Water Fun

There is a new water park in Spanish Fork and it has taken me ALL summer to get over there and check it out.  The kids LOVED it.  Unfortunately, we had to cut it short because a HUGE thunderstorm moved in.

Playing on the Playground

Rolling over the water

Calista

Playing in the Rain

We have had some CRAZY thunderstorms the last month or so...we even had small hail out of one of them.

Anyway, it rained like crazy one afternoon, but it was still warm and my kids went out and played in the rainwater.

Hailey splashing in the water.

Hailey & Chance splashing each other.

Calista was NOT happy about getting wet!!!

Ward Party

It was a little cool today and we debated going to the ward activity but how often do you get to do this?

The kids had so much fun. I wanted to try it - but not ready to mess up my knee - maybe next year!!

Block Party

My neighbor Casey planned this awesome block party. She got permission from the city to close our street and then it was time for the fun to begin. We had a great BBQ with all the fixin's. YuM!! Then we played all kinds of games - water balloon volleyball, checkers, sidewalk chalk, etc..

We had such a great time socializing with everyone. It was a perfect night.

No party is complete without Jeff doing something crazy. We used the potato gun to fire candy out to the kids. They loved it. Take a peek:

A little trip down Memory Lane..

So, we headed to our hotel after Family Day at the base and met my sister Angie there. Calista & Hailey had fun playing house while we were at the hotel:

We had some time to kill so we went over to the Gateway Mall and let the kids play in the splash park. It was so HOT that I was tempted to join them.


Hunger pangs turned us to food and we decided to catch a bite at Crown Burger because there is not one even remotely close to us. Mmmmm! So good!!

We then took a drive downtown to see how things were going with all the new construction. The ZCMI mall is now a huge hole. I used to work above the ZCMI Mall - in the Beneficial Life Tower so it's weird to see what was left. I started with Murdock Travel and then moved over to IHC Travel - both located in the Beneficial Life Tower. It is so weird to see everything so torn up downtown. I think it is going to be beautiful when it is done!!

After that trip down Memory Lane, we drove past Jeff's old apartment where he lived when we were dating. Then we headed over to our first apartment - Calista was born while we lived in the apartment and she has been wanting to see it. Needless to say, she wasn't impressed - we even had a pool - and she still wasn't impressed!!! I used to ride the bus to work so I showed the kids where I used to pick up the bus.

We were exhausted by then and it was getting fairly late so we headed back to the hotel. I forgot how BAD the water tasted in Salt Lake so we decided to get some waeter from the grocery store. I must have been REAL brave(or STUPID) when we lived in Rose Park because I used to go shopping all the time BUT I think it's a little scarier now so I wanted Jeff go with me. We hauled all the kids to the store for some water and snacks.

Only in Rose Park do you find - not one, not two, but three police officers standing outside the local Albertsons store. This is the very store that I used to shop at - kinda scary now!

It was fun to take a look at our old stomping grounds. It was fun when we lived there being so close to downtown. There is so much to see and do and there is an energy about downtown. I kinda missed it and then I started thinking about all the things I LOVE about where we live now:

* I feel safe and secure - even when I go to the grocery store!
* little or no traffic - I have come home at 11pm and only seen 1 other car on the road.
* I don't have to worry about gangs and homeless people hanging out on street corners and being scared when I stop at a red light.
* I LOVE how friendly everyone in Payson is - I remember one of the first times I went to Payson Marketplace - the people shopping and the people working there kept talking to me. It was a big adjustment from SLC where everyone ignores each other.
* I LOVE their city sports...I get to play volleyball again!
* I LOVE that they have band concerts every Sunday night in the park
* I LOVE my neighbors and friends that I have made here!
* I LOVE the school my kids go to - it's awesome!
* I LOVE this small little town!!

It was fun to take our little trip down Memory Lane...so many things and people have shaped who, what, and where we are now. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Family Day at the Base

Today we headed out to Jeff's base for Family Day. We had to be in SLC by 8am - can you say EARLY morning??

We started out the morning by checking out the airplanes on display. They happen to have a C5 that had stopped there en route to another base. It was HUGE!! They had it roped off so we could not get very close.

Our next stop was the Highway Patrol Helicopter where the pilot showed us the night vision camera that is used to track criminals in the dark. Here's a picture of Chance sitting in the helicopter:

Then we moved on to the Apache Helicopter. This one was pretty cool. The Apaches used to fly over our house in West Jordan all the time. I remember that they were very noisy and it would sometimes rattle the entire house.

Our next stop was at a F-15 Fighter. These guys were actually based out of Idaho - Mountain Home to be exact. Pretty neat to see close up - but we couldn't climb inside - DARN! Jeff told me a whole bunch of stuff about this one - but I didn't retain any of it! Hahaha!

Our last stop was the KC-135 Refueler...this is THE plane for Jeff's base. They offer midair refueling for jets..see this pic:

We were actually able to climb up into this one.


Here's a pic of Jeff & the kids sitting in the seats. These are the planes that Jeff usually travels on when he is activated. Obviously the seats don't look very comfortable. He usually takes a sleeping bag and pillow and sprawls out on the floor.

We headed to the tail of the plane where the boom is located. The kids were able to crawl down where the boom operator controls the boom. I thought it was interesting that they do this in a laying position - not sitting.

Then we headed up to the cockpit to check that out. I think I would get claustrophobic in that tiny space. The kids liked sitting in the pilot seats and getting a view from that perspective. PLEASE don't touch any of the buttons!


We were climbing down the stairs from the KC-135 and noticed that they had started up 3 planes and were moving them to the runway so we decided to hang out for a bit and watch them take off. They did a fly-by later in the day that was very cool. They were VERY low and tipped their wing as they flew by.


There were a lot of activities for the kids - bounce houses, relays, carnival games, etc. We covered every inch of the base and then stopped for some lunch. It was so extremely HOT by then so we finished up lunch and then headed out to our hotel.

Hanging out in the shade of a bounce house:

Running a 3-legged race:

Chance holding a gun...I don't know what it is. Obviously he had just finished a blue sucker:

My kids torturing the dummy in the medic tent:

Feeding the ducks...

or maybe it was feeding the fish. There were so many fish fighting for the bread that it kinda scared off the ducks.

We had lunch with Jeff today and there are a few connecting ponds outside his work with ducks and geese so we took some leftover bread from our BBQ last week and tried to feed the ducks.

Chance & Hailey came up with a clever idea to catch some fish. They filled some Walmart bags with bread and tried soaking them in the pond - hoping that a fish would just swim right in. Alas, it did not work. (Thank goodness - I didn't want to bring home fish!!)

Sunday Drive..

We took a drive up Santaquin canyon today to have dinner with some friends and ended up with this.
Luckily, we had a spare and it only took a few moments to switch it out. We needed new tires but we were hoping to wait until fall...guess we'll be getting them sooner.

It was still a nice drive and the dinner was delicious - Dutch oven potatoes, BBQ chicken, and Peach Cobbler. Sterling is an awesome cook!!

Some pics of the kids. Calista on a tree over the creek.

Chance & his friend, Bridger

Hailey sitting on some rocks...

We played around and visited until 8:30pm and the kids were getting tired & grumpy so we headed home. The kids were more than a little dirty so they took quick showers and Hailey walked out looking like this..

What a fun & busy weekend!! The summer is flying by.

Boating

We went boating with some friends yesterday at Deer Creek Lake Reservoir - just up Provo Canyon. The kids wouldn't go on the tube by themselves at first, but we finally got them (made them) do it just before we left and they LOVED it. Thanks Joel & Julie for supplying the boat - we had a great time!



And a video of Jeff...

We left the lake an hour later than planned and we were supposed to be in Herriman for a BBQ at 5pm so we skipped the trip home for showers and clothes and headed to Laurie's house in Herriman. I'm sure we all looked scary but real friends don't care - they love us no matter what, right?!! Ed & Sequoia also came over. (These are neighbors from our old house in West Jordan.) I can't believe how wound up the kids were - they were running around like crazy - but they crashed pretty fast in the car - it was 9:30 and we had all had a long day.

We got up early today and did some cleaning inside & out. I ran a few errands and then we had a BBQ with many of our friends from the neighborhood. Of course, we had to pick the hottest day of the summer. We had such a great time visiting with everyone. Our ward boundary runs south of our house and for some reason it creates an imaginary boundary with those neighbors. It was great to have them over & get to know them a bit better. We are SO lucky to have such great neighbors & friends!

Mud Pies

This knocks off one of our activities for the summer and of course - Hailey suggested it. I have rocks in my flower beds and a small garden with no dirt to spare SO yesterday after swim lessons, we ran to a place in Salem that sells dirt and bought a 5 gallon bucket of dirt. Then we headed off to the $1 store to buy pie tins and stuff to put on top.
The kids had a great time making mud pies. It was a bit messy but not too bad. Jeff thought it would be fun to have a mud fight but it was late and a bit chilly outside so we opted out of that one. If I knew someone with a field that we could get muddy, I think that might be fun. Mud volleyball anyone??

After we made mud pies, we ate mud (chocolate pudding) and dirt (crushed Oreos). What a fun night!!!

It's been a busy week....

It's been a crazy week - but what else is new?

We got back from Idaho on Sunday afternoon. Monday was busy with unpacking and cleaning. Later that night, we hiked to the Grotto for FHE.



I got up early on Tuesday and started a load of laundry only to find out that my washer had finally DIED!! It didn't take us long to find a new set - Jeff purchased them by 11:30am that morning but I had to wait until Wednesday to get them.My favorite feature?? The delay wash - I can load it the night before and have delay the wash until early morning. My first load is done by the time I wake up!!!

We went to Seven Peaks Tuesday afternoon/evening. The kids get free passes during the school year for reading 20 - 30 minutes every day. We had a good time. I don't usually like Seven Peaks because it is so packed and the lines are so long - but evidently Tuesday is a good day to go. On the down side, they no longer allow ANY food in the park. (Sorry no pics - I didn't dare take my new camera!!)

Yeah - my washer and dryer were delivered on Wednesday. I'm probably the only person that I know who loves to do laundry! Got started on laundry and then headed out to YW followed by a Presidency meeting - didn't get home until 10:30pm.

I went to SLC on Thursday to see my good friend Laurie. We went over to the Daybreak beach and hung out there for HOURS and let the kids play. we had so much fun. We decided to grab something to eat on the way home and had quite the adventure trying to find a Fazolis. The GPS said there was one in American Fork so we headed in that direction. But alas, there was nothing. The next one was in Orem so we decided to try that. Again, no Fazolis. (Jeff thinks they went out of business) So we settled for Sconecutters. My kids love their smiley face fries!!

TGIF!! We had nothing planned for today!! The kids were ready to have some down time and just play with friends. Jeff & I went to the Elder's Quorum party that night. We played Dodgeball. We have been letting Calista watch the kids a little bit here and there. We figured since we were at the church and in the neighborhood, we would just let her babysit. I could get used to this!!!

I got up early Saturday morning and weeded my garden. Then I took "my girls" out school shopping for awhile. I soon discovered that Calista is a shopper - Hailey is not!

We came back home and headed over to the Scottish Festival to check out some food and games. Jeff's mom has Scottish ancestors and last year we were able to get their family crest for her which was kinda cool. There are some very interesting people that hang out there and if you are into men in skirts - this is the festival for you!! My kids were excited to get their faces painted..

Saturday night was our ward party. The kids decorated their bikes and we had a kid's parade followed by a ward BBQ. Yum!! Hailey is in the white dress and Calista & Chance have brown shirts.
Whew!! I am exhausted and hope next week is a little less busy - but it probably won't be because we start swimming lessons.

Boating...without Mom :(

Do you see what my son is holding?? Leave Jeff alone with the kids for 1 day and he has them drinking beer!!! Just Kidding...Chance found this can on the "beach" and used it to collect rocks.

Hailey collected broken glass.

And Calista....wanted to lounge on the floatie but was afraid of floating away, so she anchored herself to the beach.

I missed all the fun...I had Baptisms for the Dead with the youth in our ward. I had a lot of fun with them but was sure glad to get home and see that everyone was safe and sound.