Happy April Fools day! The three older kids each asked me separately if I was going to the Jell-o trick this year. "You do it every year," they said. I've done it once and certainly not in the last few years. James is the only one that got tricked because he was the only one that hadn't heard of it. "James, do you want some kool-aid?" And as soon as I started to pour, he saw that it wasn't punch but Jell-o. He was kind of mad because He would have rather had kool-aid.
Erica, on the otherhand, loves Jell-o. For some reason they really leaned into the joke and slurped it out of a cup each time.
The next day general conference began. We used our conference bingo cards to average success. The kids stay super quiet listening for words the speakers use but after the first session the novelty wore off. Even with a prize for each bingo they get, they would rather just eat the candy and go play. *Note to self: Buy non-rollie candy for next year.
We also got cinnamon rolls from Shirley's bakery which are my favoritest cinnamon rolls.
Between sessions we worked on the new swingset. The kids pretended the slide was a rowboat.
We got the swing set assembled the day before but we had to dig the holes for the concrete footings. I mostly watched.
Erica and Henry mostly played gophers.
Then after the next session we stirred up the concrete and set the swing set in. The kids tried to put handprints on the concrete but it was pretty gravelly and didn't show up.
Sunday the kids kind of gave up on bingo but sometimes there were quiet moments.
Behind the couch the puzzlers got to puzzling.
Monday morning I went for a walk and walked past this ginormous house with an airplane in the yard. Rumor is it's for their grandchildren to play in.
The farther east you go in Mapleton, the bigger the houses get and the nicer the views.
When I got back from my walk, Sarah and I installed the slide on the swing set which made it complete. The kids played with friends the rest of the day while I nursed my sore back (I did something weird trying to pull out the concrete stakes and was hurting pretty bad the rest of the week. Just love getting older.)
Tuesday everyone threw up.
Well just Sarah and Henry. Erica was running a fever and felt nauseated but never barfed. The weather was terrible this day too so no big loss.
Wednesday the throw ups were over but we took it nice and easy and Justin bought a new truck!
Thursday we went to Goblin Valley
The park was at capacity which meant there was a line of cars to get in at the gate and they'd only let a car through when a car came out. I wasn't surprised, since nearly the entire state has spring break at the same time. We ate lunch once we got to the parking lot and then we headed out on a hike to Goblin's Lair.
I am so glad it was like in the 50s and not any hotter. You walk in the sun and desert for over a mile before you get to this.
The opening to the cave (or lair) was pretty spectacular. This is as far as most of us went.
James slide from the rock to Justin's left and fell and hit his head pretty bad and landed in a crevice. I hadn't come around the bend yet and Justin was far below. It was kind of a bad parenting moment for both of us, losing track of where the littlest was. Here Justin is tending to his wounds.
Justin and Henry continued down to the bottom of the cave but the rest of us didn't. James was crying and my back still hurt pretty bad from earlier in the week. The girls got freaked out by James's tumble too and didn't dare risk it on their own since I was holding crying James.
By the time we worked our way back down he had stopped crying and his wounds didn't look so bad. He was pretty cautious and clingy the way back of course.
We made it back to the car for a drink and a snack and then we went to play with the goblins.
The kids played hide and seek forever.
We didn't get too far in this area because they found a grouping of hoodoos that they played in but since it's all the same, I didn't feel like we missed out on anything. (Don't tell me if I'm wrong and we missed out on some amazing unique feature.)
We stopped for dinner in Price and then got home just in time to unload the car and get the kids into bed. We were dirty and tired but the good kind of tired. James tells everyone he hates Goblin Valley except for playing hide and seek in the hoodoos.
Friday Justin had to work so the kids played with friends again and visited my mom and played on the swing set some more.
I saw these deer on a walk so I sent this photo to Justin because he loves spotting deer. Mapleton is so pretty but it seems like developers are determined to put a house on every open spot, dang it.
Saturday Justin sold his old truck and the guys paid in cash. Some hundreds but there is a ridiculous amount of 20s and 10s and 5s in this stack that make it ridiculously big. Oh plus 60 cents in change.
That evening Justin and I drove all the way to Provo to eat at Burgers Supreme because I was craving my favorite fries and fry sauce. It was such a splurge to drive 10.5 miles with gas prices as they are.
