This week was spring break! We tried to find a getaway that worked around everyone's work schedules and we (mostly) made it happen! We left Wednesday in the afternoon and drove to Meadow hot springs. It's a pretty well-known natural hot spring that you can find off a dirt road in the middle of a field. We had good chats with the other people there and enjoyed the hot water and uniqueness of the place.

We drove from there to Richfield which is where we had reserved an airbnb. We had a giant old house, beautifully updated, all to ourselves. It was white with a picket fence, four bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, sitting room, tv room, and beds for eleven! We had pizza for dinner and then played hide and seek and watched Castle.

The next day after a pancake breakfast made by our own breakfast specialist, Dad, we headed to Sevier junction to ride our bikes on the Big Rock Candy Mountain Express bike trail. It was 6.5 miles to the end of the trail at Big Rock Candy Mountain. We took pictures. The kids sang "Do-Re-Mi" just like they do on bikes in Sound of Music. Ben asked 14 times when we were stopping for lunch. We saw the old train tunnel (the bike trail is a paved-over train track from when they used to move coal through Sevier valley). It was so pretty! Probably even prettier with leaves on the trees, BUT probably also much hotter. Riding on a 50 degree day was perfect. When we got to the Big Rock Candy Mountain Resort, which was deserted since it doesn't open until May, we had a picnic lunch by the river. Then Kevin, Mariah, Chey, and Cali rode back to get the van. Savannah, Beth, Ben, and I explored the converted rail cars and walked around the river. It was a fun adventure!

When we got back to the house, Chey had to leave us. She drove back to Springville for a 5 o'clock shift at the assisted living center that no one else could do. We missed her, but were super proud that she is so capable and responsible! The rest of us played games. We had taco salad for dinner and watched Tobey Maguire as Spiderman. The next morning we had another yummy breakfast, cleaned up, packed the car, and headed home. We had a great time!

Saturday was Ben's birthday!!! Megan and Sarah's families couldn't join us for spring break but they all came for lunch at Chuck-a-Rama on Saturday so we could celebrate Ben! Later that day, Kevin and I took Ben to get his first phone. (Don't worry. We have controls on it and have set good rules.) He is loving it. Today at church, the deacon who was supposed to give the lesson wasn't there, so Ben said, "I have my phone so I can look up the lesson. I'll teach it." And he did. I'll take that! He is such a great kid and we are so happy that he was born into our lives 12 whole years ago!

Avery was there, too!

Love that kid!