Utah Trip Notes
I feel too stressed out to get a detailed report whipped up of our extensive Utah trip. A synopsis will suffice.
We pulled out 21 June 2014. We drove out separately since Justin had to return for work before the rest of us. Amelia mostly rode with Justin, Phillip had a brief ride during which he tried to pull the headliner down. He was banished back to the van. Amelia looked really grown up listening to tunes I loaded on my iPod. She rocked out to Annie, Secret Garden, Frozen, and other fun tunes.
June 23: visited the new Discovery Museum at Thanksgiving Point. It was pretty awesome. The kids had that wild glaze in their eyes that reflects over stimulation. The best part was the splash pad, a cute metal sculpture of Noah's Ark. The boys loved the train room where they could manipulate pedals to move a train along a track. The older kids loved the science room.
June 24: Visited the new Monte Bean museum. BYU added a bird room holding Elder Packers bird art. The boys were impressed with the lion room. Mia and Lia loved the butterflies. The kids went to the museum sporting cool face paints applied by Miekka. I think Justin got Del Taco for lunch (aka smelly taco)
June 25: Drove down to Charity's home. Melissa and Raquel plus kids joined the party. The girls visited a drink store called Sips or something like that. We ordered delish drinks and a cookie. The kids enjoyed some pool time. I went food shopping late that night, Libby was surprised to wake up and find the fridge full. Apparently, my night owl status is strange to the James family.
June 26: Justin and I attended a temple session to kick off the Call family reunion. Jana and my mom helped watch Evelyn. Libby and her friend, Destiny watched the older three. Everett fell asleep at 4 pm for the rest of the evening. He ran a fever and started up with his nasty cough/barf routine.
June 27: Met up at Murray Park for a picnic lunch and afternoon of fun and games with the extended Call family. Everett is quite the sportsman, he scored quite a few scores with a ball and stick. Evelyn turned 10 months old. The kids and I visited the little play parks, walked the arboretum, and got cotton candy for a fun treat. Justin enjoyed catching up with all the cousins, uncles, and aunts. Aunt Lynda had lots of fun crafts, games, songs, and even popcorn making for the kids. We snacked on pizza for dinner. The cousin kids put on a lovely talent show. Amelia sang "Hey Soul Sister" for her entry. Phillip did some dancing! Everett showed off his awesome punches. Phillip crashed on the gravity cars while piggy-backing with a cousin. He was pretty traumatized. The uncles put on a nice FHE with slideshow. Aunt Carolyn played and told the story of Grandma Beatrice Call and Uncle Darrell played J Harold Call. Phillip was quite a ways from us acting like an animal. Don intervened and scared the pants of Phillip. It was pretty funny.
June 28: met the family up at This is the Place Park. Janet Thurston (a Pay cousin) met the family up at the Pay cabin. She told the Pay family story about 12 times as small groups packed into the cabin. Phillip was very excited to find Grandpa Phillip Pay on the wall, his namesake. Everett had a minor meltdown for the first half. Once Justin retrieved his beloved Monkey-binky he revived enough to pet some goats. The kids raced around with Reagan, Raquel's duo, and Melissa's trio for the afternoon. We enjoyed a potluck lunch of sloppy joes with the clan. I hear several folks went to Heber on Sunday for church and a dinner afterwards with Clarice. We were honestly too tired to join in the fun. I took some fun photos of Libby and Destiny that evening.
June 29: Justin made his way home alone. We headed to the Lances for a couple days. Mom invited over the local siblings for a dinner of bread and veggies. Jeff set off some fireworks, the favorite was a dog that pooped ash. It was so amazing.
June 30: The kids rested most of the morning, watching movies and eating snacks. Amelia wiggled a tooth free while watching a movie. She was very excited it did not hurt at all! Tooth Fairy! All was calm until Amelia discovered grandpa's fat jiggler. All three kids piled on the machine and wobbled around on it for quite some time. I finally became worried their little brains would jiggle loose so had Grandma pull the plug. I used Grandpa's super fancy steam iron, like the best iron in the world. I have a thing for ironing any ways, so give me a uber fancy one and I am in heaven. We met with our friends the Smuins for lunch at Chik-fil-a. Phillip had a huge pee-ci-dent while eating lunch. Meagan took Amelia and Everett back to her home while I shopped at Target and Ross under the guise of getting Phillip dry clothing. Meagan's new home is HUGE, I mean huge. Combine huge house with amazing decorating skills = wham! Amazing home. The kids played for a couple hours. Evelyn even snuggled in Maggie's crib for a nice nap. We went to Temple Square for FHE. Phillip peed his pants behind the Angell monument in the little museum. I heard a lady comment about the little boy hiding behind the plaque. His pants eventually dried out as we walked around. Grandma Debbie was so kind to explain to Phillip that pulling plants out of the ground is not a nice thing to do in Jesus' yard. Temple Square is so peaceful and lovely. I really enjoy our little visits there.
July 1: Amelia, Evelyn and I had a girl date with Catherine Taylor. Catherine got to meet little Evelyn. Phillip tried to get Grandpa Lane to go hunt Triceratops meat with him in the backyard, his trex Leo was hungry. Grandpa Lane did not get what Phillip was saying so Phillip changed tactics and started asking Grandpa why his eyes were so small behind his glasses, and why his forehead had lots of lines. Amelia and Lia spent the night at Aunt Jana's new home. Her home is perfectly maintained and decorated. Jana was grossed out with Amelia's dirty kid feet. All the kids ended up washing their feet in the tub before exploring her home. Both girls were terribly excited for a girl's night.
July 2: Spent the day in Bountiful with Grandma Diana. Evelyn was exhausted. She finally fell asleep after an hour of nursing and cuddling, she slept for 4 hours. We met up with Casey after dinner for turd flushies (aka nerd slushies). We took our treats to the park while we visited and the kids played. I got to meet Casey's fiance and his two boys. They are a fine couple! We soon smelled sewer wafting through the air. Phillip had diarrhea at the top of the twisty slide. It puddled on the slide and started swirling down. Everett decided that was slide he wanted to play on so pushed Phillip aside and smeared the poo down the rest of the slide. I was mortified. I pulled up my big girl pants and rescued my poo-covered sons. As I washed them down in the restroom Everett slipped and cracked his noggin with a hefty whack. Crying, wet, and half naked I buckled the clean boys into the van. Then...I used an entire container of wipes to clean off the slide. Thankfully, Casey stuck around to hold the baby and make sure the kids survived. Gotta love a good poop story.
July 3: went shopping while Mom watched the kids, or the kids watched TV. We headed back down to Eagle Mountain for a BBQ with James and family to kick of the 4th of July.
July 4: started out the day with a delish breakfast of Costco muffins, fruit, and juice. Hiked Cascade Springs. Phillip was terribly crabby. He moaned the entire hike. He licked Evelyn's leg during most of the family photos we took. We went down the canyon on a fun dirt road, many razor ATVs passed us on the way up to the springs. James took us to the top of a memorial hill. We could see the entire valley from the pinnacle. We ate a lunch from the back of our vans. Dad treated us all to ice cream cones or shakes from Granny's in Heber. I got to drive back with Dad as a passenger on the way to Eagle Mt. My dad is a pretty amazing dad. We BBQ up burgers for dinner. Joe brought over his "friend" to meet us all. Must be serious...or seriously crazy. Jeff put on a good fireworks show. He bought the fireworks so got to shoot them off. After dark the entire neighborhood rumbled under the effect of thousands of home fireworks. The show was quite panoramic. Course, the kids loved playing with sparklers. Everett had the best reactions to the fireworks. He is constantly blasting things, so to have real blasters going off was his dream come true.
July 5: Miekka and I went shopping. James unwillingly stayed home to make sure the kids did not burn down the house. I hear he even started a water fight with the kids.
July 6: Miekka's family all came down for dinner. I took family photos for them all at Lehi Roller Mill. Stephanie Lance came down for a pseudo-mentoring session.
July 7: Took the kids to the Herriman Pool. We all got chlorine sick...skin reactions, burned eyes, discolored swimsuits, etc. It was almost unpleasant. Met with several Portugal Lisbon South missionaries for FHE. JoAnn let us use her yard...more like a park than a yard. She had the coolest airplane toy. The adults chatted and the kids played. Amelia had a break down only wanting Daddy. Guess vacation was going on too long for her! She talked with Justin and felt mollified. I am glad we were able to visit for a lovely evening.
July 8: Took the kids out for lunch at Paradise Bakery. We ate 2 dozen cookies, mostly lemon zesters. I finally got a scout shirt, necktie, and patches at the scout store. Then. Phillip's dream came true. We went to the Dino Museum. Dry, brown, dinosaur bones, with no meat on them. Leo, but a Leo with no skin and muscles. He was impressed. Everett had a stellar meltdown. He wanted a brown steering wheel. I was flummoxed until I noticed it was almost 6 pm. My little hangry child. He calmed down once he was strapped into his seat and cuddling with his monkey.
July 9: Miekka took Mia and Lia to see the Secret Garden. Amelia is reading the book so was very enthusiastic to visit. The girls put on a show at the outdoor stage and rolled down two steep hills. Then we visited Diana again up in Bountiful. Charity was MIA after getting a pain shot in her back. Melissa came to visit. She and Diana left to go shopping. Rude. We left soon after since no one was around to visit with. We drove back to Grandma Lances home. I stopped and visited with Grandma Baerwaldt first. She is looking forward to moving into an assisted living center. I got the best grandma hug ever. I will miss her when she leaves this life. The kids followed Grandpa and Grandma around until dinner. Grandma even let the kids shake the apricot tree and pick up fresh fallen fruit. We watched Seth receive his Arrow of Light! I cannot believe he will be a scout now! I am glad we stayed for his ceremony.
July 10: Amelia climbed a tree by herself. This is amazing news considering that she is sort of a chicken. We made our way home. I was soooo tired that I pulled off the highway 5-6 times to rest my eyes and take short naps. The drive took us almost 12 hours, two breaks for food, and one break for nursing and to play at the park.
**highlights**
-watching Mia and Lia working on fashion designs and painting window sun catchers
-the boys playing together with their cousins, night ninjas, ninjago, trampoline
-Evelyn getting loves from all her cousins. She made progress moving around on her belly, rolling over, and pushing up on her knees. She also started throwing mini-tantrums.
-Skyping with Justin. Everett would ask every couple seconds, "Dad? You at our house? Braska?"
We pulled out 21 June 2014. We drove out separately since Justin had to return for work before the rest of us. Amelia mostly rode with Justin, Phillip had a brief ride during which he tried to pull the headliner down. He was banished back to the van. Amelia looked really grown up listening to tunes I loaded on my iPod. She rocked out to Annie, Secret Garden, Frozen, and other fun tunes.
June 23: visited the new Discovery Museum at Thanksgiving Point. It was pretty awesome. The kids had that wild glaze in their eyes that reflects over stimulation. The best part was the splash pad, a cute metal sculpture of Noah's Ark. The boys loved the train room where they could manipulate pedals to move a train along a track. The older kids loved the science room.
June 24: Visited the new Monte Bean museum. BYU added a bird room holding Elder Packers bird art. The boys were impressed with the lion room. Mia and Lia loved the butterflies. The kids went to the museum sporting cool face paints applied by Miekka. I think Justin got Del Taco for lunch (aka smelly taco)
June 25: Drove down to Charity's home. Melissa and Raquel plus kids joined the party. The girls visited a drink store called Sips or something like that. We ordered delish drinks and a cookie. The kids enjoyed some pool time. I went food shopping late that night, Libby was surprised to wake up and find the fridge full. Apparently, my night owl status is strange to the James family.
June 26: Justin and I attended a temple session to kick off the Call family reunion. Jana and my mom helped watch Evelyn. Libby and her friend, Destiny watched the older three. Everett fell asleep at 4 pm for the rest of the evening. He ran a fever and started up with his nasty cough/barf routine.
June 27: Met up at Murray Park for a picnic lunch and afternoon of fun and games with the extended Call family. Everett is quite the sportsman, he scored quite a few scores with a ball and stick. Evelyn turned 10 months old. The kids and I visited the little play parks, walked the arboretum, and got cotton candy for a fun treat. Justin enjoyed catching up with all the cousins, uncles, and aunts. Aunt Lynda had lots of fun crafts, games, songs, and even popcorn making for the kids. We snacked on pizza for dinner. The cousin kids put on a lovely talent show. Amelia sang "Hey Soul Sister" for her entry. Phillip did some dancing! Everett showed off his awesome punches. Phillip crashed on the gravity cars while piggy-backing with a cousin. He was pretty traumatized. The uncles put on a nice FHE with slideshow. Aunt Carolyn played and told the story of Grandma Beatrice Call and Uncle Darrell played J Harold Call. Phillip was quite a ways from us acting like an animal. Don intervened and scared the pants of Phillip. It was pretty funny.
June 28: met the family up at This is the Place Park. Janet Thurston (a Pay cousin) met the family up at the Pay cabin. She told the Pay family story about 12 times as small groups packed into the cabin. Phillip was very excited to find Grandpa Phillip Pay on the wall, his namesake. Everett had a minor meltdown for the first half. Once Justin retrieved his beloved Monkey-binky he revived enough to pet some goats. The kids raced around with Reagan, Raquel's duo, and Melissa's trio for the afternoon. We enjoyed a potluck lunch of sloppy joes with the clan. I hear several folks went to Heber on Sunday for church and a dinner afterwards with Clarice. We were honestly too tired to join in the fun. I took some fun photos of Libby and Destiny that evening.
June 29: Justin made his way home alone. We headed to the Lances for a couple days. Mom invited over the local siblings for a dinner of bread and veggies. Jeff set off some fireworks, the favorite was a dog that pooped ash. It was so amazing.
June 30: The kids rested most of the morning, watching movies and eating snacks. Amelia wiggled a tooth free while watching a movie. She was very excited it did not hurt at all! Tooth Fairy! All was calm until Amelia discovered grandpa's fat jiggler. All three kids piled on the machine and wobbled around on it for quite some time. I finally became worried their little brains would jiggle loose so had Grandma pull the plug. I used Grandpa's super fancy steam iron, like the best iron in the world. I have a thing for ironing any ways, so give me a uber fancy one and I am in heaven. We met with our friends the Smuins for lunch at Chik-fil-a. Phillip had a huge pee-ci-dent while eating lunch. Meagan took Amelia and Everett back to her home while I shopped at Target and Ross under the guise of getting Phillip dry clothing. Meagan's new home is HUGE, I mean huge. Combine huge house with amazing decorating skills = wham! Amazing home. The kids played for a couple hours. Evelyn even snuggled in Maggie's crib for a nice nap. We went to Temple Square for FHE. Phillip peed his pants behind the Angell monument in the little museum. I heard a lady comment about the little boy hiding behind the plaque. His pants eventually dried out as we walked around. Grandma Debbie was so kind to explain to Phillip that pulling plants out of the ground is not a nice thing to do in Jesus' yard. Temple Square is so peaceful and lovely. I really enjoy our little visits there.
July 1: Amelia, Evelyn and I had a girl date with Catherine Taylor. Catherine got to meet little Evelyn. Phillip tried to get Grandpa Lane to go hunt Triceratops meat with him in the backyard, his trex Leo was hungry. Grandpa Lane did not get what Phillip was saying so Phillip changed tactics and started asking Grandpa why his eyes were so small behind his glasses, and why his forehead had lots of lines. Amelia and Lia spent the night at Aunt Jana's new home. Her home is perfectly maintained and decorated. Jana was grossed out with Amelia's dirty kid feet. All the kids ended up washing their feet in the tub before exploring her home. Both girls were terribly excited for a girl's night.
July 2: Spent the day in Bountiful with Grandma Diana. Evelyn was exhausted. She finally fell asleep after an hour of nursing and cuddling, she slept for 4 hours. We met up with Casey after dinner for turd flushies (aka nerd slushies). We took our treats to the park while we visited and the kids played. I got to meet Casey's fiance and his two boys. They are a fine couple! We soon smelled sewer wafting through the air. Phillip had diarrhea at the top of the twisty slide. It puddled on the slide and started swirling down. Everett decided that was slide he wanted to play on so pushed Phillip aside and smeared the poo down the rest of the slide. I was mortified. I pulled up my big girl pants and rescued my poo-covered sons. As I washed them down in the restroom Everett slipped and cracked his noggin with a hefty whack. Crying, wet, and half naked I buckled the clean boys into the van. Then...I used an entire container of wipes to clean off the slide. Thankfully, Casey stuck around to hold the baby and make sure the kids survived. Gotta love a good poop story.
July 3: went shopping while Mom watched the kids, or the kids watched TV. We headed back down to Eagle Mountain for a BBQ with James and family to kick of the 4th of July.
July 4: started out the day with a delish breakfast of Costco muffins, fruit, and juice. Hiked Cascade Springs. Phillip was terribly crabby. He moaned the entire hike. He licked Evelyn's leg during most of the family photos we took. We went down the canyon on a fun dirt road, many razor ATVs passed us on the way up to the springs. James took us to the top of a memorial hill. We could see the entire valley from the pinnacle. We ate a lunch from the back of our vans. Dad treated us all to ice cream cones or shakes from Granny's in Heber. I got to drive back with Dad as a passenger on the way to Eagle Mt. My dad is a pretty amazing dad. We BBQ up burgers for dinner. Joe brought over his "friend" to meet us all. Must be serious...or seriously crazy. Jeff put on a good fireworks show. He bought the fireworks so got to shoot them off. After dark the entire neighborhood rumbled under the effect of thousands of home fireworks. The show was quite panoramic. Course, the kids loved playing with sparklers. Everett had the best reactions to the fireworks. He is constantly blasting things, so to have real blasters going off was his dream come true.
July 5: Miekka and I went shopping. James unwillingly stayed home to make sure the kids did not burn down the house. I hear he even started a water fight with the kids.
July 6: Miekka's family all came down for dinner. I took family photos for them all at Lehi Roller Mill. Stephanie Lance came down for a pseudo-mentoring session.
July 7: Took the kids to the Herriman Pool. We all got chlorine sick...skin reactions, burned eyes, discolored swimsuits, etc. It was almost unpleasant. Met with several Portugal Lisbon South missionaries for FHE. JoAnn let us use her yard...more like a park than a yard. She had the coolest airplane toy. The adults chatted and the kids played. Amelia had a break down only wanting Daddy. Guess vacation was going on too long for her! She talked with Justin and felt mollified. I am glad we were able to visit for a lovely evening.
July 8: Took the kids out for lunch at Paradise Bakery. We ate 2 dozen cookies, mostly lemon zesters. I finally got a scout shirt, necktie, and patches at the scout store. Then. Phillip's dream came true. We went to the Dino Museum. Dry, brown, dinosaur bones, with no meat on them. Leo, but a Leo with no skin and muscles. He was impressed. Everett had a stellar meltdown. He wanted a brown steering wheel. I was flummoxed until I noticed it was almost 6 pm. My little hangry child. He calmed down once he was strapped into his seat and cuddling with his monkey.
July 9: Miekka took Mia and Lia to see the Secret Garden. Amelia is reading the book so was very enthusiastic to visit. The girls put on a show at the outdoor stage and rolled down two steep hills. Then we visited Diana again up in Bountiful. Charity was MIA after getting a pain shot in her back. Melissa came to visit. She and Diana left to go shopping. Rude. We left soon after since no one was around to visit with. We drove back to Grandma Lances home. I stopped and visited with Grandma Baerwaldt first. She is looking forward to moving into an assisted living center. I got the best grandma hug ever. I will miss her when she leaves this life. The kids followed Grandpa and Grandma around until dinner. Grandma even let the kids shake the apricot tree and pick up fresh fallen fruit. We watched Seth receive his Arrow of Light! I cannot believe he will be a scout now! I am glad we stayed for his ceremony.
July 10: Amelia climbed a tree by herself. This is amazing news considering that she is sort of a chicken. We made our way home. I was soooo tired that I pulled off the highway 5-6 times to rest my eyes and take short naps. The drive took us almost 12 hours, two breaks for food, and one break for nursing and to play at the park.
**highlights**
-watching Mia and Lia working on fashion designs and painting window sun catchers
-the boys playing together with their cousins, night ninjas, ninjago, trampoline
-Evelyn getting loves from all her cousins. She made progress moving around on her belly, rolling over, and pushing up on her knees. She also started throwing mini-tantrums.
-Skyping with Justin. Everett would ask every couple seconds, "Dad? You at our house? Braska?"
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