
On Friday the kids got out of school for Spring Break, Morgan had the day off cuz Zach was supposed to be playing in the Pizza Factory Tournament for baseball in Spanish Fork... but because of the rain/snow they cancelled it! So... that meant a weekend with NOTHING!!! Which rarely happens at this house! Morgan and I went to lunch that day while all the kiddos were at school and took little Halle with us. Which is also a rare occasion! :) And at lunch I presented him the idea of taking the kids for a night's stay at a hotel somewhere close. (which is another rare occasion) we talked about doing it sometime this week while they were out of school. Boston had a talent show in his kindergarten class that day that we were all able to go to (he was so excited cuz Morgan and Zach were going to be gone and weren't going to be able to come, but since Zach's games got cancelled they got to!) He did 50 push-ups to the Jimmer song for his class! He was so cute! On the way home in the car the kids were SO excited to be out of school, and I just looked at Morgan and said, "Why don't we go TODAY"? We came in the house and he called to make sure they had rooms available at Little America and gave me the thumbs up! So, we gathered the kids and told them that we were going somewhere for the night and to pack their bags with a set of clothes, swimsuits, and pajamas, and that we were leaving in 15 min! They were all so excited! Even Halle was screaming and waving her hands in the air just cuz the other kids were! So, everyone including myself grabbed a few things together and off we went! We are usually not spontaneous like this, so it was fun to have a little adventure!
We pulled up to Little America and went to check in only to find out that they had overbooked their rooms and didn't have any left!!! So, we got to drive across the street and stay at Grand America! It was fun to be able to stay the night at a hotel, but to have it so nice, made it even better! We went and checked into our room and put on our suits to go swimming. To get to the pool you had to go through the spa and check in with your room number, when we got there we found out there were some other families who had the same idea we did! But that was o.k. we stayed longer than any of them, and had the pool mostly to ourselves! The kids got to experience a sauna for their first time! Morgan went with the boys and then stayed with Halle so I could take Brinley in! I figured the hot tub was hot enough for her, I didn't want her to overheat! The kids loved the sauna, and the boys even went back for more when I took Brinley in! We were explaining to them what saunas are for, and everytime Boston would come out he would flex his stomach so it was hard and say "Mom, I think I lost weight! Do you think you did too"? Funny little guy, I wish it were that easy!
After we had enough heat for the night we went back to the room and ordered pizza in, it was about 8:30 and we didn't feel like taking everyone out. It was much more relaxing to lay in bed and watch Disney Channel with the kids!

This was the first night in the hot tub, everyone looks a little "toasty"!

We stayed on the 19th floor. The kids wanted to go out on the balcony and it FREAKED me out! I am a little scared of heights, and it just made me nervous, Zach was making fun of me!

Halle enjoying some pretzels...

Brinley and Boston enjoying the robes waiting for the pizza to come! Morgan and I called them but they got them first! The kids kept saying they wanted to see what room service was like. When the pizza came we told them that was their room service for the night! :)

I'm realizing that everyone looks so tired in these pictures! I think the swimming, hot tub, and sauna wore them right out!

Morgan getting a little R&R!

Mommy and Halle

Brinley was doing splits on the wall...

Halle was trying to join in...

Wish I were that flexible!

Halle had a hard time going to sleep with everyone in the same room, it gave me a little glimpse of what our trip will be like when we go to N.Y. in July!
Once she went to sleep she was out, so that was good!

Brinley tends to get a little "extra energy" at night! After everyone else had fallen asleep, she went in the bathroom and was determined to get her tooth out that has been loose for nearly 2 months! After helping her for about 30 min. and not having any luck I convinced her it was time to go to sleep! This was about 12:30 at night!

We loved the big magnified mirror! I always wished I had one in my bathroom at home!

Our nights sleep wasn't the best! Everyone was a little "squished" without our own beds, but it was fun for a night!

The next morning we went and grabbed breakfast at McDonalds and came back to the hotel to go swimming. We had the whole place to ourselves for a couple of hours! It was great! We had so much fun swimming with the kids and just being together!

After we checked out Morgan took us over to the Conference Center and we were able to go on a tour. We are so lucky to have this so close to us! I had never been on a tour before, it is pretty amazing that you can walk in ANY time and someone is there ready to take you on a tour! No scheduled times or anything! There was another family in our group that was from Canada. They had 3 kids with them. I always think to myself that we don't take advantage of what we have surrounding us. The kids thought it was awesome to go inside the Conference Center that they see on t.v. every General Conference! It looked SO big when you were inside!
It snowed pretty much ALL day long, so we weren't able to go on the roof, which probably was a blessing since I am scared of heights, it just makes me sick to my stomach. Then I didn't have to worry about one of my kids falling over the edge!
Afterwards we walked over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and watched the movie "The Restoration" about Joseph Smith. We had seen it years ago when we lived in Phoenix (even though Morgan doesn't remember) when I think about Joseph Smith, I don't think about everything he went through. It really was a personable story about his life. The kids really learned alot by watching it! Boston and Halle both fell asleep during it, so it was nice to be able to sit there and actually watch it with Zach and Brinley!

After the movie we ate at the Nauvoo Cafe. It was so yummy, we had never eaten there before.
While we were standing in line to order Halle burned her hand on one of the ovens and was screaming! They gave us a little cup of water for her to put her little fingers in. We had to leave and go out in the hall and get her to calm down before we could order!

The kids standing by the Joseph Smith statue!
It was a fun way to celebrate the kids being out of school for a week! Now we get to be at home and hang out! I'll be posting about Part II!