WARNING: This is kind of long...
We decided to take one last trip this year before summer was over. We have never been used to being tied down but Dayna is starting preschool this year and we knew that our care free days were over. Anyway, we made a little trip to Utah before school started. Evan stayed at home to work so I packed our stuff, loaded 3 kids and 2 dogs in the car, and headed out. It took 2 days to drive to my parents house so by the time we got there I was TIRED! Oh, and just a side note, my car radio broke about an hour into the drive so I didn't even have a radio to entertain me for the drive. Anyway, we finally made it, and believe it or not, it was worth the drive. I don't need to bore you with all the little details but here are a few highlights from the trip. Friday- RELAX! Saturday- RELAX! including pedicures with mom and a visit from my brother and his family. Sunday was family dinner at my parents. One thing that made it totally worth the trip was just having my kids play with their cousins. They really miss them and they had a blast being with them for the week. Here is a picture from family dinner.
Monday we went up the canyon to Silver Lake to have a picnic and just walk around a bit. It was very nice weather and fun to be in the mountains. We sure don't have any around here. My sister-in-law Janel had an egg carton with each hole painted a different color and as we walked around we tried to find things that matched those colors. It was nice because it gave the kids something to do as we walked around.
Tuesday we went downtown. We rode trax down, walked around Temple Square, had lunch, and then played in the fountains at City Creek.
As we were leaving, we had a scary thing happen. We were getting on trax and in the midst of trying to get two strollers and everyone on board I was the last to get on. I looked around and panicked! "Where is Ethan!" My little nephew Cole said, "He got on the other part of the train." What? So, HOPEFULLY, he was on the train but a different car? I jumped off the train and tried to get into the other car. Too late. I tried to get back on the car with my family. Too late. The train drives away... without me. And of course, my bag is on the train so I have no phone, no ticket, no money, nothing. AND, I'm just hoping and praying that Ethan really is on the train because he certainly wasn't on the platform where I was standing. I didn't know what to do so I ran to the next stop thinking that maybe my family got off. Nope. So I thought I better go back to the first stop in case they were looking for me. The only thing I could do was sit and wait for the next train. Five minutes never dragged by so slowly. Then about one minute before the train was supposed to arrive my dad shows up. Puffing and panting. He had run from 2 stops down where my family did get off, with Ethan. Whew! So, my dad and I got on the next train and met my family 2 stations down where they all got on. The funny thing was that as everyone was getting on, I watched Ethan go over to get on the other car again. You better believe I shot off the train and grabbed him before it happened all over again. In the end, it added a little stress to our day and about 15 minutes to our commute. I am very thankful because I know it could have turned out much worse. I really know that Heavenly Father was watching over our family.
On Wednesday we went to a really cool park with Evan's sister Adrienne and our niece Daphne. Dayna and Daphne are about six months apart and they always have a lot of fun together. It was fun because the park had a water area too. So nice for a hot summer day.
Wednesday night we also went to Costa Vida for dinner. Smothered pork burrito. YUM! Afterwards some of the fam hung out at my parents and we made caramel popcorn. YUM!
On Thursday we went to the Hogle Zoo. It was fun because there had been a section under construction for a long time and it was finished! So we got to see the seals, sea lion, polar bear, and grizzly bears. We also splurged and went on the train (which lasted about 5 minutes) but it was fun and of course the kids loved it!
