Heber Valley Railroad

Ben had a birthday!

To celebrate this year,  we took our kids on the Heber Valley Railroad.

They had never been on a real train before!

And Ben and I have only been on this train once . . . when we were dating!

This train ride was so fun!

Gwen told me how she had asked people at school if they had ever been on a real train.  She was pretty excited to finally go on one!

Austin liked looking out the window.

Our train left at 7pm which was nice because it was still light outside for about the first 1/2 of the 90 minute ride . . . and then it got dark.  We liked being able to experience both!

Music was playing on this train . . . which was great!

I didn't feel like I had to keep my kids quiet.  

We were on the rowdy train!

The conductor passed around a microphone.

Abby was okay with a little performing!

We ended the night with some homemade cheesecake.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Lake Powell

Lake Powell.

This was my first trip, Ben's as well.

Ben has some relatives who own a timeshare on a houseboat.

I wasn't really sure what to expect, and not really sure if I would like being on a boat for a week.

But I have to say, this is one of my FAVORITE family vacations!

I think this is up there with Disneyland for me.  

And I REALLY love going to Disneyland.

This turned out to be THE MOST relaxing vacation!

I got tan (for me).

I read a book.

I only had to cook one day out of the whole week!

The weather was GREAT!

 Even though several people got sick (throwing up kind)  for about 12 hours, including me, Ben and Austin . . . it was still so fun and hard to come back to real life.

This is a view I woke up to one morning.

Abby was  watching the kids on the water . . . this had to have been around 7 or 8 in the morning.

We slept on the top deck of the houseboat.

I LOVED that!

The temperature was great, the stars were beautiful . . . .

My girls really got into the tube wars.

I only played once . . . it was a slightly vicious game.

Austin loves to do whatever his sisters are doing.

This makes Ben so mad!

Ben's Aunt Janet had brought his grandmother's button collection.

It was a HUGE collection!

Austin really got into making button necklaces.

I came home with several!

I felt pretty loved!

I was surprised at how fearless the kids were sometimes!

Here Austin and Neal (well actually, that is Neal jumping off and Austin watching . . . but Austin would jump off too) jumping off the side of the boat.

The back of the boat had a water slide that they would go down often too!

Ben got his waterskiing fix.

He hasn't gone in years.

Abby and Halle were able to try it out!

I hope it works out to go again someday!

Halle Came in 1st!

Halle had her first track meet today.

She did the long jump, ran the 100 meter and the 200 meter.

I'm not sure where she placed in the long jump or the 200 meter, 

but she came in FIRST in the 100 meter!

She won her first race, she won the semi-finals, and then won the final race!

(thanks for the picture Catherine!)

*Update:  Halle won her 200 meter race too!

I was there to see her win her first race, and it was fun to see.

As I was congratulating her, a man came up to us and said "hi".

At first I thought it was a little weird, because I don't know him . . . and I was busy talking to my daughter.  But then he proceeded to tell me how he saw Halle run, and how he noticed her wearing a BYU soccer shirt.  It turns out he coaches one of the club soccer teams here and wanted to let me know that try outs are coming up and that he would really like her to be on his team!

Halle LOVES soccer by the way, so this was a huge compliment to her.

Way to go Halle!

Multnomah Falls

We always hike Multnomah Falls when we are out in Washington/Oregon.

This is such a pretty and fairly easy hike . . . unless you are Austin . . . or maybe Gwen.

They made it though:)

Doesn't it look like they are in the Fire Swamp from the Princess Bride movie here?

I didn't get pictures of the ice cream this time, but we LOVE to go to the Eastwind Drive 

in Cascade Locks and get the flavor burst ice cream cones!  

Tradition! Tradition!

Cannon Beach

After visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory, we headed to Cannon Beach, OR.

The last time we went to the Oregon Coast, it was around 100 degrees and sunny!
Really uncharacteristic of the coast . . . but my kids didn't believe me.
They were pretty sure that they would be swimming in the water
and wearing swimming suits this time too!

Gwen became the bird lady. 

Until next time!

Tillamook Cheese Factory

For Spring Break this year we drove out to Washington to visit my parents 

and do fun Pacific Northwest things!  

Here we are visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  This was a first time for us. 

And I would totally recommend visiting if you are already out that way . . . heading toward the ocean!

The kids (and adults) liked seeing the cheese get packaged . . . and it was amazing to see and read about how much cheese they make every day.

There are plenty of cheese samples to taste!

The ice cream of course is amazing . . . a must if you are there! 

 I particularly enjoyed my chocolate peanut butter ice cream.

Grandpa handed out change for the kids to squish pennies with a Tillamook symbol on them.  

This was a huge hit!

I had heard of "squishing" pennies before, but I didn't know it was putting a symbol on the penny to create a keepsake.  I thought people were just paying 50 cents to squish a penny . . . anyway. . . 

I usually have the kids pick out a postcard when we visit new places . . . I used to have a postcard collection . . . and still have it!  I like looking through it sometimes and seeing all the places 

I have visited or the ones that family and friends have sent me from their travels.  

But these squished pennies where fun too and a fun alternative to that!  

A new tradition may have been started . . .

If you are ever in the area . . . it's a fun place to check out!