Vacation part 3!

This is more for my journaling than anything, so feel free to skip the details. I am totally lame and somehow forgot to take pictures, so this is all just detail and no pics! One of the catalysts for this entire trip was to see Grandpa Powell, who isn't doing so well. He started doing better than expected and may still hang in there a while longer. But he is 94 and with the problems that he has been having we were very glad to be able to spend some time with him and refresh the kids' memories about who Great Grandma and Grandpa Powell are. Unfortunately, Grandpa didn't remember Kendall, so I don't know if they are going to add Alzheimer's to the list of problems, but it was good to see him none-the-less.

We also stopped by my old doctor's office. I sure miss her! This lady delivered all 3 of my children and I became such good friends with her and I've really missed her. So we went by to say hello. We then picked up my sister and she watched the kids for us while Kendall and I went through a session at the Draper Temple which was just dedicated in March. It was a beautiful temple, but I must say it wasn't my favorite. Unfortunately, a huge thunderstorm rolled in and the kids couldn't play at the park like we had planned, so they sat in the van the whole time and watched movies. Amber was such a trooper to still watch them for us so we could go to the temple. Thanks my sweet sister!!

We tried out the new Liberty Land, which is a small theme park in Lehi that opened after we moved. The kids had a GREAT time but it was very overpriced. We were fortunate because the younger two kids were free, and since they were so little they let Kendall and I ride with them on the rides for free as well. So we were able to ride a few rides for the price of Avri. We did bumper boats, a train ride, the carousel, a pirate ship that rocked back and forth, and the airplanes that went around and around and up and down. The older kids rode this frog ride that terrified them! But Kendall and I sure got a kick out of watching their faces!! Afterward we went to my brother and sister's apartment complex and went swimming and had a bar-b-que. The pool was a little chilly, but once the kids decided it was okay to swim around and kick their legs they warmed up a bit.

The last Sunday that we were in Utah we went up to Ogden to see my cousin would returned from his mission to Germany that week. The whole family got together and it was a perfect time to see all of the Aunts and Uncles and cousins that I haven't seen for a while. Some of my cousins I hadn't seen for years and it was really great to get together again. Unfortunately, I don't have the pictures, but Ammon took lots and put them on his blog, if you are interested in looking at them.

Monday we went to a friend of the family's house for dinner and had a great time catching up with them. Again, no pictures because I'm lame, but Ammon posted pictures of this too, on his blog. They gave us some clothes for Avri, a little toy car for the kids to drive around the driveway and a bike trailer that we can get all three kids into at once to go for rides! We can't wait until it is a little less humid so that we can breathe enough to try it out!

Tuesday we came home, but we drove straight through just like we did on the way out. We decided that it really wasn't worth the extra expenses of hotel and two days food to split the trip up. So we left after dinner and drove through the night. It really works out quite well with such young kids because they are asleep for over half of the ride home, so you don't have nearly as many hours of entertainment to try to plan and then we got home with enough time to unpack the van and go to bed early. I would recommend this method of travel to anyone who has little kids as long as you are like Kendall and can drive without falling asleep. (I on the other hand get PUT to sleep by the rode, so I only drove for a couple of hours.)

Wednesday night we got home and went to bed as planned. That night a huge storm came ripping through the area taking down tons of tree with its 80 mph winds and leaving 22,000 people without power Thursday morning. We woke up in the morning without power and I thought "that's strange, I wonder why." We were so tired that we didn't even HEAR the storm and slept right through all of it. Our neighbors couldn't believe that we didn't hear anything and we were lucky that no huge branches fell on the house. Our neighbor lost a whole tree in her back yard and my parents lost 2 half trees, which may end up making them lose both trees when all is said and done.

Now we are playing the catch up game. The gardens are coming along nicely (pictures to come) and the laundry is just about finished. Our callings are getting done finally and the kids are just about back to their normal schedule. Now we can proceed with the rest of our summer. But thanks to everyone who put their lives aside while we were visiting so that we could see you and visit and spend some time together!