I just found my "lost" digital camera tonight. It's kind of a bittersweet discovery -- we just got back from a camera-less vacation yesterday evening. Thanks to a paper jam in our printer, I found the camera hidden behind the printer... sure wish I had found it sooner. The Saturday before I left on our various trips, I found my cellphone at the bottom of the washer -- I had washed it in a pair of jeans!!! Aaack! Fortunately, we have a graveyard of unused cellphones, and Jim fixed me up one to use, but unfortunately, I lost all my contact numbers, and no more camera on my cellphone.... sigh. Well, moving on to the point of the post...
So I have a bit of catch up to do for the rest of June.
We celebrated Lissy's b-day in the middle of the month -- she turned 4! She opened presents from our family that morning, and we had aunts & uncles and cousins come for dinner and cake & ice cream that evening. Here's a couple of pics I took of her with her cake:
My sister, Cristeen and her husband, Rob, came and visited us on Friday & Sat of June 17&18. Rob had a bicycle race in Show Low on Saturday morning and reportedly did decently. I wish I had taken a pic of Cristeen; she's wearing maternity clothes now and looking really adorable with a small rounded tummy.
On the 19th (after celebrating a Father's Day dinner with Jim), the girls and I headed to Buckeye to stay for 4 days and visit with Dale & Steph and family who were visiting Mom & Dad that week. It was fun to visit: the girls played games with their cousins; we all went to the local pool one afternoon; I did some thrift store shopping with Steph; I got another pile of books from Steph to read; helped Mom & Dad bottle salsa one morning; played some Upwords with Dad; and had good visits with Dale and Steph, and Sandy & family who came to visit for one day.
On Wednesday afternoon, the girls and I travelled back to Snowflake, then Thursday morning we all piled in the car and drove to Bicknell, Utah to visit my sister, Lori and her family. It's a 7 1/2 hour trip, and we took a different route through Kayenta, and Monument Valley and it was very scenic. At one point, as we were going up a road leaving Monument Valley, I looked back and thought, "Hey, I've seen this view before..." It's actually on my cellphone, someone else's professional picture, but check out this view:
We also took a switchback dirt road up a mountain -- we've taken it once before a few years ago when we visited Lori. I would never want to drive on that road at night!
We stayed at Lori's for about 5 1/2 days. Their weather was lovely, and we did some fun things while there: hiked to Zedd's Meadow; did some ATV riding; the kids played in a stream near Sunglow campground; Jim and I got to have a lunch date at Slacker's hamburger joint; played some games of Scrabble with Lo, and Scum with the kids; and I think that's it, mostly, just relaxed and enjoyed the weather...
On Tuesday afternoon, we packed up the car and left for Orem, Utah. We stayed for 3 days there (it was only supposed to be 2 days, but Jim got sick on the day we were supposed to leave, so we stayed an extra day -- nice for us!! Well, not nice to be sick...). Anyway, we took the kids to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. We first toured the Conference Center which we have never been to -- it was really amazing to go inside and see where we listen to our prophet and other leaders. I can't believe that room holds 21,000 people! Crazy... It was a beautiful building -- on the inside and outside. I think our tour guide said the building was 1.2 million square feet!! Wow...
We next ate lunch at a park to give Lissy a rest from all the walking around we had already done. I should have brought a stroller for her, because her legs seem to hurt if she walks around too long. Then we toured the Church History museum -- that was interesting also, and they had a children's section that the kids enjoyed a lot. I have to say I think what the kids liked most from all these tours of buildings were the escalators we rode on. Lissy was scared of them, and I had to pick her up to ride, but the older girls loved them, and took extra rides when they could get away with it. We also visited the Visitor's Center and watched a family film/exhibit that made me (and surprisingly Jim) cry during and after. Of course, he's not admitting to it now... And we visited the Tabernacle -- just peeked inside mostly. It was great to take the kids to see these places, and we want to go back again to see more -- there was still a lot more to see and do that we didn't get to.
That afternoon I met up with my friend, Merin, at a city park to visit. We ended up getting rained out, and didn't get much of a visit, so we made plans to meet up later that evening after the kids were in bed. She had a softball game that night, and came over afterwards. We ended up talking for hours in the lobby of the hotel we were staying in -- it was a fun visit. I was trying to figure out the last time I had seen her, and it's probably been 13 years or so. She was one of my roommates when I lived in Provo for a year, and one of my favorite people! It was 20 years ago when we were roommates -- crazy, huh? When did I get so old...?
Thursday we did some driving around Provo -- drove by my old apartment, around the BYU campus, stopped in at the BYU paleontology museum (it had some cool dinosaur bones); drove up the canyon to Bridal Veil Falls, but no one had the energy to go up the trail, so we didn't see the falls. And then some swimming at the hotel.
And Friday, we left for home. We drove through Price, down through Moab, and Blanding, and Bluff, and then through the Navajo Reservation in Az. I had never been through those parts of Utah. The first part of the trip was very green between mountains, and the 2nd part was full of red rocks and dirt. Still scenic, though.
So we're back and done travelling for the summer. My garden is full of weeds, and I have trees to plant and holes to dig, and grocery shopping, and laundry, and all those normal things to take care of. Glad, though, that we had a safe trip, and had a good time together!
So I have a bit of catch up to do for the rest of June.
We celebrated Lissy's b-day in the middle of the month -- she turned 4! She opened presents from our family that morning, and we had aunts & uncles and cousins come for dinner and cake & ice cream that evening. Here's a couple of pics I took of her with her cake:
My sister, Cristeen and her husband, Rob, came and visited us on Friday & Sat of June 17&18. Rob had a bicycle race in Show Low on Saturday morning and reportedly did decently. I wish I had taken a pic of Cristeen; she's wearing maternity clothes now and looking really adorable with a small rounded tummy.
On the 19th (after celebrating a Father's Day dinner with Jim), the girls and I headed to Buckeye to stay for 4 days and visit with Dale & Steph and family who were visiting Mom & Dad that week. It was fun to visit: the girls played games with their cousins; we all went to the local pool one afternoon; I did some thrift store shopping with Steph; I got another pile of books from Steph to read; helped Mom & Dad bottle salsa one morning; played some Upwords with Dad; and had good visits with Dale and Steph, and Sandy & family who came to visit for one day.
On Wednesday afternoon, the girls and I travelled back to Snowflake, then Thursday morning we all piled in the car and drove to Bicknell, Utah to visit my sister, Lori and her family. It's a 7 1/2 hour trip, and we took a different route through Kayenta, and Monument Valley and it was very scenic. At one point, as we were going up a road leaving Monument Valley, I looked back and thought, "Hey, I've seen this view before..." It's actually on my cellphone, someone else's professional picture, but check out this view:
We also took a switchback dirt road up a mountain -- we've taken it once before a few years ago when we visited Lori. I would never want to drive on that road at night!
We stayed at Lori's for about 5 1/2 days. Their weather was lovely, and we did some fun things while there: hiked to Zedd's Meadow; did some ATV riding; the kids played in a stream near Sunglow campground; Jim and I got to have a lunch date at Slacker's hamburger joint; played some games of Scrabble with Lo, and Scum with the kids; and I think that's it, mostly, just relaxed and enjoyed the weather...
On Tuesday afternoon, we packed up the car and left for Orem, Utah. We stayed for 3 days there (it was only supposed to be 2 days, but Jim got sick on the day we were supposed to leave, so we stayed an extra day -- nice for us!! Well, not nice to be sick...). Anyway, we took the kids to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. We first toured the Conference Center which we have never been to -- it was really amazing to go inside and see where we listen to our prophet and other leaders. I can't believe that room holds 21,000 people! Crazy... It was a beautiful building -- on the inside and outside. I think our tour guide said the building was 1.2 million square feet!! Wow...
We next ate lunch at a park to give Lissy a rest from all the walking around we had already done. I should have brought a stroller for her, because her legs seem to hurt if she walks around too long. Then we toured the Church History museum -- that was interesting also, and they had a children's section that the kids enjoyed a lot. I have to say I think what the kids liked most from all these tours of buildings were the escalators we rode on. Lissy was scared of them, and I had to pick her up to ride, but the older girls loved them, and took extra rides when they could get away with it. We also visited the Visitor's Center and watched a family film/exhibit that made me (and surprisingly Jim) cry during and after. Of course, he's not admitting to it now... And we visited the Tabernacle -- just peeked inside mostly. It was great to take the kids to see these places, and we want to go back again to see more -- there was still a lot more to see and do that we didn't get to.
That afternoon I met up with my friend, Merin, at a city park to visit. We ended up getting rained out, and didn't get much of a visit, so we made plans to meet up later that evening after the kids were in bed. She had a softball game that night, and came over afterwards. We ended up talking for hours in the lobby of the hotel we were staying in -- it was a fun visit. I was trying to figure out the last time I had seen her, and it's probably been 13 years or so. She was one of my roommates when I lived in Provo for a year, and one of my favorite people! It was 20 years ago when we were roommates -- crazy, huh? When did I get so old...?
Thursday we did some driving around Provo -- drove by my old apartment, around the BYU campus, stopped in at the BYU paleontology museum (it had some cool dinosaur bones); drove up the canyon to Bridal Veil Falls, but no one had the energy to go up the trail, so we didn't see the falls. And then some swimming at the hotel.
And Friday, we left for home. We drove through Price, down through Moab, and Blanding, and Bluff, and then through the Navajo Reservation in Az. I had never been through those parts of Utah. The first part of the trip was very green between mountains, and the 2nd part was full of red rocks and dirt. Still scenic, though.
So we're back and done travelling for the summer. My garden is full of weeds, and I have trees to plant and holes to dig, and grocery shopping, and laundry, and all those normal things to take care of. Glad, though, that we had a safe trip, and had a good time together!
Wow, sounds like you've been busy. We had a great time with you guys here!!
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