We have been incredibly busy these last two weeks. Matthew’s birthday was coming up and one of the presents he wanted was a family trip together. We decided to do a Wednesday to Saturday trip down to Saint George. Unfortunately, Josh was still involved as an FSY counselor so it was everyone, but him. We did miss him. On the drive down we stopped a few different places to break up the drive. We stopped by Cove Fort on the way down. It is an old pioneer settlement that is now a church historical site. We got to walk around and learn about what life was like during the pioneer times. At the end of our visit the missionaries gave each of us a pioneer button toy. You can wind it up on the string and it will spin and whir. It is fun to play with. My dad made these for us growing up so I knew what it was before the missionaries explained how to play with them. It was awesome. Here’s Noah trying it out:
We got to see what the different lodging and rooms looked like at the fort:
We did walk around the top ledge of the fort. Here’s what it looked like from the top of the Fort looking into the courtyard on Aaron, Matthew, and Daniel:
Playing with the pioneer toys:
We tried to stop by the Scipio petting zoo, but it was closed that day. Since it was closed we just made Scipio a quick pit stop and kept driving along our way. We also stopped by the Parowan Gap. It is a place with a bunch of petroglyphs you could walk around and see:
We finally made it to our AirBnB down in Saint George. We got a cool one that had access to a sportsplex with racquetball, ping pong, pool, mini golf, etc. That first afternoon/evening we played a bunch of racquetball which was a lot of fun. I do have to add here that I totally beat Daniel. There wasn’t any contest at all--haha! He was not happy about that:
Noah and I are waiting our turn with ping pong:
They also had pool:
The next morning we got up early and headed out to spend the day at Sand Hollow State Park. We packed our lunch, brought our stand up paddle boards, life jackets, pop up canopy (that I had won at the 4th of July BINGO game), and camp chairs and set up beachside for the day. We such a fun day:
I was glad we were by the water because it got really hot that day and it was nice to be able to cool off in the water.
After finishing up at Sand Hollow we decided to grab some dinner. We went to a little Mexican Food restaurant--Irmita’s Casita. After ordering Daniel fell asleep against the wall while waiting for his food.
Dinner was great:
After dinner we dropped Matthew, Sarah and Noah off at the AirBnB and took Daniel over to the Saint George temple to do an Endowment session. It was a really nice evening. We never made it down to the Saint George temple open house after it was refurbished which we were sad about. However, after our Endowment session the temple workers let us walk around and see a few of the other rooms (Grand Assembly, creation room, spiral staircase) throughout the temple which was pretty awesome!
When we got back to the AirBnB later that evening we did some more activities like mini golf. It was a busy, but fun day:
The next morning we hit the Farmstead patisserie/bakery for an early breakfast. Everyone got to pick out a pastry to eat for breakfast. They were really beautiful, but really rich. Not everyone could finish their pastry because they were so rich. They were definitely yummy, though!
We then went out to Snow State Park and did some hiking. We hit a few slot canyons:
This particular one made me a bit claustrophobic:
Did some rock scrambling to see some pioneer names painted on the canyon walls with axel grease over 100 years ago:
It is a really underrated and less populated state park for sure! We didn’t mind since it was not nearly as mobbed as Zion National Park can be.
It was definitely HOT, though. We stopped for a water break and Aaron just couldn’t get the back pack off his back--haha! We hiked all morning into the early afternoon and ended up almost going through a whole case of water. I don’t think we have ever sweat so much. Did I mention that it was HOT?!
More rock scrambling:
We finally decided we should stop hiking when we got into the van and saw it was currently 114 degrees outside:
This is how Aaron and I felt when we got back to the AirBnB and desperately needed some ibuprofen to be able to move again because we were so sore from hiking--haha!
Later that evening we took the kids to go swimming at the pool for a few hours. The next morning, our last morning, we got up early and did some baptisms for the Dead with our family. It was pretty cool!
After the temple we packed up and drove home. We got home Saturday evening as did Josh. He flew back Saturday afternoon from his last two weeks as an FSY counselor in Fort Collins, Colorado. There was no rest for the weary, though. Sarah had to do some quick laundry because she was leaving for Girl’s Camp early Monday morning.
Last week I got to go and do some Initiatories with some ladies from our ward at the Ogden Temple. It was a much needed break from all the craziness. I was glad to be able to go and feel some peace for a few minutes.
Sarah was supposed to attend Girl’s Camp Monday through Thursday, however, she forgot to request the time off from work. She was scheduled for a Wednesday and Thursday day shift that she could not find anyone to pick up for her. That meant she would have to cut short her Girl’s Camp. Boo! She was upset about that. Her leaders did send a few pictures of her while she was there which I loved. Here’s one of Sarah doing the ropes course:
Since Sarah had to work Wednesday I had to pick her up from Heber Valley Camp early Wednesday morning. I left a bit earlier that I needed to (6 am) so I could drive by where my parent’s cabin used to be at Timberlakes outside of Heber. It was fun to drive by. I do miss being able to visit and all the time we spent there. They are fond memories.
Anyway I picked up Sarah and brought her home to change into her work clothes. Then I had to drop her off at her work and then make it to my work, too, for a training. My work is really picking up the pace, too. August has been a busy month with clinics so far!!
Later that evening I had picked up some Ogden Raptor baseball tickets for our family. Noah decided he wanted to do something else, but the rest of us were able to go. Matthew had other plans as well. It was a fun game to watch:
Josh finished his time as an FSY counselor and jumped right back into things. He started right back up with his phlebotomy job. On the few occasions he has free time he has been doing things with his siblings. He went out with Sarah for a sushi lunch the other day:
He hiked Waterfall Canyon with Noah:
He joined up with a bunch of people from his YSA ward to attend this last weekend’s YSA Conference. He had a fun time:
Last Friday Aaron was able to get an evening endowment session appointment for me, him and Daniel at the new Layton temple. This was the first time we have been able to do a session here after the temple was dedicated. It really is pretty on the inside. I was glad we were able to go.
Last Saturday morning Aaron and I had to divide and conquer. Sarah was in the Roy City parade with her Dance Company and Matthew was doing his Special Olympics Bowling state games down in Salt Lake. Me and Noah went with Sarah to the parade:
Aaron went to see Matthew bowl down in Salt Lake.
Matthew ended up taking 4th place which was pretty awesome.
He made sure he brought his ribbon to church so he could show it off:
One perk of having Josh back home is he loves to cook. He made Aaron and me dinner last night--Tuscan chicken which was yummy. He also made us all another round of creme brûlée.
We celebrated Matthew’s birthday this past Sunday. He requested cheese enchiladas for dinner with Spanish rice and refried beans. He also wanted an ice cream cake. I can’t believe he is 23!! That is crazy!! He got some new shoes and work supplies because that is what he asked for. He is getting excited to get back to work August 15.
After Matthew’s birthday dinner we stopped by to visit Grandpa T in his care center. He moved into a Memory Care Center two weeks ago. He has been settling in since then. It has been a HUGE transition for him and Grandma to say the least, but he is doing well. We were glad to visit. It was nice enough outside we could visit with him and Grandma on the patio. It was a nice visit since it has been awhile since all my kids were home together this summer!
As we were leaving we got loves from G&G T:
We then drove up to drop Matthew back off at his group home. He moved into a new group home two months ago. He moved from Clearfield up to Ogden because the company thought this would be a better fit for Matthew and his housemates. The home in Ogden is bigger so they were able to add one more housemate to their group. This was the first time everyone in my family has been together to see his group home. Inside the home there is a really tight spiral staircase to use to get downstairs to Matthew’s bedroom. Josh had a really hard time fitting down the spiral staircase because he was so tall and it was so tight and the ceiling was so low. It was quite funny to watch him try and fit.
Matthew is enjoying living in his new group home and with his four other housemates. He was excited to show off his new home to those that haven’t seen it yet--Daniel and Josh. I am glad he likes it there.
The other morning Josh and I were leaving for work at the same time. We just happened to be dressed the same so we had to take a scrub twinsies picture, right?! Josh was headed to his phlebotomy job and I was headed to my nursing job.
This past Monday Daniel, Sarah and Noah were signed up to start a week of FSY (For the Strength of the Youth). I drove them down to Provo with three of their friends to check in at their BYU session. When we got there, there were TONS of people everywhere. Luckily the lines moved pretty quickly.
We also got this email before we left saying that their Tuesday morning devotional and following tour would be held at the MTC. Daniel was pretty excited about that since he will actually be IN the MTC in 6 weeks!!! That is CRAZY!! Anyway I was grateful they would get that opportunity to tour the MTC and have a devotional there especially for Daniel.
I have gotten a few random pictures from Noah. It seems like they are having a good time.
Last week I dusted off my camera and took Daniel around to get some missionary pictures done. He picked his favorite picture and we submitted it to be put on Daniel’s missionary plaque. We got to pick up the finished plaque a few days ago. I have mixed feelings about this. I am happy he is getting to go out, but sad that he will be leaving so soon. The plaque turned out really nice, though.
As I was taking Daniel’s pictures Aaron took this one of us by the corn field--haha!
Since Nebraska is flush with cornfields we HAD to get a missionary picture by a cornfield, right?! Here’s how that picture turned out:
Here’s some of the other missionary pictures I was able to get on the Ogden Temple grounds:
Daniel starts Home MTC September 2nd which will be here before we know it....
It has been a crazy 2 weeks, but we are really enjoying the last bits of summer before school starts in a few weeks.
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