So close you could almost touch him.
Emily
Joshua
Rylie
Emily did not like to monkey building. She wanted to be held the whole time and hid her face.
The kids always enjoy the zoo. This one is small, but you can't beat free!
Alison was very excited to start school. She is in 3rd grade this year. She has a wonderful homeroom teacher this year. She is so fun. 
Jacob and Alison both started school on September 6Th. Here is a picture of Alison and her friends at the bus stop on the first day.
Joshua started school on September 7Th. He is in kindergarten this year. He was very excited.
He was also very excited to ride the but this year. Here he is getting off the bus on his first day. Looks like he had a fun day.
Rylie stared school on September 13Th. She is in preschool at the elementary school. She has been streamlined into regular preschool. Her special ed teacher attends with her a couple of other kids and observes in case she is needed. Rylie is doing very well. She is very smart.
Rylie bus still picks her up at our house. She loves the bus.
Everyone had a good first week. I have to say, I love when school starts. I think of the commercial with the Christmas song "Its the most wonderful time of the year" and all the parents buying school supplies. Happy school year!
Joshua was so excited about sleeping in a tent he hung out in there after we were set up.
Jacob came prepared with his mosquito net. We really didn't have too many mosquitoes.
Emily and Rylie had a good time together. They are enjoying a glass of water.
The campfire was very enjoyable. I was about to say no one got hurt and remembered I did get hurt. Josh wanted help getting his hot dog off the stick and dropped the stick in the crook of my arm. I have a permanent reminder of this fun campout. When it got dark we went around the campfire and each added on to a scary story. All the kids jumped at least once during Darren's part regarding a scary bear (even Jacob).
Josh is kicking back enjoying one of his favorite foods, hot dogs. He follows after Grandpa Burgess.
Rylie and Emily entertained themselves by lining up pine cones on the cement slab.
Our family had a great time. Too bad it is too cold to do it again. There is always next year.
We stopped at a nice rest stop for a picnic lunch. It had a pond with a walking trail. We stayed a little longer than we had planned but it was a good break to get out and run around.
By the time I got back they were done with this and so I missed out on the visitor center. There's always next time.
This would be a great picture of our family if Rylie was not behind Joshua. The ride was short but about the right length. It sure gives you an idea how uncomfortable it would be to have to ride for long periods of time.
Here we are in the printer shop. The Missionaries would give a little talk about each building. Some were brief and some were not brief enough. As you can tell, it would have been better for us if we could just walk in a look around without the details. The hardest one was the blacksmith shop. I eventually had to take some kids out during the presentation. It was hot and humid that day which added to the impatience.
The animals were always entertaining for the kids.
We had to drag Rylie away from the horses. Alison also likes horses. What is with girls and horses?
But she only lasted less than five minutes. I was happy that she got her nap in, but my arms were killing my by the time the tour was over.
Alison
Jacob and Josh
Darren was chosen to wind the machine while the missionary was teaching how to make rope. Rylie and Josh ran up to help Darren. Darren pulled Rylie's hand out just in time before she would have lost a finger. We quickly learned that this job was not for children. You wouldn't think making rope was such a dangerous job.
Then I remembered that snow cones are very messy. All the kids except Jacob stained their shirts. We They had to sit through the whole show with sticky clothes. I was worried that it would attract more mosquitoes, but we didn't see any all night. (weird). The best part of the show was at the end when the temple lit up in the background. It gave me the chills. It was late after the show and we had a long day. We headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.
We asked a missionary to take a picture of us with the Anderson's and the Langston's in front of the jail. Before we were situated he snapped the picture and was done. Some of us were still moving into position. But this is the only one we got.
On the drive home we stopped in a town to try and find a park to have a picnic at. We found this Mormon Handcart Park. We thought it was ironic. It had a trail and information about the pioneers camping here. What a way to end our trip. We stayed 2 nights and should have stayed at least one more. Unfortunately Jacob said his favorite part was watching Spongebob at the hotel while we ate our dinner one night. This was the first vacation that we packed food for the whole trip. I missed going out to eat, but it was also very convenient (and a lot cheaper).
Alison and her friend, Maggie, built a whole castle city.
I was trying to take the picture and Emily wasn't looking at me so I asked her to show me her eyes.
