Utah Opera/ Clark Planetarium

Our family motto is the world is our classroom. So we need to get out and have experiences to learn and grow. So this week we went to a special performance at  Utah Opera called

"Who wants to be an Opera Singer?"

I've taken my kids to this before years ago but now that Cati and Lily are of age to form and retain memories it feels like we have to do everything all over again so they remember this time around. 

My kids learned about the different type of opera singers, Soprano/Tenor/Mezzo/ Bass. How singers use their breathing to make their voices sound sweet instead of screaming. They learned about duets and trios. They just had a blast!

Mason did come along but he's coming of age where he doesn't want his picture taken. So I'm just going to have to remember how he sat in the back by himself. How he didn't want to sit by his sister on the floor. He wore basketball shorts and his red shirt. 

Since we still had some time before Mason and Hailey went to their grandma's we went to the Clark Plantetarium. 

Like I said above Lily and Cati don't remember this place so it was all new to them. Mason and Hailey took the lead and showed their partners around. 

They learned about black holes, tornadoes, prisms, but their favorite spot was the solar system. 

 A quick trip to Mars. Yup! You can wear shorts and sandals on Mars.

Mars Selfie! That's a thing, right?

 Mason is waving to me like Neil Armstrong. He's also reciting Neil's words of,
"One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind."
Where does this teen get this stuff? Oh yeah... BOOKS!!

After learning about our weights on different planets we added to them by grabbing some tacos from the food truck parked out front. Supporting local vendors is important!
Field trips are so important in learning. I'm excited for our next one.

Layton Duck Park

With the weather going back and forth from warm and rainy; we just want to get outside! 

So we went with my sister in law to Layton Duck Park. We found this cute bridge that goes over a rushing stream. 

 All our kids! We tried for get everyone to smile at the same time with with 6 kids we're happy that 50% of them smiled.

 Everyone loves feeding these crazy ducks. These ducks chase kids! If you have bread in your hand and walk away from them they will chase you! 3 kids were chased from the geese trying to get tortillas.

We all had to tease the geese for their funny noises. So we gave it a try mimicking the noise- We failed!

 And look at those baby geese! We all wanted one! So FLUFFYYY!!!!

After playing on the playground for close to 3 hours we left for lunch. But it was a nice break for me and my sister in law so we can chat and catch up. And for our kids to play and enjoy cousin time.

 Cousin~Love!♥

 And luck came our way and our neighbor has baby geese she was getting rid of. So we took them!! They are so fluffy!!! We took the geese for a visit to my sister in laws so her kids could hold them.

The entire time my neice kept asking, "Should I keep a baby duck?"
I'd say "No".
She would say then, "Should you share with me?"
I just wanted to give them to her but 2 toddlers might not have ended well with the geese.

But our luck ran out. My neighbor wanted the geese back to give to a bird sanctuary so they left. So for 1 night we had baby geese. 

Church History Museum

Another Temple Square Adventure. 

This time at the Church History Museum. Last year it was closed for 8 month so the whole thing could get gutted and remodeled. It was worth the wait. It's so amazing! 

New exhibits. 

New technology.

New things to touch.

(Almost everything is hands on now)

Lily is building a church castle with these wooden blocks. 

Cati is giving singing a song on the podium. 

Doing an art scavenger hunt. 

Playing with the all touch screens. Apparently if I scribe for Joseph Smith the Book of Mormon would have been completed in 31 days instead of 63 days. 

Looked at the actual clothes that Hymn wore when he was killed. (See the yellow arrow) This made me tear up. To be seeing the clothes that Hyrum was murdered in brought "IT'' all together. 

Experienced the size of Liberty Jail. It's built to actual size of the real Liberty Jail. 

 There's even a cold breeze blowing in the jail section so you can feel what Joseph felt.

My poor Mason would not have made it very long. He could barely walk around. He has to buckle his knees or tilt his head. 

Ducati gave it a try on pulling stones up like how the Mason's did. 

There's demonstrations daily in certain areas. This day we learned about wood graining.T he pioneers loved the rich colored woods but all there was in Utah was pine wood. So they painted the pine to look like marble, cherry wood, granite, etc. They were like the pro's of faux! 

Here's my hands giving it a try graining with a rubber roller thingy. It was a little harder than it looked. 

Then we did the scavenger hunts that are offered for the museum. These are really fun!!!

Then after lunch we walked around and enjoyed the beautiful grounds.

Even when I'm getting a photo of my kids they gather spectators. See the lady (yellow arrow). She kept watching my kids when they were posing their silly poses. It's so cute.... they have fans!

The Church History Museum is one of our favorite places to visit. Between the art pieces, kid activities, and those yummy honey taffy they sell in the gift shop we'll be back again. 

Mt.Timpanogos

We love being outside! And with the weather warming up this is the perfect time to venture out and experience all what God gave us. 

I reserved our tickets to do the cave exploration so everyone was so freaking excited! 

We had 2 hours to get to the top so of course we took our time.  

When we picked up our tickets we also picked up Junior Rangers packets. This was our first time and we absolutely loved it!

Lily really took the heart her commitment to protecting the national parks. 

As we walked she would pick up trash and put it in her bag. Or she would a fallen rock back onto the mountain dirt. It was adorable!!!

This rock cracked us up!

It looks like this skinny stick is holding it up. We were too nervous to see if it was or not with Jr. Ranger Lily beside us. 

I took this picture to remind myself of God's awe. He's so mighty and powerful that he made these huge mountains with strong rocks that can last millions and millions of years. Then he can also make man, so tiny and fragile. It amazes me to see God's strength only a few feet away from me. 

Pics from the hike. 

No the cave is not going green. This is my husband pointing at stuff with his laser pointer. So now I have tons of photos with green dots everywhere.

That's ok. I love my guy!

The hike up was hard. Hailey, Mason, and I were sweating buckets on our way up. Lily, Ducati, and Mike had small leg cramps but were fine the entire time. Hint that we need to get in better shape. 

Walking down was much easier. After our 55 minute cave tour and learning all about cave bacon, lakes, mining, etc it was time to head down. Walking down was harder. With the steep incline you naturally want to pick up speed but there's signs everywhere to walk and not run. So this took some effort to remain walking and not run down the mountain side. 

I was taking a break on a bench and seen everyone looking out onto this amazing view. When I got up everyone was like, "Mom, you ready to walk!" I was so bummed I missed my chance to take the photo that Mike told everyone,"Who left the car door open?" So of course everyone looked out to the parking lot to see if the car door was open.... and I got my picture! See- I love my guy!

After hiking for 4 hours, filling our their Jr. Ranger booklets, and answering all their questions Hailey, Lily, and Ducati were sworn in as Jr. Rangers at Mt. Timpanogos. 

They were so excited! Hailey picked a patch that she plans to sew onto a backpack. Lily and Ducati picked out a plastic Ranger Badge that they have since pinned to their hiking bags. New goal this summer is to collect tons of those Jr. Ranger badges. 

I'm fine with this goal. We get into parks for free since we have a pass. And the Jr. program is free too. So of course we're game!