One of our summer traditions is a vacation to Provo, Utah. This year we spent 10 days enjoying Utah’s incredible summer weather. It is absolutely gorgeous there in the summertime. We were there the first few days with just our family and then my sister Mindie and her family came to stay with us the remaining days. We enjoy this trip together and the kids love to have their cousin with them.
Here is a little recap of some of the fun things we did.
This was a first for us. We have been waiting until our littler ones could do this hike on their own. It is a pretty steep trail up to the “Y”. But we did it. The weather was a little warm at first but just as we were starting to second-guess ourselves an enormous rain cloud moved our direction covering the direct sun. It was so much better after that. I was very proud of our little kids for sticking it out and not giving up. Jaden who is the most physically fit in our family jogged most of the way up leaving us in the dust. He waited on the “Y” for us timing how much quicker he had gotten there. Once we had all made it to the top we sat and looked out over the city, pointing out different landmarks that were familiar to us. And that enormous rain cloud broke and it rained and rained. It felt sooo good. I love the warm summer rain. We were all so hot and that rain felt so good. All in all it was a good day.
One of the highlights for us while we are in Provo is visiting the Trapnell Family. They always treat us so good and we love seeing them. On Sunday they invited us over for dinner, homemade ice cream and of course a game of Settlers. There kids have grown so much and we wish we could see them more often. They have got to be some of the cutest kids on the planet. We were thrilled to hear that baby number 3 was on the way. We feel very lucky to have such great friends.
Later in the week we were able to go to our traditional dinner at Carabba’s together with no kids. We also had to make yet another stop at the Creamery. We just have a fun time with them. I haven’t laughed as much as I did with them in a long time. They are so fun and nice. We just Love them.
Jason and I have very fond memories of the skating rink. We both loved roller-skating while we were growing up and have many great memories together of that time. We thought it would be fun to take the kids to a roller skating rink while we were on our trip. It has been years since either of us has skated and Jaden is our only child who has ever skated. It was a funny experience. Troy was a natural and the girls could hardly get past laughing to really learn. They fell everywhere. But at least they laughed it off instead of crying. The neat thing about the rink we went to was they have 2 giant bounce houses in the middle of the rink. So when the kids had skated all they wanted they jumped in the bounce houses while Jason, Jaden and I skated. We had a blast and decided we need to skate more often. I was certainly rusty but was getter better by the end. Jaden and I had several races and he beat me every time. I don’t think he believed me that I was a very good and fast skater back in my day. I wish I could have raced him then.
We took the scenic route up the canyon and over to Park City. I hadn’t been there since I was a teen and Jason had never been. It is a cute quaint town. We enjoyed walking around and peeking in the fun shops. Of course the highlight was the rides down the Alpine Slide. It was just like I remembered. We had an absolute ball. Everyone LOVED it. We arrived in the late afternoon so we didn’t have a lot of time. Next time we will go earlier so we can spend most of the day there. There is a lot to do.
On our drive to Park City we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls. We also added that to our list to spend more time at. Next year we would like to hike to the top of the falls.
A stay in Provo would not be complete without a game of bowling at the Wilkinson Center. We always enjoy the trips there. We are not the best bowlers but we do have a fun time.
Another staple for us are the trips to the Creamery. We enjoy walking to the Creamery on 9th for the most delicious ice cream. We loose track of how many times we stop. We do walk when we go, so that helps right??
This hike has been the longest hike we have done. It has a 1,065 foot gain in elevation from the start of the trail to the end. It is also 3.5 miles long. Once we were at the top we went on the cave tour. That was incredible. I would highly recommend going. The caves are very cool and give you a chance to cool off while seeing some incredible formations. Everyone did a great job climbing the mountain and slept very well that night.
While we were in the American Fork Canyon we stopped for a picnic dinner at one of the picnic areas. The weather was so nice and the river came right along the site. The kids enjoyed putting their feet in the cold water and trying to skip rocks. It was a nice chance for Jason and I to sit back and relax while watching them play.
We saw a lot of movies while in Provo. The whole family went to the theater to see Toy Story 3 in 3D and also Despicable ME. They were both great movies. It was the first time the kids had watched a movie in 3D. They thought it was pretty cool. Me and Jason were also able to have a kids free date night and went to see Date Night. Then all the boys both big and little went to go see Iron Man 2.
Our favorite way to end the night is with a trip to one of the many great Utah parks. Just about every night we drive or walk to a park and let everyone finish getting their energy out. There are parks everywhere. The kids love to play on the playgrounds, roll down the grassy hills, play frisbee, throw around the football, play track ball and just run around. Jason and Jaden were also able to get in a few games of tennis. The park is always a perfect way to end the night.
This day concluded our picture taking. We accidentally got our camera wet and it broke. I was so sad. We keep it in a waterproof case so that we can have it with us when we want to take a picture. Well somehow the case came open while we were going down a ride and it was totally submerged in water. We had a great day otherwise.
The Sarah and Tyler Barlow family met up with us for the water park day. They were staying the night in Provo while on their way to Idaho for a family reunion.
This year was different for us. We were at the park from opening to closing. It was the first year that all of our kids could hang that long. And it was the first year that we allowed Jaden to go off on his own. He and Mackenzie Barlow paired up and went on every single water slide. Even the very scary straight down ones. He enjoyed the extra freedom and had a great time with Kenzie.
Cloey enjoyed another year of dance with Mrs. Lori. What a wonderful teacher she is. We have been so lucky to have her as Cloey’s teacher. A few days before the Big Show, Mrs. Lori had a brain aneurysm and was unable to attend the recital that she had worked soo hard on. Luckily Lori was able to get quick medical attention and has recovered remarkably well. She was very much missed at the show but was insistent that the show go on. Cloey enjoyed being on the big stage. She is usually very shy in those types of settings but is getting more and more comfortable. She is definitely our beautiful ballerina.
This has been a while ago. In May Jaden received his Arrow of Light, which is the highest Cub Scout achievement. We are very proud of him and his diligence in completing this goal. Jaden has really enjoyed his Cub Scout years. We feel very blessed and are grateful for the remarkable leaders that Jaden has had.
This was a fun short hike our family enjoyed. The whole thing is paved and so we learned that it would be a fun place to bring bicycles. It goes by a swamp area and occasionally when the wind is blowing you get some of that smell which isn’t very nice. It was a good place to let the kids run and get some energy out.
One of the things I love and appreciate about both of my girls in their IMAGINATION. They come up with the silliest, funniest, craziest, cutest, creative and some times weird stuff. They both know how to have a good time and make ordinary things become incredible things.
Lately they have been into writing plays. Their latest production was “The Princess Frog”.
These pictures are also of them pretending to be Indians, chanting for the rain to come one cloudy afternoon. Boy were they loud!
I guess time flies when your having fun. Here is a little overview of the month of April with the Mohler family
This past month our family did an overnighter at Valley of Fire with some of the other Mohler's a few Barlow’s and other family and friends. We love visiting Valley of Fire mostly because it is one of our kids’ favorite places. The rocks out there have like a sandpaper texture, which makes is very easy for them to climb and have their feet stick well. The kids really just climb rocks the.whole.time.. We had what turned into a big potluck for dinner and of course roasted marshmallows and sang around the campfire at night. It was a fun trip. I am glad we went again before the summer heat arrives.
I am not a big fan of play-dough probably because I have had to scrub it out of carpet one to many times. The idea of it is neat but I really do not like the mess it creates, at least not the mess that my kids seem to create with it. My little guys Troy just melts my heart and so when he asked and asked and asked me to please make him some play-dough and promised it would stay on the table I couldn’t say No!
Through most of my high school years I worked at Hot Dog on a Stick and I loved working there. It is such a bright, happy, upbeat place to work. I would very highly recommend it to any teenager. Anyhow on Tuesdays their hot dogs on a stick (they never refer to them as corndogs) are only a dollar. Every once in a while I like to go for old memories. The smell when I stand at the counter rushes my memory back to a lot of fun times. Just thought I would share their Tuesday special!
Every spring my mom and step-dad host an egg hunt for their grandkids and they go all out. I am sure they hide a few hundred eggs My kids really look forward to it and always have a great time. Mom always makes sugar cookies for the kids to decorate and we have a potlock dinner. It is such a fun Spring tradition!
A couple weekends ago we went on a very spur of the moment family "day-cation" to the Grand Canyon. We have flown over the Grand Canyon but have never landed there. Jason called me one Saturday morning that he was working for a friend and suggested that we come since the weather was gorgeous and the kids were not at school. (Part of the reason we have never gone before is because Jason doesn't usually work on Saturdays and so the days he does work the kids are at school, and in the summer it is just too hot). We were given the Grand Tour. We first flew in an Airplane to the Grand Canyon, then we got in a Helicopter and went to the base of the canyon and got the view from below, then we got on a Boat and went down the Colorado River. After the boat ride we got back in the helicopter and went back up top and rode in a Bus over to the Sky Walk. I do not have a fear of heights at all but the Sky Walk made my stomach drop and really had Cloey scared at first. We ate lunch overlooking the canyon and then headed back to the airport for our flight home. I really was a fun day. I am so glad we got to have this experience together as a family. It was neat to let the kids see where Jason works and see what he does while he is away.
One of the things that Jason enjoys making is Beef Jerky. He gets the itch every year around the time of our Family Coral Pink trip. He has tried lots of different styles and techniques but this year he finally found his favorite. For Christmas one of the gifts he bought himself was a Jerky Baster and now each piece of jerky is exactly the same as the next. If you know Jason at all you will know how happy that kind of thing makes him. He went to work doing his thing and made 13 pounds of Jerky. (If you want his recipe you will have to talk to him. I am not sure exactly what he does. I do know that he likes to use London broil and has the butcher grind it up for him. The whole process grosses me out but it does end up tasting really yummy!)
Another year has come and gone. I have lost track of the years that the Mohler family had been going to Coral Pink. I think it is getting pretty close to 30 years. It is another one of our families spring traditions. We have a lot of those!!! This year the weather was not very cooperative the first few days it rained, it hailed, it snowed and the wind blew hard. It was cold! But the kids sure didn’t skip a beat. They played like the sun was shining. That is what I love about this trip. It is a lot of work to pack and prepare for and an even bigger job to clean up after. I find red sand in my car and laundry room for many months after. But it is a chance for my kids to be kids for a whole week. They play till the sun goes down every day with their cousins and love every minute of it. They dig in the sand, ride bikes, make forts, explore, catch bugs, climb trees and eat sticky gooey candy that only grandma would buy them. And they learn a little too. This year our boys slept in a tent by themselves and Jason taught them how to set up their tent. This year Jaden also learned how to ride my 4-wheeler. It is one with a clutch to shift gears that was (still is) difficult for me to ride. Jason was so excited that he caught on so well and that he has more of his riding skills than mine. It was a cold trip but a great one!
Just about EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Jason and Jaden can be found on the trampoline playing some version of basketball. The other day I came out to watch and this is what they were doing. I am a little scared that one day Jaden might fly out of the net.
Dance has been officially back in full swing for Cloey and she loves every minute of it. She gets so excited when I remind her that tomorrow is dance day. She Loves to dance, Loves Mrs. Lori, Loves having her cousin Courtnie in her class, and still Loves to sleep in her leotard and wear it under her clothes to school on dance day. 
Thanks to Jaden’s AWESOME cub scout leaders Jaden earned his Weblos badge this month. We are very proud of him. Cub Scouts has seemed to fly by and he is excited to join Boy Scouts in the fall.
Last weekend my grandma and aunt drove down from Salt Lake to join my mom, sisters and me in a Girls Weekend. Our idea of a weekend was Thursday afternoon until Sunday evening. Our retreat was at my mom’s house with no kids or husbands allowed (Jason and my kids stopped by for a minutes one morning to bring us doughnuts which we decided was allowed and very sweet of them.). We stayed up until 4 am most nights and slept in till 10. We crafted and scrapbooked. Ate out and made yummy treats. Laughed and cried and just enjoyed being together. I LOVE my family and especially these guys.
I worked on making these 2 easter baskets for my kids. I still need to make 2 more.
Our kid’s school had a fundraiser night at Chuck E. Cheese. We didn’t have anything going on that evening and so we went. We all had fun trying out their new games and the kids thought it was fun to see some of their school friends and teachers there also. Jason and Jaden of course figured out which game would give them the best return on their token and the little tricks on how to play it. I was very amazed with the 1745 tickets they won. Although I am beginning to just expect to be amazed by those two.
We brought this soup for dinner on our campout, we LOVE it camping but also at home. It is one of those meals that our entire family LOVES. My wonderful friend Noel made it for us on a trip we went on together. Since, we have thrown out our Taco Soup recipe and converted solely to hers. It is THE.BEST.
Noel’s Taco Soup
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
8 oz. tomato sauce
4 oz. chopped green chilies
1 can corn
1 can small red beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
½ bunch cilantro, chopped
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 lb. shredded chicken
In a skillet, sauté the onions and garlic.
In a large pot combine the rest of the ingredients. Add the onions and garlic once sautéed. Heat thoroughly.
Serve topped with Fritos, sour cream and shredded cheese.
The weather has just been gorgeous lately and I have had the itch to go camping. Of course Jason and the kids jumped right on it since it was "mom" who actually was the one wanting to go. We decided on an overnighter to Valley of Fire. We left Sunday after church set up camp, climbed all over the rocks and enjoyed dinner and s'mores around the campfire and of course a lot of singing. That night the kids fell asleep to me and Jason taking turns telling them stories about us when we were their age. We had a lot of laughs and a few sad memories.
The next day we woke up cooked breakfast and did more climbing on the rocks, I think we must have covered quite a few miles on those rocks. We also played catch, frisbee, track ball and had chicken fights on the cement curbing. We also did the Mouse Tank hike. It is a short hike to a natural basin in the rock where water collects after rainfall. It was a hideout in the 1890’s for the Indians. We saw numerous petroglyphs along the way and some foot tracks of a mountain lion and some teeny teeny tiny tracks that must have been from a mouse.
We were only gone 24 hours but we had a GREAT time. I just love the weather this time of year and realize that it doesn’t last long. I am so glad we went!
I love that my girls are creative and love to do arts and craft projects. I don’t always like the messes that they make while doing there projects but love that they have great imaginations. Jason and his brother took all the kids to the school the other day to play track ball and ride bikes. While the boys were playing ball the girls created this little girl and her puppy out of trash that they found on the school field. The girl is made of soda cans, pinecones, paper, a gift bag, yarn and rocks. They even found a sucker for her hand and a hair bow and flower for her hair and a broken pair of glasses for her eyes. The puppy is made from a coffee bag, pencils, and pinecones. The leash is made from a plastic strip used to tie bundles of newspaper. I thought it was so dang cute and I was very impressed with their creativity.
A little while ago Jason got to be the pilot for Robert Downey Jr. (you know “Iron man”). He thought Mr. Downey was a really cool guy. He chatted away with Jason and gave him headsets to listen in on the movie that they were filming. Jason said he felt like Hugh Grant in the movie “Notting Hill” where he is sitting on set listening to Julia Roberts film a movie. He thought it was a pretty cool “work” day!
I stole that header from my sister in law. I thought it was very cute!
Where do you even begin to catch up on a blog that has been neglected for 6 months? I am going to try and give it my best shot without being too boring.
Here goes the run down of the last 6 months in the Mohler household:
Jason and I celebrated 11 years of marriage with a trip to Florence, Oregon. We rented a house on a private island. It was really cool but a little scary to think we were the ONLY ones on that island. We had a really fun time crabbing, fishing for crawdads, relaxing and enjoying just each other.
