids following us everywhere we went. They were so friendly and happy to see some new faces. We walked out to the beach where they do baptisms. This is their clean beach and was beautiful. The kids had some fun and played in the water, even without their swimsuits.






























Here is a shot of one of the pottys on the island. Yes, they are just a whole right into the ocean. Crazy!









My Dad handed out tootsie rolls to the kids, who were in heaven for a little sugary treat. We did a little service on the island moving dirt from the middle of the island to the area where they get their water that gets a little soggy. We were treated to some flute dancing by the locals. Camden brought a roll of string and the kids taught the Kuna kids how to play cats cradle, which was cool to watch since we couldn't communicate with one another.










































We got to try some Pipa (Coconut milk), while getting eating by bugs! The coconut milk was not great and I think the bugs left a better impression. This last photo shows the traditional dress of the Kuna Indian women. These ladies were at the airport with us trying to get on our flight to the city. There are many more great photos from the trip, but just too many to post. This was a great day that left great impressions on each of us. What a simple life these people live.

Panama - Part 1

On the 12th we headed off to Panama for a week of fun. My brother served his mission over there and we got to go see some of the people and things from that 2 years of his life. We started out arriving late the night of the 12th in Panama City and headed to our lodging for that night. For the first two nights we stayed at the temple housing right on site at the new Panama Temple. Jeff had some great friends who hooked us up with great taxi drivers and great lodging. The next day we got to attend the temple, including Brynn doing some baptisms in Spanish. We also got to see the amazing Panama Canal. The kids enjoy bugs in the museum more than the canal itself, but it is truly amazing what men built so many years ago. I think it was a good day and a good start to the adventure.