Fall Break

For fall break we had talked about going to Yellowstone. But there was supposed to be a snowstorm up there, and we weren't sure if the government shutdown would be over, so we decided to stay a little closer to home. We spent one night in downtown Salt Lake.

We visited Clark Planetarium, where there was lots more to see than we had expected.

We rode on Trax, which was a definite hightlight for Chase!

The next evening we visited Lagoon.  We were hoping that since it was open only from 5 to 10 that it wouldn't be too crowded.  There were tons of people there, but we didn't have to wait in any long lines, so it must not have been nearly as crowded as our previous trips.

We split up so one of us could go with Ethan and Julia on the big rides, while the other went with Chase on the small rides.  The kids had tons of fun!

Fall in the canyon

We were able to squeeze in a couple of hikes this fall.  The first was when we drove the Alpine loop (during the government shutdown, but the road was still open).  It was gorgeous up there!

We didn't hike far, but went a little way up the trail and decided it was too muddy pretty quickly.

The second hike was to Battlecreek Falls in Pleasant Grove.  We had never done this hike, but it was a pretty short hike and the waterfall at the end was gorgeous!

Aren't the mountains beautiful in the fall?!

Halloween 2013

I was going to do a big catch-up post with all of pictures from this summer, but then my purse was stolen with my camera inside and I lost all my pictures-- everything from last spring through the entire summer. Definitely the worst thing that I lost from my purse!! I still plan on catching up, but it will have to be from this fall and on, unfortunately.

This Halloween Chase had planned on being a pirate.  He wore his costume nearly every day with anticipation for the day to come.

But when the day finally came for him to dress up, he decided to dress up as a cowboy instead.  (For both our ward trunk or treat and Halloween night.)

(And for the record, Ethan was Batman and Julia was a screwdriver.  But they wouldn't stick around long enough for me to get a picture.)

Chase had been practicing trick-or-treating every day, and would accept the same candy over and over from us.  When the time came to actually go trick-or-treating he was SO excited!  He would go marching right up to the door and after receiving his treat he would try to strike up a conversation with the people at the door.  "What kinds of decorations are these?" or "Your house is really spooky," were heard several times that night.

He went trick-or-treating with his cousin, Daphne, and he didn't want to stop.  I'm sure she would have been happy to stop much earlier, but Chase wanted to keep going.

Earlier in the month I took him to a farm with a preschool group from our neighborhood.

He loved petting all of the animals, even though he wouldn't leave my side because it still made him a bit nervous.

And he was really brave and went down this big slide all by himself.  The second time he made me go with him though.

One of his favorite things was climbing up on top of the bales of hay and jumping into a soft area.

He was NOT happy when I made go, but we were the last ones to leave.

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Spring Break at Disney

This year for Spring Break we decided to do something we've never done before. We drove to California and took the kids to Disneyland. We've taken them to Disneyworld several times, but never Disneyland. And this is the first time we have bought park hopper tickets; we ended up with 5 day tickets because it was not much more than the three and four day park hopper. If we did it again I think I'd want to do the park every other day, it was exhausting! But everyone did fall asleep without any trouble each night!

Our couple of days in California we enjoyed the hotel pool, and had a great time visiting the beach too.

And then started the days at Disney.  The first ride we went on at the park was the Monsters Inc ride, and it ended up being Chase's favorite.

One of the few pictures of the whole family!

The Cars ride was of course another favorites, as was Buzz Lightyear.  

We were at Disney the day of Chase's birthday, so he got to wear his birthday shirt to the park.  Chase took a great nap each day in the stroller, and was pretty good at the parks, though waiting in line was understandably not his favorite.

We enjoyed a Dole whip and and Dole float on a hot afternoon, it was our first time trying them!

Julia really wanted to do this canoe ride, so we all gave it a try, even Chase.  It ended up being fun, but taking Chase proved to be a little risky!

We went to the beach in the middle of the week, Chase had so much fun!  We also tried out a fun diner at the end of the pier in Oceanside called Ruby's.  Toward the end of the meal we got to see dolphins jumping out of the water-- so cool!  (I wish we had gotten pictures!)

That night we headed back to Disney and got to see Cars Land at night.  Chase loved seeing Lightning McQueen driving down the street!

The next day we started extra early, and managed to get lots of rides done before the park got too crowded.

Julia wasn't too sure about the giant ferris wheel at California Adventure, but Chase loved it!

Chase was in heaven our last day there because he got to meet Sully from Monsters Inc, and do the Monsters Inc ride 5 times in a row.  He LOVED it!!

Watching a parade our last day there

And we ended the day in toon town where Chase got to play in Goofy's playhouse and do a kid roller coaster.  He loved both!

Chase asks to go back to Disneyland at least a few times a week. I guess we'll be going back again sometime!