Summer Utah Trip: Fun at Stephen's Parent's House

Stephen and Emily invited us to spend an evening at Stephen's parent's house. We rode the 4-wheeler, played basketball, soccer, watched a movie in the tree house, played on the trampoline, playground, and putted around on the mini-golf green. We topped off the night with pizza and smores. We tried a new twist, Reeses's peanut butter cup. They were yum!

Isaac loved riding with Stephen. We had to peel him off of the 4-wheeler. When Stephen started it up again to put it up for the night, Isaac appeared out of nowhere shouting, "Ride, ride, ride!" We all had a good laugh about that. We had so much fun that we planned the exact same night a few days later with my entire family.

Summer Utah Trip: Friends

A few years ago, while Joseph was studying for the Utah Bar and then while he was doing his AIT training, we lived with my parents in Utah. Joseph had just finished law school, I had just given birth to my third baby, we had moved a couple of states away and my husband was gone alot preparing for the bar. It was a huge transition time for me. I was leaving friends, activities and independence that I loved in Spokane and moving into my parent's home and ward with few young families.

Laura was my life-saver. She lives in my parent's ward and at that time she had also just had her 3rd baby. We planned playdates a few times a week and had lots of fun visiting with each other. Laura has been such a great friend and example to me. She is an awesome wife and mom to her now four boys and one of the best people I have ever met. She is so down to earth, genuine and good. We always try to get the kids together when we visit Utah. They always pick up just where they left off. We're still waiting for that awkward opposite gender stuff to happen with our four oldest, but so far, the kids just have fun.

Summer Utah Trip: T-Ball

My two older brother's Scott and Chad coach their son's in T-ball and they invited Aaron to come and play for the last game of the season. I had the best laugh watching him play. I've taken him to the park to play wiffle ball, but that's the extent of his baseball experience. I come from a family who eat, drink, and sleep baseball. In the city where I grew up, if you don't play, or at the very least watch baseball, it could probably be compared to never visiting the ocean when you live across the street. Baseball is a big deal in that city. Anyway, he had a great time, but I guess we better brush up on his skills if he ever wants to play with the big dogs again (a.k.a. Boston and Kaden).

Boston was great to show Aaron how he should stand in the outfield and Chad helped him swing the bat to hit the ball off the tee. He needs a little more coaching to figure out that you run to the base after hitting the ball, rather than watching it, that you run to the next base when the next batter hits the ball, and that the way to second base is not through the pitcher's mound. Ohhh, it was a fun night!

I loved seeing the dad's that my brother's are. They are so cute and patient with those little boys. It was great to watch. I loved watching the game with my family. It reminded me of days past spending time at the ballpark and playing softball. Great summer memories! I'm determined to take Aaron to a Padres game to show him what baseball looks like. I think the highlight for him could very well have been the Capri Sun and Zinger the snack mom handed him after the game. :)

Summer Utah Trip: Fun in Fairview

On Saturday, I started the day with a run with my mom and her friend Kaye and then left them to complete my 12 mile run. We then headed to Fairview to spend the afternoon with Joseph's brother Blaine and his family. Josh and Melissa and their kids joined us as well. It was awesome. Blaine lives on an acre in Fairview and during the summer months they set up a small pool for the little kids and a big above ground pool for the big swimmers. Everyone played and played and played and played. No one wanted to leave. We had to pull our kids away kicking and screaming. :)

I think this definitely has to be included in every yearly summer trip. The kids love it and I love visiting with the adults. It was also fun to be with members of Joseph's family within a smaller group. So often, when we see his family, it's with all 12 children and their spouses and children present and as great as that is, the kids normally play with those of their same gender who are around the same age. The great part about getting together with just a few of us, was that they were able to get to know and enjoy playing with cousins they don't normally play with. When we left, Brynn said, "I really liked playing with Josiah, Ethan and Jackson, they are really fun!" Abby loved playing dress-up with Kyrie and Ava. And everyone loved the swimming!

We planned to stay until about six o'clock, but when we finally started to wrap things up, we looked at our clocks and it was nearly nine. I think that there's something about being in the country makes us move a little slower. It was a relaxing and fun day.

I think Blaine took much better pictures, but I can't seem to find out where they are...

Utah Trip

The boys and I took a quick trip to Utah to attend a baby shower for Emily and Sara. We had a great time. The girls stayed home and had a girl's weekend with Dad! I was lucky enough to be able to catch two of our niece's in their school play, The Perfect Princess Pageant. McKenzie and Sariah were both so fun to watch. I can't believe how much they are growing up.

Southwest doesn't fly directly to Salt Lake City from San Diego, so I had a quick stop in Oakland and a brush with fame! During pre-boarding in Oakland, a young family walked on the plane and I immediately recognized the woman as Barbara Young, Steve Young's wife, with a few children trailing behind her. Moments later Steve walked on holding another baby. It was fun watching their family during the flight. They have 2 boys and 2 girls.

Emily picked me up and we headed to my friend Tatum's house to pick up the awesome cupcakes she made for the shower. They were so yummy and so cute. I met Tatum during our days in Spokane and I hadn't seen her in person for a few years so it was fun to have a quick visit. She is so talented!

We had the shower at Scott and Annette's house. I loved spending time with family. It was great, but makes me miss them so much! Someday I would love to live closer to them.

Emily and Sara are only one day apart in their due dates (Em has already delivered as I write this and Sara is very close). They both look great and it was fun to finally see them with their full tummies!

One of the highlights for me was getting to visit with the Fish girls again. My mom and Nancy have been friends forever and I always love it when we get together with them. We have so many shared memories of fun times we have had together. From family trips to family dinners, we've had some great times. It's always a riot hearing my mom and Nancy tell stories. I can't think of my childhood without thinking about the Fish family because we did so much with them. Fun, fun, fun memories. I told Nancy that when I was a little girl, I found out that they weren't my cousins, aunt, uncle, etc. and that her mom and dad weren't another set of my grandparents. I was so confused....I remember at that time thinking, "If they aren't my cousins, then what are they?" Now, though they aren't blood relatives, I consider them family.

It was a great weekend. The boys had fun hanging out with grandpa while I had fun with the ladies. They rode the four-wheeler all over the neighborhood and dad's highlight was when he got to change one of Isaac's super-poopers! ;) Now that's the true test of a good grandpa! Thanks Dad, I owe you huge one!

Clarke Planetarium

We decided to get to Elko on Saturday night so that we wouldn't have to travel so long on Sunday. We made a stop in Salt Lake to go to the Planetarium, get dinner, and see the lights at Temple Square. The kids loved it!

Bridal Veil Falls

Emily invited us to spend some time in Provo Canyon at Bridal Veil Falls. We all enjoyed the escape from the heat and loved the feel of the cold water on our legs. It was very relaxing for all of us. Stephen was at football practice, but when he finished we met at their house to BBQ steaks, chicken and burgers. Stephen's little sister Arden came over right before we left and the kids had a fun time playing with her.

Annette booked an extra appointment with Meg so I took it. I had to wake up early to get there, but it was worth it, she does such a great job. Don't my toes look cute!? Okay, so maybe my toes aren't cute, but the paint atleast is. I don't know how she does it, but her paint lasts so long. I'm enjoying them and will be so sad when they grow out.

We ended our trip with more shopping and visiting and playing with cousins. On Saturday night before we left, we went to Chad's work party at Scera Pool. It's a fun pool and we had a great time going down the slides together. At the Scera Shell Outdoor Theater "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" was going on. The second the girls heard the firsrt measure of music they said, "Mom, can we go see Joseph?" The whole time we were swimming they listened to the music and told me play by play what was happening in the story. It's so funny to me that they can pick those things out. I don't have that kind of musical memory.

On Sunday we picked up Joseph from the airport and made the trek back to California. He flew back and forth 4 times this trip. What a trooper! We were glad he was there to drive us home. He makes the drive much more fun. We stopped at Donner Summit and hiked around with the kids. He's does much better at taking time to enjoy the scenery when sometimes I just want to plow through and get it over with.

Called to Serve~Uncle Gabe

Our trip to Utah this year conveniently coincided with Joseph's younger brother Gabe's mission farewell/talk, whatever-you-call-them-these-days. Gabe gave a great talk and we enjoyed visiting with family at the Lee Home. The Wednesday he left, we all gathered again at the Lee Home for a breakfast and a good-bye. Because of the H1N1 Virus, the missionaries are now dropped off curbside at the MTC. I think it's good, could you imagine the crew if we all tried to attend. The kids loved playing with all of their cousins. Because my kids have spent most of their lives out of the state of Utah and away from family, they really haven't spent much time with Gabe. Their contacts have been limited to a few times per year, but because of his involvement in BYU Young Ambassadors this year, they got to know him via BYU television. We DVR-ed a Young Ambassador performance and the kids watched it over and over again. It was great, they weren't shy with him at all, but because they don't see him very often anyway, it wasn't a very hard good-bye for them either.

See ya later Gabe! The people of Kobe Japan are very lucky to have such a great guy in their midst.

We enjoyed a few more daysof enjoying the Lee Family after Gabe left, but the camera wasn't pulled out as often. Thursday, the day after Gabe left, we headed to Fairview to visit with Blaine and Alyson's family. The kids were really excited for the visit and had a great time. I loved visiting with Alyson and I even loved the drive to and from Fairview, it was pretty relaxing.

We spent Friday evening at Michal's house for another visit with cousins. They again had a great time playing together.