Utah Trip: Part 2

We arrived home from Jackson Hole on Tuesday, June 26th and enjoyed the last few days of our adventure...

Tuesday, June 26th:

Picked up the kids from Randy & Heather's house (many thanks to them!)

Kids jumped on the tramp

Went to Lone Star for tacos with most of the Murphy's

Organized and packed a bit

Abby worked hard at trying to do a back flip

Bathed kids

Abby slept on the roof!

Wednesday, June 27th:

Morning run with Mary

Did some shopping 

Picked up my beautiful, sparkly rings

Went to Murray park.  For about 5 minutes.  Too hot!

Ate lunch at a grilled cheese place

Picked up Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcakes

 Met the family at a park near Randy

Enjoyed talking to mom & brothers & sisters

All the cousins got to play together...all 20 of them!

Said our goodbyes...boo hoo!

Thursday, June 28th:

Went running

John & Todd ran errands

Mary made yummy crepes

Took Kenna & Claire with us to Park City

Sam & I rode (and subsequently fell off of) the Alpine Slide

Incurred some nasty slide burns 

Sam threw a big fit

I was seen by an EMT to obtain bandaids

Waited in line for the mountain coaster

Abby saw a deer along the track

Enjoyed lunch at the pasta place on Main Street

Shopped a bit

Had a very small get together with Midvale 2nd Warders (sorry Jodi, short notice)

Heard sad and tragic story about friend's stepson

Enjoyed catching up with some dear friends 

Friday, June 29th:

Early morning run with Mary

Said our goodbyes to Mary, Claire & Chloe since they were off to Youth Conference

Went to the Murray Pool

Did laundry and changed sheets

Said goodbye to John

Took Kenna and went to dinner at Rumbi Grill then got treats at Sweet Tooth Fairy

Hung out with Maddi and jumped on the tramp

Packed!

Saturday, June 30th:

Got up and ready and got the car packed

Said our goodbyes to Maddi and Kenna

Got checked in at the airport 

Made it home!

Happy to see Newman and sleep in my bed!

We really had a great trip and enjoyed spending so much time with my family.  Next visit, I think I need to go for a month so that we can spend a few days in Toquerville with my dad.  Many thanks to family and friends who helped us with kids!

Jackson Hole

Since we were planning a trip out west, it made sense to include David's 70th b-day party and the Utah visit all in one big trip.  I coordinated childcare between Randy and the Murphy's while we were gone.  David's 70th was an "adult only" trip which is great for us.  We rarely go places without the kids.

Todd and I drove to Jackson, via Logan Canyon, and it was a lovely ride.  The canyon is just beautiful.  One of my main goals in this trip is to get scones and a raspberry milkshake at Le Beau's in Bear Lake.  I called ahead to see if they would be willing to make me some scones even though it was past breakfast.  Lucky for me, he said yes.

I got 2 orders of scones, 1 corn dog and 1 milkshake.  Mmmmmm!

We arrived in Jackson around 2pm and met up with Judy and Lisa who were already at the hotel.  We stayed in a darling little cabin at the Rustic Inn.  It was right on the creek and the room was perfect. 

Let the celebration begin!!

Thursday, June 21:  Got unpacked and settled

Drove to the cabin and played petanque with David and Judy.  They even put in a court!

The rest of the gang arrived from the airport and we had a great dinner together.

Enjoyed a walk to the river

Randy called and said Adalyn was sick so they switched days with the Murphy's

Friday, June 22:  went running with Lisa and Denise

Went on a family hike up to Leigh Lake

After hike, we went back to change shoes and did some shopping around town

Endured a VERY long wait at the Thai restaurant (poor server)

Hung out at the cabin for a bit then headed to our hotel

Saturday, June 23:  Showered and got ready 

Todd decided to rent a Harley for the weekend

Rode up to Teton Village

Shopped

Rode the Tram up to Rendezvous Mountain (10,000+ feet and 61 degrees)

Marveled at the scenery

Enjoyed a delicious Nutella Waffle

Rode back to the cabin where I received an awesome exhaust pipe burn on my calf

Spent the next few hours icing my burn

Headed back to the hotel and spotted what we thought was a mangy wolf

It was NOT a wolf but a grizzly cub!!  

Did our best to get photos and video without being eaten by the unseen mama bear 

Showered and got ready for the b-day dinner

Sam called to say he lost a tooth eating a Swedish Fish Sandwich

Had a great meal and enjoyed some fun music at David's party held at Trio

Picked up some aloe for my burn

Awesome day...minus the burn

Sunday, June 24:  Enjoyed a yummy breakfast at the hotel

Joined the rest of the crew at the cabin and went on a nice walk

 Participated in a family petanque tournament

Todd and I came in 2nd behind Annie and Jeremy 

Did the gift giving presentation for David...a camera, a drawing, donation, photos, CD audio of all the grandkids, a video from all the grandkids.  

Grilled burgers and had a yummy dinner

More petanque

iphone/ipod "Name that Tune" game til dark

Monday, June 25:  Enjoyed breakfast

Lisa and I met with the other girls for massages at the Four Seasons

Yummy lunch followed by rest & relaxation

Lost my fitbit (tragic)

Found my fitbit (after I blamed someone at the Four Season) in my purse-life is good

Todd and other guys ventured off to Granite Springs

Met with a nice lady who is friendly w/David and Judy to hear her experience with a special needs adult child

Helped Jennifer set up her new blog

Took a long walk along the Snake River

Bonfire, petanque, singing and marshmallows

Had to pack up to leave...boo hoo!

Tuesday, June 26:  Had our last breakfast at the hotel

Packed up the car and headed out

Driving away is not nearly as fun as driving to

Stopped in Bear Lake again to ask for more scones

They now call me the scone lady!

Drove past the Logan Temple

To be continued....

Utah Trip: Part 1

Our adventure to Utah began with me and the kids on Tuesday, June 12th.  Todd drove us to the airport and he managed to get a ticket on the way.  Nice.  72mph in a 55mph zone.  Court appearance is pending.

Our flight went really well, that is until we landed and at that time, for some unknown reason, Sam threw a fit.  He got pretty ugly but finally managed to calm down.  It took quite a while to get our rental car and in that looong process, they upgraded us to a new SUV.  Sweet!

We first headed to the Murphy's so we could get "checked-in" per se.  This is where we stay for all our trips to Utah.  We are grateful for the Murphy's willingness to host us.  The girls made us a cute banner welcoming us.  We felt loved!  We also felt hungry so it was off to Cafe Rio...one of our favorites!

We enjoyed the yummy food then dropped off the girls then met up with G'ma Kay in Sugar  House for ice cream.  We spent a little time together then back to the Murphy's to relax after a long travel day.

Here's a brief recap of the first part of our 2 1/2 week adventure:

Wednesday, June 13:  We spent time with Erin and her two cute boys, Dominic and Johnny.  

I picked up some authentic tacos from an authentic taco stand in WVC.

Jumping on the tramp and hanging with the Murphy's

Met up with some girls from high school at a yogurt shop.  Fun to visit with them.

Thursday, June 14:  Ran 3 miles in the cool morning air

Enjoyed Mary's homemade cinnamon rolls

Picked up some flowers to take to G'ma Whiting's grave

Briefly visited with Aunt Nancy who was on her way to work

Stopped in at the cemetery to see the G'ma and G'pa's headstone

Checked out Uncle Jackie's headstone as well

Drove out to West Jordan to visit with Aunt Janene and Uncle Mike

Picked up Sam's rental wheelchair  

Sam at the local pool

Friday, June 15: Ran with Mary

Rachel came up & brought Hattie so the girls could play

Rachel, Erin & I went to lunch with Mom for her b-day

Hit the mall

Abby went to Manti with Rachel and Hattie

Sam and I went to visit Randy, Heather and the kids

Saturday, June 16:  Got packed up and ready to pick up Todd

Raced to pick up Todd at the airport when his flight came in 30 minutes early

Picked up Taco Time for lunch...mmm, crispy bean burritos

Arrived in Manti
Drove past the Manti Temple

Kids got filthy playing

Enjoyed some time with Rachel & Joel

Sunday, June 17:  Rachel made delicious lemon blueberry scones

Prepped for dinner

Had fun visiting with Dad & Tutu

The rest of the gang arrived...all 46 of them!

Enjoyed spending time with my family

Celebrated Father's Day

Monday. June 18:  Left Manti and headed to Lehi

Went to Thanksgiving Point with Randy, Heather, kids, Dad, Tutu & Mariah

Dinosaur museum, rode horses, watched a baby chick hatch, ate lunch, petting zoo and ice cream!

Went to Cabella's

More Cafe Rio goodness!

Tuesday, June 19:  Drove downtown and wandered around

Visited Temple Square 

Walked thru the Tabernacle, the Conference Center, Visitor's Center

Checked out the new mall

Ate lunch

Enjoyed the perfect weather

Went to visit Kameron, Traci, Karter and Kaden

The kids each made a pen out of wood...thanks to Kameron's skills and tools!

Drove past the Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Wednesday, June 20:  Todd, John and Kameron went golfing

Bought 3 new bathing suits...25% off!!

Dropped of all rings to jeweler so they will sparkle!

Packed and did laundry

Helped Mary with Youth Conference stuff

Enjoyed dinner and shaved ice with the Theurer family

That's part one of our western adventure!

Here's a slideshow of photos:

Testing...1, 2, 3

I've been asked to test out products from eFoodsDirect which is a company who sells food products for emergency preparedness & food storage.  I certainly feel strongly about food storage but have a long way to go myself!

Once I test them out, I'll let you know what I think.  In this day and age, you can never be too prepared!

In a quote from Pres. Ezra Taft Benson, he stated:  “Family preparedness has been a long-established welfare principle. It is even more urgent today. I ask you earnestly, have you provided for your family a year’s supply of food, clothing, and where possible, fuel? The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.”

The Long and Short of it...

 About a year and a half ago, Abby decided she wanted to grow her hair out so she could donate it to 

Locks Of Love.  

After a loooong wait, it was finally time.  She had the required 10" to donate and we were already at the salon so Melissa squeezed her in for the haircut. 

 Pre-haircut

 Melissa had a quick appointment with someone else so she got Abby's hair washed and let her sit while she helped her other client.  In that waiting period, Abby grew very nervous and started to cry.  She was really worried that she wouldn't have enough hair to be able to style it and it would be too short.  After a few tears and some talking, she was ready for that big step.

Needless to say, Abby is thrilled with her new haircut!  She felt so much lighter and cooler and when she washed her hair that night, her comment was, "I didn't have to use so much shampoo!"

Here she is mailing off her donation

This kind of thing is very typical of Abby.  She is always thinking of others and tries to always be helpful.  I am so proud of her and the good choices she makes.

Way to go Abs!!