Deseret

Sandy was refreshing to be at because there was plenty of space for the kids to run around and we were back to normal shopping venues.

The kids discovered this mask so they all had to pose for pictures.

Friday, my dad and I went on an extensive shopping trip to get supplies for the Pioneer Day picnic on Saturday. It was fun to have some bonding time with him. After naps he took us to the aquarium in Sandy. It is small (and probably a bit overpriced for what they have), but they had all the important stuff. Ephant really loved the seahorses. Fefe dashed from place to place. I had quite the time keeping track of her. In the course of following her around we lost Ephant. She was pretty upset about that. We spent the majority of our time at the stingrays. Loofa's arm was a little short and Fefe just enjoyed dipping her hand in the water. Ephant and Brother B managed to touch a few. They aren't quite as social as the ones at Sea World, but I think that is because you could feed the SW ones.

Saturday was the big pioneer day celebration. Okay, maybe it wasn't that big, but it was bigger than it usually it for us since we don't really celebrate it in Oregon. I spent alot of my morning making a home made potato salad. I really can't stand store brought potato salad so I offered to make some. Everyone showed up around 4pm, my aunt and uncle, their kids and my grandma. After the BBQ my sister took us on a hike up to a little waterfall. It was a pretty easy hike, but I probably shouldn't have worn flip flops.

One of the many McMansions on the Sandy hills. Ephant had to have a pic of this one.

When we got back Uncle J and Cousin B put on a small fireworks show for us. Fefe wasn't all that thrilled this time. She kept wanting to go inside. I'd tell her to go inside, but then she'd come right back out because she didn't want to be alone.

Church was at 9am on Sunday. I sure love that time. Right now we have 2pm church and I can't wait to be done with that. Fefe really liked the nursery. There were only 3 other kids in there and the nursery leaders were awesome. I had to laugh at the combined lesson. It was focused on how great women are and we got the usual claptrap about how women are worth $500,000 a year. Did any of these people take a math class?

I had offered to make Sunday dinner so I made some roast. I was pretty disappointed in the chuck roast I got from Costco. It was super fatty. I think we were only able to use about a third of it. If it was my Costco I probably would have taken the time to complain. The rolls I made didn't rise either (I ended up making cinnamon rolls from the dough the next day). Luckily I had some Bisquick so I made some biscuits really fast. I guess it could have been worse, but I hate it when you work on a meal all day and it turns out subpar.

Apartment 308

Monday was Utah Valley Day. After another lovely morning of sleeping in we headed down. Our first stop was J and I's Wymount apartment we lived in when Ephant was born. I wanted to get a picture of us in front of it. Next we dropped by the creamery to get J his BYU ranch dressing. It really is worth it. Then we headed to the BYU bookstore to get everyone new t-shirts. I always get nostalgic when I go there. That was my favorite place to work.

We hung out down at Aunt J's house for just a few minutes and then drove over to the Provo CLAS ropes course. My mom had bought some tickets for a 2 hour session from Groupon. It was awesome! During that time we were all able to go on a zipline, climb a rock wall and go canoeing for 20 minutes. Aunt J's friend watched Fefe for us. She had a pretty good time. She turned into a total social butterfly last month. She is always going up to people and saying, "Hi, my name is Fefe." and then trying to talk their ears off. It doesn't matter if they are children or adults. When I dropped her off to be babysat she just took off and I had to grab her to even get a kiss. I'm glad she is so outgoing, but I do have to keep a close eye on her. During the climbing wall portion Loofa started questioning us about the canoeing. He had never heard of them before so he was trying to figure out what it meant that we were going canoeing. Finally he exclaimed "The boat comes with a river!".

I was surprised how well Loofa did climbing the 50 foot pole.

Ephant looked pretty nervous once she got up, but enjoyed it.

Brother B did it all with his usual stoicism.

That harness and helmet really does something for me, huh?

Loofa did pretty good climbing up, but he had no idea how to get down.

We didn't do much on Tuesday except go to the Mayan restaurant in the evening. I thought the kids would be old enough to really enjoy the atmosphere, which they did. We were able to see two cliff diving shows while there and meet the performers towards the end. They started walking around and I told Fefe to go give them a hug. She didn't hesitate and walked right up to them. I wish I had it on video. They thought she was pretty cute. The only downside was the food was absolutely disgusting and I don't say that lightly. I can make better cheese enchiladas than that. I still need to write them a letter. It was not cheap either. At least Aunt A got a nice shot with some cute boys for her birthday.

Here's Fefe with the crew gathered around to hear her babble.

Aunt A's birthday present

I can't remember if it was Tuesday or Wednesday that Fefe had her infamous deer encounter outside. Most of you probably saw it on facebook, but I wanted to put it down here too. I let her into the backyard to eat her gogurt and then went into the bathroom. While in there I heard her start crying and yelling "I need my mom!" and "Open the door!" I hurried as fast as I could and went to open the door. As soon as I did she cried "The moose is coming to get me, I'm scared!". There was a deer standing about 5 feet away from her. So I sat down with her while she finished her gogurt. The deer didn't seem too scared of us, but eventually it went away.

Wednesday we loaded up once more to visit J's inlaws in Bountiful. On the way we stopped by Granite bakery first to get some cinnamon knots. Can't have a trip to Utah without those hip fatteners. Second we stopped by my grandparents for a quick visit. This is where the infamous arm breaking occurred. Next post...