It was nice to get back to regular chores. I mowed the lawn for the first time and cleaned up the house, while listening to fun music.

After playing with the kids and having lunch, we decided to go on a near spur of the moment adventure. My mom has a pass to Thanksgiving Point that was expiring this week. We drove down to visit the gardens and farm. The kids actually quite enjoyed the gardens, and were troopers with all the walking. The boys’ favorites were the  fishes, tulips, and waterfall.

We saw a nesting owl and geese. And the goose attacked us. There were signs up warning of the nesting geese, so we kept what we thought was  an appropriate distance, until a goose flew across the ponds, flapped at my mom, and pecked Curtis’s head. No one was hurt, but Curtis was pretty shaken up. They can now join Peter in “I’ve been attacked by a goose” club. (A goose charged and pecked Peter when he was two. He was also uninjured.)

Henry loved seeing all the animals at the farm, until he had the opportunity to ride a pony. That was a horrible idea, and he was literally shaking with fear. His pony ride lasted 30 seconds.

It was a very good day until the end. On our way home, the final kid got sick and ended our little adventure with an explosion of vomit. Dinner was too salty. We watched a show and put everyone to bed.

If you happen to be by Douglas Wyoming, stop by Ayres Natural Bridge. It was a great stop with the children. They had a playground to play at, and a mini hike up to the top of the bridge, and lots of fun throwing rocks into the stream.

We started out at my sisters, and I’m happy to be heading home. After the bridge, we stopped by another park in Casper and drove a lot. The kids (and parents) are getting a bit restless in the car. We are pit stopping at my older sister’s and tomorrow we will finally be home.

My sister lives in a beautiful place.

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I wasn’t sure what to expect going to the middle of Wyoming to a place I’ve never heard of, Glendo State Park. There was a fun playground where we played hide and seek, hikes to go on, Sandy Beach, and water to boat on. In the middle of the week in April, hardly anyone else was around.

We drove up to Martin’s Cove and Independence Rock today. I had an ancestor who trekked through there which made it extra special.

We climbed to the top of Independence Rock. I had to bribe Peter to get there, and he was terrified the entire time and made it down in tears. I quite enjoyed it though.

Now we are hanging out at my sisters. The cousins love playing, with six kids it is wild and fun.

Its vacation time. When you are going on vacation with kids, you never know quite what to expect. Or exactly what works to make the trip run smoothly. This trip, I filled one huge bag up with snacks, and each of the boys had their own toy and activity bag. It worked pretty well to keep them entertained during the driving.

But ultimately having a good trip is sometimes just luck. Today we made good time, the kids weren’t too whiny in the car, and our activities were fun. The only hiccup was this kid getting sick. Luckily, he felt much better after throwing up.

We drove straight through to the Utah Field House of Natural History in Vernal. It was a small but good museum. Our kids blazed through it.

We went out to the Quarry at Dinosaur National Monument, which they also enjoyed but went rather quickly through. I was still fascinated by the wall, listening to the ranger, and searching for things, but the kids were already on the way to the car ready to go.

Peter had his sights set on a the pool at the hotel we are staying at. And we got to the hotel and went to the small pool and he loved it. Kids like very simple things.

I had a rough day yesterday, and this morning I went on a walk pretty early in the morning. I don’t think I could stay sad talking a walk early in the morning. I love being outside and hearing the birds and thinking without anyone else around.

It was conference today. The great thing about technology is you can pause TV, go to soccer, and pick up conference right where we left off. Except we still were behind and need to catch up on a hour tomorrow.

I had a neat experience later, and conference is a great way to realize the spiritual nature of many experiences. I told the boys we had to pick up before we watched a movie. They went outside to play, and I cleaned it all up anyway. When they came back in, I pointed it out and said that because Mom cleaned up, they had to do something special for me. Peter offered me some of his money, which I responded I didn’t want. I told him I wanted them to listen to me and obey me without complaining. That was it. That is exactly what God wants of us as well.

In between conference and soccer we planted some bare root plants: one plum tree, two grapes, two hazelnut bushes, two honey berries, and four black cap raspberries. I’ve got four more fruit trees coming, which will be a good start in our yard. The chickens did a great job of clearing the land for us, the soil looked great, so I’m excited to get these plants growing and have fruit in my yard!