Utah Trip- Day 7, 8, & 9

On Monday, April 5, we were staying with Tim and Wendy.  (Apparently, we had way too much fun there because I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I thought I did!  Total bummer!!)  They fed us really yummy oatmeal and homemade coffee cake, for breakfast!  Yummy!  Then Tim and Grant went for their traditional extended run/guy talk.  But this time, they decided to get haircuts too.  While they were gone, Wendy and I worked hard to get all the conference weekend stains out of my girls' yellow dresses.  All the pen stains came out with hairspray (thanks for the idea Mandy!!) and the chocolate milk and other stains came out with stain stick.  I was so relieved and actually pretty shocked!  Riley and Karina became great buddies (I am so sad that I didn't get a picture of the two of them together.  I guess there is always next time...)  For lunch, we ate the yummiest grilled cheese ever! on homemade bread and also applesauce.  Then we left so that Grant could take care of some car issues.  We took the kids to the biggest playland we could find, so that they could let out all their energy. 

Then we went to the Mayan, one of our favorite Utah restaurants.  One of my very favorite YW leaders, Cami, was sweet enough to meet us there, with her family.  We were able to have a nice visit, even though it wasn't nearly long enough.  (Side note- I will forever be grateful for having her love and example in my life, at just the right time.  It came at a time when I was really struggling-- with my testimony, my self esteem, etc.  She was my beehive (12-13 year old girls) advisor and always hired me to babysit her little boys (who are now in college!!).  She was just a great example to me of a beautiful, sweet, young Mom, with a strong testimony of the gospel.)  Thank you so much Cami, for everything!  I love you!

The Mayan is a pretty fun restaurant!  They have rocks, a waterfall, a pool of deep water, and divers, who dive off of the cliff, into the water.  (The kids loved getting splashed by the divers!)  They also have live birds.  It is a pretty neat experience, although not quite as cheap as it once was.  Bummer!  We were also able to visit with Tim and Wendy, and family, and Jeremy and Maria, and family, while we were there.

 

Also, we had the workers sing "Happy Birthday" to Tierra and Nathan.  It was fun and they seemed to like it!

 

Karina seemed to find all kinds of buddies to hold her.  First, it was Tim.  Then, it was Jeremy.  Then, it was some strange man!  Luckily, he was a very sweet man and I felt completely safe with him holding my daughter- which is really wierd.  But I did stay very close by.  (He was wearing the same color shirt as Tim and had the same color hair, maybe she thought it was him.  Who knows.)  The man seemed really touched, almost emotional, that she would go to him.  When we left the restaurant, his wife, kids, parents, and him, all said, "Goodbye, Karina!"  It was so sweet!  She obviously made an impression!  :)

Afterwards, we packed up our stuff at Tim and Wendy's and said goodbye.  It was way too short of a visit.  We are used to having at least a few days with them.  Then we drove to Jeremy and Maria's house (through a snowstorm!)  Grant and Jeremy grew up together, were college roomates, and Jeremy was one of Grant's best men, at our wedding.  Anyway, Tierra kept picking up all the boys (Nathan, Ben, Dalton, and Aiden) at the Mayan, and so Dalton, 8, said, "I know I'm small and everything but that's impressive!  She needs to be going to Gold's Gym, in a few years."  It was so funny!!  When we arrived, we unpacked, talked for a while, and then went to bed.

Tuesday, April 6, we awoke at Jeremy and Maria's and had an awesome breakfast (blueberry pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream on them, bacon, and OJ- yum!)  Then we went swimming at a pool with a big waterslide and all kinds of fun.  It was pretty crowded, due to spring break, but the kids had a blast anyway!  The slide was a little too scary for me because it was pitch black the entire time.  I like waterslides but I like to see where I am going, so I can know what to expect.  Afterwards, we went to Arctic Circle, since we don't have one of those back home.  It was perfect for what we were looking for- cheap, quick, and yummy!

 

Afterwards, we went to Cabelas.  Even though we have been to the Washington and the Idaho Cabelas, every Cabelas is different and there are lots of neat things to do there.  The kids had a good time checking out all the animals.  Also, a nice worker gave the kids some tokens to go to the shooting gallery.  They had a lot of fun.  When we were leaving, Aurora put her hands out to Jeremy and Karina to Maria.  They were sweet enough to carry them out to the car.  It was adorable so I just had to take a picture, of course.  When we got back to the house, Karina and Aurora fell asleep, right away, and the older girls all had a sleepover with Aspen.  Then we stayed up talking with Jeremy and Maria, and washing/folding laundry.

Wednesday morning, we said goodbye to Jeremy, Maria, Dalton, Aspen, and Aiden.  The kids all became great buddies, especially Tierra and Aspen.  It was sad to say goodbye after such a quick visit.  (Pictures- Karina and Aiden, Jeremy and Grant, Tierra and Aspen, Jeremy and Maria's Family, and the view from their house= gorgeous!!)

On our way out of town, we stopped to say a quick hello to another of Grant's favorite mission buddies, Dave Esplin, at his eye clinic.  Grant has always shared with me, what an incredible man Dave is and that he has such an unconditional love for others!  I was able to see this, even in the short time that we were there.  He noticed that my glasses were missing the nose pieces (they had both fallen off.)  He invited me to come in and so he could replace them (for free.)  We walked into his clinic and it was packed!  He took care of some paper work for a few of his customers real quick and then took me back and fixed my glasses.  I thanked him and told him that Grant thought the world of him.  He hugged me and with geunine love in his eyes, thanked me, and said, "Everyone has faults, everyone."  He is just such a tender, sweet man!

We stopped in Brigham City for lunch, at Taco Bell/KFC, and one of my really good friends from high school, Jennifer, met us there, along with her daughter, Bekah.  I haven't seen her in like 16 years!!!  And yet, we picked up right where we left off, like no time had passed!  It was so nice!  I truly had a wonderful time just visiting with her and the girls had a blast with Bekah.  Grant even commented that it seemed that we had a lot in common!  It was so nice of her to make the drive and I only wish we would've had more time to visit!

The girls were great in the car.  I'm sure it helped that we tried to break up the trip with stops and visits but still, it is a long drive!  We also have special trip toys (that they only get on trips), a DVD player in the car, several books on CD (this trip, we listened to "Nephites in Tennis Shoes" series-- Riana and Sariah were really into them, for the first time), and bring plenty of snacks.  Here are some pictures of Aurora with her big blue eyes, her pacifier, and her dolly!  What more could a girl need??  ;)  ...a 1 year old, at least.

We stopped for dinner, at an all-you-can-eat Pizza Place (with pizza, salad, and dessert pizza) with two of my roomates from college, Amy and Andrea.  (I really wanted to get a roomie reunion together with all 6 of us, but it just didn't happen.  I am not giving up on that... someday soon, hopefully we can all get together!!)  Amy and Andrea have been best friends since like middle school and still happen to live near each other, which worked out great.  It was so great to see them!  They are seriously the funniest people I have ever met (which you can probably tell by the 2nd picture!)  I pretty much laughed for 2 hours straight!!  Good times!!  We also had the opportunity to meet Amy's husband, Ramir, and their son, Cole, when we stopped at her house for a short time.  Grant and Ramir really hit it off, in the short time they were able to visit.  Hopefully next time, we can spend more time visiting with him (and Andrea's husband, Gary, who we knew from Ricks, and their 2 sons also.)

We arrived at my sister, Liz's house, at about 10 pm...     To Be Continued...