Christmas Eve

This year we spent Christmas Eve at Blake's brother's house (Ryan and Chelsey).  The kids were so excited especially after Santa came and dropped off some presents to the kids.  All of the boys got Nerf guns and the girls got jump ropes and a jack set.  Now they were excited to continue to open up presents.

Our kids got spoiled, yet again.  Gerrit got this ball set from one of his cousins.  I wish I could remember, but if was pretty hectic and the kids were a little hyper.  Okay, little is putting it lightly.

 Kaneni got a Tinkerbell watch and she was so excited.  She still hasn't taken it off.  She has wanted a watch for so long and she is constantly looking at it and telling me the time.  Now I really should adjust it so the time is right.  I have been waiting for her to take it off, but I might just have to do it while it is on her wrist.

 Deilen got these night vision goggles.  He also has always wanted them so he can spy on his sisters.

 Kaymin got make-up.  She was so excited and I was a little sad to think that my girl is growing up on me and is getting old enough that make up is awesome.

 This is by far Gerrit's favorite present.  Bruce and Carla gave him this Thomas train.  He has slept with it the last two nights and is constantly playing with it.  He will not let anyone else touch it.

 Kameni got a picnic set and a Kindergarten workbook.  Her and Kaymin have already had a picnic.  The set it so cute and perfect for her.

 Kaymin got this huge set of art projects.  This is something that is right up her alley.  She loves doing art and craft things.  She is so excited for these projects.

 Deilen got some night vision binoculars.  Now he can spy on his sisters really well.  He is so excited.  We had to try them out on Christmas Eve and they are awesome.  He has been having a lot of fun with them.  I actually found both of these in his bed today.  Apparently he must be playing with them in the dark after I put him to bed.

After the presents were open, the older kids (Oakley, Kaymin and Olivia) read How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  It was really cute to see them read the book to the rest of us.  We sure had a wonderful Christmas Eve and were spoiled as always.

Kaymin Singing at Our Ward Christmas Party

Our Ward Christmas Party was on December 4th.  They were looking for people who had musical talent to play a part in the program.  Kaymin loves to sing and she has such a pretty voice.  I asked her if she would like to sing and she said "yes".  She didn't even hestitate.  She ended up singing with two girls in her primary class and they did such a great job.  I am so proud of her.  I took a video of it, along with a picture, but I need to pull it off of my video camera and get it posted.  But that will be another day.  I really do need to get caught up since the end of the year is fast approaching.  I love making these blog books and now I will need to start on this years soon enough.

Getting Caught Up With Some New Pictures

 One day Gerrit crawled on top of Deilen to tease him (he is quite the tease) and Deilen yelled for me to take a picture of them.  It is rare that Deilen will actually let me take a picture of him so I just had too.  Besides, I love this picture of my two boys snuggling.

 I bought this sports coat years ago for Deilen and I'm not sure if he ever wore it.  I would usually forget about it or be too afraid it would get ruined.  I forgot about it again until last Sunday when I saw it in the boy's closet.  I got it out and Gerrit was so excited to wear it to church and look like dad.  His white shirt was dirty so he looks more like Don Johnson, but he is still very cute.

 Kameni loves olives and I was making a dinner dish with olives.  Kameni took a bunch of olives and had to have one on each finger. 

Blake is such a good dad.  After church he played Monopoly with Kaymin for 4 hours.  I don't think I would have had patience for that.  Especially since I have to fix lunch and dinner and clean up after both, change diapers...well you get the picture.  I am so glad that Blake is willing to do it because Kaymin just loved it!

Blake and Kaymin's Gingerbread House

For Activity Days in December, the girls had a Daddy Daughter Activity and they made gingerbread houses.  Kaymin was so excited to spend some alone time with her dad.  They made this house together and they did an excellent job and had a great time.  I wish I would have taken the picture before Gerrit got a hold of it and ate a ton of candy off of it.  But, atleast I took a picture before he ate all of it off.

Brain Dead

Yes, that is right...I am completely brain dead.  I know I get dumber with each kid, even if I haven't given birth to them.  However, I think I get dumber by the day.  I am having some MAJOR dumb days and I just had to vent on here.  I printed out a bunch of pictures of our family and Deilen's six-year old pictures for our family for Christmas.  I was really excited and made them all cute by putting the date on them.  I have had them printed out for about 2 weeks now.  I have looked at them several times and I even showed them to my mom.  However, yesterday I was looking at making a calendar for 2011.  Kaymin every year has made me a calendar for Christmas at school and she informed me that she wasn't going to this year.  Deilen and Kameni didn't make one either.  So now I am debating whether to spend the money ($9) to make a calendar or to pick up a free one at America First.  Yes, I am super cheap.  Anyhoo, when I was uploading pics to see what the calendar would look like, I noticed the date I had printed on the pictures.  I put 2009.  Now why in the world would I put that date when for 11 1/2 months I have used 2010.  SO...today I am redoing the pictures and paying for them to be reprinted.  Oh well, for someone who is cheap, that was quite the price to pay for stupidity.  Now if I could just get caught up with this blog!

We Finally All Got the Flu

In the wee hours of this morning, Deilen threw up.  Now, the last thing(s) he ate was six chocolate chip cookies.  Yes, six!  It works to bribe him to eat his vegetables.  Well this morning it came back to bite me in the bum.  The poor kid sleeps on the top bunk and didn't have enough time to make it to the bathroom before it got all over our white carpet.  I spent almost an hour early, early this morning trying to clean it.  When the "real" morning came, I noticed that I didn't get all of it out.  However, I decided to give Oxiclean a try again.  I have used it in the past and haven't not been impressed.  Lately several people have went on and on about it so I gave it a second chance.  Sure enough, it took out all of the chocolate stain.  Now I am really impressed.  I am just so happy that we have finally all had the flu and now hopefully we can get on with life.
In fact, Deilen was feeling so good at about 11am that he ate a bowl of cereal and a piece of toast.  He hasn't thrown up since about 9am and felt fine so we decided to take the kids to the Ogden lights since today highs was in the 50's.  It was perfect and it was the first time that we weren't frozen and actually "needed" hot chocolate.  I can't believe it is in the middle of December and the weather was perfect.

Another Boo Boo For Gerrit

I am really surprised that Gerrit hasn't broken any bones or had any stitches.  However, I really think that when he cut his ear somehow on our porch swing that I should have taken him to get stitches, but I didn't.  Luckily it is behind his ear and no one can see it, and who is to say that they would have done stitches anyway.  Anyhoo, today Gerrit was pulling on the stockings hanging on top of our mantle.  I get after him everyday because he likes to pretend to touch them and then I have to remind him to not touch them.  Well today I was upstairs cleaning the bathroom when I heard a thud.  I ran downstairs and Kaymin was picking up the stocking holder and stocking.  Gerrit was crying "ouchy, ouchy" with his head in his blanket, but him crying today hasn't been anything new.  I walked back upstairs when Kaymin yelled that Gerrit was bleeding.  Sure enough, the holder must have fallen on his face and cut him up pretty good.  Poor thing.  Luckily, still no stitches required.  But I have a feeling that one day I will be in there.  He sure gives me a run for my money and has no fear whatsoever. 

Playing Santa

Last week my friend called to see if Blake would play Santa for the scout food drive.  They had arranged for a guy in our ward to play him and he ended up in the hospital.  She had called a million different people and nobody could do it.  So she called me to see if Blake would, even though he has NO padding on him.  Blake agreed and she brought over the suit.  They were having an award ceremony at 6pm and then Blake needed to be there by 6:30pm.  As the scouts gathered food, Blake would give the kids candy canes.  At 6:20pm Blake received a reminder call that he had an Eagle board of review at 7pm.  Well, we couldn't call my friend since she was doing the award ceremony and Blake obviously couldn't do it, so I threw on the suit and headed to the church.  Lucky Kaymin had to babysit.  I am SO lucky that she enjoys doing it and that she is so good at it too.  Also, it helped that I only had to walk around our block so I was right there.  Anyway, a ton of people got a good laugh at me dressed up.  I was a terrible Santa.  I hurried and washed off my makeup, but I definitely look like a girl in the eyes.  I padded myself with a pillow so the kids couldn't see that Santa had a "chest".  I tried to talk in a deep voice, but really I don't think I fooled anyone.  Several kids told their parents that Santa was a girl.  But, hey...I had fun and so did all of the little scouts that walked along with me.  They got a kick out of a girl dressed as Santa.  I know this will be the ONLY time I will have this opportunity...if that is what you call it.  But Blake can't ever say that I am not a good sport.  This year our Santa picture is with me too!  This will be the Santa picture to remember.  I was in such a hurry that poor Gerrit was still in his diaper.  I had just gotten him out of the tub and didn't even have enough time to put his pajamas on him. 

Some Silly Pics

Kameni loves to dress up.  Everyday she comes home from school, she immediately changes her clothes into pajamas or so crazy get up.  This is how she came downstairs the other day.  They way she described herself was she looked "hot".

Deilen is quite the sleeper.  The kid can fall asleep anywhere, anyhow.  He is very hard to wake and can sleep through anything.  The other night we were watching a movie as a family and he fell asleep like this.  Blake began rocking the chair and he didn't even flinch.  Blake uncrossed his legs and they swayed back and forth as he rocked the chair.  I wish I could sleep like that.  It would come in so handy.

Kameni's Prayer

I know I am falling behind and I have so much to catch up on...but that will be for another day.  We have had the stomach flu going around here for over 2 weeks.  It is getting pretty old and it keeps hanging on FOREVER.  Deilen, so far, is the only one who hasn't gotten it.  Lucky him.  For some reason he is always the healthy one around here.  You know how they say that breastfed kids are healthier, well I think they are full of crap.  Deilen was bottlefed and he is healthy as a horse. 
Anyway, onto why I was writing.  Tonight while Kameni was saying her prayer, she blessed that the toothfairy would have freedom.  That girl is so funny.  I have no idea where she comes up with the things she says, but she is definitely a crack up.  Okay, now I need to make sure to come back soon and get caught up on the latest and greatest around our neck of the woods.

Bowling

Today we decided to take the kids and go and do something as a family. We went bowling at Sparetime and had a great time. Kaymin got the high score of 104 and Blake and I came in last place in the 70's. Yeah, our family isn't the greatest bowlers, but we sure had a great time. Gerrit kept throwing fits because it wasn't his turn all of the time. He would throw himself down on the ground and pout. Earlier today I went to Robert's Arts and Crafts and he came with me and got a balloon. I got so tired of him letting it go and me having to climb up on chairs to get it from our vaulted ceilings that I finally tied it to his pants. It came in really handy, because I could always see where he was. All I had to do was look for the blue balloon.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we were going to spend it with Blake's family. My sister-in-law is working at Marie Calendars and she was bringing the pies. Since I wasn't making any this year and pie is my FAVORITE dessert ever, I made some the day before. While I was making them, Kameni wanted to make one of her own. I have little pie pans and she grabbed it along with some dough and got busy. She made this pie all by herself. I didn't even help her.
It snowed the day before, but it ended up not being the blizzard of the century, but it did leave us with a couple of inches of snow. While Kameni and I made pies, the other kids went out to play. I didn't want Gerrit outside since the high was in the teens, but he threw a BIG stink fit, so I caved. He had a ball and stayed out about an hour. The neighbor kids were outside too. I have no idea what my kids would do without these neighbor kids. I am sure glad they are there.

I stayed up late that night doing my usual online shopping until about 1am. At 6am I woke up sick to my stomach. I was nauseated and crampy and plain old yucky. I was SO mad. Why couldn't have been the day before or even the day after. But NO, it had to be on Thanksgiving. I am guessing it was the stomach flu since Kameni had it a couple of days before. I cried while Blake took the kids to Thanksgiving. I ended up sleeping almost 4 hours and it was really nice to be able to rest when I didn't feel good without anyone wanting anything from me. I still wish I would have felt good so I could enjoy them yummy meal. Oh well, Blake brought me home and plate and I ate it the next day. It wasn't the same, but it sure tasted great!

The next day we always set up for Christmas. This year Kaymin and Kameni decorated the whole entire tree by themselves, including putting on the lights. Blake and I were both working and they didn't want to wait for us so they didn't it themselves. I was so happy and it turned out great! I am loving them getting older. It sure helps me out a ton.

4th Grade Thanksgiving Party

Kaymin's 4th grade Thanksgiving party was on November 19th. I was called to see if I would come up with the game. Fremont football team was playing in the finals so a lot of parents were unable to help out. My wonderful mom came with me to help and I appreciated her so much. I decided to do 4 different A Minute to Win It games. I think the kids had fun. They were really noisy and usually kids don't really care what we do as long as they are having a "party". For once I actually remembered my camera, but forgot to take pictures...go figure!

Moving Stinks

So my best friend and next door neighbor, Sarah, moved the first of November. I have dreaded this moment FOREVER! I have loved her living right next door. She is the one that I would go to at 5:30am in the morning when I took Blake to the emergency room. She is the one that I would call when I needed to vent. Her daughter, Rylee and Kameni are best friends and would practically live at each other's houses. Sarah packed everything up herself and didn't need my help, so I took Rylee. Kameni was thrilled and Rylee is so easy to have over. I don't even know she is here. Well, now that Sarah is gone...I feel so lonely. But, I have to say that the new neighbors seem super nice. Maybe I can find me another walking buddy. Here's to hoping!

Update on the Girls

Yesterday the girls finally went back to school. They were out for 7 days. I think it was good. They got plenty of rest and were pretty much back to themselves by then. Kameni really struggled and wouldn't eat. Finally when she felt like it, she wanted jerky. Here I bought a million Popsicles and she wanted jerky. Whatever...I was so happy she was eating something...anything. Kameni wouldn't eat or drink so I had to basically force water down her just so I wouldn't have to take her back to the hospital. She sure would get mad at me, but I really didn't care. I just wanted her feeling better.

The kids had parent teacher conference on Wednesday. All of the kids are doing really well. In fact their teachers all told me that they are above average. Maybe they tell that to all of the parents. Anyhow, I was very proud of my kids. Kameni went and wasn't doing too well. Their scabs still hadn't fallen off so I decided to just keep them home for the rest of the week. I was worried about Kaymin's teacher since they have tests every Friday. However, her teacher has to be the best teacher so far Kaymin has had. She just told me to not worry about it. Since Kaymin is doing so well, she needs to focus on getting better and not about getting caught up. She told me that Kaymin would just start on Monday and not worry about anything she missed. Oh how I appreciate and love her so much for that comment. So for now the girls will go back to school on Monday.

Girls Get Their Tonsils Out

On Thursday, November 4 Kaymin and Kameni got their tonsils out. This has been a long time coming. We have money in our flexible spending account and we will lose if we don't spend it. This is the first year in 5 years that we haven't had a surgery. Anyway, I took them in to our ENT and he wouldn't take Kaymin's out since she hasn't had strep throat 3 times in one year and he told me he would take Kameni's out when she had her 3rd set of tubes. At the last minute he decided against it since she didn't snore really loud. Well, here we are 1 year later and she is still getting ear infections. Kaymin has had strep throat twice this year and tonsilitis 3 times. I finally decided to get a second opinion and took them to another ENT. I went in ready to fight, but he was WONDERFUL. He looked down Kaymin's throat and told me that she should have had them taken out a long time ago. He then turned to Kameni and told me that any child that has had 3 sets of tubes, should have their tonsils removed regardless. He then preceded to tell me that he throws the textbook out the window and uses his knowledge of 30 years experience to say that my girls need their tonsils out. I was SO happy. I felt such a relief that someone would actually listen to me. He explained everything in detail and we set up a surgery date. We had to be at Ogden Regional Hospital at 8am. My mom came with me and Blake stayed home with Gerrit so he could work from home. We were suppose to go in for surgery at 9am, but there was a child ahead of us that went in for tubes and our doctor ended up having to rebuild his whole inner ear. So the 30 minute procedure took over 3 hours. Finally at 11:30am Kameni went in. Kaymin was SO nervous and Kameni just wanted to get it over with. Once they took Kameni, Kaymin's butterflies went crazy. After about 30-45 minutes they came back for Kaymin and the doctor came in and told me that everything went great for Kameni. He said that her tonsils were larger than he anticipated and that as he was getting ready to cut them out, her left tonsil just fell out. He told me that I was really lucky to have brought her in when I did. We then went down to Pediatrics to wait for Kameni to come out and into recovery. The rooms in the Pediatrics were right by each other. I wished they could have been in the same room (shoot...I should have taken a picture of that...bummer), but they didn't have a room large enough to hold both of them. Blake called and said that he had a meeting in SLC and needed to leave by 12:30pm so my mom left right when Kameni was wheeled back to her room and headed to my house to watch the boys. I thought I would be alright but it was pretty tricky taking care of both girls in different rooms. Lucky for me there was this hospital executive that was shadowing us. I thought at first she wanted to sit in on the operation, but she wanted to observe the care and hospitality I was receiving. I was really glad she was there even though it was kind of crazy having a lady with you for 8 hours that you really don't know. But once we were in the Peds area, the alarm sounded twice and the doors on the room would close and we would be in lock down. Once we were in separate rooms (each of us with one of the girls) and the second time we were both in the same room. Luckily we were in Kameni's room. Kaymin didn't even realize what was going on. But Kameni came out and was willing to drink her apple juice. She did really well and you couldn't hardly tell she had just came out of surgery. When Kaymin's surgery was done the doctor came back to talk to me and told me that Kaymin did really well and her tonsils were huge and full of gunk. Again he told me that I was lucky to have brought both of them in to get them taken out because they really needed to come out. When Kaymin was wheeled back she began to cry and have coughing spasms. She was saying she couldn't breathe and something was caught in her throat. She was coughing up mucus and blood. The nurses were trying to calm her down, but she really had a hard time. They ended up giving her some Loratab to settle her down and it really worked. She was able to drink some apple juice but just wasn't doing as great as Kameni. Once Kameni was discharged she ran into Kaymin's room and climbed in bed with her. It was wonderful to have both girls together. Since I was there so long, the nurse ordered lunch for me. I got to choose what I wanted from their menu had chose steak, with red potatoes and carrots. It was delicious. After observing them for 2 hours, we were free to go home. The hospital spoiled the girls. They each got a teddy bear, a patient doll to color her face, a princess crown, a wand, two rubber princess ducks, a princess trick-or-treat bucket, a princess PEZ dispenser, and fruit snacks. SPOILED!!! Not to mention that grandparents gave them wood stuff to paint and paint books. We got home around 4pm and I ran to Wal-mart to get their prescriptions filled. Kaymin ran in the door and threw up. The doctor did tell me that with tonsils they usually throw up twice. I set my alarm that night and got up at 1:30am to give them more Loratab so they could sleep. The next morning Kameni woke up with a fever of 101 and didn't want to eat or drink. Kaymin looked SO much better than the day before and she was been really good and eating and drinking. She wanted Top Ramen for lunch and ate the whole package. She was been drinking quite a bit of Gatorade. Kameni wanted Macaroni and Cheese for lunch and ate one bite and started to cry. She has been drinking water and apple juice...not very good, but I have been mean and making her. The girls have been laying down in my bed watching movies and relaxing, just the way they should so they can get better. So many wonderful friends and family have come over to see them and have brought them things to do or eat. What a bunch of spoiled girls, but they definitely deserve it.

Today, Kameni is throwing up and not drinking or eating yet again. I made her drink water AGAIN. She threw up shortly after and got really mad at me and told me that she threw up because I gave her toilet water. I swear...where does this girl come up with these things? Again, I have been making her and one day I hope she realizes it is for her own good. Kaymin is looking great and is doing really well. I am so happy to have it behind me and can't wait until they are feeling back to normal. It has been wonderful for me to have to stay home and take care of them. I am actually finally able to get some stuff around here done and I am so glad that the hard part is over.

Halloween

Halloween was cold and wet this year...kind of a bummer! Deep down I was actually hoping we would get rained out, but I remember Halloween as a kid and how upset I would have been. However, the weather cooperated and we went out when it was still sprinkling. It was fun to have Blake with us. We left our candy on our porch and ventured around the block. By the time we got about 1/4 of the way around, the rain stopped. The kids got a ton and I can't imagine if they got anymore. It sure was a TON of fun. I ended up buying 180 Airheads and had 7 left over when we finally turned out lights out at 8pm. I figured I had better turn them off when a little old Hispanic lady about 60 years old showed up dressed up like a princess and was trick-or-treating. This year Kaymin is still a Vampire (wouldn't wear her Sharpay costume I bought for her), Deilen was Spiderman AGAIN (wouldn't wear his mummy costume), Kameni was a Pixie, and Gerrit was a giraffe. You really can't tell what they are with their coats on.

Another Halloween Party

On Thursday, we headed to my parent's house for their Halloween party. Of course I forgot my camera. We brought pumpkins we grew in our garden so the kids could carve them. This is my kid's favorite part. Kaymin did hers all by herself, but Blake and I had to help Kameni and Deilen. We sure had a lot of fun.

Blake's Family Halloween Party

The next day after our vacation, Carla had her annual Halloween party. I only took this picture. How lame am I? The kids had a ton of fun and could hardly wait to do the donuts on a string. Kameni won by default. She took like two bites out of her doughnut and waited for everyone elses to fall off of the string. She was so excited she won.

Our Trip To the Parks

Over UEA, we had a great idea. We decided to take off and go on a little vacation to Goblin Valley State Park, Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Blake and I have never been, but we have always wanted to. We decided this on the Sunday before (Oct. 10th) and so when I tried to book a hotel room in Moab, everything for our size of family was full. So we ended up staying in Green River, Utah at the Comfort Inn, which turned out to be a good idea. I got a GPS for my birthday and decided to put it to the test. How wonderful it is to travel without a big atlas and trying to find the roads and all of that stuff. The GPS does it for you...a wonderful invention. We left early Thursday morning and drove to Goblin Valley. We got there around lunch time and had lunch and then went exploring. The kids loved climbing on the goblins and hiding in the rocks. The rock formations are so amazing. After hanging out there for a few hours, we took off and went to our hotel. The important thing about the hotel was that it had to have an indoor pool. Once we checked in, we got a bite to eat at a small cafe across the street. We made Deilen eat his salad and he has this thing about shoving all of it in at once and letting it sit there in his cheeks. We told him he had to swallow it and in the process he threw up all over his plate. Blake and I could have died we were so embarrassed. So headed back to the hotel pool and hot tub for me, for the rest of the night. We had to pay extra for a "crib" for Gerrit in order to fit in our room. The "crib" ended up being a playpen which I already have, but oh well...it worked. We had to two Queen beds. Blake and I slept in one and the other 3 kids slept in the other. Gerrit did really well in his "crib" because I think he was caged. I was really nervous being in a hotel and all, but he would wake up and wouldn't be able to walk around so he would lay back down and go to sleep. Our hotel also had free breakfast, which was also a plus. After breakfast we took off and went to Canyonlands. There are two parts that are accessible by car. One is the Needles and the other is Island in the Sky. I would dare say that Canyonlands was our favorite place. The things that you see there are absolutely amazing. At the Island in the Sky, I was a wreck. There you are over 6,000 feet in the sky looking downward and sometimes there wasn't any barricades or fences just warning signs. I kept having these flashes of my kids running around and falling over the edge. I was sick to my stomach the whole time. But I have to say, it was beautiful. The Needles is on ground level and it was really cool. We explored caves, a granary, and many other little hikes. During one of our hikes, we met a family from Colorado that our kids instantly became friends with. The wife was a Ranger for a National Forest in Colorado. Kameni kept begging to take a rock home and she leaned over and told me it was okay. A rock wasn't a big deal. So I decided to let her take this one particular rock she was begging for. The next day Blake looked at the rock and showed it to me. The rock that Kameni took home is a piece of flint. I can't believe it! She said she loved it because it looks like a whistle. Well, that sure wasn't any ordinary rock. That night we got in late and I promised the kids I would take them swimming again. So we swam until the pool closed and went straight to bed . On Saturday after breakfast we checked out and took off for Arches. It was really beautiful and ended up being 80 degrees that day. I think everyone decided to go to Arches that day. It was packed, but very beautiful. We did all of the smaller hikes and our kids did SO good. Especially since we hiked our guts out the day before at Canyonlands. We were hiking about 10-13 miles per day. So our kids did really well. Our backpack broke at Canyonlands (not shocking since I ran over with the van before we left). So Gerrit walked or Blake or I carried him. He was really tired and cross there, but still enjoyed himself. Our kids favorite part was the Sand Dune Arch. It was a giant sandbox between two fins. It was nice and cool in there and everyone was hanging out in there. We buried Kaymin and Deilen in the sand and then Gerrit had to do it too. I was a little disappointed that you had to hike 2 1/2 miles to get to Delicate Arch. It was very tiny from the mile hike viewpoint, but now it will give us an excuse to go back. I really want to do that hike, but not until our kids are a little bit older. We spent the whole day there and didn't leave until around 6pm. Gerrit screamed at the top of his lungs for 3 1/2 hours of the ride home. I would have thought he would have slept the minute we buckled him in his car seat. The poor kid was so worn out, but nope...he was TOO tired to sleep. However, we all made it home safe and sound and had SO much fun. Now we just need to start taking these mini vacations more often. There is so much out there that I want to see and I can't wait. Zions and Bryces I believe are next.