Plant and Flower Week at the Tulip Festival

 Every year our family treks out to Thanksgiving Point and goes to the Tulip Festival at the end of April.  I always try to plan it so we go the week we are learning about plants and flowers...it is a great way for the kids to see up close and enjoy all the things we have been learning about all week long.    

We went last night and had a fantastic time!  You never know what kind of weather you will have in April, so we were thrilled we just needed warm jackets and that SO many beautiful flowers were in bloom.

The first thing we do when we get there?  I always make my kids take a picture at the top of this beautiful hill :)

I bet you can guess what they always do next....;)

Then comes the fun of walking back UP the huge hill :)

Once we are done with the hill we are off to explore all the beautiful flowers and gardens.

Isn't it such a gorgeous place??

These two cuties were there too...they just were lucky enough to have daddy push them around the whole time!

We had a great time enjoying the beauty of Thanksgiving Point, and picking out which were our FAVORITE tulips!  These pretty pink ones were mine...

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!

Our Summer Schedule!

 Now that we are more than 1/3 of the way through summer, I thought I would share our summer schedule that we are absolutely LOVING!!

It took me a while to figure out what would work for our family.  I wanted a schedule that would add a little bit of structure to our summer, but also needed something that would allow us to enjoy one of the best perks of summer...freedom!!  I love that we aren't tied to anything, but we also need to get out of the house...and my kids THRIVE on consistency and routine.  This has proved to be perfect for our family!

All we have done is have a theme for each weekday.  Every week the activities are different, but they go along with the daily theme.

First up:

Monday is our project day.  This is a project that I need to get done, that the kids help with.  So far we have cleaned out the playroom, put 72-hour kits together, weeded the front yard, etc.  It is a great way to get things done that I need to get done, and help teach my kids that as fun as summer is...there is work to be done too!

 Every Tuesday we go to our library for story time and then check out books for the next week.  It works out perfectly because we can choose books that go with whatever we are learning about that week...and going every Tuesday means no more late fees for me ;)

Every Wednesday we make sure to go SOMEWHERE outside.  It's worked out that we have a neighborhood playgroup every Wednesday, so we are always at a park, splash pad, or swimming.  It's great to ensure that we get out of the house and the kids get to play with their friends!

Thursday is probably our favorite day of the week.  This is the day we go on a field trip!  Some weeks we go places to learn more about the theme of the week (like the Olympic Park, Dinosaur Museum, or Planetarium) and some weeks we just go somewhere that sounds like fun to us!  The point is, we go on an adventure together as a family, my kids absolutely LOVE it!

Finally Friday is our baking day.  We have lots of fun whipping up a yummy treat or snack and the kids love being in the kitchen with me.  

So that's our Summer Schedule...what do you think?!  I love that it gives us a bit of routine, without the rigidity of the school year.  Its been a great way to ensure we do lots of fun things and don't let summer pass us by, without overwhelming me and leaving my kids bored and whiny ;)

I would love to hear...do YOU have a Summer Schedule that you love?!

Linking up HERE :)

Our long weekend of fun in the sun!!

 We just returned from a FANTASTIC weekend of fun in the sun!!

We visited with my awesome family in St. George, Utah and had a blast :)

We spent most of the time in our swimsuits, and I am thrilled to say my little scaredy-cats warmed up to the water by the end of the weekend.  Well...not Kendall...but the other ones did! :)

Air Paul!! ;)

Britton finally got brave enough to jump off the rock with daddy...by our last day he was begging to jump again and again!

Besides swimming we had a great time boating, and all the kids loved going tubing.  I wish I would have gotten pictures but I had my hands full with Avrie :)

Our last day we ventured out to Zion's National Park to do some light hiking :)  I could not believe how absolutely gorgeous it was!

We got there at probably the hottest time of the day, but we still had a great time.  The kids loved throwing rocks into the river and snacking on yummy watermelon.

I loved the beautiful scenery and hanging out with my family.  Isn't my mom just the cutest?!

We had such a fantastic time and are SO grateful to have such wonderful family that we love dearly!  Stay tuned this week for some fun SUN-themed activities to do with your kids and maybe even a project or two ;)

Flower Week continues...the Tulip Festival!

Hey everyone!  Long time no blog! :)

Maybe that half-marathon took more out of me than I expected :)   

This week we are continuing learning ALL about flowers and there is NO better place to do that than at a local Tulip Festival!  It has become one of our families favorite traditions...and this year was no dissapointment.  The flowers were all in full bloom and we had a wonderful evening together.  Here are some of the highlights...

First things first...the kids HAVE to roll down the big hill, of course! :)

Then mom has to attempt a good shot with tulips in the background...when will I learn?!  My babies DON'T do grass!

These were my favorite flowers of the night.  I wish I was a better photographer to do them justice, but you still get the idea :)

It really was one of those rare, perfect family nights.  The kids had a blast, the weather was beautiful and we enjoyed our Heavenly Father's beautiful creations. 

Come back tomorrow if you want to see some projects we attempted last week that didn't QUITE turn out as we had planned (surely I am not the only one this happens to...right?!)

Secret Message Easter Eggs!

Hello everybody!! :)

Tonight we did the classic easter egg dying...and it was a blast! Thanks to Pinterest I found THIS great idea to make your own dye using ONLY Kool-Aid and water.

It is easy, cheap, smells GREAT, and the kids loved it! The eggs dye much quicker too, I will never use vinegar again :)

As you can see from these cute faces, the kids had a great time!

Paul and I decided to add a little bit of extra fun to our night at the last minute. After I had hard-boiled all the eggs I picked several out and with a white crayon wrote letters on individual eggs to make up a word.

I told the kids a special treat was waiting for them...but they had to put all the eggs with letters together to spell out the treat's hiding place! :)

The kids were SO excited each time they took an egg out of the Kool-Aid and saw a letter! You could do a million different things with this...it just added a little bit more fun and excitement to an already great family activity.

I was so mad I forgot to get a picture of the treat! BUT...I do have the printable for you if you want to make it for yourself :) All I did was have Paul pick up some powdered sugar donut holes and put them in a bag with this cute tag attached.

Such a fun night! So fun in fact there MAY have been lots of crying when it ended. And I might have had to promise the kids we would do it again tomorrow night :)

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope it has been worth your time :) Have a great night!