Oh, What Did you Do in the Summertime?

Well, our packed schedule sort of became a joke while I visiting my parents but it was fantastic and we had so much fun. It seemed liked leaving the house in the morning became a nearly impossible task for me and my parents had to pick up so much slack. It left me wondering how I ever leave the house to go anywhere since I usually do it all myself... I still haven’t figured that one out yet. Fortunately, my parents were amazing and did all the planning, packing, making lunches, etc. so we had the time to do so much!!! Here are some of the highlights of our favorite times spent with “grandma and grandpa” during July and August:

The Ups:
*Being with family, spending time together, building and maintaining relationships is definitely worth all the time and money (you don’t even want to know how much it is, trust me, it’s painful to think about)
*Fantastic cooking every night from my mom, and somehow I always managed to miss dinner clean up! In general I did significantly much less housekeeping than usual since my parents did all of it! What a treat it was... I mowed my yard today and did basic maintenance and wanted to die from exhaustion. Somehow my parents would get up extra early, get all the yard work done and then manage to run out chasing the grandkids all day. Did I mention they are Super Grandparents?
*Watching the kids have so much fun with their grandparents, Alyssa would yell an enthusiastic “Hi Grandpa!” every chance she got. They all woke up every day and would run to look for them, luckily they took a lot of time off work to spend with us so they usually found them.
*The fresh fruit! We had a nearly endless supply of delicious fruit, and the variety was amazing. Please go eat some and don’t take it for granted! I nearly cried when I got home and went back the commissary and couldn’t even buy grapes. The apples were nearly $4 a pound, the oranges were mushy....I came home with applesauce, bottled peaches and mandarin oranges...ugh. Luckily this week the selection was better, a little.
*So many fun things to do and I could read all the street signs!!! We went to a water park here the other day and I took the wrong road three times because I couldn’t read the sign to figure out where I was supposed to go...

The Downs:
*Missing Tom every night, we talked on iChat every morning (his night) but of course that wasn’t the same. Next year he just has to work it out to stay with me!
*Putting the kids to bed was tough, they fought me about it every night and it got exhausting!
*Hayden took advantage of Tom not being there to keep him in line and he was pushing my buttons left and right. We’ve been working on that since being home and I think we’ve got some better things in place so it won’t be so bad next year... yes, I am already thinking about our trip next year!

Here is what we did this year:

July 16: Arrive in Salt Lake City, Danica just kept looking out the plane window and saying “It’s just so beautiful!” I couldn’t agree more, I love flying in and seeing the mountains!

July 17-20: Trip to Southern Utah, stayed in a cabin in Antimony, rode 4 wheelers, did target shooting, exploring and I ran the Bryce Canyon 1/2 marathon (I actually came in 25th place for women out of 645, 10th for my age division.) She pictures and info on an earlier post.

July 21: Swimming with my sister!

July 22: Visited my cousin Deanna in Ogden and saw her brand new baby!! It was my mom’s birthday and we to Cafe Rio for dinner- yummmmmy! Then we went to the Sandy Amphitheater and watched an Abba (impersonator) concert, they were great!

July 23: Salt Lake Children’s Museum: My parents took the day off work and we took my nephew along and spent the day in Salt Lake. The kids loved it! They had so many cool exhibits and we took a lunch break outside at the splash pad! Hayden was soaked but so happy!



July 24: A holiday in Utah to celebrate the Pioneers. We chickened out on going to the parade because it was so crowded. But we did attend a family reunion for my grandma where I won a bag of trail mix for coming from the farthest away place (I suppose that makes the plane ride worth it?), Hayden did some karaoke and all the kids enjoyed doing pinatas. We went to my brother Ryan’s house for dinner. His wife Amy made a fantastic cake and homemade strawberry ice cream!!! Yum! That night we went to Strawberry Days in Spanish Fork and had a good time at the carnival. Uncle Ryan was nice enough to take Hayden on the Gravitron. I went on a ride with Hayden and got so sick!! But Hayden loved it! The girls loved their rides and every time they would come around Alyssa would yell out “hi!” and wave frantically! Afterwards we went back to Ryan and Amy's house to watch fireworks!



July 25: I went “garage selling” with my dad, an “in the states” luxury. Then my dad, brother and Hayden and I went to see the new Harry Potter! Great show!

July 26-28 Park City! We had a fantastic time staying in the Marriott Resort right at the foot of the ski slopes. Sunday after church we headed up just in time to have dinner (the rooms had a full kitchen and table that sat 8, it was awesome!) The next day we enjoyed water aerobics in the morning, then tons of swimming and 6 hot tubs. In the afternoon we walked next door to the rides where we had a blast flying down the Alpine Coaster (you should have heard my mom screaming!). We all went on the Alpine Slide, even Alyssa, who upon getting off declared “Fun!,” which it was! The next day we went and watched the ski jumpers practice and then hit the outlet mall for more back to school shopping! Oh, how I miss the outlet malls....sigh.....

July 29: Open House at the Oquir Mountain Temple in West Jordan. It was so supposed to be a big family group but things happened and it was just my mom, my sister and the kids. I knew we were in trouble when the kids refused the get out of the car with Hayden insisting it would be boring...We actually got back in the car and said a prayer for peace and help in making it a positive experience. I got out of the car and was trying to coax Hayden out when the prayer was answered by a girl in a golf cart pulling up and asking if we wanted a ride up to the temple. We were actually parked pretty close and I’m sure the golf cart was for the far away parking lot but Hayden got excited to ride in the cart and got out of the car and jumped on. I wish I could say he was then pleasant and awe struck by the temple but really he was a bear and complained the whole time. It was REALLY crowded so we were moving at a snails pace and he was rightfully bored. Thankfully however, the prayer for peace worked on me and I was able to maintain a positive attitude when at other times I may have simply tried to drag him out by the ears. In the end we sat down in the celestial room and they talked to us for a bit. As we were leaving Hayden mumbled “Okay, so that was actually pretty cool.” Since that night I have heard him recount with enthusiasm the fact that he has been in a temple. He was all to eager to tell his class when we got back here. It was practically torture to drag him through it but apparently was worth the trouble. Thanks to my mom also for being so nice to just put up with him. She’s a saint.

July 30: We went to the zoo in the morning and had a great time, I met up with an old friend for a bit and then we were on our own. It was actually nice to enjoy a pleasant day with the kids. Then just as I was thinking how great things were Danica pushed Alyssa off the stool at the drinking fountain and brought me back to reality! That night I had a BBQ with the old high school gang. It was fun to see everyone and it was great for the kids because we all had boys about the same age!


July 31: Went to visit my grandma in Provo, saw the old stomping ground and made the kids reminisce with me about where Tom and I met. That night I had a GNO with my sister, it was fun to be with her!This is the tree we were in when he proposed! He had hidden the ring in the tree and totally surprised me with it! I loved climbing trees and this was perfect!
This is the apartment complex where Tom and met

August 1: Seven Peaks Water Park!!! We had so much fun swimming, sliding and playing. My parents are super grandparents and helped so much with the kids and we ended staying all the way until closing time! The kids were so happy and loved it! We went to the “water park” here in Japan and it was just so sad, they had two small slides. Oh well, at least we can go again next summer! Hayden’s favorite ride at Seven Peaks was called “Cave In” it’s a dark tube slide, I love it also!

August 2: My grandma came for dinner! It was great getting to see her so much.

August 3: Visited with some friends from college, it was great to see Wendy and Tawna and Erik. That night we went to Thanksgiving Point and my parents took the girls to the petting zoo while Hayden and I had the treat of going together to the dinosaur museum! It was so fun to spend some one on one time with Hayden and the museum was really cool! Hayden’s favorite part was the part where you got to dig and use brushes to find the bones.


August 4: Lagoon Day! We had a fantastic day at the amusement park and could have stayed longer! Hayden’s favorite ride was called “Wicked” and it was, it flew you up really fast and then you went around like you were flying. Danica was really brave and went on tons of rides. She even went on the Tidal Wave, every time we’d go up high she would look terrified and then she would look at me and try to smile. It was so funny but I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture. Grandma was the hero because she took the kids on all the spinning rides I couldn't handle. And yes, that is a picture of her on Puff!


August 5: Went to Heber and visited a friend from college. It was great that we could just pick up like no time had passed and her 4 boys and my kids had a great time together at the park. That night my sister-in-law Chelsea arrived. My brother was in Portland doing a medical rotation so she came with their 2 year to spend the week! Hooray!

August 6: Enjoyed getting a babysitter and going to lunch with Chelsea and my mom at Zupa’s. Definitely a new favorite place! Then we took the kids to a new playground that was designed like an old west town. Unfortunately it was so windy we had to leave and took shelter at an in door McDonald’s playland.

August 7: Took the kids to Chuck E Cheese, a big disappointment (Hayden is reading over my shoulder and he disagrees and says that it was fun, I thought that there weren’t enough rides). That night we hiked up to Donut Falls, a great hike and we managed to miss getting rained on!



August 8: We had fun doing a baby shower for Chelsea, we got to meet some her family, see some of ours and just celebrate the new baby. It turned out nicely.All the grandkids!

August 9-12: After dinner we headed up the canyon to stay in a condo at a resort called East Canyon. We enjoyed playing mini-golf, swimming, 4 wheeling and simply relaxing. I even took a nap! My first nap of the summer!!! It was a really nice relaxing time. My brother Matt flew in to see his family and to be there for the graduation!
Alyssa and Danica had to pretend they were the Little Mermaid sitting on this rock and singing!


We celebrated Alyssa's and Chelsea's birthday!

August 13: We went to a special graduation luncheon at BYU for my mom. It was fun to see them treat her so specially and to celebrate with her. We visited my grandma and then went back to Sandy. That night we got a babysitter and all enjoyed going out to dinner for graduation, it was fun and delicious!

August 14: Swimming at the neighbors, a visit from my cousin Deanna and her new baby and then the highlight: my mom’s BYU Graduation!!! She graduated with the Business School with a degree in General Studies with an Emphasis in Business Management. It was a great service and I couldn’t help but tear up as I thought about all her hard work and all the years she waited to be able to do this for herself. My entire life and I have nothing but memories of the things she has done for me and my siblings, for the time and energy she put into helping us with school and life and for running a wonderful home. She got so close to graduating before she had my brother, I’m so glad she was finally able to finish! After all her years of supporting her 4 children as they each graduated it was now her turn!!!! She really is amazing and did such a great job in school! Great job mom!!!! This is a bit of info from her graduation announcement.

"Robbi began her college career in 1973 with a major in Elementary Education and a minor in Child Development. Three and one-half years later she left school just one month prior to the birth of her first child and nineteen credits short of graduation. After putting her husband through school and seeing all of her four children graduate from BYU and BYU-I, she decided it was her time to go back and finish what she had started. By this time her ambitions had changed and after working for 15 years in the accounting/business field, she sought a degree in Business Management. Although grateful for her earlier major in education (which helped in the raising of her family), she is excited about the opportunities her new degree have provided. Elder Robert D. Hales summed up Robbi’s reasons for going back to school when he said, “Past learning creates a valuable foundation of experience upon which to build, not a comfortable place to dwell for a lifetime.”


August 15: With not a second to spare I stayed up half the night finishing the packing, got up early and began the 24 hours of travel....

And there you have it... now you know what I did with my summer! What did you do with yours?