I'm Back!

Ok, so, I may be officially the worst blogger of the summer, but I am back, and I am going to try to fill you in on what has been going on in my world.  It has taken me a week to just settle down enough to start thinking about blogging again.  I took my kids a couple days after school got out, and headed for Utah in our packed to the rafters Tahoe!  It was a great drive complete with diarrhea and vomiting by both kids and dog.  Yikes!  But we finally got to Grandma and Grandpa's house to begin our summer of fun.  

After being in eastern Utah for a couple of days, we drove out to Salt Lake City, and my mom and sisters were good enough to watch my kids while I flew to Washington to see a recital of my former students.  I really felt I needed to be there, and despite the cost in time and money, the trip was well worth it.  It was a trip I will not soon forget, and some really great things happened while I was there!  So, five days later I came back to Utah, and we packed up our stuff and headed back to my parents house.  While there, we did a lot of fun things.  The kids got to go horse back riding, which Sarah absolutely loved, and we went paddle boating and out to dinner at a beautiful place up in the Uintah mountains.  We went to the Dinosaur Museum in Vernal, and the new rec center there, which was like a mini water park.  The kids loved that!  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows several times in my parents back yard, and the kids played and played in the irrigation water and the sprinklers.  They also made good friends with some of my parents neighborhood kids, who happen to be the children of some of the people Adam and I went to school with, so that was cool.   

At the end of June, my mom and I took my three youngest bananas back to Colorado Springs, as I was asked to speak and dance for our church's girls camp.  That was also a really great experience.  Truly, I am not sure it was as good for them as it was for me, but I really was so happy to be involved.  I really wanted the girls to feel that they are daughters of God, and that that means something...everything, really.  The dance was difficult for me, as I danced on a five foot by eight foot plywood platform nailed into the dirt, but the Spirit was there, and despite my inadequacies, I think it turned out fine.  My friend Rachel posted a couple pictures of that on her blog, so I am hesitant to post anymore here.  But maybe I will post a couple.  Anyway, the girls were wonderful, and I was so glad I went!  

So after we were here a couple of days, we drove back to Utah, and were there for the Fourth of July.  My sister Julie and her family came out, and we had a nice time.  The kid's favorite part was the fireworks in front of Mom and Dad's house.  We also go to celebrate Sarah's second birthday, which was a lot of fun.  She is such a girl!  She got baby dolls, complete with crib and high chair as well as some little people.  She was in Heaven!  She walks around saying "birthday babies!" all the time now, when she wants or has those particular dolls.  She is pretty cute!  Then we just hung out there for a few more days, after which, we headed down to southeastern Utah, where we attended a family reunion for Adam's family.  

The reunion was really nice.  It was a little scary for me, because I borrowed my parent's tent trailer, and I have never had to pull one myself, plus I was nervous about keeping it in pristine shape.  But we survived the six hour drive, and had a really nice time!  The kids got to make bottle rockets, and shot them off in a contest for prize money.  They also had a treasure hunt, where each child got some chocolate coins and some gold dollars.  They loved that!  Anytime money is involved, you know.  Tommy's favorite part, by far, was riding the four wheelers.  Anytime I wasn't sure where he was, I just had to look at the four wheelers, and there he would be...helmet in place, ready to go!  Oh, and I also got to make some homemade earrings, which I had never done.  They are totally amateurish, but I thought it was fun!  Of course we also had lots of great food and conversation.  They asked me to teach aerobics of all things, as well as a little yoga, though that scared almost everyone away.  Then about a week ago, I decided I needed to head home, or have a breakdown.  It was just a very long time to be away from my normal life.  However, all in all, it was fantastic trip!  I have mapped it out so you can see my many miles on the road!  Anyway, this has turned into a novel, and I will post shorter again next time, but I just wanted to tell everyone in Utah, Thanks for the wonderful memories this summer, and to my friend here in CS, I have missed you and am anxious to make more memories with all of you!  And thanks for watching over my house and yard while I was gone.  I really have the best friends and family anywhere!