Hiking the Red Rocks

While we were in St. George, we had a fun time exploring the Red Rocks!

Lindsay posing by the St. George Temple. (Next to her right shoulder).

I think this picture is pretty cool.
The picture is focused on the boys, but if you look to the left and down a level, you'll see the girls.  Then, if you look to the right of them, and down another level, you'll see Grandma!  Fun!

Matt, Kaden, and I climbed up this cool crack!

Newport Beach

After staying up late for "World of Color" it was nice to get to sleep in a little before heading to the beach.  It was fun to meet up with Geoff, Jadi, Kaden, and Kaylee.  We started with a few family pictures then spent some time playing on the beach.  We looked for seashells, played on the body board, and played in the sand.  It was a perfect day at the beach!

Andrew LOVED chasing all the birds!  That is how we spend most of our time.

We ran into this surfer guy and he taught Matt to surf!  Matthew actually got up!

(I secretly wished he had taught me too!)

Thank You!

 My favorite part of Disneyland...

Handing out "Thank You" notes.

A week before we left, I had an idea to make "Thank You" notes to give to people at Disneyland.

I thought I was so original until I googled it and found I wasn't the first to do it

.

At the beginning of the week, I told the kids to look for people doing kind things for us.
By, the end of the week, THEY were the ones initiating it!

Someone held the door for us, and Lindsay said, "They are being kind.  Can we thank them?"

I LOVE seeing the expressions on peoples' faces.  And I LOVED seeing my kids notice service.

Everyone seemed to love the notes!  The kids got lots of hugs, nice comments, and even a few stickers and buttons!

One person said they received a thank you note a while ago, and it was still on their mirror at home.
Another said that Lindsay just made Disneyland magical for him.

Most of our notes were generic notes with a butter mint.
But we also handed out a few of these notes that the kids colored before we left.
Then we added personal messages on the side.

One time, after a parade Lindsay started handing out candies to all the sweepers.  

I didn't realize that their boss was walking right behind us.
He said, "Excuse me," (my stomach dropped and I thought we were going to get into trouble) "my crew works really hard and doesn't get appreciated.  Thank you so much.  Would you mind if I take a picture of your kids with my crew?"

If you go to Disneyland, I HIGHLY suggest doing thank you notes!

It was so fun for our whole family, and it was fun to appreciate some of the less noticed workers!

Adventures at 336

On the way to Disneyland we stopped in Monrovia and spent the night with Uncle Kent and Aunt Sue.  They were the BEST hosts and we had SO MUCH FUN!!  We had yummy meals, made monster cookies, watched conference, and more.  Thank you so much wonderful Cornwalls!!

They have the most amazing home!  I just love it! 

Every single detail inside and out is gorgeous!

I LOVE this stained glass window.

I love all the moldings, the hardware, and more.

I love all her decorations too!

Both Matt and Lindsay woke up in the night and went to Aunt Sue instead of us.

Lindsay's Utah jammies were too hot, so Aunt Sue gave her a "California night gown."

In the morning, we had DELICIOUS "Happy Pancakes" with all kinds of toppings.

(Strawberries, yogurt, blueberries, peanut butter, blackberries, almonds, bananas, granola, raspberries, and syrup).

Aunt Sue even made the kids their own conference packets for General Conference.

After conference we were back on the road.

Uncle Kent and Aunt Sue even sent us on our way with dinner, snacks, and extra Monster cookies!!

Thanks again and again Cornwalls!  

We hope to come back to 336 soon!

St. George Part 5: Pizza Factory

We had the last part of our reunion at the Pizza Factory.  

(Thanks for planning that Aunt Sue and Heather).

We had a yummy dinner, a slide show of the reunion (that turned out awesome by Jeff and Reesa), and a tribute video of Grandma Hodgkinson.  It was a really fun night!

I forgot to take pictures during the dinner, but I did snap a few as we were leaving.

Thanks to EVERYONE for the hard work on the reunion--especially Aunt Terri!!

Thank you mom and dad Hodgkinson for our shirts, lunch, dinner, and tickets to Mulan!!

And thank you mom and dad Gunnerson for letting us stay with you, all the yummy meals, babysitting, and more!

St. George Part 4: Brunch

Saturday morning my aunt Barb, and her husband Richard made a delicious brunch!

Todd's boys gave out AMAZING foot, neck, head, and hand massages to everyone!

(That may have been my favorite part of the whole trip!)

After brunch we did some crafts, corn husk dolls, family history bingo, and get to know you games.

It was really fun, except for when Andrew had a major blow-out on mom's white pants!

And Matt and Lindsay had a fun ride as Grandpa and dad mowed the backyard.