Goblin Valley

For spring break we decided to take another trip down to Goblin Valley.  It is such a fun place to explore and play around.  To mix things up, we decided to take the long way down and stop and see some new things.  This meant over an hour on a dirt road, and getting lost for another hour, but I think it was worth it.

We saw an actual dinosaur footprint!

And lots of Native American pictographs/petroglyphs.

Eric started climbing this rock all on his own.  He was determined to follow Brinn to the top.

Our detour/getting lost made us get to Goblin Valley after dark.  I hate setting up camp in the dark.  It was a stressful evening trying to find a place, feed the kids, and set up camp in the dark, but we did it and we survived.  The stars were beautiful and everyone slept well the first night.

It make look like he fell, but this is Eric lounging in the hole Brinn dug.

The next day we spent at Goblin Valley.  Eric LOVED being able to just run around and climb on everything.  He loves dirt and rocks and threw many of each.  He even took a nap after lunch in his pack.  We explored a new area of the park and played sardines.  So much fun!

Friday we decided to check out a new slot canyon called Ding and Dang.  The goal is to go up Ding and then down Dang.  We made it part way up Ding and hit some water we didn't feel like swimming through with the youngest kids, but the slot was cool and I would love to explore this more another day.  That afternoon we went up Little Wild Horse Canyon and set up a little rappel. Meg was so brave! and Brinn did it ;)  Dave even tried going commado style.

After another nice evening of star gazing, we headed home Saturday morning.  It was a lovely camping trip and a new record for our family.  This was the longest we have ever camped as a family and we did it and had fun!

Easter 2013

The Rockwoods had a wonderful Easter.  I participated in the Lamb of God musical production again this year, so we got to listen to that great music that tells the story of Jesus Christ's atonement and resurrection.  It was a great way to start the Easter holiday, but remembering what it is really about.

The night before, the girls and I decorate a LOT of sugar cookies.  Brinn and Meg decided that for their service project for Faith in God they wanted to make cookies for the nurseries in our ward.  We have 4.  We had a great time frosting cookies and they had fun dropping the cookies off the next day.

Easter morning, the girls and Eric found their baskets and eggs.  Meg and Brinn were eager to teach Eric what it was all about.  I'm pretty sure they woke him up because he was awfully groggy the first bit.

That afternoon we went up to Dave's folks for Easter dinner and round 2 of eggs and baskets.  By now, Eric knew what he was doing and LOVED finding lots of eggs.  It is so fun to see him get excited about new things.

Egg Bash

Tonight we had our first annual Egg Bash.  This was a wonderful idea brought to us from Steven's mission.  After dying Easter eggs, each person got to pick two to enter into the Egg Bash.  We made a bracket and then one egg went up against another.  You roll the eggs into each other and only one will crack. The uncracked egg gets to move on to the next round.  We had a blast!  I was the first person to lose both eggs...but still thought it was great.  Meg was the overall champion with her egg "Popcorn."  Steven was the runner up with "Pangea".  This will definitely be a new tradition for the Rockwood family.

The Bracket

The Champion with her winning egg, Popcorn.

The winner and losers.

Feeding the Ducks and other Rockwood Happenings

Since it is almost nice weather here and Eric always wants to go outside, we decided to go feed the ducks.  He loved it and was very brave...a little too brave.  He kept trying to hand feed the ducks, geese, and even the swans.  I was going to take lots of pictures of our outing, but instead played interference with the fowl.  The swan was at least 2x as big as Eric and a little aggressive, but we had a great time.  He chased after them, threw them bread and kept saying "ducky."

We had a great time on the playground as well.  He is so independent, he always has to do the swings by himself.  His latest thing is that whenever we are doing something, I can't help him, but instead I have to do the same thing myself.  So when he was on the swing, I couldn't stand next to him, I had to swing on the swing next to him.  When he rides his scooter down the driveway, I can't follow along to catch him, but have to ride the other scooter, and on and on.  We had a great time yesterday going down the driveway on the girls skateboards like sleds.  He would set his skateboard next to mine, sit down, and then say "GO" and we would go down the driveway laughing.  He is sure a fun boy.

This is Meg and Brinn all dresesd up for your favorite character day.  They decided to be hippies.  The colorful wall in the background is me trying to decide what to paint my wall.  It is now the color on the left behind Meg and so much brighter!  I love it!

Meg just finished up the state science fair.  She was awesome!  We are so proud of all of her hard work.

My big boy.

What Eric does a lot these days, runs off on his own as fast as he can...

A Day on the Farm

Last weekend we got to trek back to my home town for little Addyson's blessing.  It was a quick trip and we spent most of it in Boise, but we made it to Emmett for a few hours to see Grandma Hallam and play at the farm.  It was great to be back and great to see family.  I loved growing up in Emmett and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Playing in Grandma Hallam's barn.

We did this all the time as a kid, but as a parent I decided it was better if I just didn't watch...

The kids loved holding the baby chicks.

And so did Aunty Nel

At the Jensen farm we got to feed the horses, pigs, and sheep some old bread.

This is Polly.  She is only 10 months old and not broke yet.

Brooklyn and Kyler were throwing the hay everywhere.  Maria and I tried to get them to stop, but Uncle Brent didn't care at all.  I have to admit this isn't the Uncle Brent I remember as a kid.  We were always on the lookout because we weren't supposed to be playing in the hay, the haystack, or on the hay elevator (which made a great giant teeter-totter).

All of the kids got a chance to ride old Flapjack.  I thought he was old when I was little and he's still going strong.

Brooklyn really wanted to ride, but didn't want to go along. Aunty Nel to the rescue!

Eric even had a good time feeding the animals and only tried to eat the bread himself once or twice.

Meg riding Flapjack.

Eric hating Flapjack.

Brayden's turn.

And the main attraction, baby Addyson.

All the grandkids.

Danielle loading hay...she felt like a country girl again.