Adventures with family

Last week we were in St. George with no internet. We'd gone down for a weekend of fun with Ben and his family, but with the HOT weather, Haylee with laryngitis, and some rough nights, we ended up leaving on Sunday instead of Monday like we'd planned. While we were there, we explored Pioneer Park, went to the aquatic center, and visited Joe and Cindy. I was proud of Emilia at the aquatic center. There was a big floating obstacle course in the middle of the lap pool and you had to prove you could swim from one side of the pool to the other in order to be approved to try the obstacle course. She went to do the lap but was too scared to try. So when she came back into the kids side of the pool, I challenged her to try swimming across without touching bottom there. She ended up deciding she could do it on her back, so she went back over and tried again. She did it that time and did the obstacle course with her dad a number of times.

At Pioneer Park, we climbed rock formations, saw tons of lizards, moon flowers, and fun holes to take pictures in. Cecily even spotted a coyote/fox (we couldn't tell which, it was too far away).

There's a lizard in there

Steve bought the game Five Tribes and we got to play with both Ben and then Joe. I won the first game and I think Steve won the second.

Since we were home Monday, we decided to use one of the tickets from our Visit Salt Lake passes and since it was going to be almost 100 degrees in Salt Lake that day, we went up to Snowbird and took the tram to the top of a 11000 foot mountain. Up there it was only 64 degrees. The tram ride was not as fun as I'd hoped. Not because it wasn't what I expected, but I didn't expect it to make me motion sick. They stopped the tram twice on the way up to move mechanics from one tower to another. I am already afraid of heights and then the momentum of the tram made us swing when they stopped. Plus, why did they need mechanics on the towers?? I'm glad we did it, and I'm also glad I didn't pay for it. At the top, there was still snow on the ground. We had a snowball fight and some tears when kids slipped and fell on it. We took some pictures, had a snack, and then went back down. We had tasty pizza for dinner that night and watched The Greatest Showman for the first time. Pizza was definitely my favorite part of the day.

This week, Megan got into town Tuesday night, so we've spent most of our days at my mom's hanging out with them. We've put together puzzles, done art projects, the kids played in the water, played catch, school, polly pockets, pokemon, and more. We also went to the Art City Days Children's Art Festival where all the kids got their faces (or hands) painted and did some fun art projects.

Mira had to have sealant put on her teeth on Wednesday, so everyone went with. Cecily needed to have a picture taken of her riding the horse with a serious face. Of course, so did Mira then.

Thursday, I spent most of the day helping my friend, Debbie, clean her house. She is now headed to live in Florida to help her and her husband's aging parents. There were only 3 of us to clean a 2800 sq ft house, so we worked hard for over 6 hours and I still felt like we left a lot undone. It was good to spend time with Debbie one last time and my shoulders are stronger for the effort for sure. :)

Yesterday the Staley's had a family reunion to go to, so I took the girls to the Art City Days Parade where they collected a ridiculous amount of frooties and salt water taffy and tootsie rolls. They each got at least 1 otter pop as well, and Cecily's turned her tongue blue. Steve, who hates parades got there as the last five floats/trucks were driving by. Since the girls and I wanted to go to the "festival" part of Art City Days, which Steve also hates, he headed off for an oil change and the girls and I got overheated along with losing my debit card. The carnival rides were ridiculously overpriced ($3 to ride the carousel for a minute?). Yet, despite that, I managed to keep it together and enjoy spending time with my kids. I also made belgian waffles with ice cream for dinner, so that makes up for a lot of stuff. :)

Today, we're hosting the family for a barbecue to celebrate June birthdays: my dad, Lincoln, and Vance. I hope y'all have a great week!