Our Summer Adventures

 Danny and I saw "Back to the Future" at the Eccles Theater in June. It was a fun show and mostly clean which is refreshing for a Broadway show. It had some fun songs and dancing.

We also went to "The Ruth Theater" in July and saw "The Scarlet Pimpernel." I have read the book but never seen the play. It was so well done and I'm glad we went. We almost skipped it at the last minute because our friends invited us to play pickleball. The tickets were given to us for free, so we didn't feel like it would matter that much if we didn't go. I'm glad that we went though, because I really liked the show.

Camden is obsessed with solving cubes. He has about 12 different cubes and knows how to solve most of them. I came down one day and found them all stacked and unsolved. 

And then later, they were all solved. I thought it was funny to see them change.

I went with Camden to his last Stake primary activity ever. It was a mother/son carnival activity. There were carnival games, popcorn and cotton candy, and magician. 

I've been experimenting with sushi making and am getting gradually better at it.

We had tickets to Stadium of Fire this year. I didn't end up going because we had a last minute emergency with my niece. But Danny took the kids and they had a lot of fun. Our neighborhood had a firework ban in place, so I didn't even see any fireworks that night. Normally, we have people shooting them off all over our neighborhood. It was weird to have the skies so quiet that night.

We tried out a new trampoline park down in Spanish Fork. It was on our get out pass, so Danny and I even jumped with the kids. We learned that we are not as young as we used to be and that trampoline parks are harder on our older bodies. It was a fun family activity.

We were at the pool with our Wheeler cousins when this guy walked past the pool with a python around his neck. He saw me point him out to my sister-in-law and said that we could come and pet the snake or even hold it if we wanted. Ashley was all over that.

Danny and I celebrated our anniversary on July 26th. We went to a seafood place that we had never tried before. It was really good. It was over 100 degrees that day, so we decided to go for a drive up the canyon after dinner. 

We got out and walked for a bit on a trail, but we were not really dressed for it, so we didn't walk for very long.

We welcomed our missionary home a few days after our anniversary, but I will save that for another post.

Imaginaria America 250

 At the Thanksgiving Point Gardens this summer they had an event to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the USA. We went in June to check it out. They had this tube slide that went all the way down the amphitheater hill. Camden didn't end up doing it because it was a long walk to the bottom to get the tube and the lines were kind of long. Plus, he was enjoying an ice cream.

They had replicas of the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, the Lincoln memorial, and the Washington Memorial. They were pretty big, too.

There were some fun activities like the foam pit.

And this water dumping machine.

This was a jumping mat with a map of the US on it.

This flag walkway was pretty cool. They had variations of the US flag through the years.

The weather wasn't too hot yet, so it was a nice day in the gardens.

Some Things I Missed From May

 I ordered a seed packet from amazon this year to plant my garden. I threw out some of the seeds that I knew we would never eat if they grew, but I planted everything else. I also planted way earlier this year than normal because we had an unusually warm winter. We had to replace our PVC pipe watering system this year because we threw the one we have been using for like 10 years away last fall. It took a lot longer to get it set up than we had expected and it was a lot of work and money. I don't think we will replace it again unless it is absolutely necessary.

The kids had a lot of fun swimming with their cousins this summer. This was the first of many swimming play dates for them.

I took the kids bowling with our get out pass. 

We have loved having a hot tub. We try to go in it at least once a week, even when it is hot outside.

I took Tyler and Ashley to the Ruth to see "Once on this Island" with our get out pass. It was an interesting show. The best part about it for us was seeing the Bonners in the cast. Ashley knows Yohosh and Iba Bonner from American Heritage, so it was a pleasant surprise when they were both in the show in leading roles. I was also amazed that the stage set included both sand and water, which the actors danced and walked through during the whole show.

Camden had has end-of-year dance festival. I got their early and was on the front row right in the middle, but he ended up being on the side, so I didn't have a great angle for a video or picture. 

I got this 1500-piece puzzle from Camden for Christmas. I started it in January and it was a very slow process getting it finished. I wanted to give up so many times, but felt like I needed to finish it since it was a gift from Camden. With a little help from Danny, I was finally able to finish it in May. Yay! I didn't want to take it apart after that. When I finally did take it apart, I labeled the backs of all the pieces with numbers. I mentally divided the puzzle into about 20 sections and each section got a different number. It should make it a lot easier to put it together next time. :)

Ashley had a lot of dog sitting jobs at once. I joined her for a walk one night when she was walking 7 different dogs! This is a pretty common sight for Ashley, especially around holidays.

The kids all finished school for the year and were excited for the start of summer.

Ashley Senior Trip: Mt. Saint Helens to Home

On our way back home, we decided to make a short detour to see Mt. Saint Helens. We had heard during our time in Vancouver that the road was closed to the top, but that we could drive up to the science center and still have a good view of the volcano. It was about an hour and half drive up there from our hotel and we left early enough to get there when the science center opened for the day (at 10 am). We arrived about ten minutes early so we drove down to the nearby lake to wait. This was the only day of our whole trip that we had bad weather. And we were all underdressed for the bad weather, too, so we were pretty cold. It was also a bit drizzly, so we didn't stay out by the lake very long. We also thought we would be able to see Mt. St. Helens from the lake, but we couldn't.

By the time we got back up to the science center, the gate was open, so we went into the lot and parked. We couldn't take Lula inside the science center, so Danny and the boys went in to check it out and the girls hung out in the parking lot a bit. Danny came out a few minutes later to tell us that there was a big school group arriving soon and the people that worked there suggested we get a head start on them inside. I walked through the building to the back where there was a view of the mountain and Ashley walked around the outside with Lula. We braved the cold and took this picture on the back patio.

I took Lula back to the car after that because Ashley was cold and we didn't have enough time to take shifts inside. I met everyone inside as they were watching an informational video about the eruption in the 80's. After the movie, we walked around the science center a bit and read the information they had about the volcano. I thought this visual was cool, showing what the volcano looked like before, during, and after the most recent eruption.

We stayed for maybe an hour, and then we were on our way. The workers told us that we were lucky we got there as early as we did because they had cloud cover moving in and by 11 that morning, the top of Mount Saint Helens was going to be covered for the rest of the day. Even from the time that we first saw it to the time we left, the visibility had dropped quite a bit. We were glad that we were able to see it.

Our drive home was pretty uneventful. After a terrible night's sleep in the hotel room on our second to last night on the trip, we decided to book a vacation rental for our last night again. The home we stayed in was in La Grande, OR, and it was the sketchiest place we have ever stayed in. We never would have chosen this place if we had been looking for a place to stay months in advance. But it did have 3 separate rooms, so that we were all able to sleep better. We did not plan on having to take care of our own breakfast the next morning, so we went to the grocery store to get some milk for cereal. We also picked up Chinese food in the grocery store for dinner that night. We watched a movie that night while sitting on the couches from the 1970's. We woke up early and finished the drive home the next day. 

     Overall, it was a successful trip. Ashley had 10 days of nonstop time with Lula and got to see a city that she has always wanted to visit. She also got to watch Lula enjoy many beaches. We were all so happy to sleep in our own beds after getting home.

Ashley's Senior Trip - Olympic Peninsula

We left early from Port Angeles to explore the Olympic National Peninsula. We started off by driving up to Hurricane Ridge, the highest point on the peninsula. It was a long way up there, but we were disappointed to learn that Lula was only allowed in the parking lot. The view was pretty amazing, but we didn't stay long.

One of my favorite things about this area was all of the greenery everywhere. Even the branches that are supposed to be brown, were covered in green

We stopped a lot that day, sometimes for bathroom breaks, and sometimes because places looked pretty. We liked this lake as we drove past, so we stopped to explore a bit.

We stopped in Forks, mostly for me. There wasn't a lot to see there, but it was fun to see the town.

We also drove down to La Push, another "Twilight" stop. We walked along the beach and ate lunch here.

The driftwood was also amazing on this beach.

The last stop of the day was a short trail through a rainforest. This was probably my favorite stop of the day. It was so pretty and so green.

The trees were so tall.

The trunks of the fallen trees were so big.

We stayed in Chahalis that night in preparation for visiting Mt. Saint Helens the next day. We ate dinner at the Denny's across the street from our hotel.

Being back in a hotel meant that none of us slept well that night. We definitely enjoy sleeping in a multi room vacation rental over a single hotel room.