{utah 2012 continued...}

July 24

We settled in at Gramme and Poppy's...and were ready for fun!
We went to This Is The Place Park.  It was really cool.  The kids loved playing the old fashioned games that pioneer children played.  We went on a couple of different trains, petted animals (Eliza loved the sheep), panned for gold, learned about Native American items, had a yummy dessert, and Eliza even picked out her birthday present (a giant pig that she loves to sleep with).  We went home for naps and rest time and then went to the Gateway.  Gramme and I went shopping (so nice!) and the kids and Poppy went to the Children's Museum.

July 25

A nice fun day working and playing at Gramme and Poppy's.  Henry started not eating very much.

July 26

Taylor's birthday party at the park.  Such a cute boy!  I cannot believe he is four years old.  I had a wonderful girls night with Monica and Missy.  Henry was not quite himself.  He started to have a little bit of fever.

July 27

We sat outside and had snack on the porch and just talked and laughed.  The kids got to work and also play in the dirt with Poppy.  Poppy mowed the lawn and both kids helped.  Aunt Jessica visited in the afternoon.  Gramme, Henry, Eliza, and I went to a concert in the park and then played on the playground.  Henry not feeling very well.

July 28

Eliza was up ALL the last night throwing up.  Henry started throwing up in the morning.  She seemed better during the day.  We went to Grandma and Grandpa Dea's house to visit.  It was so great to see everybody and catch up!  Henry and Eliza had fun playing and exploring around.  They were also able to pick some vegetables from the garden.  We went to Artic Circle for dinner and the kids had such a blast playing on their playground!

July 29

We went to church with Gramme and Poppy.  It was nice to see familiar faces.  After naps and rest time we went to visit the Dea's.  We all had fun bowling on the X Box.

 

July 30

City Creek Mall (very cool!), Cafe Rio, and Cheesecake Factory = a great day!  Henry worked in the yard with Poppy!

July 31

We had a play date with Jeron and Monica and also Missy and Max.  It was fun to see all the kids together.  We also visited Vanda, our old next door neighbor.  We visited Dean and Joyce at their new retirement home.  I took the kids to get the best snow cone ever!

August 1

Doctors appointments... Eliza was up all night throwing up again.

August 2

Still recovering from being sick.  We went to the church museum for a little bit and also played outside for a little bit.

I stopped writing down what we were doing and when...Eliza was just so sick we never knew what to expect...it turned into survival mode!  Henry was better after about four days, but poor Eliza just could not kick the bug. We went to doctors appointments and had stool sampled and picked up prescriptions and other remedies and just had to wait it out.  She would feel okay for a day and a half and then be horribly ill again.  Her poor little bottom was so sore!  We were a tired ornery bunch by the time it was time to go home.  Henry was able to go some places with Poppy and also visit Kayson and Taylor.  When we were in between sick days we did the most we could and tried to see people and do fun things!  My parents were so fantastic..patient and loving and helpful!  Eliza actually threw up twice AFTER flying home...we never found out what she had. 



{utah 2012}

Aunt Jessica picked us up from the airport and took us to Grandma Karen's house.
  It was so nice to settle in and be with family.  We had such a great week and the kids did great!  They slept well and ate well and played well:). 

 I am not sure why I did not take very many pictures when we first got there but finally it dawned on me to get the camera out!  I guess I was really enjoying the time with everyone and living in the moment.

Here is the run down...

July 17 

 We spent most of the day flying in to SLC, settling in at Grandma Karen's house, unpacking and hanging out.

July 18 

 We went to a splash pad in Aunt Jessica's neighborhood.  There was a cool playground that the kids loved!  It was a little dangerous for little ones though.  There was a rather tall skinny mountain thing that you had to walk across to get to the big slides.  I turned around and Eliza was just beginning to walk across.  I started running as fast as I could to get to her...I just knew she would slip any moment and plummet seriously 6 feet.  I got to her right as she made it to the other side and said "Ta Da!!!"  She knew she did something great...and dangerous!  The kids did not love the splash pad so we ended up at the pool and then went to Wendy's afterwards for lunch.  Aunt Amanda and Rock came and also Aunt Brittany and Kayson, Taylor, and Sophie.

July 19

Zoo Day!!!  The kids loved the train of course.  We drove with Grandma and met Aunt Amanda and Aunt Jessica there.

July 20

We went to Wheeler Farm in the morning and invited Monica and Jeron to join us with Grandma Karen.  We also went to the Lakeshore store and Henry picked out his birthday gift from Grandma.  That evening Gramme picked us up from Grandma Karen's house and we met up with Aunt Brittany and her family for Bountiful's July 24th celebration and parade.  The kids absolutely loved it!  They had 2000 stripling warriors represented and it was pretty awe inspiring.  Before the parade we ate at Cafe Rio...yum:)

  Henry and Eliza did not like it.

Grandma and Henry (I finally decided to pull out the camera)

Monica and Mem

Henry and Jaren

Grandma Karen, Henry, and Eliza

* * *

(hand on your heart)

(so intent)

(sirens...so loud for small ears)

July 21

We went to Grandma Karen's stake activity (breakfast) at the church and then came home and had a silly string fight in the backyard with Aunt Jessica and Uncle Amos.  Henry was in heaven!

 

 

July 22

Church with Grandma Karen.  The kids did great in their classes and I just SAT and LISTENED...lovely!

Dinner with Uncle Amos and Aunt Jessica.

July 23

  We took a morning walk to "Sunny Hill" and then had breakfast at Virgils.  We went to the park and then to the library.  A very nice day.  We packed up in the afternoon and we were off to Gramme and Poppy's house.  It was so lovely being at Grandma Karen's house and the kids had so much fun!
 I am grateful for such great in-laws!!

{we're off}

Wow!  It was so crazy getting ready to leave for one month!

We were so excited to see family and friends and...to fly on an airplane!  Henry loves to fly and it looks like his sister does too.

(Pure Joy!)

The kids were really great for the whole flight.  When we made it into the SLC airport an older couple told me what "gems" my children were.  They really were delightful and well behaved...I felt blessed and exhausted.  They were both very excited and energized...I was ready for a nap:).

{chicago...a quick trip}

Chris was able to take a day off to spend a little extra time with us before we left for Utah for one whole month.  I think that is a run on sentence:).  We decided to go to Chicago and hit IKEA and Lego Land.  We really had a great day.  Eliza was able to sleep in the car during nap time and it worked out perfect.  We got lots of good ideas at IKEA for our library and had a great time at LEGO Land.  We dropped our camera and it was quite mangled, but Chris fixed it enough so we could take a few fuzzy pictures.

(Henry was smitten with this ride...as was Chris!)

(I was not able to get very many pictures of Henry because he spent most of his time on the big obstacle course.)

(This totally captures Eliza...and why I have to follow her all around the playground at the park instead of talking with other moms:)!)

{swim lessons and a pirate}

It has been such a great summer so far.

Henry is taking swim lessons and it is quite interesting...

The first day he kept talking and talking.  He was full of facts for the swim instructor...for example,

Henry:  Did you know that there is no gravity under water?

Henry:  Did you know that dolphins can swim on their backs backwards?

Teacher:  Lets save the facts for after class.

He really did a great job swimming and it was an opportunity for him to practice being quiet and listen and be "taught".

* * *

Henry and Eliza were invited to Gabriella's birthday party at the Rainbow play ground.  They had a really fantastic time playing on all the equipment.  Henry was given a pirate party favor and he lost no time getting dressed up as a pirate.

(His very serious pirate face)