When we paid off the house, we knew we wanted to do something fun as a family to celebrate. We considered Disneyland, but the kids weren't as excited about it as I thought they'd be. In fact, I felt like I was the only one in the family who really wanted to go and it wasn't feeling worth it because of that (I still want to take the kids when they are older though!).
Instead, we decided to do a lot of different fun activities that the kids wanted to do closer to home, and we decided to make a whole year of it. We did a different activity each month and had a blast!
January
Year of Fun Party!
In January, we kept it simple with a party at home. Each family member got to pick out a $50 gift for themselves and I wrapped it up for the party.
Oliver got a set of magnet blocks and magnet block cars.
Rylee got an Elsa costume she'd been wanting for a long time, complete with an Elsa braid.
Parker picked an Anna costume.
Ashtyn picked out a fox blanket for her bed that also came with pillow cases.
Ben got a gift card for the Switch and I got some bookish t shirts.
We loved opening the gifts, even knowing what it was we were getting.
For a special treat, I made an angel food cake and the kids wanted to try a cheesecake.
I got one from Smith's, but I wish I had looked somewhere else even if it was more expensive, because it was not a great cheesecake. The angel food cake turned out amazing though.
After opening the presents and eating treats, we ended up going to cousin's house and playing games with them.
February
Nerf Gun War
In February, we'd wanted to go ice skating, but the local rink had been under construction. I thought they were done, but couldn't ever get ahold of them. Instead, we decided to do a nerf war. We went to Walmart and picked out guns (and let the kids pick out nerf swords too).
Oliver was on a "team" with Ben. We set up obstacles in the living room and dining room and then set a toy on a stool in front of the counter. The girls were trying to steal the toy without getting hit and Ben was trying to defend the toy for a set amount of time. If the girls got hit, they had to start over at the end of the living room and if they hit Ben or got the toy, they won.
March
Thanksgiving Point
In March, we drove out to Thanksgiving Point and as part of our year of fun, we bought a pass so we could go back often throughout the year.
Ashtyn had come to the butterfly biosphere for her birthday before, but the other kids hadn't. They were all so excited.
The girls loved catching the butterflies, but poor Oliver was scared of the butterflies flying around him.
Then we decided to go to Wendy's for lunch, which was close by, because the kids all love it.
Then we headed to the Museum of Natural Curiousity before heading home.
It was a long day, driving out and back in the same day, but the kids all had a blast with it!
April
Swim at the Rec Center
The rec center is one of the kids' favorite places in Vernal, but not something we do super often. They loved going and swimming for a few hours!
May
Bowling
The older girls had gone bowling for activity days before, but we'd never gone as a family before. They all had so much fun, and I loved watching Oliver bowling "all by himself".
I couldn't get enough of watching him.
We ended up getting fries while we were there and playing two games. The kids thought it was the greatest.
June
Lagoon
The kids and I love Lagoon, though it's not Ben's favorite. He came along though and Uncle Jon came for the morning as well! We left Oliver with Grandma Dee, knowing he probably wouldn't like Lagoon much yet.
It was nice having Jon there to do some of the rides with the kids that Ben and I didn't want to do (like The Mousetrap) or ride as one of the kids' partner.
After he left, the girls and I did some rides without Ben (I accidentally got regular Dramomine instead of non-drowsy and it made Ben really sleepy 😅).
Then Parker really wanted to try the Rocket, but Ashtyn didn't and Rylee couldn't (she wasn't quite tall enough yet), so Ben took Ashtyn and Rylee to do a couple of kid rides while Parker and I did the rocket. She loved it!
It was a super fun and tiring day at Lagoon together!
July
Get Out Pass Trip
One of the things we did for the year was buy a Get Out Pass, which gives you entrance to a lot of different places in Utah (it also included Lagoon, for June's activity). We drove out to Grandma Dee's house and stayed there five days (which was part of the appeal of the trip, the kids were super excited to stay there longer than our normal 1-2 nights!).
On the way, we stopped at the nickelcade. Ben and I were very underwhelmed with it. They no longer took nickels or gave out tickets for winning, it was all on a card, which felt a lot less fun to us. The kids had a lot of fun though.
After the arcade, Ben and I stopped for some food and then we went to Grandma Dee's house.
The kids love spending time at Grandma's house!
The next morning, we all went to a fun park. I thought it was a trampoline park, but it was a general fun park with climbing toys and a few trampolines. The older kids were a little disappointed, but they still had fun and the younger kids loved it.
Oliver didn't want to wear a wristband, so they stuck it on the back of his shirt 😂
Parker adopted about five little toddlers to play with in the ball pit 🩷
The older kids especially loved the special section, where you could stand in line and choose a couple different climbing activities with a harness.
They had so much fun, they never wanted to leave. I was impressed.
That night, we went to dinner with Grandma Dee at Olive Garden. Our kids were excited to eat at a "fancier" restaurant. They ate a lot of breadsticks and each got an individual pizza, of which I think two pieces got bitten out of.
Ben and I loved the dinner, despite entertaining the kids the whole time.
The next morning we went to Mrs. Cavanaugh's Chocolate Factory for a tour. This was the thing that Parker was most excited for!
Oliver made a little friend 🩷
The tour was very fun and interesting!
Afterwards, Grandma Dee bought us all ice cream and we got some credits from the price of the tour to pick out some candy.
At the end of the tour, we also met a Brazillian family who started speaking Portuguese with Ben and made friends with us. They invited us to go to a little Brazilian cafe and we did that with them, which was fun. They were a fun family and the kids loved getting to try Brazilian soda.
Then we took the kids to an outdoor rec center pool and they had a total blast there. The Brazilian family we met actually lived nearby and came near the end as well, which was fun!
This was Ashtyn's first time swimming around on her own and she had a lot of fun with.
The kids never wanted to leave and we only left because we needed food.
We also got to visit my aunt Ardis and her kids while were out, which is something we always love to do. The kids love their playhouse, their trampoline, their magic set, and their dressups (and just playing with Adylinne and Mikayla!).
On our last night there, Ben and I were going to do a pickleball date, but then it fell through. It ended up being fine, because we went to dinner and got a hotel room for the night and got to have a kid-free night while the kids did a special movie night with Grandma Dee. It was really fun!
Before going home, we stopped at an actual trampoline park for the older kids. Oliver didn't love it as much, but he still had fun and the girls loved it!
When our time at the trampoline park was over, we grabbed some food and drove home.
And made it home safely!
August
Aquarium with cousins
We did a trip out to West Jordan in August to go to the aquarium with cousins and Grandma Dee. On the way, we stopped at the Museum of Ancient History at Thanksgiving Point. We met up with Grandma Dee, her cousin, and her cousin's grandkids, which was super fun.
Oliver was SO excited and had to bring his dinosaurs from home.
After the museum, we walked over to the farm, where the kids had a blast.
Everyone loved the pony rides. It surprised me how much Oliver loved it.
He was also in heaven when we did the train ride!
Then the kids got to play at the playground for awhile before we got some food at Michelle's house and headed to Grandma Dee's for the night.
The next morning, the girls and I met up with Amanda to try on flower girl dresses and meet the other flower girls. They had a pool, so then we got to swim in the pool with them and the kids thought it was the best thing ever.
Then it was time for the aquarium!
I love the aquarium, I think it is more fun than the zoo and more worth the money.
We loved seeing cousins and spending time with them at the aquarium!
We drove home from the aquarium and were very ready to be home.
September
Hike for Rubber Boas
In September, we went up the mountains with Grandpa Danny to search for a rubber boa. They are super sweet snakes and Ben really wants to find one.
We didn't find one, but we did spot lots of lizards and got this adorable tiny one. We also found a lot of leaves, sticks, and a dog skeleton.
It was a beautiful day to go hiking. On the way home, we stopped at Wendy's for lunch, making it an extra special hike for the kids.
October
Leaf Hunting
In October, we were going to do the local corn maze (after finding out the Cornbelly's wasn't included in our pass), but Ben ended up not being able to go to it with the kids and I, so the kids said we couldn't count it. Instead, we went up to Remember the Maine to look for leaves!
It was a little chilly, but really fun. Remember the Maine has a beautiful nature path that we went along to find leaves and because Uncle Jon was visiting, he got to come with us. Then the kids got to play at the playground some before we grabbed pizza and headed home.
November
Movie Theater
Our November and December got really busy, so our last two activities got pushed back a little, but we had a lot of fun when we finally got to them. We did November's activity at the end of December and went to see Moana 2 in theaters. The girls loved it, Oliver liked it okay, and Ben and I were less than impressed. I really like the first movie, but I was pretty bored during the second. It was fun to go to theaters together, though, since it's been awhile since we did that and the kids always love it.
December
End of Year Party
We decided to come full circle and do a little party to end the year. We made a special dinner of lemon chicken (the kid's favorite), cheeseball, and homemade salsa. The kids talk about this dinner all the time now, wanting it again, since it's three things they love.
Then Ben and I thought of some gifts we thought the kids might like and wrapped them up.
We got them glow in the dark stars for the cieling, hand helicopters (mostly for Oliver), and flipbook kits for the kids to share (mostly for the girls).
The girls were SO excited for their kits after watching Andymation on YouTube.
We spent the rest of the night creating flipbooks and watching Andymation videos together. We finished up the night with dessert smoothies with homemade ice cream (a pregnancy craving I'd been having).
It was a great night and a really fun way to wrap up our year of fun. We made a lot of great memories together throughout the year and the kids had a lot of fun with all the different activities. They wanted to do another year of fun, but we had to break it to them that we were having a year of a baby instead. We loved celebrating paying off the house together!
