Visiting the Spencers

After ID we went to Ephrata which is in central WA. There we saw our friends, the Spencers, who we also had not seen in 6 years. I got to know Kelly when we lived in WA while I was pregnant with Siena. She and her husband, Jeff, lived in Paul's parents' ward and Kelli and I hit it off immediately. It is impossible to not like Kelli. She is a ray of sunshine. Her happiness spreads far and her warmth goes deep. She is so active and is a go-getter. She would pull me out and get me going. She always had an activity we could do with our new babies. We roamed the NW getting into all kinds of mischief. She is still the same and kept us going from sun up to sun down. We went to the Sun Lakes to go paddle boating, to the movie, to the park. The kids loved spending a lot of time on their trampoline in the back yard.
I was so impressed with her daughter, Chloe, who is pure sweetness. She and Siena didn't really remember each other, but Chloe made Siena feel so welcome which was great since they spent the week at girls' camp with each other.

Visiting the Gales

After leaving the Featherstone's we made the six hour trip to the Gales in Boise, ID. I was excited to see them again because it had been six years since I had last seen them. That is much too long when you have a true friend like Brooke. Brooke was my MTC roommate, and then she was my roommate after our missions, too. Then our friendship continued after we were married and were neighbors in UT and then later we both moved to WA. Our daughters were best buddies when they were both in diapers. Brooke is one of those friends who is so real and naturally easy to be around. She is a great mom and such a creative person. By the time we got to her house, I was pretty tired, so we mostly just hung out and talked and talked. We went on walks, ate snow cones, watched movies, took the kids to the science center, and let the kids go shopping, to the movies, and to a ward camp out. It was nice and easy. That's what I love about Brooke. I know I took some video of them, but I didn't take pictures. AHH! So there aren't any pictures of her beautiful and talented kids. Spencer's face is red because he didn't want to leave. He had lots of fun. So after a few days in ID we were back on the road to WA.

Visiting the Featherstones

After the Hathornes we drove a short distance across the valley to Draper to visit the Featherstones. Diana is one of my dearest friends that came along at the perfect time in my life as a freshman at BYU. Even though she and I came from completely different backgrounds, we hit it off better than I ever could have imagined. She was truly a blessing in my life and became the sister of my soul. It has been so many years since we have been able to spend more than a few moments together, but we always just pick up where we left off. I don't know how I ended up getting out of there without a picture of Diana and myself, but we got some of the kids together. We went to the Hogle Zoo, went swimming when the weather warmed up a little, and Spencer had the best time playing with all their great toys. Their house is about as great as one can be, and we all felt very pampered and welcomed.

Visiting the Hathornes

The next stop on our journey through the the Northwest was to South Jordan, Utah to stay with our dear friends, the Hathornes. They were our neighbors here in AZ until they couldn't stand it any longer and had to move back to UT. We made it through some hard years in AZ and shared much of our miseries together, thereby making it much more bearable and even fun. We shared many a piece meal together and lasting friendships were formed. Our little girls grew up together and we have missed having them nearby. Siena keeps asking if we can move to UT and be their neighbors again.
Sarah is a great hostess and took such good care of us. She's such a hard worker and busy mom and a great example. All that and she is so talented.

They live within a short walk of the Ochre Mountain temple.We got to meet their darling Quincy. What a cutie pie!We visited the Natural History museum at the U of U.This dino would talk to you if you put money in his mouth.We went shopping in the rain. The weather was so nice and cool.

Chuck E. Cheese was a fun diversion for the kids. It's amazing how fast they can make it through game tokens.

Zion National Park

This summer the kids and I took a road trip from AZ to Utah, Idaho, and Washington. We drove 7 hours to Zion National Park and took a few hikes there before we stopped for the night in Cedar City. Zion's was beautiful, but quite hot. The hikes we went on were considered "accessible", but were very difficult. At one point I was pushing Lily up a very steep hill, Siena was pushing me, and Spencer was pushing her. By the time we reached the top I was sweating profusely had to take a few minutes just to catch my breath. It's a good thing that I have been working out or I never would have made it up. Going back down was scary too because I had to pull back on Lily's wheelchair. It was almost as much work as going up.

I really enjoyed the bus shuttle system they have going through the park. It gave me time to relax and look at the scenery and it cut down on traffic. They also gave commentary about the park while going from one stop to the next. On our hikes we had a deer walk right by us, we saw lots of wild turkeys and lizards, and heard the amazingly loud music of some frogs. It was worth the extra hour off the freeway to have experienced Zion.

On the way past Provo, I detoured through BYU. I drove past where Deseret Towers used to be, but have been razed to make way for newer buildings. I also swung by all the places where Paul and I lived and we ate lunch at the Brick Oven where Paul and I first met while on a triple date. That's why I always recommend group dating. You never know who you will meet while you are out with someone else!

Major Crossroads

This week we've had one of the biggest crossroads moments that we've had in quite sometime. Siena started High School and Spencer started Kindergarten. Lily continues to excel and is in her second year of Middle School, yet she is only in the 5th grade;) It was a very emotional day. I went from excitement to depression, squeals to tears, confident to worrisome, all that and back again. And I wasn't even the one going to school!


Siena also started early morning seminary. With that, school, and band practice is she already one tired girl. When I dropped her off on the first day it was so cool to see the older students out there cheering on the Freshmen and making a tunnel for them to go through.

Lily was excited to get back to school. She loves keeping busy and she loves riding the bus. I'm sure 5th grade will be a great year.

Spencer has been looking forward to riding the bus his whole life. He has always watched Lily get on and off the bus every school day, so he was convinced that he wanted to ride the bus as soon as he got the chance. Everyone was surprised that I would let my Kindergartner ride on the first day of school instead of taking him, but he was so excited. We had gone to the school twice to show him around and to meet his teacher, so I figured he would be fine. You should have seen his smile. I hope I can remember that the rest of my life. When he got home he was so excited to tell me about his day. Everything was so great. It wasn't until that night that he told me he cried when he got to school because he couldn't find his teacher and he didn't know where to go. It made my heart hurt, but it didn't seem to faze him. He was ready to go the next day and said it went really well. Oh, I was impressed when he came home from school the first day and could spell RED. Way to go, Spencer!

Sick of my blog

I was tired of the look of my blog, so I picked another template that Blogger offers since I have no idea how to do anything else. It's fine, but not cool or cute. I like the green and the tree branch in the background so that's why I picked it. I got rid of the music, and yet I still hear it as I'm typing this. Do you still hear it, too, as you read?
Anyway, I'm hungry, so I'm not going to blog anymore, but I will soon because I have pictures of my cute kids to post.