So many to see!

WARNING: This is going to be a long post--sorry if it is boring)

We are finally home from our vacation and I must say, I always have a good time when I go. There is always way too many things we want to do and way too many people I want to see. I have cousins, high school friends, college friends, friends from towns we've lived in, and other family members. I try to pick different people each time I go so that after a few years I can hopefully see everyone at least once. Sometimes we only see one, but this trip I was lucky to get to see several. (we did miss a couple that we had planned to see--sorry) I already posted that I went to Rexburg to see an old friend and we had such a good time. I wish I could have swung over to Boise to see another! I was able to connect with some old BYU friends this time around. I took my girls with me to their house to hang out and visit and then headed off to eat some FROGURT--YUM!! That place is too good to be true. You grab a cup (those that the girls are holding in the pix below are the small cups) and then you help yourself to all the flavors, getting however much you want and as many flavors as you want. Then you hit the toppings and again, whatever you want. Then they weigh it and you buy it by the ounce. It was fabulous!! Anyway, we always seem to just laugh and laugh--Hey that was the way it was when we were at school--hasn't changed much. My girls had a good time too even though their kids were away that week. I can't believe that we have known each other for over 24 years. Strange how we met, but that is another story. Thanks for the good time Gerry and Michelle.I was also able to see my cousin Tonya and her kids this time around. She is my only cousin on my mom's side of the family that has kids and they just happen to be the same age as all of my kids. It makes it easy as they all get along great. After spending the morning at Hill Air Force Base Museum, we headed over to their house for some fun. The bigger kids headed downstairs for a Rockband fest while the little ones played outside in their fantastic blowup slide/pool contraption. Everyone kept busy so that us ladies could spend the afternoon visiting and catching up. Then of course, off to the ice cream store for some pinball and Farr's ice cream.I was also able to finally meet one of my great-nephews (I guess that is the correct term) My sister's son and his wife had a baby boy awhile back and I had never seen him in person, so we met up with them at BYU where she put on a show for us at the Eyring Science Center's Planetarium. It was a great show especially since we were the only ones there and we learned a lot about the stars from her. It was fun to finally meet Brennen, and he actually seemed to like it for a minute before we had to leave. I was hoping to meet my niece's new son born not too long ago, but she was in AZ visiting my sister. I don't see how her mom outweighs her aunt, but whatever..
I guess next time!Then I was also able to meet up with my other sister's daughter and her son to visit for awhile. The last time I saw them, he was just several months old and now he is two, so it was fun to see his personality and interact with him. Now if I could just meet up with my other nephew that just had his 3rd child--I haven't met any of them at all.I must tell you that K had such a great time playing with the snails! Yes, I said SNAILS! She had never seen a snail before (I thought she had, but she was fascinated with them). Once she found out that those dotted lines on the patio were made by snails, she went crazy. Every morning she would go outside and round up as many as she could find and place them together as "families". Then in the heat of the day when they would hole up in their shells, she thought they were dead. She got so sad, but when I told her to put some water on them and see what they would do, she was thrilled when they started to come out of their shells. She was so happy just to play with her snails. It was so cute. Here are just some random pictures of our vacation including a trip to the beauty salon, tickle sessions with Grandpa, creating cards with Grandma, family pix, stopping by the cemetary where my sister is buried (I can't believe it has been almost 10 years since she has been gone), and of course, just goofing off. Anyway, we had a great vacation. I sure missed my hubby but I guess someone had to stay home and work for the vacation, right??! Thanks Mom and Dad for everything, and I mean everything! You always do so much for us while we are there and we always have so much fun too. Thanks for the good time.

So Gorgeous!

This morning we went to the Open House of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was gorgeous--not that I was expecting anything less. It was great to go through as a family (well, minus hubby). The only other Open House the kids have been to was the Albuquerque Temple when J was just a baby. So they really don't remember much and K wasn't even born yet. It was nice to have Grandma and Grandpa with us this time. We took tons of pictures outside. It was soooooooo hot! 96 degrees. That is hot to us Coloradans. But I couldn't seem to get enough pictures. The kids were melting by the time I finally said we had enough. I sure wish I had my old camera back. M's doesn't seem to do as well. Anyway, it was beautiful as it should be. The little girls liked all the chandeliers the best. It is much smaller than I am used to, but that would actually be quite nice for a change. The reception tent was amzing--you would have never guessed it was a tent from inside. There were cookies and bottles of water fro everyone and couches to sit on. It was beautiful in itself.This afternoon, we went downtown. We love going to see the temple, the conference center, the Church Office Building and the JSB. We never tire of visiting those places and of course, I always take too many pictures. I am glad that the kids continue to enjoy it. I love the Distribution Center and Deseret Book so we spent some time there as well. We drove most of the way there and then took the TRAX in the "free zone". (Gotta love that) We even hit Brigham Young's grave on the way home. It was great to spend the day with my kids - they are so fun!

The 4th and Final Week

T just finished his week at OYA and had a blast. Outdoor Youth Adventures is through BYU-Idaho and is like an outdoor EFY. They camp instead of stay in the dorms and they get to do all kinds of fun activities like whitewater rafting, horseback riding, rock wall, ropes course, handcart trek, giant swing.....the list goes on and on. I can't believe they can fit that all into one week, but they did and he loved it. That finishes off his whirlwind summer of great opportunities and adventure. I haven't asked him which week was his favorite and I am not sure he could tell me anyway as each one was totally different from the other. I am happy that he had such a good time--he meet a lot of people and made new friends, he got a good tan, and he learned some things along the way---so I think this was well worth the money, time and energy to do it all. We sure missed him though.The girls and I have had a good time at Grandma's while T was away. We have shopped, created cards, gone to the movies, went to the salon, had ice cream, played at the park, watched a planetarium show, held babies, visited my alma mater, ate good food, and seen the sights to mention a few. Yesterday, we drove up to Idaho to stay over at a friend's house that I have not seen for way too many years. I met her when I lived in Pueblo and she only lived there for about a year before she moved on. We lost contact but some how we connected again and have been following each other on our blogs, Facebook, and emails. She lives in Rexburg, so since I would need to pick up T there on campus today anyway, I thought it would be fun to get together. So we spent the evening last night with her and her family at a park picnic sponsored by their bank. The little girls had a such a great time at the splash park and playing the games. There was a dunk tank, (which K loved getting dunked) dart throw, face painting, snocones, cotton candy, jump house, golf putting, tic-tac-toe, fish scramble, not to mention free dinner and DQ Dilly Bars. Then it was back to the house to play games. It was great to find out that they love Settlers too. The little girls loved the fact that her cat had three little kittens that they could hold and love and maul to their hearts content. Whenever I didn't know where K was, I knew I would find her in the garage searching out the babies. They were so sad when we had to leave. They wanted to smuggle them into the car and take them home. I must admit they were cute, but then they turn into cats and they are not so cute (at least in my book).Today we took off to do some sightseeing before we had to pick up T. We knew we were close to the Grand Tetons because we could see them. They were so close I could touch them, but they really were still over 100 miles away. We knew there wasn't enough time to go and see what we wanted to and still get back in time to get T. I was very bummed. They were so majestic from a distance that I knew they would be gorgeous up close. Another time I guess. Anyway, we decided to head to Mesa Falls which was about an hour away. There were two different ones on the same river -Upper and Lower-- and they were gorgeous. The lower falls was a small walk to the overlook and they were quite a ways away but very pretty. The upper falls had the overlook practically right on top of it. So much spray off the falls that it created a micro-climate on the hills across from the overlook. We had a good time taking pictures and playing along the trail. We got back to Rexburg in time for lunch and to take pictures of the temple before heading to campus to pick up T and then head back to Grandma's. It was a great week for T and a very nice mini vacation within our vacation for us girls.All I can say is--I love vacations! (wish you were here, honey!)

The big ONE SIX!

Today my oldest turned 16. All I can say is WOW!!!He is at scout camp this week, so we started celebrating last week when we took him to dinner. Then tonight was "family night" at camp, so we went up to celebrate some more. His father has been there since yesterday morning, so he took him to lunch in town to celebrate too. We took him up two long john donuts each with a number stuck in them for "16". We also took dinner up for him so he wouldn't have to eat camp food on his birthday. I think he was hoping for more, but I wanted to save something for when he got home. Besides some girls baked brownies for all the boys and a special large one decorated for T. He also got a few gifts from some other friends when they came up for family night, so I think he had enough. We had a great time up there despite the downpour for an hour. I think we were probably the last family to leave - 10:30pm. T will get home in the morning and we will have him open gifts and have his cake he asked me to make special for him.

Not your typical thought of a 16 year old birthday, but you do what you can with what you have, right?! I am sure he will get togther with friends when we get back from vacation.

Happy Birthday T

Did you see it?

Did any of you see that fast moving object in the sky tonight? It moved across the sky directly above us twice this week. I'm talking the International Space StationMy hubby got a schedule online of the orbits and found out that there was a couple of good views this week. We spread out a blanket in the backyard and relaxed under the stars until the time hit to see it. It looked so cool shining brightly jetting across the sky at 17000 miles an hour. We were lucky to see a couple of satellites and shooting stars as well. Thank goodness the sky was clear each night so we could see this awesome sight.

The Great Outdoors!

Happy 4th of July Everyone! Hope you all had a great day. I know we did.

Normally, my hubby has to work on the 4th and so we do nothing more than a BBQ in the evening and go watch fireworks. This year we were lucky. Since it fell on a Saturday, it was his day off and we finally got to do something fun for the holiday-we spent it in the great outdoors. We were so happy that the weather was good so we wouldn't have to cancel.When I was little, my family had a tradition every Memorial Day. We would get together with lots of friends to go hike Devil's Head. I remember how fun it was and I have always wanted to do that with my kids. For the past several years, I have tried to do that during the summer but we have never gotten up there. Until now! It was just how I remembered oh so many years ago. And they even still give out squirrel cards for making it to the top. We were lucky because the ranger headed down just after we finished looking around up there. I would have hated to hike all that way and not get anything to show for it. For those who don't know the hike, it is a 1.4 mile hike up to an old fire tower that was built on top of a rock back in 1912ish. It was one of 7 that were built to keep an eye out for forest fires. This one is the only one left that still is active. After taking the difficult hike up, you have to climb 143 stairs straight up to get to the ranger station above the tree line. It has a 360 degree view and it is breathtaking. We made it up there just in time for the clouds to roll in. But to our surprise, they rolled out just as fast. We couldn't believe how fast they were moving. So some of the pictures I have are of the clouds plus the scenery. It was gorgeous up there and it sure brought back a lot of memories. I was joking that the ranger was so old that was there, that he probably was the same one that gave me my first squirrel card 30 some odd years ago.

Of course, the walk down was really easy and fun as we played along the way. Once down, we broke out the lunch for a picnic near the creek. It was nice and peaceful and very green. It should be for all the rain we have gotten this summer. After we packed up, we went geocaching. It is so fun that there is never a time that we go hiking anymore without our GPS. There were 3 that we looked for--one was not there anymore we suspected, the other one we found, and the last one was a mile hike each way from the road and we were too tired to make the trip. So we took the scenic route home over a major dirt bike and ATV ridin' road. We were glad we were not in the van as my hubby thinks we would have been high centered on most of those bumps. It was tons of fun even though it took us longer to get home that way. By the time we hit town, it was pouring rain. Thank goodness it waited for us to be on pavement.Anyway, we all had a blast. The kids liked it so much that they want to make it an annual thing. So I guess it will be tradition, just like when I was a child. I love it! Who wants to come with us next time????

Side Note: At the top, there were literally thousands of lady bugs in the crevices of the rocks. It was so cool looking and K had a blast collecting them. I think she liked that better than anything else up there. It was amazing how many there were-never seen anything like it.







Below are some pictures I took during the day. I took M's camera for the day as mine is broken, so I was having fun getting close ups. Not bad for a camera that fits in your pocket, eh?!