Colorado trip to visit the McLeans

I am lamenting my long break from blogging and since this is our "family journal" I need to get caught up on all the many events we have had since May.   We had an amazing summer, with so many great vacations and fun family time.  We consider ourselves very lucky to have the ability to do so much in the summer, with Aaron's job being as flexible as it is when school it out.

So, the first weekend of summer, from June 5th-9th, we headed out on a road trip to Colorado to visit our good friends the McLeans.  They recently moved back from Georgia, and we are so excited to have them in driving distance again!  They were expecting their 6th baby in August, so we thought we'd better visit them at the beginning of the summer.  The kids had a BLAST!  We spent most of the first day, Wednesday, driving.  The 8-hr drive was just a warm up to prepare us for the 13 hour drive to San Diego a few weeks later.  We actually take pride in being able to travel long distances with only a couple of stops.  The kids did really well!

We did a lot of fun things while we were in Colorado.  The second day, Thursday, we went to a really fun waterpark near Westminster, CO.  The kids had a lot of fun swimming there.  It was a perfect day and the water park was the perfect size for our age of kids.  There was the little kiddy pool where I spent most of my time with Jordan and Jared and some of the smaller kids.  Erika and Kyle had a great time with the older kids going down the small water slides there.  I got to down with them a few times and it was really fun!

Aezlyn, Erika, and Mahri

Jordan and I loving the sun

Exactly the place you would expect to find Kyle!

What a sweet sister to help Heidi down the first time!  

Everyone heading for the waterslides...

Brieyah adored Jordan and gave him lots of love and attention...

Me and Kyle going up to the waterslide together

Now, this isn't the best view but the picture always makes me laugh because of the situation.  We tried and tried to get Jared to go down the slide and he cried.  Then, once he went down it he loved it and didn't want to stop.  So, there's me at the bottom trying to coax him down.   Heid also loved the slide- I'd bet she went down it about 50 times!  

One of my favorite pictures-  Aaron and I watching the kids and just enjoying being together.  

Erika loves jam,  Need I say more? 

After swimming, Aaron and Andy went golfing at a really nice course over there.  They had an amazing round.  Aaron was in heaven because it was so beautiful.  The rest of us just hung out at the house and relaxed.

On Friday, we took a trip to the Denver zoo.  The kids had a great time together.  One thing we love when we see each other is how well our kids get along together.   

Heidi's favorite thing at the zoo was the Komodo dragon.  She was in there giving it kisses through the glass!  

BEST FRIENDS!  

Lucky birthday boy got an ice cream cone!  

"All the better to hear you with, my dear!"

On Friday night, Erika, Mahri, Aezlyn, and Kyle put on a show for us in the basement.   We laughed our heads off!   They were so creative- making up songs and jokes to keep us entertained.  It was classic! 

Saturday, the 8th, we celebrate Jordan's birthday.  We had a BBQ at Andy's parent's house in Littleton and Jordan got his first taste of cake.  Since we were on the road, a basic store bought cake had to do.   But, as you can see from the pictures, he didn't seem to mind!  

Andy and Sarah were so nice to watch the kids for a few hours while Aaron and I went through a session in the Denver temple.  We have never been to this temple before and it was a really nice experience for us!  

That evening, we hiked up Mt. Evans.  When I say we "hiked", we actually drove up the mountain almost to the top and then we hiked up a small distance to the peak.  The drive up was beautiful but also kind-of scary!  Most of the road was quite narrow and I felt like we were driving on the edge of a cliff!  (I was glad Aaron was driving and not me!  The two-way road seemed to me to be just wide enough for one car.)  It was about a 30 minute drive getting to the top, and we just kept on going and going up!!  But, I guess I'd rather drive up it than hike it!!  It was freezing cold at the top because of the elevation.  Mt Evans is exactly half the elevation of Mt. Everest, to give an idea.  We all huddled in our jackets and blankets.  One fun thing was that we saw several mountain goats at the top, too!  

It was a beautiful view from the top!  

After our hike, we were all exhausted and headed out to dinner.  We went to a fun little pizza place located in the small town of Idaho Springs, CO.   We are grateful to have our good friends, the McLeans.  And, although we wish we could see them more, we are glad we are at least close enough to visit now.  Thanks for the great trip, guys!  

May birthdays

What a handsome boy in his little suit!  

The month of May is always very eventful at our house!  With two birthdays and all of the "end of school" activities, it keeps us hopping!  We celebrated Jared's 3rd birthday on May 19th, Sunday.  Because it was a Sunday, we didn't do a whole lot.  It was a pretty simple birthday with a nice dinner and cake.  Jared opened a few presents in the morning and then Oma and Opa came up that afternoon after church and spent some time with us.  I made Jared a "Cars" cake.  

Heidi got to celebrate her birthday a little early this year with a friend party.  We had 9 of her little friends over on May 22nd for a little party.  Four of them are from her kindergarten class and the rest are kids from our neighborhood.   Notice the little boy to the right of Heidi with the party hat on.  His name is AJ and he is in her kindergarten class.  He has been the sweetest little friend to her at school.  He holds her hand on the way to lunch and carries her lunch for her.  He stands up for her at school and "takes care of her" (what he told his mom one day).  One day when I was visiting the school, he said to me, "I'm going to be with Heidi forever..."  How sweet!  Heidi already has young admirers...

For the party, we let the kids come dressed up in anything they wanted.  Most of the girls were princesses.   We had a few little games with prizes and a rainbow pinata (the highlight) and presents and cake.   One fun thing was that Jared also thought this party was for him, too, since his birthday is less than a week before Heidi's.  Great!  Even better :)  Both of them couldn't stop talking about the rainbow pinata all week before the party.  We had it hanging up in our kitchen all week.  You know they're excited about it when in their prayers more than once they say, "...and thank you for the rainbow pinata."  Simple pleasures!  

Heidi wanted a "horse cake"

They don't make those pinatas easy to break!  After the kids each had a few swings at it, Aaron finally broke it open with a metal bat.  We had a shower of nerds all over our carpet!

Big Number 6!

For a second celebration, we took a trip to Boise for Memorial weekend to visit Aaron's parents.  On Heidi's actual birthday, we celebrated at grandma's with a picnic and cake.  Heidi opened her presents from mom and dad and then got to go shopping with grandma and grandpa.  They also took all the kids to a bounce house while mommy and daddy, and Jordan took a much needed nap :)  

That afternoon we went swimming and the kids had a blast!   Because Erika and Kyle both had their goggles, Heidi wanted to wear some, too.  I don't think she knows quite what they're for.  I love that they smashed her eyes almost shut and she was still loving every second of it and SOOO HAPPY!   It was also fun to see how much Jordan loved the water!    I didn't expect him to get so into it, but he splashed like crazy, grinning the whole time.  

"Yeah, this is the life...  I've got it all figured out.
I've got grandma all to myself!

That night we went out to dinner at Golden Corral.   We had a great meal and Heidi got to be sung to by the waiters.  Erika had fun making Heidi a "unicorn horn" out of a cotton candy stick.  Silly girls!

Field Trips

These last couple months have been quite busy around here, and I am finally taking a minute to write a few things down.  We are loving the warmer weather and spending a lot of time outside.

Over spring break, Aaron had the opportunity to go steelhead fishing in Challis, ID with my dad and brothers.  They did pretty well considering it wasn't a really good  year up there and they had one of the best weekends.  My dad went up the two weeks following and didn't do as well.  Aaron caught 7 big fish, the most of the group, but only got to keep one.  

My mom stayed here with me and the kids that weekend and we had a good time just hanging out.  We walked with all the kids (6 of them) to the park and also to Harris market to get a treat.  It was nice to have her here.  

Aaron's family came down for General Conference weekend and it was nice to spend some time with them.  As you can see, Jordan enjoyed it too.  He got a lot of attention.  He is such a fun, happy baby!

Jordan reading with uncle Ryan

I had the awesome opportunity this year to go on TWO fieldtrips with my kids!  I go to Heidi's class once a week and help her teacher, so I decided to go with Erika and Kyle on their field trips.  Because I have a lot of young children at home, I had never really considered it an option to go on the field trips with my older kids.  Then when my mom offered to come up and watch the kids so I could go, I was SO EXCITED!!  This would be my first real field trip as a mom!  :)  

I got to go on the "long" field trip with Erika down to Ogden and Salt Lake.  We left on the busses at 8:30 am and didn't get back to Tremonton until 5 pm.  They get to go on a lot of field trips in 4th grade but this is the biggest of the year.  We went to the Ogden Nature Center and learned about wildlife and soil composition.  It was a really nice place and a good learning atmosphere.

One of my favorite parts of the field trip was just riding on the bus with Erika.  We got to talk and listen to music and get to know some of her friends.  We even got to play a game of "ticket to ride" on my iPhone.  pretty cool!

After Ogden, we headed down to Salt Lake.  We went to the "Daughters of the Utah Pioneers" Museum, which was really neat!  I could have spent at least 2 more hours there (we only had an hour).  If you've never been there, you need to go sometime.  It is right next to the capitol building to the West. 

Then, we toured the state capitol building.  This was also very interesting for me!  It is a beautiful building, built very ornately.  It was fun to learn about all the history behind it and what goes on there.
I don't think I've ever toured it before.  Tours are offered free to the public all day long.  The last time I entered that building, it was for my JUNIOR PROM!   Yes, I had my prom there and it was so amazing.  I had forgotten all about it until about half-way through the tour when I looked around the huge lobby and realized I had been in there before.   Great memories!

On May 5th, I also got to go with Kyle on his field trip to the Golden Spike Historic Center.  This is also a must see!  It is located in Promontory, UT, about an hour West of Tremonton.  You just show up and they do a whole reinactment of the nailing of the last golden spike.  They have two films to watch and a small museum and picnic area.

I was worried I wouldn't get to go when the teacher emailed and said my name was not drawn out of the hat to go as a chaperone, (of all the parents that wanted to go) I was devastated.  I really wanted the chance to go and spend  some time alone with Kyle.  I felt it would be good for me to spend some time with him alone and strengthen our relationship.  Then, she wrote back and said they had a few more spots- whew! When my mom said she couldn't come up because she had women's Conference, my DAD offered to come up and watch my two little ones.  At first I was really reluctant.  My dad was going to come up?  Well, he came up and I was so grateful to him.  He did wonderful with my boys and they had a great time with them.   I am very appreciative that he made the sacrifice to give me a day with Kyle.

I was proud of Kyle because of how inquisitive he is.  He is always asking really good questions.  He loves to learn and is such a good student.  It was fun to see him in his class with his friends.  We had a really good time together and I am so grateful for the opportunity!  

On May 15th, Heidi had her "graduation" from kindergarten.  They sang a bunch of songs and then were presented their "diplomas".  It was very cute.  I have had fun this year going to her class once a week and helping out.  It has been a great year for Heidi and we are so happy with her progress!  She is doing math and reading so well.  She loves it so muchI often find her trying to read in the dark up on her bunked by some light coming from a crack in the curtains.  She LOVES to read which makes us so happy!

Heidi and her teacher Mrs. Bowcutt.  This is Mrs Bowcutt's last year teaching- she is retiring and has taught over 30 years!  We were so lucky to get her as a teacher!  She has been a great teacher for Heidi and we will miss her.  

On May 16th the kids had the chance to run in the school "jog-a-thon".  They run around a track in the field to earn money for the school.   They can get someone to pledge them a certain amount of money per lap.  Well, I guess I underestimated my kids' stamina!!  You will not believe how far each of them ran!  Kyle ran the farthest at 36 laps (that's over 4 miles!), Erika 32 laps, and even Heidi ran 22 laps!!!  None of them wanted to stop until the end.   Each lap is 1/8 mile and I told them I would give them each 50 cents a lap.  (Do the math...)  I was so proud of them, though, for their endurance!

It has been a good school year!   Bring on summer...

Easter 2013

We had a lovely Easter weekend down in Salt Lake with my family.  The weather was so nice, Aaron spent half a day Saturday golfing with his brother down in Orem.  I took the kids to my grandma Parkinson's Easter egg hunt and then we met up with Daddy and Dave and Tara's family that evening at a park in Orem.

All the Schulz grandkids who were at the Easter Egg hunt at grandma's house.

 The Easter bunny came to visit our children at Oma and Opa Michel's house this year.  The kids had fun going on horse rides with Opa and playing with the new baby chicks!

Sunday was a beautiful day.   The kids had fun looking for their Easter baskets right after church and then we had a nice dinner with my siblings that evening.

Erika with her Easter basket

Heidi was excited because she got to
sleep in  "the purple tent",  her favorite color.  

What a handsome fella!

Heidi was the first one to find her basket, and was so excited!

Kyle had to search awhile to find his-  he's always up for a challenge.

Kyle was really proud of himself this time because he got a pretty good
hang of riding the horse all by himself in the front field.  

Erika and Heidi riding Dusty

Cocconut Custard Pie

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust with edges crimped
4 extra lg eggs
3/4 C plus 2 T sugar
1/3 C cornstarch
1 C heavy cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch ground nutmeg
 1 1/2 C warm milk
1 C unsweetened shredded cocconut (I like to grind it up really fine.)

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2.  Put the eggs, sugar, and cornstarch in a bowl and whisk them together.  Add the heavy cream gradually, while whisking.  Whisk in the vanilla, nutmeg and milk.
3.  Sprinkle the cocconut on the bottom and up the sides of the pie crust, spreading it evenly.  It will rise to the top while baking.
4.  Put the pie plate on a baking tray and pour the custard into the crust about three quarters of the way up.  Carefully place the tray with crust in the middle of oven rack and pour the remaining custard filling into the crust until you come to the top of the pie pan.  You don't want to overfill- (If I ever have extra I like to bake it in a separate dish and eat it plain later.)
5.  Bake until the top of the pie is golden and it doesn't shake in the middle when moved, about 30-35 min.  Remove from the oven and let the pie cool, then cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.  The pie may be served at once or refrigerated for up to 2 days.  Serve cold topped with whipped cream.