Mr. Helpful Conductor, Bad Water, Museum Visit, Camp Out, Scouts, Bike Ride, Temple

Last week we had the opportunity to tour the newly remodeled and designed Ogden Temple.  You start out the tour by watching a video about temples and their importance in our Latter Day Saint religion.  Good thing the movie was short because all the kids had ants in their pants and couldn't sit still.

 They don't allow photography inside the temple, but it was beautiful on the inside.  The theme was roses since it was said that Utah would 'Blossom like the rose' when the pioneers settled here.  There were roses incorporated into every room in the stained glass windows, carpets, furniture, etc.  I am excited to have this be our home temple.  The outside was beautiful, too.

 We were glad G&G T were able to come with us on the tour.  It helped to have two sets of extra hands to help with all the kids who had ants in their pants!

 The kids also had fun playing in the fountain outside:

 It was stormy when we got done, but we only got sprinkled on.  The outside was really pretty:

Afterward we came home, changed out of our nice clothes and went to dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe to celebrate Matthew's birthday even though it was really the next day.  All the kids love Pizza Pie Cafe except Daniel who can't eat there yet so he had some McDonald hamburgers.  Matthew opened a few presents there and got pretty excited.  Pizza Pie Cafe is an all you can eat pizza and pasta bar which my kids took advantage of.  Wow who knew all of them could eat so much?!

For his birthday he got a few train things, some money and a new bike.  He was so excited about everything!  He even made us all go on a 3 mile bike ride to try out his new bike.  By the end of the bike ride Sarah was struggling and really complaining about it quite loudly.  I am very afraid the people on this 3 mile loop thinks that I abuse my kids.  After hearing Matthew and Daniel yell after taking them out to practice for the 5k run the first time, and then hearing Sarah cry after going around on a bike ride--Jeez I hope no one calls the police on me!!  I really don't abuse them they just make it sound that way!!  They go on these runs and bike rides on their own free will and choice!!  The rest of the kids had fun going around, though.

 Wednesday was free Jamba Juice smoothie or 'smoovie' as Noah calls them.  After dropping Matthew off at his summer program we headed over and enjoyed our freebie for breakfast.  The kids were excited to actually choose what flavor they wanted, too.

 Daniel had his Cub Scout day camp last week.  Good thing I had insomnia and couldn't sleep the night before.  That meant I was up way before his 6:30 am drop off time so he wasn't late.  Unfortunately, though, since I had had no sleep it meant I wasn't thinking very clearly because about an hour after I had dropped him off I realized that I had forgotten to give him his money for the trading post--DOH!!  I felt horrible!  Luckily for Daniel I did remember to send his lunch with him and a friend shared a dollar with him so he could buy some Gatorade to drink.  I still feel really bad about that.....Daniel had lots of fun doing archery, shooting BB guns, canoeing, nature walk, etc.  Daniel LOVES scouts.

 Speaking of scouting Josh had his very first overnighter this past Friday/Saturday.  Since he is still only 11 years old that meant Aaron got to go along with him, too.  They cooked tin foil dinners and smores over the fire, fished, set up tents, and told ghost stories.  Aaron said they didn't sleep very well, but they had fun.  That's what we get for using too thin of foam to sleep on.  Aaron said he felt every rock and pebble he was laying on despite the foam pad he was laying on.  Oh well now we know to get a thicker one.  Also Aaron used his mummy sleeping bag from when he was back in scouts.  The bad thing about that is it was teen size not adult Aaron size.  Aaron had to turn it around and use the head part of the mummy bag to cover his arms since it wasn't long enough or wide enough to use it the right way.  I would have paid money to see that--haha poor guy!  At least now we know what he needs for next time...Nice thing he's a good sport, though.  The mighty fishermen caught two trout.  Here's one:

 They had a couple of moose that were wandering around their campsite.  They came pretty close to them which was fun:

While Josh and Aaron were off having fun (minus trying to sleep in a too small mummy sleeping bag) I took the other four kids out Saturday morning for a fun day.  We visited the Union Station Museums.  Since we were going to the train museum Matthew insisted on wearing his own deemed 'train conductor uniform' which consisted of his overalls, safety vest, hat, train gloves, train sunglasses and his pocket watch.  At the train museum they have a mock up trail car where you can take a picture of what it would be like riding in a train car way back when.  My kids were more than happy to get their picture taken:

 Here's another rail car you could climb on:

 They have a mural inside with a Union Pacific train and Frontrunner painted on the walls.  Of course, Mr. Train Conductor needed a picture taken:

 You could have a turn at ringing the crossing horn.  It was a little tall, but Daniel didn't let those short Terry genes get in the way of him ringing the bell.  It was a little hard to climb to the top in flip flops, though.

 Matthew helped Noah reach the bell:

 Sarah scaled it pretty well, too, even with the flip flops on.

 Playing in the rail cars:

 They had a train table in the back the kids played with for a bit, too:

 After the museum visit we stopped by Sam's Club for a hot dog lunch.  Wow, I was sorely outnumbered with hungry children, but I eventually got everyone fed and happy.  It was pretty crazy at first, though.  The key to Noah's happiness is giving him enough wipekins (aka napkins) because he tends to really get into his food.  Let's just say there was ketchup EVERYWHERE after he was finished eating....It was a fun day.  Aaron and Josh got back home about the same time we did.  Aaron looked tired, but he said he and Josh had a good time.  They reeked of campfire so it must have been a good time, right?!

I have been trying to finish up school shopping.  I thought I was set for Josh and Matthew's pants until Josh tried them on for his campout and we found out that the size 14 pants he had were too short on him.  Really?!  What 11 year old boy wears size 16 pants?!  I guess one that is mostly legs instead of body just like Josh.  Here's Josh with his new size 16 pants for school:

Last week I dropped Matthew off for his summer program one morning and happened to notice a Union Pacific train was stopped on the tracks.  Since I was still in my pajamas I didn't get out of the car when I dropped Matthew off.  I just dropped him off and came back home.  That was a mistake.  I guess the Union Pacific Engineers had a picnic in the park that morning.  Matthew was so excited.  His leader said he kept talking and talking and talking to them.  They even gave him another train hat, Union Pacific yo-yo and some sunglasses.  I was a little sad about not meeting them because the one engineer who stopped in the very first place a few weeks ago was there.  I would have loved to have met him.  Oh well maybe next time if there is a next time.  Matthew was super excited for his new hat, though:

 He put his new hat to good use today.  His summer program rode Frontrunner down to a children's fair in Salt Lake today.  When Matthew got home he told me he got to help the conductor out on Frontrunner.  Now since it was Matthew telling me this I don't know if they actually asked him to help or if he just volunteered himself by not taking No for an answer.  Who knows?!  Maybe ignorance is bliss in this particular scenario.....He did know they were going to ride Frontrunner today so he made sure he wore his overalls, safety vest, UTA hat, his train gloves and bring his Frontrunner and Trax schedules.  He did tell me he helped all the guests who got on and off at each stop.  I can only wonder at what he meant by this....He also told me that whenever anyone came onto the train he would tell them, "Thank you for riding Frontrunner today.  Please have a seat."  He then said that he got excited every time he saw a Union Pacific train which means he would scream in excitement every time a UP train would pass by.  I am sure all the guests loved hearing that :/.  Anyway, he said he had a fun day today and that's all that matters, right?!

I am thankful we are a three vehicle family for when things like this happen:

Aaron went to leave for work the other morning only to find his car tire was flatter than a pancake.  Good thing he was able to take the truck.

We only have a few weeks of summer left.  I am running out of things to do with the kids.  The other day we did have a movie day.  I encouraged it because I hadn't slept the night before (dang insomnia) and wanted try and maybe doze for a few minutes during the movie.  We also got a double bonus because when I rented the movie from Redbox they gave me a free day rental of a Wii game, too.  Sa-weet!  However, Noah wouldn't let me doze because every time I tried he would bump me with his elbow and tell me to wake up. Good thing I love that little boy.....

We had some excitement this past week.  Someone in Clinton City who got their culinary water turned off because of non payment decided to hook up their culinary water line with the secondary water line.  In  doing that they contaminated our whole city's water supply with e coli making it unfit to drink for four days.  Wow talk about being unprepared for an emergency!  I need to make sure and beef up our emergency water supply because had it been an area wide emergency we would have been in trouble.  The cases of bottled water were sold out pretty quickly!  Thankfully after four days and getting the ok from the city and draining all our lines including emptying both our water heaters we are back to having clean water again despite the strong chlorine smell and taste.  Every time I shower it smells like I am at the pool the chlorine smell is so strong!  Anyway, glad to have the water back!  We only have a week and half of summer left before school starts.  That's crazy!