We had a hitch hiker come back with us from Tahoe. I spent Monday after our spring break trip cleaning out both of the cars. Then Wednesday, April 13th, when I went to pick up the kindergartners I noticed some kleenexes had been shredded and thought that was weird. I mentioned to Steve we might have a critter living in the van, but we've never had a problem here so he didn't really think much of it. Then Monday, April 18th when I went in to volunteer I noticed the kleenexes were shredded again and this time I saw droppings. 

I called Steve and said we definitely had something living in the van, google what we need to do. So when I got home we left the van out of the garage and Steve dismantled the glove compartment and sure enough found a nest. We put peppermint oil on some cotton balls and set a trap in the van out in the sun hoping the heat and smell would get him to come out. Later that night I thought, you know that little guy has had all week to traverse the garage as much as he'd like to so I asked Steve to set a trap in the garage. What do you know that night when Steve went to pickup Lila from dance at 9:45 the mouse was trapped. I was so glad we caught him so quickly and he hadn't made it into the house. You have no idea how many times Steve or I had told the kids, shut the door and that all came back to my mind. I was hoping he was the only one. I had to take Ellie to an early morning orthodontist appointment on Tuesday. We took the Tesla and when we got there I grabbed a tissue and noticed it had some holes in it. . .Then I found a baggie with a Twix bar in it that had be gnawed through and eaten. Guess we know what he was living off of for the week.

That morning I spent deep cleaning the cars again. Wiping down with clorox wipes and vacuuming. It would also help us recognize if there was another one right away because we could see new signs. Then I went to pick the kindergartners up and Marcus comes running out and yells, "I don't want to get in the rat trap van." Oh my goodness child! I explained I cleaned it all out and we caught the mouse last night and it was a mouse not a rat. And he replies, "mouse, rat, same thing." Just get in the van so I can take you home. UGH! Thankfully no more signs of a mouse. WHEW!

Today after we got the kids off to school (remember it's late start Wednesday) so our last one leaves at 9:40. Steve and I looked at each other and said what should we do for a workout. I suggested a hike and it sounded fun so we both quickly threw on our gear and loaded up. I needed to be back to pickup kindergartners at 11:30 so we went to the close hike Adam's Canyon and we knew we'd have to be fast. I was breathing hard on the way up which I thought was a little disappointing since I've been running and working out but we made it to the top in 43 minutes. We took a few pics, drank some water, and then headed back down. We did the whole thing in 75 minutes. I was super proud of us and it felt good. We even had time to go back to the house before picking up kindergartners.

Fell in Love. My Mom, Denice, has been wanting to do extended family pictures for months. I promised her I would arrange something in the spring around her birthday so to hold true to my promise I began trying to coordinate something back in March for her birthday weekend with my siblings and my dear friend/photographer Brindy Ann. We were able to agree on Friday, April 15th for pictures the night before Mom's birthday. Coordinating outfits took a bit more effort, but I think they turned out fabulously and I already have prints hung on my walls.

 

The Easter Bunny managed to still make it to our house Saturday morning and the kids had a blast looking for eggs and enjoying their basket of goodies.

Then the boys went swimming at the hotel for an hour while I ran to Bountiful to pick up a cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes for a birthday party later that evening. We went out to dinner and then we came back to our house and enjoyed cake and ice cream while visiting and letting the kids play. It was a fun celebration!

Right before we left for dinner Grandpa Stan gave my girls these pure gold panda necklaces with their birth year on them. They loved them!

Sunday was amazing too. We had a wonderful Stake Conference message and enjoyed a nice family meal together of chicken cordon blue, jello salad, a green salad, and delicious peasant sough dough bread that is so easy it may be the death of us, and carrot bundt cake for dessert (we also took some to a friend which was very special). Then we watched The Lamb of God by Rob Gardner. It was a wonderful concert and way to end our celebration of the Savior. I am so grateful for my knowledge of the Savior and His life. During the conference someone referenced 2 Nephi 25:26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. My heart was touched and I testified to my family that is always about Christ, we should be striving to be like Him and sharing His message of hope and love. The Church has great resources and programs to help us do that but if we focus on the programs and not the goal of becoming like Christ or bringing other to Christ then we can loose track of what is important. So "We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ" for He is the source of hope and love now and throughout the eternities.

Every time I said we were going to Yosemite, Marcus would start singing Gethsemane. Haha silly kid. I had to explain the difference, not that they really even sound the same but they do have the same amount of syllables. Anyway, we were pretty excited for our trip and several tender mercies happened on my end in preparation for the trip like thinking to go down the dollar aisle at Target while returning some things and finding several fun car activities to keep kids entertained, or going through the cabinets while listening to General Conference and finding more road trip fun activities, receiving an email about testing that reminded me to order headphones for the kids also a useful roadtrip thing to have, and being able to think through food fairly effectively was nice. We had originally planned to head to Tahoe Friday or Saturday to hopefully see Tim and Debbie (Steve's sister) but Lila's dance schedule on Friday didn't allow us to leave then. Tim and Debbie had just been in Tahoe fixing some water pipes so they weren't going to make it back up as they were preparing for a trip to hike Machu Picchu in Peru with their girls. Ellie said she needed to do an AP Chem practice test some time over spring break so we decided to stay home Saturday, watch Conference and let Ellie take her test. It worked out good and was a nice chill day before we left.

On Sunday, we listened to Conference while driving and the kids played and read books. The drive to Tahoe is always a little tricky gas wise, we don't like to stop in Elko because it's too soon but making it to Battle Mountain is a stretch. . .well we really stretched it. about 30 miles out the empty light came on. A few prayers were said and we pulled into the first gas station we saw and filled up a very thirsty van. It looked like the station was fairly new so it was a nice pit stop. We arrived at Tahoe in time to put some dinner in the oven. Marcus immediately started working on the puzzle left out on the table (he loves puzzles!).

Monday's drive was supposed to be shorter so we weren't in too big of hurry to get off. Steve, Ellie and I went for a run before breakfast then we loaded and hit the road.

We passed this frozen lake just after leaving Tahoe. It was an incredible sight (and on the way home we saw several sections where it was thawing and breaking up).

Steve had heard about the Black Chasm caverns from his boss and they just happened to be open again on Mondays that week so we decided to make a stop. Unfortunately, the roads were really winding and I kept checking on Andrew but about 10 minutes before we reached the caves he threw-up. He says it hit him suddenly. Thankfully he had a tray in front of him doing an activity so that caught most of it. We pulled over, cleaned up and I moved to the back, Andrew to the middle, and Ellie to the front. We got to the caves just in time for a tour (another tender mercy).

 

After the caves we sat outside on picnic benches and ate a lunch before getting back in the car. The drive went through beautiful country; rolling green hills with these hidden lakes. Even Lila commented on how beautiful the drive was. Steve's GPS some how thought that one way into the park was a toll road and the other wasn't so it took us an even longer way. It was only an extra 30 minute and it was a beautiful drive so in the end we were glad we did it heading in. We passed a view point just before heading out to the cabin we'd be staying in and I had Steve pull over and we took some pictures. Turns out it was Tunnel View which is an iconic view point and we loved taking in the view every day as we drove into the park. The sun was in their faces as we took this picture but you can see Bridalveil Falls on the right, El Capitan on the left, and in the far back you can see Half Dome.

We spent the evening getting settled in our lodging for the week and making a plan for the next day. Tuesday morning we headed over to the visitors center to get Jr Ranger books and ask the Rangers about hikes. I was unsure with the spring weather what was really open and we had packed our yack trax just in case we ran into some snowy/icey conditions, but as it turns out most everything was open except a couple of things that are closed for the whole year for some rehabilitation which included Bridalveil Falls and Glacier Point road which was a little bummer. After meeting with the ranger we decided to head over and start the Yosemite Falls hike. It was a lot of stairs and climbing but the kids did good.

Those three made it to the top of the tallest waterfall in North America. So proud of them. Steve said they did really good! Marcus, Ellie and I sat in the car for a bit and relaxed while we waited for them to come back down. Then I decided we should walk to the village and buy a treat for everyone. So we headed out for a little walk. We saw some amazing views on our walk and even saw some rock climbers and one even free soloed a section. Unfortunately when we got to the store it was crazy busy so we just walked back to the car.

 

I took the other three to see the fun view here.

here we are on our way up with Illilouette waterfall behind us

We ate lunch at the top and the kids ran around jumping on rocks playing a mashed up version of the floor is lava and king of the hill. It was one of their favorite things to just be up there and playing so we just relaxed.

We thought about going up to Nevada Falls but I think the day before was tiring enough so eventually we made our way back down.

When we got back to the bikes we decided to bike over to a beach place Debbie had told us about. It was beautiful and no one was there because the closest campsite was currently not in use. The girls wished we had brought our paddle boards. Instead Ellie found a shallow section and rode her bike through it. The water was really cold so the boys didn't want to play in it but Marcus had fun running around digging and throwing sand while Andrew was playing a game with pine needles. It was a nice little place to relax for a bit. I agree it would have been fun to have the paddle boards . . . we may have to buy a trailer to haul everything around, haha!

That evening we played Monopoly Deal and ironically everyone played an "It's My Birthday" card except Lila whose birthday was the next day. It did not sit well with her. I also set off the fire alarms cooking dinner and nothing was even close to burning but the kids all thought it was hilarious.

Thursday morning Marcus started singing Happy Birthday as soon as he saw this sign even before Lila came out and then again as she came out. Lila chose (from our limited vacation options) hard boiled eggs and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We gave her some more shirts and I ordered her a new pair of goodr sunglasses but they took forever to ship and finally arrived Monday after we left so they're waiting for her at home when we return.

She's an official teenager 13 with a new phone and service we're both excited to be trying. It has a few bugs like it happened to lock out all of her contacts on her birthday so she didn't get a few birthday texts, but we could look them up on the web. She's branching out and making new friends at school and keeping track of a crazy Jr High schedule that I can't even follow. I'm so proud of her and the hard work she puts into school and dance and life! Love ya to pieces girl!

We intentionally planned an easier day for her birthday. We first  went into the village store to buy some souvenirs then we biked to the visitors center to get Jr Ranger badges. Where Marcus said his favorite thing was the rainbows in the waterfalls and the Ranger said they call them, "spray bows".

Then we biked out to the Mirror Lake hike. The bike ride was really fun out there and we saw hardly no one. Then we walked the .4 miles into the lake only to find out that we could have biked the whole way in so Ellie and Steve decided that Ellie would ride the co-pilot back and forth so they could bring everyone's bikes up there. Ellie did not love riding the co-pilot because she had no control of anything.

We rode back to the Ahwahnee Hotel for a special birthday lunch where we even ordered dessert to celebrate.

Then we decided to bike around the whole valley. It was fun to see all the views and we sat at one spot looking at Yosemite Falls with the binoculars so they could see how far they hiked up the first day. On occasion we had a hard time finding the biking trail, once again a little more signage would have been nice but we made it and it was a fun day. On our drive back to the cabin we pulled off because Steve and Ellie wanted to walk out to El Cap and pretend like they were rock climbing. They ventured off the trail and got stuck in a boulder field so this is the best pic they took.

We went back and relaxed and watched Bolt. Earlier in the week we watched Second Hand Lions with the girls and they both declared it their new favorite. It is a great movie! Then we had some more chocolate cookies to celebrate.

Friday we just hung out at the cabin in the morning enjoying our last full day on vacation. I did a load of laundry so we wouldn't be stressed about laundry when we got back Sunday. The boys played and played together. The girls read. I think Ellie was hoping to get some homework done but the internet connection was not good enough. She did manage to finish an online informational video in preparation for Weber State registration which is Monday at 7am when we get back. She also managed to pick her classes and I think her schedule will be great. I'm super excited for her. She also decided to take a rock climbing class through Weber and got it on her schedule so that will be fun!

After lunch we drove out to Mariposa Grove the other side of Yosemite park to see Grizzly Giant and the Tunnel Tree. We had gotten mixed information about whether or not you could bike and were happy to find we could bike up the paved path that was closed to cars for the season. It was a climb but it was fun and we knew it would be fun coming back down. We enjoyed being in the forest with these giant trees.

Then just as we started biking down, I heard this pop on Steve and Marcus's bike. We realized the tire on the copilot popped. We stopped and tried to pump it but that didn't work and we didn't have another tube for that tire on us. We decided to just go down with it flat. Andrew took off and I could not catch him with Lila right behind him so I felt like I needed to at least stay up enough where I could see them. Luckily Ellie stayed with Steve to make sure they didn't need anything and they made it down shortly after we did. Steve was disappointment he had to take it easier on the downhill and Marcus's ride was a little bumpier but we were just happy everyone made it down safely and in like 5 minutes, way better than walking out 3 miles.

After we got home Steve pulled out the puzzle I packed and we all worked on it. We finished it a little later than I wanted to put the boys to bed but it was a good activity and I'm grateful Steve got it going. As I was a little distracted trying to coordinate a few things for the week we get back.

Saturday morning we loaded the car and started our drive which had us head back into the park for a short bit, but we decided that we would do the long loop in the park and do a few things as our "farewell" tour. We were all a little sad to be leaving which I guess means it was a good trip. We stopped at Tunnel View again and got out to enjoy the view. We also listened to an audio tour that described the valleys and how the falls were created which was very interesting. Most of the waterfalls were formed from glaciers that didn't erode as fast as the main glacier so they were left and created hanging valleys where the falls now flow from. We stopped at Bridalveil Falls and walked up as far as we could and another view of El Cap.

Then we decided to actually walk up to lower Yosemite Falls since we never did the easy part of the Yosemite hike.

Marcus saw this crevice on the way up and we let them climb around in it on the way back to the van.

Then we headed out and towards Tahoe where we would be staying the night again. I was in the back of the van with Marcus so our car sick kiddos could all sit more towards the front. We stopped for gas and we let everyone pick a treat. Ellie, Lila, and Marcus got slushies and Andrew picked some dried pineapples covered in red chilis. Then we found a little diner where we had lunch and ironically they had Mango shakes. Andrew was very disappointed at lunch on Thursday that we did not order Mango ice cream. Marcus spoke up for chocolate and well that's what came and Andrew almost missed out on dessert because of his pouting. I thought it was ironic they had mango and we let him order a mango shake to go. We made it to Tahoe. I wasn't feeling carsick but my head was definitely feeling scrambled and I was grateful we had decided to stay over in Tahoe again. I told the girls I'd take them to Ross there and they each found 3 pairs of pants they promised me they would wear. ;) Ellie and Steve went for a bike ride around Tahoe and as it started getting dark I started to worry. They got a little turned around but made it back. Sunday we were up and loaded by 8:30. 

We packed lunches again so all we had to do was stop for gas. We listened to our ward's amazing sacrament meeting and then to our book (we didn't quite finish it so we're going to have to find time to do that) and tiredly pulled into our home at 6pm. Everyone took turns showering as we unloaded and got ready for the week, I guess it is back to real life. We made some great memories and for that, Yosemite will always hold a special place in my heart.