Summer Vacation, Part 3

Gotta get these Summer Vacation postings wrapped up! After all, we are 2 weeks into the school year already and I've got other things to talk about.

I forgot to mention that back in Idaho, we also caught the flicks Toy Story 3 and Avatar: The Last Air Bender. (Well, we split up and saw one of these each.) We also got to go to the Idaho Falls temple. Kinda crazy that it is easier to go to the temple when on vacation than it is at home. But built in babysitting relatives are great.

We did tons of stuff in Utah and squeezed in two special visit in route. The kids were in paradise at Aunt Fae's (Dave's Dad's sister) little ranch. From horses to peacocks, it was a fun surprise. A storm blew in and we went indoors where Fae and Dave talked family history while the the big kids took turns getting in trouble for bothering a treadmill thingy, the littlest kid dumped the dogs water all over the rug, and I got a mini lesson on bull riding and computers from Thaeus (a young friend of Aunt Fae's.)

(yeah, my camera phone sucks)

Moving on, we made a late night stop at Cousin Linda's (Fae's daughter) place. We were much to late to enjoy taco salad, but we had some laughs, Olivia made a fast friend (she is so good at that) in Jessie, Seth got to get up close and personal with Linda's boyfriend's semi truck (that sounded weird) and even hear the horn (sorry, neighbors.) We went out with a bang when Linda set off a firework in honor of Dave's soon-to-be-in-a-few-hours birthday (sorry again, neighbors.)





The next day we met Julie (my MTC companion) and her family at Temple Square. What a treat! (And you should feel a scan coming on.) Julie and I became fast friends in June of 1994 when we were assigned to be companions at the Missionary Training Center for 5 weeks. She was preparing for a mission in California- Carlsbad and I for Utah-Salt Lake City. (Stop laughing! It was awesome. :)) We had the best district of Elders who thought we were great, eight-cow-women-great in fact! Here we are in '94. (Having a bit of technical difficulty with our 2010 photo, so these will have to do for now.)



Anyway, so good to see Julie. I couldn't hold back a few tears upon finally reuniting with her after 10 years! (Last time we saw each other we each had our first baby. Now, we both have four.) We, of course, visited the Christus and the children enjoyed playing at a special exhibit at the Church Museum of History and Art.



In the evening, Dionne and Matt joined us in celebrating Dave's 39th birthday at Sizzler. I had given up on restaurants and their once complimentary birthday treats and songs, so as the meal was winding down I asked one of the kids to go around and whisper that we were going to sing to Dave. I didn't know that Sizzler was one of the few who still carry on the tradition, and Dionne and Matt had already arranged for the Sizzler crew to sing and bring Dave a special treat. So we started singing, and the crew rushed over to join us. Dave rocks! We love him so much and I'm so glad his sister could be with us to make his birthday extra special.




The next morning we hiked the Y, as in bYu. It...was...very...hard. I remember it being a little bit challenging when i was a Zoobie, but boy oh boy I was wishing I had that Zoobie body again. Faith and Dave could have run up the thing. Paul had to overcome his fear of being near tall things. We literally drug (not drugged!) him up the first little stretch. Olivia offered to talk to Paul and try to calm his fears. Paul later told me that he was able to get his energy and not be scared because he and Olivia had a prayer. (Mom's heart melts.) Dave was really proud of me, and I was thankful that I had begun exercising/taking better care of myself a few months ago or I don't think I would have made it.



Once we got to the top, Dave and Olivia took the high road to the top of the Y and Faith, Paul, and I were satisfied to reach the bottom of the letter. It was scary for Paul to be up there without much of any guard rails or anything, so he wanted to head back right away. Faith, climbed up the Y to meet Dave and Olivia and I got a very measly camera phone picture of them up there. (Really, they are up there on that white patch.) Of course the way down is suppose to be a breeze, right? Oh my shaky legs! I had to try not to think about it and just focus on making it to the next bush or curve in the trail. When Paul and I made it down we were very disappointed to realize that we did not have the car keys and couldn't get to our stash of water (ours had run out) or pump up the A/C. Instead we had to settle for a lukewarm water fountain and splashing water on our face in the restroom. I am proud of all of us for completing this feat! (And a thank you to Aunt Ella for watching Seth during our hike.)

About Aunt Ella... she's next!