What I Did For My Summer Vacation

This blog has been quiet for a few weeks. It's because my mother surprised us with a vacation to visit her in Utah. She flew in August 9th and drove back to Utah with me and the kids. Greg stayed home since he couldn't take off any work. We stayed for two weeks and just made it home last night.

It was nice going "back home" and visiting friends and family. We had a packed couple of weeks. This is what we did:

8/9-8/10--Traveled to Utah. We stopped overnight in Boise and visited with my Grandma Beverly, Aunt Deanna and Uncle Ben. On the 10th we made a slight detour to Pocatello and visited my sister Erin and her husband Scott and son Connor.

8/11-8/13--Settled in to my parents' house in Uintah. My mom and dad still had to work every day, so the kids and I stayed at their home and played in the back yard or in the house during the day and visited with them each evening. On the 13th my sister Erin and I took our kids to the Deseret Cheese Co. for a tour of their cheese factory. You can read more about our trip on my kids' school blog.

8/14-8/16--Drove into the SL Valley and stayed with my in-laws in Taylorsville. The first day my father-in-law, Bill (affectionately called Grampa Goofy by my kids) gave each of us a much-needed haircut. Friday we had a barbeque with the whole family except JR and Alyssa and Emma who live in Arizona. The cousins played together and the adults talked and visited for the afternoon/evening.

8/16--After leaving my in-laws, I met my mother and sister, along with my nephews Connor, Atley and Carter, at the Utah State Capitol Building. We went to see a copy of the Declaration of Independence that was on display there. You can read more about this trip on my kids' school blog.

8/17--We were prepared to go to church with my parents but it was stake conference. Since we aren't members of the stake and there was no primary available, we opted to skip church for sanity's sake. Trust me, taking kids to someone else's stake conference is NOT FUN! Later that evening we had a barbeque with my family. All of my brothers and sisters and their kids were there except Scott (Erin's hubby) and Reid (Erica's boyfriend). Well, obviously, Greg wasn't there either.

8/18--We went back to SL and went out to a late lunch with Bill and Jody. They took us to Golden Corral because Bill let Ammon choose the restaurant and Ammon loves a good buffet.

8/19--We met my friend SherrilAnn and her kids Josh and Megan at the Bountiful Rec center for an afternoon swim. My mother, sister Erin and nephew Connor came with us. It was hot (about 90 degrees) but the wind was really blowing so I was cold. So was the baby. The outdoor pool was a wading pool for the younger kids, with a huge pirate ship in the middle. The boys loved it (of course) but we didn't stay outside long with the wind whipping around. The indoor pool also had a wading place with a play structure. It also had a lazy river and a huge waterslide that Ammon and Josh loved. We stayed for about an hour and a half before heading out.

We drove to my in-laws and I left my kids with them for a few hours and went out to dinner with my friends Alice and Nichole from my old writing group. I took the baby with me, too. We met at Ruby Tuesday at the Jordan Landing in West Jordan. We ate and chatted about writing and each other, and we took a few minutes to go over a query letter I needed help with. It was great to see them and have others to swap writing stories and ideas with. We stayed overnight at my inlaws.

8/20--We left my in-laws house in the afternoon and visited my friend SherrilAnn on the way back to my parents' house. Ammon played Yu-gi-oh with SherrilAnn's son, Josh (he's a big fan, too) and the other kids played in the back yard with her daughter Megan. We adults chatted. Since we didn't really get to talk at the pool the day before, I was glad for the visit.

8/21--In preparation for our drive home and with the help of the kids, I cleaned out the car and washed it.

8/22--We went over and played with some new neighbors that had just moved in three houses down from my parents. They had three kids nearly the same age as my own and they had come over to meet us while we were washing the car. Even though we only met and got to play one day, we promised to stop by the next time we came for a visit. Then I went home, packed most of the car, and spent the evening making a Cubby man out of tin cans and string. My mom actually did most of the work since I'm not so great at that type of thing. The Cubby is a rotating award I will use for my cub scout pack. I'll try to remember to take pictures and show you the completed Cubby (he's still not painted).

8/23-8/24--The Drive Home--We stopped in Boise and had a "party" with Deanna, Ben and Grandma. The plan was to have a big turkey dinner but Deanna's fridge works a little too well and after three days the turkey was still frozen. So she bagged that idea and bought pizza. Then the kids played one round of Stop Thief: Electronic Cops and Robbers, an old game by Parker Brothers. I'm going to have to find my own copy one of these days. They also played Head to Head Perfection but tempers flared due to tired bodies. The next day was the long trip from Boise to Seattle. We did make it home in time to watch the Olympics Closing Ceremonies, though, so I was happy.


There you have it in a nutshell. We had a great vacation but we're glad to be back home. Our homeschool "officially" starts next week and our classes at the school coop start the week after. Our vacation was the perfect ending to our summer break.