GRANDPA HATCH'S 60th BIRTHDAY

This Saturday was my Dad's 60th birthday.  Dawn had planned a big trip for him to Bryce Canyon National Park and then to St. George for some jetskiing.  They invited us to tag along.  Unfortunately we had baseball games until 6:30 pm on Friday so we were not able to get there very early.  We did have a rained out game for Noah, and then a really "intense" one for Bradley and Luke that ended up going way over!  It was a lot of fun, and thankfully we won.  We ran home for one more stop and run through of the house to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything, grabbed some Arby's and then headed out of Kaysville.  It was about 8:00 by the time we got out of there.  So pretty late!  A long 4 hour drive later, we arrived at Bryce Pioneer Village, the cute cabins we were staying the night in, got everyone settled and slept the rest of the night.
We went to the free continental breakfast Saturday night, sang Happy Birthday to Grandpa, and then headed off for Bryce Canyon.  We did a few little hikes and saw some pretty amazing, breathtaking sites, and even though the weather was about 50 degrees colder than I had planned (UGH that ended up being QUITE the frustration for me!!  The kids all wore their jammie pants because they had packed shorts- after asking me if they could- we were going SOUTH, I thought WARM!!!  So anyway- minus the snow, it was okay.  I think we would have enjoyed it so much more if we'd had coats and such) we had a good time!  It was fun to hang out with Steve and Jauslin a little too.  I think the kids enjoyed the sites.  They loved picking out their own souvenir as well.  Bradley got a pocketknife right away.  Erika, Jack and Noah all got cute little stuffed birds (seems to be a new tradition for them).  Charity finally settled on a foldy block with pictures.  Kelly found some adorable boot earrings that magically disappeared before we even got home (sad face!).  And Luke crammed about 20 round magnets into the little bag marked, "as many as you can fit in a bag for $6.99".  He loves those things.  After a day of driving and stopping, we made the long 4 hour trek home!  What a weekend that was!  I am glad we got to spend time with them and celebrate my Dad's birthday!  Good times.  5-9-15