The odds and ends of Utah

Grandma took them to a movie.  Jungle Book, I believe? 

The movie theatre had Dole Whip. 2 out of 3 of my kids were very happy. (Christopher just likes vanilla)

Their other grandma took them out to dinner too.

I don't think Zach actually ate anything, what with the free refills on the rootbeer floats and all.

I think Christopher definitely got plenty of white ice-cream.

I asked why Zach was so sad.  Apparently he's not, he's just very much into his meal.

My brother Tom and his wife Amy are building a house in Heber, so they all went to check it out. 

Another new house photo.  I'm kinda jealous of those stairs going down.  People in Utah take basements for granted.

This view from their back yard is amazing. 

Another view from their home. 

Amy and Tom.  

Christopher celebrated his 10th birthday.  His aunt Corrine even made it from Texas, and of course she spoiled him and gave him something he'd been begging for for a couple of years.  An electric scooter. 

His aunt Jamie showed up as well with a crazy amount of chocolate from Costco. 

BJ and Jess tried to convince me they were making off with my inheritance.  I'm letting the boys have the Camaro, the tools, and the outdoor gear, but I want the stuff in that box.  The family history stuff, the memorabilia from my dad's childhood and his mission. I've had no competition from my brothers until Jess showed up.  My dad told her he wouldn't even think about giving it to them unless they had kids.  Good news? My kids might get more cousins.  Bad news?  I have competition.

Christopher's other grandma took him on the Heber Creeper for his birthday.  I don't think any of my kids have ever done that before.  Yay for new experiences!!

On the Heber Creeper.

Random picture of BJ and my dad.  That fat baby in the picture on the wall with the tacky splatter paint back drop is my Nick. - FYI 

EFY

Zach was super excited to finally get to go to EFY.  He's been watching his older siblings go for the past 5 years, and come back with such excitement and enthusiasm and he's been patiently waiting for his turn.

As fate would have it, we were able to get those two kids into the Provo location so they were pretty excited.  ( However, Maddie decided that BYU Provo was not the college for her for the foreseeable future.  Something smaller like NAU or BYU-Idaho seems to be a better fit.)

Anyways, EFY did not disappoint. (It never does)

The kids came back full of excitement and stories and a desire to do better and be better and all of those things that make it oh so worth it.

 

Annual lake trip with Pa

Grandpa took the kids up to a lake on what has become an annual boating adventure.  He has a canoe and a kayak, and he throws them on top of his truck and we would go up to a lake and paddle around and that's pretty much it.  Some years are better than others, and usually we never know what to expect.  Last year the drought was so bad there was hardly a lake there at all.  It was a glorified puddle, really.

Of course I wasn't there this year, but the kids told me all about it, and there were pictures.  The day seemed to start off lovely enough.   The lake could definitely be higher, but I don't think it was as bad as last year.   And the skies are blue with some pretty little fluffy clouds to keep things interesting.  (When I was little I used to wish I could see a perfectly cloudless sky, but now after living in Arizona, I know that just means that it's too bloody hot for clouds.  Even they don't want to be here in the summers.)  

Anyways, lovely, right??

Except I'm starting to sense there's change on the horizon.  You'd think I'm referring to that hat Christopher is wearing, and maybe you'd be right, but with that kid (or with any of them, really) you never really know.  Maybe he's using for shade.  But it's not his hat I'm referring to.  It's the water.  It's a looks a little darker and all ripple-y.

And I am assuming it was just moments after this picture was taken that I got this text from Maddie (and Christopher) -

And that explains the rest of these pictures.

The kids said they had fun and it was pretty awesome, but when I mentioned that to my dad he was super confused.  I don't think he thought that adventure was nearly as awesome as my kids did, but at least some of them had some fun.

Utah... part one....

So apparently I'm a real grown-up now.

Ok, so technically speaking I was before, because it's kindof a grown up thing to be tasked with seeing to the health and well-being of 4 smaller people day in and day out.

But now I also answer to an actual employer who pays me with real money, instead of just those aforementioned smaller people who pay me in hugs and kisses and the occasional eye roll.  And in order to earn that real money, I have to show up to my place of employment on a very regular basis.

And what that all means is that I was not able to take a vacation this summer. Boo.

However, my kids still were.  Yay.

The plan was to spend a Saturday and Sunday driving up there to drop them off and return in time for work Monday morning, but grandpa didn't like that plan, so he bought the kids plane tickets.

They only had a couple weeks to spend up there, but they had fun.

Of course there were the usual things, like going to the Science Museum.

And getting waffles and frites at Bruges.  (I had not one, but TWO different people tell me this summer that they FINALLY went to Bruges, and they wondered what took them so long.)

Christopher always gets the same thing- a plain waffle with vanilla ice-cream.  The rest of us have the bigger problem of what NOT to put on our waffle...

Best fries (excuse me, frites) ever

To be continued....