Vacation Update

Monday, July 28
Today we had lots of fun with our friends from Boise that came to see us as their first stop on their 3 week road trip. Kami, a friend we met while attending the University of Houston Branch, and her 4 children decided to venture out on this exciting and memorable road trip while her husband Jon is doing a job that will keep him out of town for a few weeks. I am very glad that Kami is so adventurous and brave. I'm not sure I would attempt such a road trip by myself with four kids. A plane ride with just two kids is plenty adventure for me. While they were here we set up the pool, the slippin' slide and various sprinklers. The kids loved it...except for Gabe. I think he needed just a bit more excitement. We took all the kids (Abi, Gabe, Josh, Noah, Maggie and Zoe) to Carl's Jr. for lunch so they could play on the play land for a while. They had fun and played well together. Mandi and Sadie met us for lunch and then we decided to go to Tai Pan. Kami had heard about it from one of her friends and wanted to check it out. We had fun looking at all the home decor items. By this time the kids were getting a little tired and bored. When we got home from that trip we met the rest of the family at Nielsen's Grove park by Mom and Dad's house to continue the celebration of Camille's birthday. We had a pizza picnic and then the kids got to whack a pinata. The most entertaining part of the evening was watching Justin Milne try to get the pinata hung on a light post by tying a rope to his shoe and throwing it in the air. After several attempts the decision was made to hang it from an archway over part of the sidewalk.

WATER PLAY

Zoe had fun terrorizing Noah. She would pull on his shirt and push him over. He was a good sport though. He only cried when she pushed him face down in the water. This is her pulling on his shirt, getting in trouble for it and then reluctantly giving him an "I'm sorry" hug.

Gabe "enjoying" the pool.

Joshua, Abi, Noah, Maggie

Maggie and Abi had fun seeing who could go the farthest on the slip 'n slide

Our two little water babies...who aren't babies anymore!

TAI PAN

When we first walked into Tai Pan we saw a little booth that sold chocolates and since we were there at the end of the day all their items were on sale. Of course we couldn't resist! Maggie and Abi were pretending to be statues with chocolate in their mouths. Very silly, but they had so much fun together. I guess for two little girls silly equals fun.

NEILSEN'S GROVE PARK

Pizza, homemade ice-cream and a pinata. Could life get any better?

Tuesday, July 29
This morning Camille gave Maggie a pair of jeans that she had out grown and Maggie wanted to wear them. They fit her perfectly and she was just in heaven being able to wear Camille's pants. A few minutes later she came in fully dressed wearing Camille's jeans and Camille's boots and said, "Now I look like a nine year old!" She loves to play with Camille and looks up to her a lot. I am grateful that she is such a good girl and good role model for Maggie.

Kami got here around 11:00 and we let the kids play while we decided what we wanted to do. We finally decided that we would go to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Finally! Something that Gabe was interested in. All of us benefited from Gabe's choice of activity. When we got done at the museum we took the kids to Max & Cheese. It is a really cute restaurant geared to kids and particularly picky kids. When we got done with dinner we had a few more minutes with the Yorgason's and then we had to say goodbye. They are off to their next adventure!

DINOSAUR MUSEUM (THANKSGIVING POINT)

Kami and Noah

Abi, Gabe & Josh

Abi & Josh

Maggie

Landon, Camille, Maggie, Me & Zoe

Gabe, Abi, Kami, Noah & Josh

MAX & CHEESE

Gabe concentrating very hard on those magnets!

Maggie and Abi driving to school.Josh was fascinated by the beads.

Thursday, July 31
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAMI! I am so sorry that I didn't tell you that while you were here. "You know I love ya more than my luggage!"

Saturday, August 2
We spent the afternoon at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. Grandma, Grandpa, Starr, Landon & Camille went with us. It was a very hot day, but we had so much fun anyway. We took a break to have a cold treat next to the penguins and Maggie decided she was done with her blue Icee. She tried to scoot it across the table to me and it tipped over and spilled on Zoe who was walking under the table. She was a little shocked, but then she seemed to think it was funny. A good time was had by all!

HOGLE ZOO

When our time at the zoo was done Mom, Dad, Starr, Landon & Camille left in Starr's car. I took Maggie and Zoe and we headed to the airport to pick up Glenn. We had spent five weeks without him and we were awfully happy to see our pappy!

After we picked him up we met his sister Lisha and her daughters, Shalis and Shaina, at the Gateway Mall. We had some dinner and the girl's played with Maggie and Zoe on the little rides. After we said our goodbyes to them we let Maggie and Zoe play in the little water park area. Maggie had a blast, but Zoe was a little apprehensive. She would get a little brave and venture out but run back before the water would shoot up.

GATEWAY MALL

Sunday, August 3
Glenn's brother Brent in is Utah getting some additional training before he is deployed to Afghanistan in January. He gets Sunday's off so we were able to pick him up and spend the day with him. We wanted to check out the new Harley Davidson shop in Lindon, but they were not open on Sunday. We had some lunch at Applebee's and then went to Cabella's. We saw all the animals and checked out lots of camping and outdoor equipment. We came home and had a few minutes to hang out before out family dinner. We had Shelly's family, Kayle's family, Starr's family, Ladd's family, Mandi's family, us and Brent. We had a good time visiting and hearing what everyone is doing now. I really miss being able to be here and see all my niece's and nephew's and their kids grow up. We have missed a bunch of family parties in the last five years, but we hope to someday move back and join in on all the fun!