A Day in Salt Lake

Before Ryan started work again, we wanted to go spend a quick day-trip in Salt Lake. Thomas and Whitney and Claire were planning to be there for a few days and we wanted to see them before they headed back to Colorado again. We decided to go down on friday July 27th, meeting some cousins at the Hogle Zoo, and spend the afternoon at Nana's swimming. We had a great time seeing the animals, watching a neat bird show, and riding the carousel. 

Selfies!

 Riding the train with Uncle Tom.

The littles loved watching the polar bear cooling off in the pool.

These two made me laugh right out loud. Boston looked like he was chillin' with his bear-buddy, listening to his woes. 

After we all left the zoo and grabbed some lunch, we spent some time swimming. It was a hot day so it was a perfect afternoon activity and the kids had a blast.

 Boston spent most the time jumping to Bompa and climbing back out, doing this over and over again.

 "Hey Uncle Tom! You have a black spider on your back!" hehe

 Our family stayed in town through dinner, caught up for a little while with Jason who made it there after dinner, and then we started the 3 hour drive back home. Even though it sounds like a lot of driving for just 8 hours of time in Salt Lake, to us it was absolutely worth it. We had a wonderful time making memories and enjoying some much-needed family time. The sunset on the way home was perfection. I can't say enough how thankful I am to be close enough to do day-trips or quick trips. After being plane rides away from Salt Lake for so many years, living just a short drive away is going to be such a blessing for our family.

Visiting Nauvoo

Our new stake president (one of Ryan's new partners) and his wife put on a CRAZY-cool event on Pioneer Day. They host it every year outside their home, and we had been looking forward to going! It. Was. Amazing. Far better than anything I've been to in Utah to celebrate the day! And they do this just for "fun"... just because they want to!

As we walked in, we had to go through the registration office and get our "passport stamped" (hands stamped). He made sure we had all our vaccinations and such in order. :) 

Walking in, there were several "scenes" playing out around their multiple yards where you could see what life was like in Nauvoo in the 1840s. Such as: a couple just married and riding on a wagon, someone getting their hair curled, a man getting a shave, shoes getting shined, church with a missionary (literally) teaching at the pulpit, an outhouse, hand-made games for children, hand-made toys for children being given out, petting zoo, a dance going on with dancers in fancy dresses and live music, and much more!

This was an area they set up to look like a market.

"Buying" candy (it was actually free).

The apothecary had live leeches and was showing what they do! Ahhh! Yucky.

Boston was buying some baked goods. (Really though, all their food was donated by members of the stake. We helped by donating a bunch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies)

The train station.

 The live music and cute teenagers showing off their dancing skills!

Grace and Logan got to take a little ride on a horse.

 Seeing the pigs, sheep and bunnies.

 We met a mountain man trapper who showed off his animal skins.

Seeing all the cute llamas! Aren't they so funny looking?

 These two were the most unique of all the scenes... They were statues depicting a traveling pioneer family. They were INCREDIBLE too! Didn't move a muscle or even open their eyes. Every 5 or so minutes their movements would suddenly be synchronized and they'd change positions. 

 This was such a beautiful, hands-on way to celebrate Pioneer Day. I was so thankful to this amazing family and all the volunteers/actors for giving my kids such a memorable experience. We're already looking forward to going again next year!

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Ryan finally finished up his work in CA and joined us on July 13th!! We were so excited to finally get him here and feel like a complete family again. I felt like I had done all I could by myself to that point... but I needed my husband and pro-organizer to do so much more. He was really looking forward to getting started too, so it was perfect. First order of business was to make our COMPLETE MESS of a garage be clean enough to park both cars.

 I forgot a before photo, but he DID IT!! It was such a disaster and it only took him a couple of hours.

 A snapshot of real life. It's not pretty but each paper plate represents a happy, full child. My new ministering sister, Stacie Evans, brought us this meal totally out of the blue and I couldn't have been more thankful! We ate dinner together on the back patio, using paper plates, while watching the kids run around in the sprinklers in between bites. It was a wonderful memory!

Sun's out, buns out!!

 Weeding the fire pit... but where is it?!?

 Oh, there it is!! Much better.

 Making strawberry jam and crossing it off our summer bucket list.

 Doing a family puzzle - also a bucket list item.

Boston was learning what it sounded like to hear people with your ears plugged. He was fascinated.

 Seeing Shoshone Falls with Bob and Stacy Turner. The rainbow was a nice touch!

 Grace's enjoyed a really fun summer class decorating cakes! Each time they had class they would each bring home large pieces of cake or a bunch of cupcakes. She loved it!

Grandma and Grandpa came to stay a night and see our home and area. It was so nice to have them up for a visit!

Just some sibling shenanigans...

They were just so cute together like that.

 Playing in the Jenkins' backyard.

 We took daddy on a nice long bike ride together, along the Snake River and to the Perrine bridge overlook. We passed the Temple on the way and a gorgeous view of Pillar Falls. The ride was awesome and the kids had such a great time! Boston would put his hands out straight like he was flying and didn't complain once on the long ride.

 Along the way I kept feeling like my right foot was really unsteady and wobbly. I finally stopped to tell Ryan and as I bent down to touch the pedal it completely fell off! It wouldn't go back in at all at that point. We were still a couple miles from home so I sent Ryan on with Grace and Logan while I pushed my bike (with Boston still on it) to the grounds of the Temple which was only about a quarter mile away at that point. We waited on the grass and played around on my phone while we waited for Ryan to pick us up in the truck.

 There are several projects around the house I've been waiting for Ryan to come work on. He loved the fact that one of them was some involving wood and his new table saw. I had him build me some shelves for the kids' books! I knew exactly what I wanted them to look like and where to put them. They turned out awesome, and I'm so thankful to have such a handy, hard-working husbands!

Another bucket list item... Painting rocks. We were not great at completing our list this year. But we did finally go get some rocks so we could paint them and then "hide" them in places around town. Apparently there are a whole bunch of people in Twin Falls who do this! Kinda fun.