Family Fun!

I'm going through withdrawal and I'm hoping this posting will help. We just had the best 7 days and I'm so sad it's over! My sister Brenda, her husband Gary and their teenage kids Jason and Brittney; my sister Kris and my brother Devin all came up to visit from Texas! We hadn't seen most of them since last summer and we hadn't seen Devin in 5 years, so we had fun catching up! We certainly stayed busy and it was fun having a house-full (my dad even stayed with us for a few nights!)

They arrived Wednesday evening (after driving about 22 hours!). We had dinner at Chuck-A-Rama (Gary's favorite) and stayed up till midnight chatting!

Thursday we had a reunion at IHOP in Sandy, then we browsed at Gardner Village. My dad picked Devin up at the airport in the afternoon and then we all went to Firehouse Pizza for dinner. We spent the evening in the yard, enjoying the summer evening and doing a few fireworks.

Friday we went to Park City and did the Alpine Slide, the Alpine Coaster, and Kris, Devin, Jason and Brittney did the Zip Line as well. What a rush! Then we spent the afternoon at Uncle Cardell and Aunt Rosanne's house in Provo Canyon. I think they live in a little piece of Heaven - cottages surrounding a little pond with the towering mountains as a backdrop. So nice! After we got home, we watched "The Duel," a crazy, cheesy, but oh-so-good movie.

GOING UP . . .

GETTING READY . . .

HERE WE GO!

YEE-HAW!

PLAYING IN THE MUD . . .

ENJOYING THE POND


DOING THE TARZAN SWING

MAKENNA HAS BEEN TERRIFIED OF DOGS LATELY BUT SHE TIMIDLY (BUT QUICKLY) MADE FRIENDS WITH CLANCY, ROSANNE'S DOG. CAN YOU SEE HOW PROUD SHE IS? SHE AND CLANCY WERE BASICALLY INSEPARABLE!



Saturday we took a tour of the Kennecott Copper Mine (where our grandpa worked for decades), ate at Artic Cirlce (the Texans got their Fry Sauce fix!), then Dad had to take Devin to the airport - it was a quick trip for Devin but we loved being with him! After that, we hung out at Dad's house in Murray for a bit before we went to the Jacobson reunion at Wheeler Farm.

IN FRONT OF THE FAMOUS "BIG TIRE" AT KENNECOTT COPPER MINE

A BUCKET-FULL OF SWEETNESS!

CHECKING IT ALL OUT

WHEELER FARM


FEEDING THE DUCKS

KASIDEE ENJOYING A DONUT (BUT THEN SHE REALIZED SHE DOESN'T LIKE GETTING HER FINGERS STICKY SO SHE FIGURED OUT A CREATIVE WAY TO EAT IT!)





Sunday we slept in and had a lazy morning then took a picnic lunch to City Creek Canyon. We spent several hours enjoying the ride, the picnic, and taking lots of pictures.






On Monday we had lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory and browsed at Trolley Square and the Gateway. Then we came home and had pizza and birthday cake for Kris (her birthday is tomorrow).

PLAYING HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPOS

BUBBLES



Everyone left early this morning (around 7:30) and have their long drive ahead of them. We have just enjoyed every minute of their visit - the house seems awfully quiet and lonely without them here. The girls especially miss their entertainment (Jason and Brittney!), and I'm missing having lots of people to help with Kasidee! What fun memories we have created, and we can't wait till we can get together again!

GARY & KASIDEE

BRENDA & KASIDEE

KRIS & KASIDEE

KASIDEE & "BOPPA"

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON!

DEVIN HOLDING ALL 3 GIRLS

FAMILY PIC

Just the Girls

Just some cute pics of the girls with my mom and grandma when we joined them last Friday for lunch at the Olive Garden. These summer lunches that we get to do together every once in awhile create such good memories!

Stuff

Well, poor Quentin has been pretty sick. He started feeling crappy last Saturday and it pretty much wiped him out till Wednesday. I haven't seen him so sick in a loooong time. Poor guy - I felt so bad for him! I'm glad he's feeling back to normal now. But while he was suffering, the girls and I have had fun! We kind of tried to give him some peace and quiet and tried to get out of the house as much as possible. Of course I have a few pictures to help tell what we did! Check it out:

On Wednesday we joined our friends on a picnic - this is something the girls have been planning with their friends for weeks, and it was so relaxing! We stayed for nearly 3 hours!

KIERA & SOPHIE - THEY ALWAYS WALK HOLDING HANDS . . .

MAKENNA & CHLOE PLAYING IN THE CREEK . . .

KASIDEE ENJOYING HER OREO . . .


The girls finished their swimming lessons and have loved every minute of it. They have enjoyed it so much, so I signed them up for another session in August - they can't wait! I'm so proud how well they did and I'm amazed how much they learned!





CUTE KASIDEE ENJOYING THE POOL TOO! . . .



Thursday night 2 of my neighbors/friends and I went to IKEA - without kids! It was so fun, and we decided to have some sort of "girls night out" every month and count it as visiting teaching as well!!


Also this week we went to 2 library events (the best was a really awesome magic show), and Tuesday night Kiera and I had a "date" - Quentin and I had tickets to Rodgers Memorial Theater's "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat." Quentin wasn't feeling well and we weren't able to exchange the tickets. So Kiera and I went together and really enjoyed it - I think she especially loved seeing 2 of her friends in the play!

Music and Dance

The Davis County Libraries have been doing their Summer Reading Program, which includes free events - and we have really enjoyed them! We saw the puppet show "The 3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad TV," and the girls have especially enjoyed the music and dance events: we've seen Polynesian dancing, enjoyed "Utah's Old Time Fiddlers," and last night the girls got to learn African dances and songs, learn about African drums and instruments, and even beat out songs on real African drums. They had a blast!

Little Fishies

Today Kiera and Makenna began swimming lessons. They've never had lessons before (I know, I know...) and they've been pretty nervous since I signed them up 3 months ago. I think they thought they'd start out by having to jump off the diving board into the deep end, so they were happy to learn that they would be in the shallow end, basically playing games that teach them basic swimming skills. They loved every minute of it and can't wait to go back tomorrow!

(P.S. Kiera got her cast off today! She still needs to be a little careful and has a removable wrist guard to protect her when she's playing, but it's so nice to have it off! She never really complained about having it on - I think she actually liked it!)



Granny was so nice to give us a ride since our van was in the shop. Granny, Kasidee and I enjoyed hanging out in the shade and Kasidee timidly played a little in the "Splash Pad."

Happy Fourth!

Have you ever noticed that most of our holidays and celebrations are actually a variation of Thanksgiving? Mother's Day - we give thanks to the mothers in our lives; Valentine's Day and birthdays - we show gratitude to the ones we love; even New Year's Day - we give thanks and show hope for a new year. The Fourth of July is a time to reflect on the freedoms and opportunities we have, and to give thanks to our Heavenly Father and many servicemen and women who have made that possible. I love it.

We had a fun celebration. On the evening of the 3rd, we went to the fireworks show at Eaglewood Golf Course. We've been going every year since Quentin and I were dating - it's a fun tradition! Then on the 4th, we joined Grandma and Mom for lunch (sandwiches, baked beans, potato and macaroni salad, corn on the cob, root beer floats - yummy!), checked out the snowman in Farmington (real snow from the mountains - it's there every 4th of July), went on a bike ride to the park down the street, then did a few fireworks in our yard. Good times!

WATCHING FIREWORKS - KASIDEE SCREAMED IF I DIDN'T COVER HER EARS


PART OF OUR GROUP (MISCHELLE, JORDYN AND SPENCER GOT CUT OUT - SORRY! AND QUENTIN WAS TAKING THE PICTURE)

SEEING THE LAMBS, GOATS AND TURKEYS JUST DOWN THE STREET

ENJOYING THE RIDE!

RIDING OVER THE PITCHER'S MOUND

MAKENNA WITH OUR NEIGHBOR TIM - I THINK HE HAS A CRUSH ON HER, EVEN THOUGH HE'S 2 1/2 YEARS YOUNGER THAN SHE IS!

KASIDEE SHOWING OFF HER CUTE SHIRT