Our Weekend in St. George

We had planned on going to St. George in March before all the Spring breaks, but it was raining so we changed it to this past weekend. The weather was beautiful and we had such a nice time. This is backwards from our vacation and is really long, but I'm hoping to one day make a book from my blog, so it's kind of like my journal. Anyway... on to our vacation
This is a water park that was so much fun and was free! We stayed for almost 2 hours and had such a fun time! As you'll see in another post Morgan is showing off her flip flops again. :)
Doesn't Jackson look like he is getting so strong! Look at those muscles! He has been so proud of them lately, and eats a lot so they will get bigger like Daddy's. The other day he said to Brian, "Wow, Dad! You're muscles are HUGE!"
Our little cheeser. She was so funny on this trip. She didn't want to walk in the water until we put her flip flops on and then she was so busy walking around and exploring everything. She kept putting on everyones shoes and as soon as we got back from swimming she wanted her shoes on again. Brian thinks her husband will be in trouble if she likes shoes this much now. ;)
Jackson loved running through the fountain. He was so much fun to watch.

St. George Town Square

Before we left we wanted to take the kids to a water park. We found the perfect one on Main Street that was so much fun! We stopped at got the kids Wendy's and then ate & then swam. Hallie was so tired, but they all loved it.
Brian and I got yummy Cafe Rio food. While Brian ran in to get the food, Jackson said, I need to go potty... (the 3rd time since he went swimming.. I think the water made him need to go more) so I sent him in to Brian, but Brian couldn't help him because he was right in the middle of ordering, and Jackson wouldn't go by himself, so he came back out holding himself, and said "Mom, I need to go potty" I'm looking all around for somewhere he can go. A bush, a tree, something, I don't see anything, but people walking towards the restaurant. I thought I could just have him go by the car, but we were parked right in front of Cafe Rio and I didn't think the people wanted a view of a little boy going potty while they ate, plus I thought it might be against the law. ;) So after thinking fast, I realized we had just gotten waters from wendy's so I dumped out the water and held the cup for Jackson while he went, praying the whole time that he would't fill it up because then what would I do? Thankfully it was successful & thankfully there was a garbage nearby. ;)

Here's Brian enjoying his Cafe Rio...yum!
Me & my baby at the water park
Hallie was SOOO tired. I think she was thinking, "are you serious! Can't we just got home, so I can sleep." ;)

Breakfast & Swimming

They had a nice continnental (sp?) breakfast. This is Hallie's new way of smiling. This is how she says cheese for the camera. I love it!
Jackson was too busy eating fast so he could go and swim. :)
The kids by the pool ready for a morning swim.
Jackson posing for me before he jumped in. He is our little fish. He doesn't like the hot tub very much like the girls who just sit there and relax. Jackson likes to be a fish and swim in the pool the whole time.

St. George Continued

After the boat rides (next post) Brian gave me a tour of where he lived and went to church and school when he was 14 (his family lived in St. George for a year) it was neat going down memory lane with him. When we came back we ate and then went swimming... which was the kids favorite part. Don't you love Hallie's little oasis. She loved it but prefered being in the hot tub just like her sister.
Later that night we went to dinner and the Pizza Factory and it was DELICOUS!
Brian and the kids. We swam in the pool every day as much as the kids wanted to. I think Jackson would have lived in the pool if he could have.
While Hallie was supposed to be taking a nap Morgan and I went shopping. She was SO much fun to shop with! At the first store I saw some skirts I kind of liked and Morgan said, "Oh, I like those mom, I think you should get them." Then when we went in the store she said, "mom, look at this skirt, this is really cute. Do you like it?" (A nice bright orange and brown skirt with patterns all over the place) We then moved on to more kids stores. It's always fun buying clothes for kids instead of myself I think. Morgan saw the pink shirt she is wearing at one store and loved it because it had lace at the bottom of it. I told her she could wear it for school and she needed to have a shirt on under it. As soon as we got back to the hotel she put it one and modeled for about 10 minutes in front of the mirror... just looking at herself and smiling. ;) We went on to the children's place and they had all of their clothes for only $5.00 each so I got a couple of shirts for her for when school starts. I would show her a shirt and say "do you like this one?" her reply "yes, let's get it" and then she would pull of shirts that she liked. Now Morgan is at the stage that she loves Rainbows and bright colors, so of course EVERY shirt or shorts she showed me had all of the rainbow colors plus some in bright fun crazy patterns. I got a head ache just looking at them. :) I felt like I had taken a step back into my closet when I was 7 and 8 since they were the colors I wore back in the 80's and 90's I kindly told her no. ;) So then she found these flip flops and said "Mom, can I get them?" Now, before we left Brian said, "Morgan, just buy the things you need to get and not "want" to get." So when Morgan asked me I said, "well, we don't really need them, but..." She then tried them on and her eyes lit up almost as if she was Cinderella and the glass slippers fit. She said with big bright eyes, "MOM!!! THEY FIT ME!" I said, okay we can get them, and they have been on her little feet ever since. ;) She was so much fun to shop with! I think she would have gotten anything I let her. As we were walking at the outlets there was a cowboy store with cowboy hats outside. Morgan said, "oh, look at that hat, can I get it?" It was a nice HOT PINK cowgirl hat. Cute yes, but of course more money than I ever wanted to spend on a hat. We did very good with shopping. I didn't pay more than $7.00 on anything that we got, and we got some cute clothes & pants for her and a couple of things for Hallie and Jackson. This is why I LOVE having a little girl. ;)

St. George Continued

One of my favorite parts of going to St. George is taking the kids to the temple. I love how white it is especially with the red rocks in the background. It is beautiful! We walked around for a while & then when we were leaving we saw 2 tourist buses. Right when we looked up at the buses we saw more than 20 cameras at the window. Brian and I thought it was so funny! How wonderful for these people that they will go back home and have a beautiful picture of the temple with our family in front of it. :)One man was taking a picture, but trying to get a nice picture around a tree & fence. He seemed so excited & anxious to see the temple. I said, "It's beautiful isn't it!" No comment, in fact he didn't even look at me to acknowledge that I was speaking to him. So we kept walking with all the tourists walking our way. I said "Hi" to people as I looked for my next prey, and they all looked past me... did they not hear me? So then I see another man and I say, "Hi, Where are you from?" No comment he kept walking right past me as though I hadn't said anything. Then my brains kicked in and I thought, 'Oh, maybe they don't speak English!!!!" Then we saw the tour guide (who spoke English) and we asked where they were all from. He said they were from Germany and were taking a tour of the United States. He thought it would be nice if they stopped to see the St. George Temple. What a neat experience for them! We were so excited for them. The visitors center there is amazing & they have a copy of all of the Book of Mormons in all of the different languages. I thought of how neat it would be for these Germans who may have never heard of the Gospel and then they can walk in the visitors center and see a German copy of the Book of Mormon. It was such a neat experience.
Me & my cute kids in front of the temple. I love how Morgan is displaying her picture of the temple. ;)
After the temple we went and squirted each other on the bumper boats. Hallie was not to fond of Jackson and I squirtting her. :)
I steered while Jackson kept his hand on the squirter so we could squirt Daddy and the girls. It was a nice way to cool off on such a warm day.

Our Little Graduate!

Wow, our little baby is growing up! :) Today Morgan had her preschool graduation and she did such a good job singing all of her songs. She was so excited to show Brian and I the songs that she had learned. One day she came home and started singing, "Nobody likes me everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms" I got kind of mad at her and told I didn't like her singing those kind of songs (not knowing of course that they had learned a cute little song with actions from the preschool teachers) She went and threw herself on her bed and when I went to ask her what was wrong she said, " But my teachers taught it to me!!" ooops :) After seeing the song today though, it was really cute, especially watching her eat the gummy worm at the end. :)
She has grown up so much this past year and I am so excited to watch her get older. Well, excited, but a little sad too. She really is growing up! I feel that she is so ready for kindergarten and I'm excited for her to go in the fall. Yay for Morgan! She passed Pre School! :)
Morgan was so happy that Daddy made it a special point to come and watch her program. She even chose him for the chicken dance and Brian got to do the fun bird song & dance. He said afterwards he felt sick from turning around so much, but what a good sport. ;)
Here are Morgan's teachers Miss Karen & Miss Amy (mother & daughter) they did wonderful this year and I feel that Morgan learned a lot & had a good time. She is holding her little graduation diploma. What a cutie!
After the graduation program... can you tell she sang with all her heart. I don't remember the last time my kids took a nap. It was SOOO nice!
Yay for Morgan... on to Kindergarten!

Hallie-isms

Hallie is such a funny and cute little girl. The other day she discovered how yummy otterpops are and sat on the porch for about 30 minutes enjoy them. She would get so mad at me when I would take it away to cut it down. I couldn't find a hat that fit her and then I remembered I had this one of Morgans from last fall, so I put it on her and she looked adorable!!!
The other night I went into Hallie's room to kiss her goodnight and this was how she was sleeping. Now doesn't that look so comfortable! :)
Hallie has LOVED giving kisses lately and will give a kiss to everyone. Her kisses are usually nice and a little wet, but definatly SOO much better than a dogs kiss. :)
Now how could you EVER get mad at this little face? Yesterday at church Brian and I were trying to keep our children calm and reverent especially because it was a missionary homecoming and we really wanted to listen. (I think our kids are always an entertainment for those around us) :) The meeting was almost over and Hallie was sitting on Brian's lap and she kept butting her head into his chest. After she did it the 2nd time this is how it went...
Brian: "Hallie, don't do that anymore"
Hallie would look up smile, and butt him in the chest again.
Brian: (kind of sternly speaking) "Hallie, stop doing that"
Hallie would look up again with a sneaky look and do it again.
Brian: Hallie... No more!
Hallie then put her head down and curled into Brian's chest like she usally does when her feelings are hurt and then after a minute of sitting or should I say sulking, she looked up at Brian and said,
"No!"
Brian and I both started laughing as Hallie put her head down again. I can't belive it! She's only 15 months and she's already saying No? :) And she says Mama, Dada, and now Papa, and cat (ca) and dog (daw) but this was a perfect NO!! Too funny... for now anyway. ;)

I took Hallie outside the other day and showed her the ants and kept repeating it to her. Pretty soons she was saying "ant" as she watched them. My favorite part of the video is her kiss. :)