U2 360 Tour

Erek and I had a much needed date night. Over a year ago we bought tickets to the U2 360 tour Concert, then it was cancelled so the lead singer Bono could have back surgery. So we held on tight to those tickets for a year and now it was finally here. I really don't think we paid too much for our tickets, I guess that is the great thing about buying them a year ago, they were already paid for and it was like a free night out. The weather has been so crappy lately and I was worried it would be a rainy night in the cold, but it turned out to be a beautiful evening.

We bought tickets with Julie and Bryon but since they had to drive up from Provo we planned on just meeting at the concert. So Erek and I went to dinner at PF Changs before hand and had some yummy Chinese food. It was delicious, I have been craving the Sweet and Sour Chicken for a while.

After Dinner we head up to the U, since the concert was in the Football Stadium. We knew parking was going to be crazy but were luckily to find a spot pretty quick. The opening band was the Fray, which we really like so we wanted to make sure to get there to see them. When we got there though we were told that our section was closed, but they upgrade our seats. We moved over 2 sections closer and on row 20 instead of like 40. They were awesome seats, we were so close, perfect seats. Unfortunately, because Julie and Bryon weren't there yet we no longer had seats with them. Which was sad. They arrived about an hour after us and were father away and higher up. So we didn't get to see them.

The Fray sounded awesome. It was so fun to see them and hear them live. And check out that stage. Isn't it look like a big spider or some alien thing. It was amazing, it was so big.


The Fray - Never say Never




After the Fray was done, there was about 45 minutes to an hour of waiting for U2 to come out. They had a lot to set up I guess. Here is a picture of us as we waited.

The concert was EPIC! It was so Amazing. The Music is always so wonderful but the whole show just blew you away. The lights and special effects were awesome. We had such a blast. They played tons of their older music and all the songs that we love. Bono talked to the crowd a lot and they were very grateful that we gave them such a big welcoming after waiting a year. It was so fun. These boys know how to rock!

Isn't this an amazing shot of Bono!

This video screen was so cool.

It was so clear and Then it moved down and opened up. What amazing effects. The whole light show was just about as good as the Music. We took tons of videos during the show. But unfortunately they are like over 5 minutes long so I couldn't upload them. We had such an amazing and fun time. I hope they never stop going on tour.
I would paid to see them again and again! It wasn't until the walk back to the car that I really started to feel preggers again. Yeah maybe standing and jumping around for 4 hours wasn't the best on this pregnant belly but one day this baby is going to understand!

Moab day 3

Day 3, Sunday morning, was Mothers day. I woke up to many hugs and kisses. What a great way to spend Mothers day on Vacation. Erek made us french toast for breakfast, it was yummy! Then we had to packed up everything. We were so sad to leave, it was definitely too short of a vacation. We loved the condo that we rented and wished to be able to stay longer but it was time to go. Since we had planned to go to Goblin Valley on the way down to Moab and didn't we figured that we would go there before heading home that day.

It felt like it was forever out of the way, about an hour but we finally got there. We could tell that the weather had turned that morning because it was very windy. Which didn't make for a perfect day of hiking down in the Goblins. The wind was blowing so hard that it hurt when the sand would hit our legs. We wondered about turning back and not exploring, but we decided to be tough and go down for a little while in hopes that it wouldn't be so bad once we were down lower. It was still really windy but we had fun climbing around. All weekend Jaycob and Logan had been climbing as high as the possible could, which meant that Bella wanted to be right there climbing everything too. She would pull daddy up some pretty scary stuff, he was much more afraid then she ever was.



Look at how dirty this girl was. She has side burns made out of sand all around her face. I guess it wasn't the smartest thing to spray them with sunscreen right before we went out to the wind.

We hiked for an hour or so and really had a fun time. The kids really loved this place, minus the wind. We had a wonderful little vacation. We love being together as a family. We can't wait til we can go again!

Maob Day 2

Saturday Morning we woke up and Erek made us a yummy breakfast of huge omelets and toast. It was delicious!


Then we headed out to Arches National park for a day of hiking. It was so much fun. The weather was in the upper 80's so it was getting pretty warm. The park was pretty busy but it wasn't too bad. We went and saw the Balancing Rock, the Courthouse and Double Arch.

Logan's school teacher, recently went to Arches and has been telling all the kids about it in class. He already had picked which hikes he wanted to go on and things for us to see.






After climbing around for a couple hours we were all pretty beat, so we headed back to the condo for lunch and to go swimming. Even in 90 degree weather the pool was freezing cold. but after a few minutes in the pool you got use to it. Unfortunately, the kids couldn't stay in long enough to get use to it, so they wanted to mostly just stay in the hot tub. So the hot Tube became the place to play, with about 10 kids in there all jumping around it became very crowded. Since I couldn't get in there with them Erek became the baby sitter. It was still a very fun time, the kids love swimming!




Since this was our last evening in town, we went down to main street to walk around. It was so nice out, just perfect to be strolling around town. We bought the kids a souvenir and went to the Moab Cafe for dinner. As you can tell I got pretty sunburned earlier that day.

Moab day 1

After Erek's Graduation We knew it was time to get away and celebrate for a few days. To get out of all the cold and rain we headed down to Red Rock country in Moab. I love it down there. I seriously could live there, I think the beauty of the area would be the pay off for the heat. Yet, after months of cold and lots of rain we were so looking forward to some hot weather.

Heading out Friday Morning

Originally, the plan was to go in to Gobbin Valley State Park, on our way down to Moab. But do to me not having a map and not realizing we missed the turn until we were almost to Moab. We decided to go check into our condo and then go out to Canyonlands National park.

I don't think I have ever been to Canyonlands in the tons of times in Moab. It was so beautiful. It isn't as crowded as Arches but the land is amazing. We did a few short hikes and the kids were in heaven, climbing around on all the rock and playing in the sand.


Bella was so funny she loved the sand. During the hike we had to stop every 2 feet (seriously!) so she could build a little sand tower. Then she would move on and build another one.

This is all of us out in front of Mesa Arch. The arch is just over the cliff, it went straight down. It totally freaked Erek out when Me and the boys walked up there to look down - we were still 6 feet from the edge but Erek was panicking. Heights are not his thing. We had a great time hiking around we also went up on Whale Rock. It is a huge rock that you can just walk up and be up high with amazing views all around.


After, hiking for a few hours we were all pretty beat. So we headed back to the condo for some dinner and relaxing in the hot tub that evening. The kids fell asleep on the way back.

Graduation Day

Whoo Hoo! Graduation Day! Mr. Big College Grad!
What a stud!

This has been very long awaited day for us. It has been a long road but it is so good to actually have a celebration and an end to this part of the journey. On May 5th, Erek Graduated with his BA degree from the U. We were so excited for this day, he has worked so very hard to get to this point. The kids and I, along with his dad, my parents and his grandma all came to the Commencement Ceremony that evening. There were tons of graduates, and I was worried that it was going to be a very long event. Luckily they kept it pretty short and it was done in just over and hour (I didn't think the kids could last much longer then that).
I bought him a flower Lei, I really wanted one in red so I had to order it. Its kind of silly but when both of the boys graduated (yes, from Kindergarten) we made sure to get them a Lei to wear. So I thought I will keep up the family tradition. I also made the Money Lei, this was my gift to him for graduating. It was huge, a bit overwhelming when you put it on. At first, I think he didn't know what to say about it, but as soon as he put it on, he got tons of attention. Everyone was talking about it. Complete strangers were asking if they could take his picture. It really made him stand out among the other 200 or so graduates. All this attention would have been too much for me, but not Erek he loved it and he had a great time with it. I told him that I want him and everyone else to know that he was the most loved fella there and I think we accomplished that!

(These pictures are not the greatest since we were far away). But you can tell it is him with the Leis.
After the Ceremony we all met out side for some pictures. The weather was perfect that day, luckily no more rain. It was such a great day, we will always remember it.

The Family

Erek and His Dad

Erek and Grandma King

Erek and my Parents

Erek we are so proud of you for making it this far. We know that you will do an awesome job in graduate school and can't wait for that journey to begin! We love you!

Easter

I hope every one out there had a wonderful Easter. We sure did. I'm a little behind on getting these pictures posted but I am trying to get caught up on everything. We had a great family Easter Egg hunt a couple of weeks before Easter so the kids were very excited to be out hunting for the eggs.
Grandma and Grandpa are so nice to have a big hunt for all the grand kids but there is not treats
hiding in those eggs it is Money. The kids get pretty excited to find all that change, but then we make sure to split it equal in the end.


Here is just a sampling of some of our best Easter Eggs this year. Logan was begging me for days and days to color the Easter Eggs so we did it the Friday before Easter. I found this great idea in the Family Fun Magazine (it is great I highly recommend it!), The idea is while the eggs are still very hot to use crayons and draw on the eggs. It just melts the wax right onto the egg and makes some amazing colors and designs. I like that you don't have to worry about the smelly colors spilling and there is NO WAIT TIME you design it as you go. The down side is that once the eggs started to cool down a little it didn't work as well but we worked pretty fast. It was such a fun way to color the eggs.
On Saturday Morning I got brave and took the kids to a big Easter Egg hunt. I think it fun to be out there with tons of other people and grab the candy on the ground. We went to the Taylorsville Park. Bella was in the little kids are and the boys were in a old kids area. It was sad that I could see them find all their treats but they just stayed together (strick rule of moms!) and were able to come away with lots and lots of treats.




Sunday morning, the kids woke us up a little after 7, and we were able to convince them to let us sleep until 8! They just played in their room and waited for Mom and dad to wake up. They are so great! Then the hunt was on. The Easter Bunny had left them so many treats all through out the house. Bella got a new dress, some chalk and a sand pail. Logan and Jaycob both got new Shorts, a rocket and some Legos. They were all really happy with the prizes.