A Family Visit

Sommer, Jeremy and their kids came to see us last weekend. Good times. Here's the fun things that we did:

Day 1 (Saturday)



It was Andie's 9th birthday. After presents, he headed to Murray and a farmers market. After sampling fresh fruits, breads and honey, we decided on some peaches, corn, apricots, and a loaf of asiago cheese bread. Delicious.

Next, we went to Salt Lake City for some sightseeing. After having cheese steak and meatball sandwiches at Moochies, we took a tour of the Conference Center.

The kids were impressed with the meadow on the roof. Did you know that all of it grows in just 6 inches of soil? Crazy.

Can't leave without a photo in front of the temple.

That evening we met Jeremy's aunt, grandfather and brother (and his family) in American Fork Canyon for a picnic dinner. The kids played on a big rock...and that's about it -that's really all they did.

Two boys in green shirts and plaid shorts.

S'mores for the birthday girl. Happy Birthday Andie!

Day 2 (Sunday)

In the evening we drove through Little Cottonwood Canyon searching for moose. Along the way, we saw a meadow that we couldn't resist.

And as always, we got lucky and found what we were looking for - a very large bull moose grazing in the willow bushes on the green slopes of the Alta Ski Resort.

Sommer and I crept further down the slope in the tall stickery bushes to get a better shot. We were trying to be quiet, but I yelped pretty loud when Sommer slipped and grabbed for my shirt and got my skin instead!

Day 3 (Monday)

Today we were celebrating Nathan's birthday - 35 (yes, he's old).

We packed a picnic lunch and took our guests to Provo Canyon to see Bridalveil Falls, our favorite spot to take out of town guests.

I always seem to get the best photos here.

Jeremy up near the top.

Here's the one shot of me to prove I was there.

After the falls we took the kids the BYU for famous Creamery ice cream. It totally hit the spot after a day in the water and sun.

That night, we stayed at home and painted the kids' faces and had grilled peaches for birthday dessert. Jeremy said about the dessert, "Let's do this again!" It was really good.

Happy Birthday Nate!

They were supposed to leave the next morning to go home to Arizona, but Jeremy decided he didn't quite get enough of Utah, so an extra day was added to the trip. Yeah!

Day 4 (Tuesday)

Back to Salt Lake City to see the things we missed on Saturday. We watched the Joseph Smith movie in the JS Memorial and then took the tour of the Beehive house.

I can never get enough of the flowers on Temple Square.

Day 5 (Wednesday)

Goodbye!

Everyone has to get a front porch picture before they leave.

Come back soon guys - we had a good time!

Poor Elliot

Elliot's eardrum ruptured yesterday morning. He was complaining of an earache throughout the night, but we weren't sure what was causing it - he hadn't been sick and he hadn't gone swimming recently. At around 7 am, Elliot suddenly screamed out in agony and a few minutes later, blood started to ooze from his ear. Poor guy - he wasn't kidding! Of course, after that he felt a little better and was able to fall asleep. When he woke up, I took him to the doctor. Ruptured eardrums heal on their own, but I wanted to find out how severe it was. The doctor let me have a look at Elliot's ear as well. It was pretty yucky - multiple perforations. We did find out that it was caused by an ear infection, which was weird, because he didn't have a head cold and because he only had the earache for about 9 hours before it ruptured. I filled Elliot's prescriptions and took him home. I had Elliot lay in the armchair so I could put drops in his ear. Immediately he closed his eyes and zonked out for a couple of hours. Poor little man - he had a long night!

Helping Out

Nathan decided to replace the sprinkler heads in the front yard last Saturday - the old ones just weren't gettin' the job done. Henry was excited to give Dad a hand, especially when Dad promised he could run through the sprinklers to test them out when he was finished. Henry's job was to run to the car and get the right sprinkler head when Nathan needed it. I love cute little father/son moments like this!

Girls Camp

Samantha left for girls camp today. I can't even tell you how old that makes me feel. She's been so excited to go. Nathan volunteed to be one of the priesthood leaders, so he'll also be at camp tonight with the girls. Sam will be back in a few days - hopefully she'll have some stories to tell.