Spring recital and a family road trip

The month of April has been very busy for our family. The first of the month was Claire's birthday and then since then it has felt like we've been running nonstop. April 18th and 19th the girls had their spring dance recital. They both did very well at their dances. Claire is the fearless girl who LOVES to dance on the big stage. When Maelyn dances she is so into her dance. I love watching her facial expressions.

The day after the girls recital, the whole family including Oreo, left for Arizona to visit Kali and Taylor (Corbin's brother). My kids are off track for a month so I wanted to get out of town. I would go crazy at home for a month with the kids especially since the weather isn't great. The drive to Tucson, Arizona was sooooo long! We have never attempted a drive that long with our kids, let alone taking Oreo with us. The longest drive Oreo has been on is an hour long drive. I was a bit nervous about the drive but considering how long it was, everyone did pretty good. It ended up taking us 14 hours to get there. That was one LONG day!

The first day we were in Arizona we did some swimming and some relaxing. The weather could not have been any better. Utah has been FREEZING so the 80's felt so good.

The second day we went to the Desert Museum. Kali and Taylor take everyone who visits them to this museum so it was nice to finally go see it in person. The museum had some really cool things and the kids had fun. Even Jaden did pretty good for being the "teenager" who thinks everything is boring. He complained a little about the heat but that is all.

Everyone's "bat" faces

Maelyn was such a trooper with the museum. She was complaining of a headache for a few days and on the way to the museum she threw up. We took her to the doctor that night and she had strep. Luckily it wasn't the stomach flu. That would have been awful!

Saturday was a fun filled day. We started off the day with the Jelly Bean Jog. This was my first race ever. I have ran a 5k before but not in a race. Corbin and Taylor did the 5k first during the running portion. Corbin finished after 22 minutes and Taylor came in at 26 minutes. After they finished me and Kali ran when the fun run started and the guys walked with the kids. Kali and I finished the race with a 9:59 pace which is great for me. I was extremely pleased with how we did. Not too bad for my first time!

After the race we stayed busy with Easter activities. The Easter bunny came while we were at the race. After the kids found their baskets we had some yummy pancakes and then we spent the day decorating cookies, dying eggs, having an easter egg hunt, swimming, and then finished the day with some dutch oven cooking. It was a very busy, fun day.

On Sunday, we went to sacrament meeting with Taylor's family. Before we headed the church we stopped to take some Easter pictures.

We had a great time in Arizona. It was so nice to see where Taylor and Kali live and to visit with them. Claire and Kenzi didn't even get into trouble together. They played great with each other and Maelyn liked joining in the fun with the little kids. After we went to sacrament me and the kids headed off for a 7 hour drive to Albuquerque to visit with my parents for a week. Corbin flew home from Tucson. He lucked out not having to drive home! :)

The drive to Albuquerque went pretty good considering my DVD player stopped working. Seriously how do people travel without DVD players in their cars? It is a must especially with Claire. She is NOT a good traveler so I need something to keep her somewhat busy. After getting to Albuquerque we had a nice Easter dinner and the kids got to do another egg hunt. Lucky kids!

We are still in Albuquerque right now. We've had a fun week so far. More to come about the rest of our trip once I get home :)