Summer fun with Kids: Picnic in the park

Tabitha's new favorite way to eat dinner is to have a picnic. Really I think she just doesn't want to sit in her booster seat, but she always asks for a picnic.
We have a pretty cool park here in Rexburg, (we actually have a few, but the one I'm referring to is Porter Park). Porter Park has a large grassy area, picnic tables, play ground with both little kids and big kids slides and swings, basketball courts, tennis courts, a 120 year old carousel and a splash park (thats free!). So last Friday I decided when I picked Tabitha up from preschool we would go home and get a picnic ready. I got everything ready then picked Morgen up from school and we went to the park. First we ate and had a fun meal together. Then we put the girls in their swimsuits and played in the water with them. After Tabitha was done in the water we went on the Carousel. Then we played on the playground for a bit. It was a really fun family activity. Had we been home, I probably would have turned on the TV for Tabitha while I made dinner. As it was we had 24 hours with no TV! That has been happening more and more lately. I love it! Over all this trip cost me maybe $3. Food I had on hand, we buy the carousel pass so it cost $9 for 10 rides and we used 2, plus gas to get there. It was a really fun and inexpensive way to have fun with the kids and not have to worry about how much it was going to cost us and if we could afford that.

Tabitha running in the water 

Close up of our splash park

The Girls enjoying the water

Even Eva likes playing in the water. 

While I know not everyone has a park like this i'm sure there is a park near you where you can have a picnic and enjoy your family. We would have had just as much fun at a regular park, because we were doing it together. 

Moving

Its been a while since i’ve posted, but i’ve been super busy. After Christmas we drove down to see my mom in Arizona, We were there for a week, and then Morgen left for Rexburg. The day before Morgen left, My mom got sick, the day Morgen left he wound up getting sick, and the next day I got sick. It was a horrible week of sickness for all of us. 

Tabitha and I ended up staying for a week and a half after morgen left. Then my mom and I drove to Morgan Hill so that we could pack all the rest of Morgen and my stuff up and we could pack the moving truck. With a lot of help from Shelby and the Missionaries we were able to get it all packed up. The day we left I took the car to get checked out, oil changed and so forth. We didn’t end up leaving until after 2:30 so we only drove to Reno the first day and we stayed at the El Dorato (thanks to hotwire.com we only paid $19 a room!) We had a super yummy dinner and breakfast at the buffet. The next day we drove from Reno to Rexburg, it took us 15 hours to make the drive, I drove most of the way because I get so car sick, but I started having a back spazzim about 4 hours from Rexburg that was so bad I ended up having a pannic attack wich made the back pain worse. We ended up staying at a subway resturant for about an hour. Then my mom drove the rest of the way. We got to our house just after midnight saturday morning. My mom had to take the Salt Lake express sunday morning and then took a plane home.

Morgen and I had to wait till Friday for the truck to get here and get our bed. I was so tired of sleeping on the floor so I was so excited to get our bed! Some of the guys in the ward came over to help empty the truck for us. Then I emptied most of the boxes by wedensday. The Downstairs looks pretty good, but Tabitha’s room still has about 15 boxes in it. The bathroom has 2 the hallway has 1 our room has 2 and the kitchen has 4. Tabitha’s toddler bed still isn’t set up, but I’m hoping we can get it taken care of soon since Tabitha’s been supper kicky lately and I’m not sleeping well. Plus she woke up and tried to climb out of bed twice both times falling out of bed. The first time she cut her lip really bad, the second time luckily she fell on some blankets I had put on the floor just in case. Our little bed gates aren’t really doing anything these days. =(

Tabitha is seeming to enjoy the snow, although she seems to not understand that its cold, and after a little bet she freaks out. But she (and I) loves to walk on the thin ice and crack it. However I don’t like walking on the 3 inches of ice that is our parking lot. 

Its been rediculously cold here. Aparently I do that to weather. When we moved to Morgan Hill it was the hotest summer in years, apparently its not usually as cold as its been here recently too. The other morning I had to go with morgen to school, and we couldent understand why it felt so cold! But when we got inside and I checked the weather it turns out it was -15! Crazy! I’m hoping that the weather channel knows what they are talking about because they said its supposed to be getting a little warmer. 

We are really excited to be in our own home and we are trying to get adjusted.