Fudge

Today I made fudge. I poured it into 3 separate containers. I had given Kaylen some, so she knew how yummy it was and where to find it. Later, as I was coming back into the kitchen, I found Kaylen getting into the fudge. She had slid a chair over, and was helping herself. Her hands were slimy with fudge, there was slimy fudge on the container lid, and her mouth was starting to get messy. It looks like she had pinched up pieces. I can see finger marks in the container of fudge. Needless to say the one container she got into looks pretty unappetizing. Fortunately, she had left the other two containers alone. She gladly posed for a picture, and then was really confused (and mad) when I took it away.

Kaylen's fudge (that no one could eat or touch)

I'm off to Ohio in a few hours, so I will post when I can.

Sizzlin' Saturday

On Saturday I took the kids to the Heard Museum. During July, the Saturdays are Sizzlin' Summer Saturdays, where it's free!

My favorite part of the day was the Indian dancing. There was a 9-year old boy who did a hoop dance. It was awesome! He also had the cutest baby sister.

There were hands-on activities for the kids to do and make. We also got free otter pops. My parents, my sister and her 3 kids came along. The kids loved playing with each other. I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out of the museum for being loud.

What is this?

If you guessed chimichanga, you are wrong!
It is in fact, a "Jimmy Neutron!"

We were eating dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. Lindsey got 3 of these mini chimichangas. Logan asked, "Can I have some of your Jimmy Neutron?"

This is actually Jimmy Neutron, a cartoon character on Nickelodeon.

Utah

There are certain things I love about Utah. Some I've realized from my last trip, others have been favorites for a while.

• Pioneer heritage (my ancestors are some of the original pioneers)
• Weather - 4 seasons
• Unique food - fry sauce, cream soda, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, Redmond salt, raisin-filled cookies
• Small towns
• Beautiful green fields with mountains as the backdrop
• Road "names" - it's hard to get lost
• 5 & 10 in Salina
• Fireworks stands
• Tempe Square
• Parades
• Gardens
• Flowers

Day 11: Cedar City - Home

July 16

It was time to go home. I was able to snap this quick picture with my grandma and my mom (who's right side of her face is bruised from falling on the sidewalk. She also split open her head and had to have it glued together.).

Grandma's front yard is surrounded by roses. Here's one of them.

I thought we'd go a different way home. My map showed it went through just fine. However, it failed to mention that we'd be charged for driving through a national park. I refused to pay $25 to drive through. I told the park ranger that was "freakin' ridiculous." So we did a slight detour and backtracked to a different road. We finally made it home around 8:30. I hate the heat!

Day 10: Salina - Cedar City

July 15

Before we left to drive to Cedar City, we played bingo. Grandma supplied the prizes for the winners - a quarter each.

We stopped at Cove Fort and toured it. It was a fort built by Ira Hinckley (after being commissioned by Brigham Young to build it) as a place for travelers to rest. I hope the kids realized how tough it was back then for the Pioneers.

We got to Cedar City. The kids weren't allowed in Grandma S's house because they have germs that could make Grandma sick (according to her "doctor"). We stayed outside and played in the front yard. We also went to the Greenshow at the Shakespeare Festival at Southern Utah University.

Day 9: Salina

July 14

There's not much to do in Salina. It is a very small town (without a stoplight even). When I was a child the highlights of Salina were the 5&10 (a store where you can buy candy for 1 cent), Grandpa's garden, the dump, and hanging clothes on the clothesline. The dump has since closed (I used to go there with my grandpa and look for things which Grandpa would use to build useful items. He built a bike and a wagon out of different parts he found at the dump.) Grandpa's garden is not there. Grandma planted grass where part of it was, so the kids had a big area to play in. We visited the 5&10; I spent $60 there (which is quite unusual). We did hang clothes on the clothesline.

Grandma bought some snappers or poppers. The kids had fun throwing them all over the driveway. Grandma can be pretty picky about things being neat and clean, so we had to sweep everything up.

I think Spencer had the most fun getting all the wasps and their nests. We got about 30 nests. Some were as big as the palm of my hand.

Grandma is getting older and not moving as good as she used to. She keeps her canned food in her basement. I tried numerous times to talk her into letting us bring some of the cans up so she wouldn't have to and to reduce the risk of her falling. She would not let us. I told her the kids could help and we'd have an assembly line. She said, "If they dropped something that would be a helluva mess." She's usually pretty quiet, but she definitey had an opinion and shared it with us that time.

Days 7 & 8: Salt Lake & Breaking Point

July 12

Saturday morning we went to the Farmers Market in downtown Salt Lake. It was quite crowded and difficult to get though with all the kids. I did, however, find some yummy cherries and delicious peas to buy. Grandpa B used to grow the yummiest peas in his garden (he had the best garden). We would pick tons of peas and put them in a paper bag to eat. The peas I bought at the market were placed in a paper bag. They reminded me so much of my dear grandpa.

I had done some research and found that the library had an activity Saturday afternoon - Reading with the Dogs. We went to the awesome downtown library (6-stories tall with a rooftop garden and shops). There was a therapy dog there that we all got to read to. It was fun. The kids were impressed with all the computers that they could play on. They played Zoo Tycoon and now want to buy that.

I checked in at our next condo. It was a studio condo with a maximum occupancy of 2. I snuck each of the kids in. We then left, walked around Temple Square and took a tour of the Beehive House, and went grocery shopping. We returned to our mini-condo and ate dinner.

July 13

This was the hardest day. I had slept in a bed with Kaylen and Lindsey, so I was not well-rested. All the kids did was fight. I couldn't even take shower without them fighting. After many tears, I had reached a breaking point and decided it was time to leave Salt Lake. I had spent hours planning activities to do around the city, and was really looking forward to doing them. Usually I can tune out the arguing and fighting, but being in the mini-condo knowing that if we got caught exceeding the occupancy, we would be fined and then kicked out, I was tired of telling them to be quiet. Besides the toilet seat, there wasn't even a good time out spot. So it was time to leave.

We packed up and headed for Salina.

Day 6: Snowbird - Salt Lake

July 11
We had to check out of the condo by 10:00, which was quite a challenge. It was made even more challenging when I woke up and the clock said 9:11. I quickly showered. As I went to wake up Lindsey, I glanced at another clock, and noticed that it was only 7:30. Kaylen and Logan had played with the clock the previous night, so I woke up a little too early.

I started to head to the west side of the valley so we could go to Kennecott Copper Mine. On the way, I managed to find the Jordan River Temple. While driving along further, I noticed another temple which was being built - Oquirrh Mountain Temple. As I looked closer, I realized that the Moroni statue was being put on. I drove right up to the temple area. The street was lined with cars and a helicopter hovered overhead as we (and many others) watched this event. It made me so excited to watch the temples near my house begin to be built.

We made it to the copper mine. We watched a video and looked at displays. When we were building our house, Spencer became buddies with our electrician. The electrician let Spencer collect the extra pieces of copper (wiring) that had been used for our electricity. Visiting the mine helped Spencer make the connection between the mine and our house's electricity.

We ate at Hires Big H (named after the Hires root beer) for lunch. We then drove around my old neighborhood in West Valley. It's been a long time since I've lived there, but things were semi-familiar. The hill, though, in the front of my elementary school seemed quite smaller - I remember rolling down a larger hill as a child.

Eric had finished his meetings and had a couple of hours before his flight left, so I picked him up and we ate dinner at the Lion House Pantry and walked around Temple Square. After I took Eric to the airport, I took the kids to a park where we listened to a free concert (sponsored by the church). The kids got cold during the concert - our blood must be too thin from living where we do.

We went back to a hotel (for this night only). As I was trying to get everyone ready for bed, Kaylen and Logan played together. They made dinner for everybody with the coffee pot and the luggage rack. They were quite imaginative during the trip. Somehow Kaylen knew what coffee was because one day as we were driving, she pulled out a packet of coffee (that she had swiped from one of the places we stayed at) and declared, "my coffee." Time for a Word of Wisdom lesson...

Days 4 & 5: Snowbird

July 9
The kids slept in until about 9:30; they were exhausted from the previous days' activities.
We ate breakfast and then walked around Snowbird. We found a playground where the kids played. While Kaylen was climbing on the equipment, she stated, "I'm doing good." We went to a craft activity where the kids made string art. Walking back from the craft area, we saw a huge black moose.

We ate lunch in the condo. Kaylen took a nap while Eric took the other kids on a treasure hunt. After naps (Logan and Eric took one too), we did some of the activities around the resort. There was an alpine slide that everyone did but me. Kaylen, Logan, and Spencer played on inflatables. Lindsey did the bungee trampoline (but was afraid to do any flips).

We went to the Temple Quarry where the granite for the Salt Lake Temple and the State Capitol was quarried from. We ended the night by soaking in the hot tub on our balcony.

July 10

We had a restless night's sleep because Lindsey was sick during the night. She threw up quite a bit. I think Lindsey had altitude sickness (8100' is quite higher than where we live). I felt bad dragging her out to take Eric back to downtown for his meetings. It was a calm (boring) day. We spent the day at the condo, inside for the most part. Lindsey wasn't up to doing anything. We watched a couple of movies and played a couple of games. The kids painted also. I got the laundry caught up. It was an uneventful day.

Day 3: Lagoon

July 8

After getting all the way out of the canyon, I realized that I had forgotten coupons for Lagoon and had to turn around. This made me late to pick up Eric from the airport. He has a convention in Salt Lake on Thursday and Friday, so he flew in early to go to Lagoon with us. I picked him up and we drove to Lagoon.

I had gone to Lagoon a few times as a child, and as I walked in, the familiarity of Lagoon returned.

I'm not as brave as I used to be and didn't go on any upside down rides. I did go on Spider, a newer ride. Two people sit in one row, with two people sitting behind them, with their backs touching. While this "car" goes on a crazy track, it spins around. It was pretty fun. The kids all seemed to chicken out with the big rides. Spencer was waiting in line with me to ride this and started crying because he didn't want to go on it. Lindsey would go on rides, only if we bribed her. Kaylen and Logan loved the little kiddie area. They went on most of the rides three times. Towards the end of the day, we discoved some waterslide ride (not part of Lagoona Beach) where you sit on a raft and go down a blue or black tube. Everyone talked me into going on it with Logan. I got soaked!

When Lindsey walked past one of the games, someone had just won two bears and didn't want one, so he gave it to Lindsey. Kaylen thought this was hers, and Lindsey wasn't about to give it up, so Eric had to win a stuffed animal for her. This wasn't fair to the boys, so Eric won more lovely stuffed animals for them too. Kaylen was so happy to have this huge turtle and tiny Care Bear. She played with it on the following days during the trip.

The last ride the kids went on were the bumper cars. Kaylen was fun to watch - she spun around in circles because she didn't push the gas pedal. We stayed past the closing time. We then had to drag the kids into Walmart to get food for the next two days' meals at the condo. It's not fun taking kids to Walmart at 11:30 at night.

Day 2: Hurricane - Snowbird

July 7

After eating our breakfast at the hotel (and discovering that all the food from the cooler that got put in the fridge was not cold and ruined), we packed up and headed for Cedar City. Grandma didn't know my mom or I was coming, so we surprised her at the church where she does name extractions for the genealogy program. She took us on a tour and introduced us to many people. She is definitely keeping busy with the name extraction program. I left my mom at my grandma's house and headed north.

When I drove through Cedar City, I noticed an Arctic Circle (FRY SAUCE). I went back there and got our lunch. About 15 minutes into driving, Logan puked. All the kids get car sick and I didn't give the Dramamine soon enough. We drove for a while, stopping once to rinse out the puke cups. Along the way, I saw gas for $4.49/gallon. My tank was nearing empty, so I was relieved to make it to Provo without running out of gas or having to pay those high prices. I ended up paying $3.91/gallon.

I wanted to show the kids around BYU, but I didn't have enough patience, so we just went to the Creamery. Logan was finally feeling better, so I got him a sandwich. We all ate some of the yummy ice cream. I also picked up some BYU brownies.

We drove on up to Snowbird. I hate mountain roads! We stayed in a very nice condo in beautiful surroundings. The grocery store was closed, and I didn't want to pay $6 for kids meals, so we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. After dinner, the kids enjoyed the hot tub on our balcony.

Day 1: Home - Hurricane, UT

July 6

It took a lot of work to get ready for the trip, but we finally made it out the door, about 45 minutes later than I wanted. My mom called about an hour before we were to leave and told me that she wanted to go with to see her mom who lives in Cedar City. I had offered her the chance to go with us a month ago, but she never made up her mind. She hurried and packed and joined us.


We stopped in Flagstaff and ate our picnic lunch at a park (this is the same park we've eaten at many times before on our way to Utah). There was some kind of art festival going on, so there were booths, music, and inflatables. It was Sunday, so I had to once again teach the kids about obeying the Sabbath and not doing any of those activities.


The most exciting part of the trip was the rainstorm we drove through, all the way through the Indian Reservation. It poured for at least an hour of driving. It was awesome!


While driving we listened to "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator," by Roald Dahl. The portion we got through was hilarious.



We ate dinner in Hurricane and then we walked around the grounds of a pioneer museum. There were many old pioneer things on display on the museum grounds.

Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?

1. Swim
This summer we bought a family swim pass to use at the city's pools. We have definitely gotten our money's worth already, our tans are evidence of that.

Kaylen loves the froggy slide. At the beginning of the summer, she was afraid to go down it. She finally decided that she wanted to go down, so she would go down the slide and go under the water. She didn't stand up. She just sat underwater smiling. We would have to yank her up. She is now going down by herself, without anyone near the slide, and getting up. She has even started jumping off the side of the pool. This she will also do without anyone around.

Logan being attacked by Jaws. Logan is hilarious to watch when he pretends to swim. He usually is wearing his goggles, which aren't on right, so they're pretty useless, but he loves them. He will find and make friends at the pool who will jump off the side into the 2.5' deep water.

At the beginning of the summer, Spencer couldn't even swim. He is now jumping off the high dive and "swimming" over to the side.

Lindsey learned how to swim two summers ago at Aunt Rhonda's pool when Eric and I were in Europe. She is quite the swimmer now. She loves the diving boards (Dad's bribes got her started liking them).

2. Run Away

Yep, we're getting out of the heat.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Utah. I'm crazy and taking the kids by myself. We'll stay at Snowbird for 5 days. We'll then stay in downtown Salt Lake for just over a week. On the way home, we'll stop and visit my grandmas.

After that, we're heading to Ohio until August.

My postings will be limited, because I won't have a computer. Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers, please!