Saturday, October 16, 2010

Utah--Part 2, Little Sahara Sand Dunes

I have very fond memories of camping at the sand dunes as a kid.  The sand is the softest sand you will ever feel, I love sinking my toes in it; it is very different from beach sand.  I wanted Jason and the kids to experience this one-of-a-kind place so we decided to visit while we were in Utah.  We were just planning to drive down for the day but my studly brother, Martin, offered to bring his trailer so we could camp overnight.  He also brought his big sand toy, the RZR (pronounced Razor), which provided more fun than any of us imagined.  We were so happy to hang out with him and get to know his darling wife, Katie.  We were thrilled when Grandma, Grandpa, Mary and Morgan (my bro. and sis.) decided to join us as well.  We had a blast.  In my fond memories of the sand dunes, I had forgotten about the sand storms--wind blowing sand in every nook and cranny--but it was totally worth it!

This is Sand Mountain, it is much bigger than it looks in the picture.  It is usually loaded with 4 wheelers, jeeps, motorcycles, etc., but we happened to camp on a Monday right after school began so we were the only ones here--how awesome!   
Tanner loved this place.

Grandpa, Morgan, Martin, and Mary in the RZR. 
When we first arrived, Martin took me on a crazy night drive--I wasn't sure I would survive.  I was screaming and hanging on for dear life.  It was a thrill-ride that I was glad to experience but it left me in no hurry to experience it again. :) I let the kids have all the thrills after that.


Tanner and Morgan getting ready for a drive.  Morgan took the RZR for a drive on his own at some point during the trip and didn't return in a timely fashion.  Martin went to look for him and discovered the RZR  lying on it's side, Morgan had rolled it (he was secretly excited about this I'm sure).  Thankfully, my kids were not in the vehicle at the time.  The harnesses kept Morgan safe.  Everything was fine but you see why I was scared for my life.


Catching some air as they went over the dunes, I'm glad it was them and not me!

Morgan brought sleds, hoping the kids could sled down the dunes but it didn't really work.  The sleds kept getting stuck.


Martin tried pulling Tanner around with ropes but found it to be exhausting...

So, he came up with the brilliant plan of hooking the ropes to the back of the RZR.

It was a huge hit, even with the wipe-outs!

Happy kiddos.

Who needs the beach?

This is a picture of our campsite taken from the top of Sand Mountain.  It's pretty hard to see us, we're the small speck of white.

All 3 kiddos on the dunes.

Kayla & Tanner coming out of Martin's trailer.  Kayla has always wanted to sleep in a big trailer like this, she was more excited about sleeping in the trailer than she was about going to the sand dunes. :) 

We all piled in the trailer for lunch to get out of the sand storm.  Thank goodness there was plenty of room.

Tanner chillin' in the trailer with Pepe.

Martin, Katie, and Harley--what a cute family.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

My Birthday

I may eventually get around to posting parts 2 -10 of our Utah trip, and I may eventually write about Hunter's birthday, and I may one day write about all the other things swirling in my mind; but for now, I only have a few minutes, so I'll just write about myself. :)  I turned 35 yesterday, hard to believe.  I remember when I was in high school and I thought 23 was ancient, look at me now!  I don't mind it though, life is beautiful.  My birthday started with my kiddies coming in my room and forbidding me to leave it.  They came back quite some time later singing "Happy Birthday" and carrying a tray full of a yummy breakfast--eggs, bacon, and oatmeal, plus homemade gifts (check out the coupons I received below).  Having your children grow up can be a bit sad but there are some really wonderful side benefits! :)  Oma and Grandpa watched the kids at night so Jason and I could go out to a snazzy restaurant, followed by some grand shopping at Wal-mart!  I love going on dates and we don't do it often enough, I guess that makes it extra special when we do go.  After our date, we picked up the kiddies and came home to watch our new favorite family show, "Lark Rise to Candleford."  We had slushie drinks AND brownie sundaes; massive amounts of junk food is okay on your birthday, right?  It was a wonderful day, I love birthdays!

I SHOULD take pictures of the cute coupon book Kayla made for me but that would take too long so I'm just going to share the coupons for now and take a picture later.

  • FREE 10-minute foot rub
  • FREE hair-do for half an episode of Lark Rise to Candleford
  • Babysit 3-4 year old for an hour (when mom is home of course)
  • Make your bed
  • FREE 20-minutes at Kayla's Hair Salon (Can you tell I like to have Kayla play with my hair?)
  • FREE lunch made for you
  • Quiet time for an hour (Oh yeah!)
Bring on the pampering!