Utah trip #1 June 25- July 1

Sunday, the day before we left for our trip, Chris lost his 4th tooth.  He has some cute holes in his mouth now.

Monday June 26th I got ready for our trip by doing some laundry and finished packing up everything.  It always amazed me how much stuff we take on trips.  I was grateful that we didn't need to pack camping gear though.  We left around 4:00 PM.  Doug was able to take a quick nap before we left.  The car trip was ok.  We ate dinner in the car when we got hungry and we stopped at a Walmart to change into pjs when it was around 10:00.  I drove for awhile then we switched again.  We stopped at 2:00 AM to get gas and all of the kids woke up.  They had a harder time going back to sleep, especially Jenna.  I drove for another short stretch in the morning.  Jenna threw up in the morning and we stopped outside of Denver to change clothes and get ready for the morning.  We hit some bad traffic in Denver which made our last 45 min. twice as long.  We pulled into Firestone around 9:00 AM MT and said hello to our friends the Reynolds.  They were so nice to let us stay with them.  I showered and got ready to go to the park.  Doug helped me make lunches and then he went to sleep.  

I had asked my friends from the area to meet us at the park at 10:00.  Almost all of them came, and it was so fun to see them all.  A few were out of town or had moved away.  The kids had fun playing and we just couldn't get over how nice the air felt.  It was warm, but dry and the cool breeze was heavenly.  

 We just visited with the Reynolds the rest of the day.  They had this really nice massaging chair that Doug and I tried out.  I didn't take pictures, but the kids swam in their above ground pool - quite a bit chillier than what we were used to, but the kids didn't mind.  We had lots of screen time which the boys loved.

We went out to dinner at the Bent Fork with the Lori and Brian Reynolds and Ben and Claudia Ahlstrom.  We had a great night visiting and enjoyed the good food.  We came back and helped the kids get situated for bed.  We thought we had it all figured out but then some wanted to sleep with other siblings, etc.  Chris ended up sleeping in a love sac downstairs, the girls shared the top bunk, Damon was in the bottom bunk, and Tyler was on the floor next to Damon.  

 Our kids were really close to the Reynolds before we left so it was so great to see them again.  The girls had so much fun with Nathan.  He is going into 9th grade I think, but he was so good to wrestle and play with them.  They are a great family, so glad we could stop and visit with them.

 Wednesday June 28th, we  left to finish our trip to Utah.  We left around 9:00 AM and the 8 hour drive went really fast for me.  We listened to A Wrinkle in Time on CD, watched movies, played with car games, and had screen time.  The kids were pretty good overall.  We stopped for a later lunch at Rock Springs and then we only had 3 more hours.  Jenna still gets car sick, but she didn't throw up this time.

We rolled into Providence around 5:00, it was great having dinner already for us.  So grateful that we were able to stay with Mike and Arlene.  They have a great set up in their basement which makes staying there very easy.  The kids were excited to be at grandma and grandpa's and loved being to play outside on the grass with bare-feet - something that you can't do in Texas.

Thursday June 29th  We went to temple with Damon in the morning the do baptisms for the dead.  This was Damon's first time and it was pretty neat to go in the Logan temple since this is where Doug and I both went to do baptisms and be sealed.  It was a great experience and I think Damon had a good time.  There were a lot of youth there.  We brought our own names and did a sheet from the temple.  So Damon and I each did 9 names.

 We roasted hot-dogs and marshmallows in the evening and of course the kids loved the s'mores.

 Playing ball:

 Kaylee discovered how much fun it was to ride the wagon down the little hill in the back yard.  It is right next to the ravine, but they were good to steer straight and not fall over the edge.

 Friday June 30th  Some of our Logan traditions are to go to Gossner's Cheese Factory and buy 'squeaky cheese' (cheese curds).  Not all of them like it, but the girls had been looking forward to it.  Our next stop was Deseret Book to get Chris some scriptures for when he turns 8, and we picked up some other books too.  Next we went up to USU.  We had a picnic at the bottom of Old Main Hill then walked up to the Book Store.  I bought a few shirts then we all had fun running down.  We don't have hills in Texas.

Then we all took baths and got ready for the main reason we made this Utah trip: Mike and Arlene's 50th wedding anniversary.  We took some family pictures and had a great evening.  See the next post for more details.

Saturday July 1,

We got together with the Petersens in the morning at Willard Bay.  The kids had a great time playing at the beach and we also had a fun ride in the Larsen's motor boat.  Chris wanted to stay and play at the beach but everyone else went for a ride.  Damon went for a ride on the tube with Doug first.  Then I went with Kaylee, and then Jenna.  Tyler finally decided to take a turn and went by himself.  They all thought it was so much fun.  Thanks Uncle Shane for giving us a great ride!  

 We couldn't stay for too long - we had more fun things to do.  Richard and Tannie were visiting to go to Richard's 20th High School reunion, so we met them at Willow Park to play.  It was pretty warm and we decided not to go into the Zoo part.  I guess I'm a little bit cheap - it would have been $24 for our family to go in, and I'm just used to the $7 admission that it used to be.  They all had fun climbing the big trees with Uncle Richard though.

 We went over to Grandma Datwyler's and let the kids play there with their cousins.  Grandpa had irrigated earlier so the grass was still a little bit wet.  The cousins had played in the water earlier and had a fun time.  Doug and I hadn't seen Anora yet, so it was great to finally meet our youngest niece.  She's a cutie and fits right into the Datwyler family.

We only visited for a bit then went back to the Petersen's for the evening.

Day Camp June 4-10

Well the first week of summer vacation was not a vacation.  We started off with soccer camp for Damon and Day Camp for all of us.  It made for a very busy week.  Damon's soccer camp was from 8-10:00 Monday - Thursday.  I was grateful that we had a friend participate so that we could car pool.  Because of recent rain the camp was moved to a nicer turf field, but it meant a 30 minute drive to get there.  Damon had a good time and had fun with his friend Drew. 

I was the ward representative for Day Camp this year.  That meant I was in charge of making sure we had enough adult helpers, collecting paper work, and making sure everyone was trained and had their YPT current.  I also set up a car pool sign up so we knew who was driving each day and where each kid was going.   We had 12 adults help throughout the week with 5 Junior Ranger helpers (11-13 year olds), 20 cub scouts, and 3 Me-toos (siblings 3-6).  

The camp ran from 1:00-6:00 every day.  We would meet at the church at 12:00 then drive up around 12:15.  The weather thankfully cooperated most of the week.  We were afraid that we were going to get lots of rain on Monday and Tuesday, but it only rained a bit at the end.  Wednesday and Thursday were pretty hot, but not unbearable.  Friday we had more clouds so it wasn't too bad.  We were really blessed.  

The cubs were divided into Webelos in one group (Jaguars) and the Bears/Wolves/Tigers were in another group (Elephants).  The camp was a Safari theme so our stations were labeled things like: The Plains, The Jungle, The River, etc.  The program director is one of my good friends and she did a great job of organizing camp.  The sessions were fun and everything ran smoothly.  Some of the sessions were: bugs, boat building, marbles, snakes, outdoor games, musical instruments, magic tricks, coding, card games, maze building, art projects, building, and of course shooting activities.  Chris enjoyed the BB range, but had a hard time with archery.  I think it was just a little too hard for him to pull the string back.  I went around with Chris's group the whole week, so I didn't get to see Tyler do his activities, but he enjoyed archery the most.  

Damon helped as a ranger 3 of the days.  They helped keep water coolers full and assist the session leaders.  Damon was able to help on the ranges since he was 12 years old.  He went early a couple of times as well to help set up.  

The girls were in the Me-Too program and had a lot of fun making crafts, playing games, and watching movies.  They stayed home Wednesday since I went early to help set up and that was easier than trying to find someone to take them up to camp later.  

The last day was family day so Jenna and Kaylee came around to the different sessions.  That day we did a music session of name that tune, the zoo mobile, outdoor games and the range.  Then the fire truck sprayed all who wanted to get wet.  I brought a change of clothes for everyone and they watched Moana while Damon and I helped take down the archery range.  

It was a busy week. We tried to start our summer schedule.  I would wake up early to prep for my sunday school lesson.   At 6:45 those who wanted to run around the block would join me.  It's only 1/2 mile, so we go around once or twice depending on how we're feeling.  Tyler was the only one who wanted to run this week.  Then on a normal day I would exercise but this week I couldn't because I was taking Damon to soccer camp.  Then we did centers.  Everyone is enjoying these right now, let's hope that it stays that way.  Right now our stations are: piano, typing, iPad educational games, writing or math, and reading.  I am doing piano with all of the kids and so it has been fun to see the younger ones get excited to play Merrily We Roll Along.  After centers is screen time and then lunch.  The kids were good to help get ready for camp.  They all had their back packs that they would fill with their 4 snacks and get their water bottle.  After lunch we would head up to camp. After a full day of camp we would leave around 6:30, arriving home around 7:00.  Then we would eat dinner, give everyone a shower/bath and do a batch of laundry every night so our shirts would be clean for the next day.  I'm grateful that the camp was over at 6:00 though, two years ago it went until 8:00 and that was way too late.  I tried to have dinner ready in a crock pot or time bake oven.  Doug was good to help out and made spaghetti for us one of the evenings.  Then after kids were in bed I would send out emails to parents giving them info that they would need for the next day.  Anyway, this first week felt like two, it was fun but I'm glad it's over. :) 

Here are the pictures:

cockroaches on her palm and wrist.

 Weren't happy to wear protective eye gear. 

 petting an alligator

TOFW April 23-29

Pretty normal, but busy week - seems like I'm always busy.  But now looking back I can't remember what I was busy with.  

Sunday I wore a new outfit that I found at Ross.  I like finding cute things for cheap!

Monday was my dad's birthday so the kids colored or drew pictures to email to him.  

 Tyler's

 Damon wrote a note with pictures on Google Docs.

Tuesday I got my hair cut and highlighted.  It was quite a bit lighter than I wanted to go, but oh well, it will fade a bit and grow out.

 Wednesday I spent preschool time making this cake that was for a baby shower.  It was fun to do.  I still wish I knew how to get the sides of cake perfectly flat.  Mine always squish out.  This was a three layer cake - a first for me.  It was a lot of cake.  I used some new recipes from  the cake doctor recipe book I got for my birthday.  You use a cake mix and just add stuff to it.  The lemon was really good.

 Thursday we went to the baby shower.  It was fun to visit and see lots of cute girl things.  My friend was in charge and went over early to help set up and we stayed to clean up after too.  So that took my whole morning.  We ran to the store quick before heading out to visiting teaching.  Then we picked up the boys from school.  Then Doug and I went to my hairdresser's to have Doug's hair cut and I wanted to watch and learn.  He wanted to try the 'fade' look.  It looks good on him but it also looked really hard to do.  So he may just have to keep going to someone else if he wants to keep this style.




After that we had dinner quick then we all went to the church for our youth activities.  Tyler had pack meeting, Doug was helping with the scouts, I was asked to do a hair demonstration for the Beehives.  I looked up a couple of new styles online and tried a few on Jenna.  It was good to have a reason to get some new ideas.  We do the same hair styles almost everyday.  Jenna does an 'Elsa' braid (one french braid down the middle) and Kaylee prefers a pony tail.

Friday we didn't make it to dance class because she moved the time back.  We went over to a friends for a visiting teaching pool luncheon.  So the girls had fun swimming and we had fun visiting.  We ordered Panera delivery and had yummy food.  I ordered a Chinese Mandarin salad with cashews and it was so good.   We had to leave a bit early to get home.  I needed to shower and get ready to go.  

I dropped the girls off at a friends at 1:30 and then I was off with my friends for TOFW.  We stopped by Marshalls and did some quick shopping - literally changing our clothes as fast as possible to make it out in time.  I found a T-shirt and a couple of capris - but I need to go back and change the sizes if possible. 

Then we drove downtown and ate an early dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse.  I had a salmon and pasta dish that was so good I had to take a picture.  I usually don't take pictures of my food, but this one was picture worthy.  

 We parked for TOFW - grateful that one of our husbands had a parking pass for a lot nearby- then walked to the convention center.  David Archeletta was the musical performer for Friday night.  It was so fun to hear him sing.  He sang "My Little Prayer" which has been one of our recent favorites.  It was kind of funny to see him try and sing some more spunky songs and get jammin'.  I think the more mellow songs are more his strength.

The speakers were all so good.  I took lots of notes.  We got back late Friday night, then left early Saturday morning.  We tried to go to a quick yard sale before heading down, but they weren't open yet.  Saturday was great too.  Lunch was a bit crazy.  They didn't have a lunch catered like last year so hundred of ladies are looking for food and most of the restaurants nearby are sit down type that take a long time. We tried two places and the wait times were 45-60 min.  So we ended up going to Starbucks.  The line was long, but doable.  So I paid $9 for a sandwich that they warmed up in a toaster oven and $6 for a yogurt.  Crazy!  But I had to say, both were actually very good - but still a little over priced.  The rest of the speakers were excellent.  One mother spoke of how her daughter was killed in the school shooting a couple of years ago.  It was amazing to hear her spiritual experiences and how she has received help to have healing and hope.  It was a great get away, so grateful that Doug was able to let me go.  It was a really hard week for him.  He had to fill in for some people at work and was doing extra projects.  He couldn't come home early on Friday so Damon watched everyone for a bit until Doug made it home.  Grateful to have some older children! 

The event ended at 4:00 and then we drove home.  We had leftovers for dinner and then Doug and I went to the adult session of Stake Conference.  (it was a very church day for me - but good)  They are adding a new stake to our area.  So there are a few changes for us.  We have 4 wards in our building now and we meet at 8:30.