The Birds Nest: Bird Family Extravaganza 2013

Every other year we go on a larger trip together as a family. We had excitedly been planning this excursion to St. George for quite a while. We found a house that met our needs - lots of beds and a pool - and got it reserved. Then, the waiting began. The little girls were especially excited for the princess room where they could sleep together, which was genius.

We started our trek down south . . . and you can't not top at Fillmore for a break.

Kristen brought this new treat to try . . . so yummy!

Melinda got a sweet souvenir

And . . . we were finally at our home away from home for the next week.

Here's the beloved princess room . . .

We got all the rooms divvied up and identified. Thanks to Maia for the fabulous room assignment cards.

Oh, how I love a schedule. I learned from Mom that kids really do like a schedule and to know what's going on . . . and it's true. And, not just kids. So, everyone humored me with my posted schedules. We divided up the meals, activities and dish crews. The mixed up dish crews were one of our favorite things and we would definitely do that again.

Here's the dish crew from the first night. They did a stellar job!

And, here's Emma and Maggie working hard for their turn

We learned from our trip to Disneyland last time that the kids just love being together and swimming. And, swim we did. We wished it were a touch warmer to lay out in the sun, but it was still nice.

Here are these great kids in the lounge area.

And, the pool had a water slide that got tons of use

Brian and Jena

Sara and Grace

Davis

Maggie

Jacob

Davis . . . the fish

Sara . . making a splash!

Emma

Grace . . . with her mermaid tail. What body of water is complete without a mermaid.

Davis

Jena

Maggie

These three musketeers just love being together.

The house had a lemonade stand outside and the girls got to work getting it set up. They served lemonade at every meal and the cost was a hug. So adorable! They took turns serving and hugging. It was my favorite thing.

We spent time working on a puzzle . . . a hard one . . . that we (well, really Lilli and Brian mostly) finished.

As we stocked up on food at Harmon's, there was a YM and YW group looking to do service. They came right up to us and asked if they could help us take the groceries to our car. Um, yes, please! That was a highlight.

One of the nights we were lucky enough to go to Tuacahn's Mary Poppins. It is always great to watch shows in that red rock theater. And, what could be better than taking some prop pictures before the show while we were waiting for the doors to open.

One of the exciting events that happened while we were there was the 12th birthday of twins, Jacob and Emma. They were eagerly anticipating being able to do baptisms for the dead as soon as they could and so we scheduled a temple trip while we were down there.

Brian got special permission to ordain Jacob to the Priesthood and to the office of a Deacon. So proud of our men and how diligent they are to their priesthood covenants.

Lisa, Jacob, Brent, Kristen, Aiden, Kristen, Dad/Grandpa, Emma, Brian and Maia

This is the group that headed to the temple. The rest stayed behind with the littles. Man, are we proud of the kids in our family and grateful for the good parents that they have. We love our family!!

While they were at the temple, those of us who stayed behind, got busy decorating the house for the birthday party.

We decorated their rooms with crepe paper and balloons and the girls made signs all over the house.

We even decorated the outside. We were kind of obsessed with rocks on this trip and some rocks even got personalized for the big day. We hope the people after us really enjoy those rocks.

We always hide our birthday presents and this time the girls made treasure maps to the gifts that Emma and Jacob had to use. They were awesome!

They found them! Emma got some new clothes and nail polish. Jacob also got some new clothes.

Look how sharp Jacob looks in his new outfit.

Here are the birthday twins . . . .love them!!!

We celebrated with birthday cupcakes. It was a great day.

The girls broke away for a little shopping at the mall and some drinks at Swig. The sugar cookies were delish.

One of the nights, the aunts/my sisters, planned the evening with the kids so that the adults could go and enjoy a double date with each other.

We did nails. played games (including a paper airplane game from the 2nd level to the first) and watched a movie in the theater

Grace and Sara developed a fun cup game.

We crafted and made bracelets. Emma and Maia were a big help with these.

And we made beautiful crowns.

A few of us snuck out to get some Nielsen's frozen custard. No trip to St. George is complete without it. We made it in just as they were closing.

They even had one of my favorite flavors, pumpkin. I was living right!

One of our outings during the day was going to the sand dunes in Snow Canyon. This was one of our favorite things to do as kids when we traveled down south.

Jacob and Grandpa played with his new birthday frisbee

Davis sure did love the sand.

Jena and Davis

Maia

Emma

Maia and Aiden

After playing in the sand, we came home and showered and got pretty for family pictures that day. We were so happy to have found a photographer that would take our pictures in St. George by the red rock. (Separate post on that.)

We also spent time playing cards. Melinda is a pro at cards and is so good to play with the kids.

Also . . . time spent reading and resting

And just hanging out together

We had been waiting the whole time to make a fire outside and to have s'mores. We finally did it on the last night. Lisa was on the schedule for dinner and she grilled us up some fabulous pizzas.

Some of Lisa's family, the Williams, were able to stop over as well to join us for dinner and s'mores.

On Melinda's bucket list for this trip was going to a casino to play bingo. We made it to the casino - but missed the bingo time. So, we played in the arcade and stopped by McDonald's for a sundae and fries. Perfect late night snack food.

Throughout the trip, the little girls had been collecting rocks and they had a "rock store" in the pool lounge area. Look at Maggie proudly displaying her carefully selected rocks.

The girls were allowed to keep a few of the rocks to take home as a memory and the rest had to go back in the yard.

And . . . a final family pic before we took off. So thankful to Dad/Grandpa for making this trip happen. It's important to us to be very intentional about keeping our family close and together and these activities help with that.