A Visit from Ariana

The very next day after returning from Bear Lake more fun came our way! Our niece, Ariana, flew from Oregon to stay with us for the week until her family joined her. Ariana is 12 years old and was great to have around. While I tried to get my PILES of laundry done from our vacation, she played with Brie and Ava, read them all of their library books over and over and taught Zach how to climb the stairs! The girls loved having her here, even if Ava only referred to her as "that somebody". Ariana even joined me on the stationary bike next to my treadmill while I ran.

We tried to show Ariana a good time while in Utah. I think she was surprised how long it took us to get out the door each day with a baby who naps in the morning and just having three small kids. But we did make it out the door and hopefully she had some fun!

Ariana came on her vacation with certain things that she really wanted to do. Top on the list was The Yogurt Stop for "fro yo". We took her twice. Wahoo! I must be the best aunt ever!She also wanted to go to the Gateway. So after frozen yogurt we went to the Gateway to play in the water fountains and wait for Scott to get off of work to join us for dinner there.Brielle had Ariana follow her around choreographing a dance for the two of them as they went. Beautiful.
Ava hid from the water in the stroller.Jessica was still with us too, so the next day we all went on a hike to Donut Falls. I fell in love with this hike for kids. It was a good one. We started with a picnic lunch. We found a rare type of duck while lunching in the forest. Crazy!We then hit the trail and Zach was SUPER excited to be hiking in the backpack with his own hiking stick!Feeling the freezing river.
We made it to Donut Falls, but Zach missed the whole thing. Looks comfortable, right?
This is when Brie and Ava decided they needed a bathroom and I performed my motherly duty by taking them behind a bush and teaching them just how to go in the woods! A difficult task, but they did it very well.

The following day we joined the Brian and Rachel family at Lagoon for a day at the water park and riding the rides over and over and over. Lagoon is another one of my new favorite spots! We absolutely had a blast! The kids were thrilled with the water park. And then they loved all the rides just right for them. It was cloudy, so cool, and there were barely any lines. Ariana and I got to ride some of the big rides together, including "Wicked", which was probably the scariest ride I've ever been on. Ariana was very brave though.Floating the lazy river with Uncle Brian.
Maybe this ride was built more for the thrill of a 4 year old than a 12 year old?And here are the brave oldest cousins who just finished riding a big roller coaster. So brave and so proud!
Ariana finished her stay at our house with Scott getting sick (puking), then Brie, then me and then finally SHE spent a day throwing up! Quite the finale, eh! Come back soon Ariana.