Little trip south to Grand Staircase Monument and beyond

We spent the last weekend of May down in Lyman, and on Saturday we went for a drive south on scenic hwy 12. Heath had never been that way down south so we were excited for him to see it.

Heath really wanted to find some Indian artifacts so my dad showed us a spot south of Boulder where we might find some.

We searched and searched for some arrowheads and we found this incredible spot where some old boy sat on this very rock with his flint and tools and knapped some arrowheads. Of course he took the finished product with him, but left a huge pile of knapped flint and chert shavings. 

My mom had recently had foot surgery, so as we all wandered around, she just soaked up the rays and rested her foot.

Just south of Calf Creek Falls, we stopped at a favorite spot under the bridge for our picnic lunch. Nothing better than a sandwich in the sand.

"At the river a bee got stuck in my foot. It hurt very bad. Me and Kelsey found tadpoles!" -Emmitt

"My favorite part was playing in the water. I loved it. I liked playing in the sand. I liked when the water was cold." -Kenna

"Everyone played in the water. We made dams and the sand was so squishy. We walked in the water.The rocks hurt really badly. My feet kept on hurting from the rocks." -Kendal

"My favorite part of the day was catching little minnow things in the river underneath the bridge. We spent hours in the water and ate sandy sandwiches and got sand all over our socks but it was a blast." - Kelsey

After our sandwich, we walked up to a place called '100 Hands.' Very cool. They are handprints left 1000 years ago by the Anasazi. 

After we played in the sand and sun for a while, we headed into Escalante for an ice cream cone. Kelsey thinks this picture of my dad is horribly awful and funny. lol

We did a quick stop at the visitors center for Hole in Rock. We didn't go all the way down to it, just read a little bit about it here. We were mostly just enjoying the fabulous weather.

My mom takes some crazy photos. These are a few of them.

Kelsey is so tan from doing track all spring. I should be more tan from doing yard work all spring!!

May 22, 2017

Kendal's birthday was on a Monday, so she woke up at Matt's and came home from school to 12 balloons and a smile on her face. We had a fun afternoon celebrating her special day.

"It was amazing we all had so much fun. I was very excited that it was my birthday." - Kendal

"Every year we take a birthday picture. We all have a fun time with presents." - Kendal

"Lots of pictures fun pictures,funny picture, many pictures. I love my family members so very much more than almost anything." - Kendal

On May 23rd, Kendal had her last orchestra concert for the year. It's been amazing to see what a great violinist she has become in just one school year. She loves music and is so good at it.

This is Kendal and Lydia Jones.

"On May 23rd I had a orchestra concert was very fun. I love concerts very much." - Kendal

Heath gets gansta at McKenzie's dance recital

"I had a fun time dancing at the nest at Wasatch High school in front of a lot of people! My dad even got to dance in front of the audience. I danced to two songs "show stopper" and "gold digger." I got to dance with a whole lot of other girls. And my dad got to dance with some other dads. At Intensity Dance Team (aka) IDT, we have a dads dance and a moms dance. This year was the dads turn to dance with their daughters. It was so much fun. I had a great time dancing in the nest!" - McKenzie

There's only ONE Lagoon!

McKenzie's dance company, Intensity Dance Team, had a competition at Lagoon in May. We didn't have all the kids with us unfortunately but the 5 of us plus Madelyn had a fun fun day. 

Morgan and McKenzie got very very brave and went on so many new rides. 

I had a really fun time at Lagoon! I went with my Dad, Rachel, Kelsey, her friend, and my brother. It was my first time going on Colossus it was fun! Before we went on all of these fun rides I had a dance competition! I got first place. I loved dancing there. I hope I get to do this next year! 

The weather was perfect and we stayed until the park closed. A late late late dinner at IHOP and it was a jam packed day. We were worn out.

Snake Creek Lookout

On Mother's Day, I took the Crane kids up Snake Creek to the lookout and we made some silly Mother's Day videos to send to the grandmas. They were hilarious.

Kelsey also had to take some photos for her film photography class at school. She really enjoys that class and has a great eye for beauty. 

Huber Grove with the girls

On May 13th, McKenzie, Kendal, and I went for a mommy-daughter hike and picnic for activity days. It was a beautiful time.

This is  Huber Grove in midway. We started our walk at the Wasatch mountain state park. Me, my mom, and my sister went on a walk, with some of my 

friends. I had a fun time. We ate lunch there and also played in the water. We took pictures there and we saw some ducks. on the way back me and my sister and one of my friends thought we saw a snake in the bushes, all three of us screamed and ran to our other Friends and their parents.  When we got back to the park i saw my cousins and got confused.  - Kendal

Our trip to Huber Grove was really fun! We went on a mother daughter hike with Heber 9th Ward. We walked two miles. We started at the visitor center, and stopped at Huber Grove to have a picnic. During our picnic we talked and laughed and ate our lunch. Then we saw bunny's! They were so cute. Then my sister found a tree, and it was a big tree. So she decided to climb it. That didn't work out so well, she started to climb and she slipped, and scraped her belly and started to cry. Right after she slipped we took pictures and she was still crying. I felt bad for her. Then we took a couple more pictures then we went back to our cars. When we were back to our cars we where all tired. Then we went home! - McKenzie