Dinosaur National Monument

I mentioned before that Nic has been moonlighting a lot in Roosevelt, UT. This has resulted in him being gone for a week here or there all summer long. (In fact, he is in Roosevelt as we speak. And I am 38+ weeks pregnant. Yeah. We are hoping for a nice calm weekend). Well, a few weeks ago the kids and I decided we were going to head out to no man's land and visit Roosevelt. Lucky for us Roosevelt is only a few miles away from Vernal, UT which is only a few miles away from Dinosaur National Monument. We found lots to do to occupy the weekend and really enjoyed our time on that side of the state. While Nic is there he is the only functioning radiologist in town (Roosevelt) and so he was tied up for a lot of the time, but he was able to break away every now and then to play with us. We stayed one night in the town home they offer to Nic in Roosevelt, and the next night we spent in Vernal. I found that I really liked Vernal. Its a cute little town.

Day 1:

The kids and I drove to Roosevelt, visited Nic at the hospital, played in the park in the rain, and then headed to the town house (which was super nice). We ate at a nasty restaurant (Roosevelt is NOT known for its culinary...well...anything) and got a good nights sleep.

Day 2:

Nic had to work so the kids and I headed to Vernal to check out the Dinosaur Museum and the Rec Center. 

Here are the kids posing in front of what I quickly learned was the "old" museum.

Here are the kids pretending to be dinosaurs in the garden of the new museum.

That would be a T-Rex claw.

The museum itself isn't very big, but it was nice. And the kids were both free, so I certainly can't complain.

In the movie that they play it showed how fossils are formed and when Mason saw the formation of a leaf fossil he got really excited and immediately following the movie we had to go out to the garden to find this sidewalk imprint that he had seen earlier.

I told him to smile creepy like this dinosaur. He did pretty well.

The rest of day 2 was spent at the Rec Center in Vernal. They have a pretty fun indoor swimming area and the kids and I spent five hours there. Most of these hours were spent around the playground thing that is surrounded by about 2 feet of water. My big, fat pregnant body trying to float around in such a shallow amount of water was likely the most unflattering thing the people of Vernal had ever experienced. That combined with the fact that Sage wanted me to take her down the tiny tube slide like 400 times (every time I would "beach" myself at the bottom and have to "scoot" myself out) made for an extremely ridiculous sight (eventually I got her to do it on her own, but it was a little daunting for a small child). Luckily Mason's favorite was the extremely fast moving "Lazy River", so I did get some time in water that was actually past my waist. The kids had a blast and again, we all slept well that night.

Day 3:

Nic took the morning "off" (aka clinging to his pager, ready to bolt at first beep) and we headed to the Quarry in Dinosaur National Monument. This place was really cool. Its basically a big wall that was once a river bed and therefore has hundreds of huge fossils in it. They just built a big building around it and its pretty impressive.

(P.S. Try to ignore my general roundness. This pregnancy has resulted in some serious swelling issues. Oh. And I'm like 8.5 months pregnant.)

Sage mapping out our plans of action.

After the quarry, Nic headed back to Roosevelt and the kids and I headed deeper into the park to check out some petroglyphs. These too were impressive. Actually, the whole place was pretty interesting. I would recommend it.

Slanted Rocks. The geography of the area is really interesting.

We ended our trip at Josie Bennett's cabin. This lady lived all alone in this cabin, without electricity or any modern amenities, until her death. She was actually connected to some pretty famous outlaws and had kind of a cool story.

And she had some seriously cool property. I might consider living here without electricity too. Or maybe not. But it was cool.

"Welcome to my home!"

After our trip to the cabin the kids and I headed back to Salt Lake. It was a quick trip, but the drive there is absolutely beautiful and we all had a really great time.

Arizona

We headed down to Arizona at the end of May for a little fun in the sun. We usually make up to two trips to Arizona each winter to visit my mom, step-dad and sister, but those trips are usually made in November and March. Due to Nic's schedule, however, this year we couldn't make it until the end of May. Can I say something that just might blow your mind? Arizona is hot. There is a pretty big difference between the sweet 70/80 degree weather of March and the blistering 106 degree weather of June. And 106 is child's play to those who live through the summer there. Despite the heat, we still had a great time and plan on returning again next winter.

So this trip we decided to make the trek down in one day. We often will go half way to Kanab after Nic gets off of work and the rest of the way the next day. Then we usually travel back all in one day. This time, however, it was memorial weekend and there wasn't a hotel to be found. So we did it all in one day. The kids are great travelers. That coupled with our evil parenting style makes for a quick trip. I say evil because we usually stop (meaning let the kids get out of the car) once during the entire 10 hour journey. In our defense its just easier that way because once they taste freedom its hard to coupe them up again. Also, we usually stop for a meal of sorts and we always find a park and let them run free for an hour or so before we contain them again. (And lest you call Child Protective Services on me, we stop for gas and allow for potty breaks and diaper changes. We just make them short and sweet.) So below are some pictures of our stop on the way down. We stopped in Page and decided we like the parks in Kanab better.

Our first day there we decided to stop by a free botanical garden and park. Mason really got into identifying different types of desert plants and actually spent much of the week walking around with a place mat my grandpa had given my mom that had several desert plants on it. Here the kids are standing in front a Bird of Paradise.

No Pat no! Don't sit on that!

Sage and her never ending fascination with bugs. I have drawn the line at picking up large, scary spiders.

Aside from a few (hot and short) trips to the park, we spent a lot of time swimming or hanging out in the backyard.

Nic took this opportunity to take at least 35 pictures of Duke and Nell lounging on our towels while we were swimming. Seriously. He was like a high school photographer taking pictures from every angle, bribing the participants, and encouraging their cuteness. I was a little worried he was going to pull out some props.

Brighton, Shay, Sage, Mason and myself.

See what a I mean?

Mase

Grandma and Sagie.

Sage really enjoyed watering all the plants with an empty bottle. I'm sure the plants appreciated it too.

This girl has more personality than her body should be able to hold.

One day we headed to a local splash pad before grabbing some dinner at a yummy pizza restaurant. At least the Arizon-ites have it figured out and know that the more they can shade, the more enjoyable outdoor activities will be. Although we couldn't sit on any of the benches (even though they were in the shade) without getting 3rd degree burns on our bums. The kids sure had fun though.

Nic, risking a serious bum burning.

More swimming.

 This kid is goofy. Like awesomely goofy.

I love Sage's face here.

All tuckered out.

While we were there, my mom and I were able to throw Shay a bridal shower. It was super simple and really fun. First we all went for pedicures, then we headed back to my mom's and roasted marshmallows poolside and opened presents. Shay has a thing for s'mores, and we had about 10 different variations to chose from, so it was perfect.

And then there was that one day when we decided it would be a good idea to go on a hike up to see some petroglyphs.  I mean, we usually go for hikes while we are in Arizona, and we have done it before without any carrying device for Sage, so why not try it out. Yeah. We are idiots. We got up early but in the 35 minute drive it took to get from my mom's to the trail head the temperature went up about 20 degrees. By the time we got there it was seriously hot. The hike started out with Sage stumbling on the very rocky trail and skinning her knee. Then she wanted nothing to do with anyone but me for the rest of the hike (and she wanted me to hold her. Big fat pregnant+killer hot+uphill hike+extra 28 lbs to carry=not cool). We brought water, but it was so hot the kids just wanted to a drink every 30 seconds and every stop we made got hotter and hotter. Finally, we got smart and decided that I (and my mom, who was a huge lifesaver and came with us) would take Nell and the kids back down to the car and Nic would run up to see the petroglyphs. At this point even Nell (who never stops) would find the tiniest bit of shade, lay down in it, and refuse to move. Luckily we made it down to the car okay and Nic made it to the top without dying. On his way down, however, he stumbled and sprained his ankle pretty bad. (I always make fun of his chicken legs. Surely if he had some "sturdiness" to his legs like I do he wouldn't do this kind of damage). He did make it down, though he was completely swollen and black and blue for about a month and a half afterward. At least the petroglyphs were cool.

This is just a random picture of what 5 pm usually looked like in our car.

After the hike from hell we were much more intelligent in our choice of activities. One day we headed to the Phoenix Children's Museum. Super fun place. Mason loved the huge climbing gym in the middle of the museum and we spent a few good hours exploring and playing.

Hi goober.

Bubba and Sagie girl.

Snack break.

We love our trips to Arizona. A big thanks to my mom who stayed behind while Kim headed back to the cool(er) summer in Idaho. My mom and Kim always do their best to make our trip relaxing and fun and we so appreciate them. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that this trip was also the first time we met Shay's then fiancee (now husband) and we think he is awesome. I'd say it was all worth the drive. 

The end.