Road Trip - Day 3

Day three was all about hanging out with the kids in the morning so that we could steal off to go to the temple in the afternoon. So first we went to feed the ducks at the huge pond/small lake at my grandparents’ community park. It was really fun and the kids had a blast finding all the ducks and ‘feeding’ them. Or, throwing food at their heads, whichever they were actually doing.

W had to sit and decide what was better…hmmm…

Throwing the bread?

Or eating the bread?

Hmmm….what to do, what to do?

Duh! Eat the bread! :)

After the bread was done and gone, we took the boys on an exploratory hike. They found, among other interesting things, this great big tree whose trunk was growing a bit sideways. They, being boys, of course decided it was the perfect one to climb. Actually, Nate had the idea first, but as you know, monkey see – monkey do!

It wasn’t long until they were all up in the tree. Of course, I had to get some shots of them together. And I sure was doing my darnedest trying to make them laugh!

I think it worked. :)

After setting the boys up with some wonderful grandparents, the rest of us adults were all able to go to the temple that afternoon and meet up with my mom and dad. So we had everyone there that was present and able – Mom, Dad, Emily, me, my hubby, Ali, and Tom. It was something very special to me and I’m so grateful that all of us are able to participate in these special and sacred ordinances together. Standing together in the celestial room (which is the most sacred room we can enter in the temple, for anyone not familiar with the temple) was such a wonderful experience and it really made me grateful for our family. We are an eternal family and I’m so excited to have that.

That was a fun day.

Stay tuned for day four! (Or don’t, if you’re bored, ha!)

Creativity at its best

The kids and I have been watching this video nonstop since a friend of mine posted about it on her blog. I had seen it before, but her reminder had me revisiting it and showing it to E and W for the first time. And ever since, we’ve been loving it over and over again. I can just tell that it’s got E’s brain working, too, as he keeps asking if he can make a contraption.

So much fun. :)

Road Trip - Day 2

On day two, I got to start the day with my favorite Utah breakfast offering – a McDonald’s bagel sandwich. I swear, I don’t know why California hasn’t gotten on the ball with that yet. :)

After grabbing a breakfast on the way, we met up with the rest of my family and had a chance to hike Brighton, with the kids and Grams. We had a great time! It was beautiful and a great day for being out in nature. The cousins had a fun playing together too, it was great watching them get along so well.











Not sure what Jeff’s so excited about here, but he sure was.

I suppose it’s a better expression than this one. :)
After a long hike, we had to stop off and have a yummy lunch at Café Rio.



After that, we hadn’t had enough outside time, so we decided to head over to Wheeler Farms to check out the animals and let the kids stretch their legs tire themselves out some more. They certainly slept well that night! :)
There were lots of animals and the kids loved them. There was a sweet little baby calf that the kids got to feed.




There were cute little baby goats as well, that were so adorable!

But the best part was getting to milk a cow. I’d never done that before so it was neat to get to do.


All in all, it was a great day. And after stopping off for Sonic slushes, we called it a day.


Day three coming soon.

Road Trip - Day 1

During the middle of August, our little family went up to Utah to get together with my family and have a little reunion of sorts. We had all gotten our travel arrangements made when my brother was to get married, but when we found out that had been called off, we decided to stick with the plan and turn it into a family reunion instead. It was so fun to get to spend a week with my sisters, brothers, mom and dad. We did miss the in-law husbands, of course. But it was nice being together for a little while.

The trip up there only took us a day, so that was nice. We decided to rent a van to see how we liked it and also so that we wouldn’t put those miles on one of our own cars. It was nice having enough room to spread out a little more than we would have had with my X-Terra, and it didn’t hurt that we got a van with about 13 miles on it. Score!

Here’s a layout about the drive up there:

The journaling says: “We had a great first day on our road trip to Utah! We struck out early, getting out the door by 6:45am (Hubby’s always eager to get on the road). The boys were groggily excited, but enjoyed it nonetheless. I say they’re spoiled since they get to watch DVD’s the whole way. When I was their age, I was lucky to have a notebook, colored pencils, books and a Walkman! In any case, we had a great day of travel, making good time and only stopping twice or so. The van we rented turned out to be a brilliant idea since it meant we started with a brand new, clean car, and there were enough seats to have the boys in the very back, which cut down on noise, even if it added to the space I had to traverse to get things to them. Next time I’ll invest in a grabbing extendo hand to transport snacks and things back there. It was also great to have a van because that meant we could have extra passengers if needed (in Utah. No hitch-hikers on the way!). E really liked seeing all the new state signs once we crossed the borders (of the ones he actually got to see, that is). Overall, the trip up was uneventful, which is just the way we like them.”

I’m happy I remembered to get a self-portrait on the trip, because heaven knows I was only on that side of the camera a handful of times. At least now you know I was actually there!

We were glad to make it to Utah safe and sound. Especially since we had so many fun things planned for the upcoming week! With such a packed schedule, it was nice to have a bed to sleep in to get rested. We were so lucky to be able to stay with my wonderful grandparents, who were just so kind to us and welcomed us in with hardly any notice. We love them! :)

Day two, coming up soon!

I’m coming…

My goodness, it’s been a while! Sorry, we’ve been busy, as I’m sure you can imagine. I’ve got so much to blog about – a family vacation, E’s first day of Kindergarten (!), my life with some hours of ‘me time’ during the week, an “oops” quilt story, etc. And I’ll get to all of it, now that I’ve got some time.

But for now, just enjoy this.

(My little brother at Brick Oven. What a hat.)