Preston's Surgery

On August 26th Preston had surgery at Primary Children's hospital. It turned out that the procedure wasn't as invasive as was first thought it was going to be and while I thought I would have a sleepy boy for the rest of the day I did not. He woke right up in recovery, drank a bottle of apple juice and then took a short nap. That was the extent of his sleepiness for the day.

Playing with toys in the waiting room, he has no idea what's going to happen to him. Poor boy.

Nice gown Preston!

Still waiting for surgery and hungry!

Groggy after surgery. All went well.

First Day of School

Mya started her first day of 4th grade on August 20th. Her teacher is Sra. Tavares--I don't know if I'll ever be able to remember that name. 4th grade is all Spanish, no English spoken in class. I can't believe that Mya can do that. I'm so proud of my Spanish speaking daughter!

Friday Night Pizza Night

Everybody loves Friday night Pizza night!

Motorcycle Trip

Last year when the gas prices where so high I gave in to Doug's wishes to buy a motorcycle. Truthfully it hasn't saved us any money. As with any "toy" accessories are always required as well as tune-ups etc.

Anyway...

Our good friends Chris and Rachelle Parker were going on a motorcycle trip for their Anniversary (it has become a tradition with them for their Anniversary and one that we participated in a couple of years ago) and they asked Doug if we would like to come along. Doug told me he was going with or without me. With his broken leg I was hesitant to get on the bike with him but he said it would be fine and he was really excited to do something that he would normally do. This year the plan was to go to Colorado via Vernal, UT, go to Steamboat, CO, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado National Monument and back home on I-70.

If you've never done a motorcycle trip I actually recommend it. It's like being on the lake in your boat. You feel the wind, you smell everything better and other bikers wave! You do get saddle sore though, but that's OK 'cause you just look for places to stop (something you wouldn't normally do in a car). We stopped at one point of interest stop and learned that a huge fire had burned up all that you could see at one point--something I would never have found out if I had traveled in the car.

It threatened to rain on us a few times but we seemed to be in the right place at the right time for all the storms where we either just missed it or just pulled into a town when it hit so we could get to shelter. I love the smell of rain on hot asphalt and the smell of fields just after a rain. Not something you would experience in a car!

Things I don't like about the motorcycle, getting saddle sore, going faster than 70 miles an hour, having the communication system, along with your music die because of the battery, long drive with nothing to see-- for example from Vernal to Steamboat and I-70--Utah part with no communication system!

I loved eating out, hanging out in the hot tub every night, reconnecting with Doug, spending time with just adults for longer than 2 hours (something I haven't had since the twins were born).

Had to make a stop here, not for the restroom but because Doug wanted to buy some moccasins to put on his broken foot--his toes were getting too cold...

Colorado National Monument

View from Colorado National Monument

Bear Lake in Rocky Mtn. Nat. Park

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Payson Lake

The second weekend in August we decided to try camping out with my family. Holly had arranged for all of us to camp up at Payson Lake. My parents and Holly's family stayed up on Thursday night and Trevor and his family and our family joined them on Friday night.

Again we had to pack so much stuff that we didn't have room for everyone in our Expedition. Doug was just fine with that because he had an itch to ride his motorcycle while up the canyon anyway.

I would say that the hardest thing about camping with babies that crawl is that they want down and down would be in the dirt. I just couldn't stand that! They did have lots of people to hold them and take them on walks though. But, by Saturday afternoon I was ready to go home. It had been quite cold the night before and the day hadn't really warmed up either. We all spent most of the day around the campfire.

We enjoyed the fire, good food and bike rides around the lake. It was the first that I had been on a REAL bike for almost two years! It's too bad that we didn't get out on the lake in the canoe while we were there, I think Mya may have, but for the babies it was just too cold. Maybe we can try something like this again next year and hope for warmer weather.

Oquirrh mountain Temple Open House

I know it's been awhile since the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House but now is the first time that I'm able to blog about August, so a few more blogs are forthcoming.

Doug's sister Jeanene arranged for her family, Doug's parents and us to attend the Open House on Saturday August 1st.

To me it was a beautiful temple, much like the Draper Temple. Mya felt like the Draper temple was a bit more beautiful and I might have to agree, but they are both gorgeous temples.

Preston and Alexa came with us to this temple open house. They did just fine. Preston was awed by the wonderful chandeliers and Alexa had wonderful things to say (that I didn't understand) when I pointed out the various pictures of Jesus throughout the temple.

Summer '09 Park City Vacation Thursday to Saturday

On Wednesday evening Mya's friend Kennedy left and Danielle (Mya's cousin) took her place as her roommate. They did some fun stuff together like swimming, hand painting, games in the pool, taking rides on the gondola outside of the condo. Oh and bubble baths after swimming. I really wanted them to read but they would have none of that!

On Thursday we decided to go to the Hoggle Zoo. It was a hot day, which made us very happy to return to the Mountains where it was a little bit cooler.

One of the toys the twins got was a little walking toy. Alexa was very excited to start using it!

Saturday, another hot one, even in Park City, was a busy one. Early in the day we went to Park City Mountain Resort to go down the Alpine Slide and Coaster. Danielle, Mya and I did the rides. Mya and Danielle were afraid to go down the slide by themselves, but I made them. You can get an idea of how fast they allowed themselves to go by the picture. Usually the riders behind you don't catch up to you and have to help push you down the slide. The girls did much better on the coaster ride though.

After this us girls went shopping, then Doug went shopping. Guess who took the longest and spent the most. If you don't know me very well then you may not know that I hate to shop, so contrary to popular belief this set of girls did not shop long or buy much.

Back at the condo the Canyons Resort was getting ready for their first Saturday Concert of the summer. Us girls and the babies sat on the lawn ate goodies and listened to music. We had a fun time getting to know the people around us and relaxing on our last evening in Park City as we waited for Doug to join us after his shopping spree.

We had a great time in Park City even with babies and a broken leg. To me, family vacations are a tradition you must keep. It's a bonding time as a family that is usually never forgotten and something to be treasured.

Summer '09 Park City Vacation Monday to Wednesday

For our summer vacation we decided to stay close to home. In a positive light we could always come home if we forgot something important and the drive isn't that long and, in a negative light Doug is closer to work so he went into work a few times while we were in Park City. But, with his broken leg he couldn't do much of what he would have like to do while we where in Park City anyway.

For the most part Mya and friend, Kennedy (the first part of the week) and cousin, Danielle (the later part of the week), spent their days swimming, eating and watching TV. There was once I caught Mya and Kennedy doing something else so I took a picture of that.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were spent doing the above. Wednesday we went shopping because we had a birthday party to throw for the twins and presents and food to get. So to the outlets we went!! No pictures of that but we did brings bags of clothes home to package up for the twins to open.

Wednesday before the party Doug and I browsed around a farmers market that they had going on at the Canyons. Doug bought goat cheese. He's bought cheese at the most interesting of places, he's a cheese guy. And I got a skirt and earrings.

May be the only picture of me on the trip. I'm finally getting a chance to eat some cake.

Why do they put these kind of blinds in rooms? The babies love to play with them and they break right off! I know Preston broke a few.

4th of July 2009

Mya announced earlier this year that her favorite holiday was the Fourth of July. Why? I think it's because we start at 6 am and go until 11pm. It's an all day event with family, food and fun.
We started the day out at the balloon festival. We will usually meet my family while there. So we meet up with my mom and dad and Trevor and his family. Doug's parents also decided to come and we meet them there as well. This is also the one time of the year that we always run into our friends the McCanns.
After the balloons we had wanted to go see Holly and Danielle come in from the 5K race but were too late so, we meet all of my family (minus Trisha, Kyle and Tyler and Brooke) for breakfast at Village Inn.
After Village Inn it was off to the parade. The kids all enjoyed the parade, the only draw back was that Kaman, our three year old nephew, decided to take a walk on his own towards the end of the parade so we all split up looking for him. A nice policeman found him and Duane recovered him. That was scary! It got me thinking about what I may need to do for the next 4th of July when I'll have two one year olds (almost 2 year olds) running around. All it takes is for one of them to catch an interest in something in the parade, like Kaman, start following them and then with a huge group of adults, to think one is watching while the other thinks someone else is watching the child. So, I've decided maybe I'll put our cell phone number on the back of their 4th of July shirts that says "If I'm lost call..."

After the parade we hurried home and got working on lunch. It's become a tradition to have Doug's family over for a BBQ on the 4th of July. We had corn on the cob, salads, chicken tenders and yummy miracle dessert. The kids will usually cool off jumping on the tramp with the sprinklers or, like the twins, jump in the pool.

After our BBQ we went to my sister Holly's for the Thompson family BBQ. Holly lives in Cedar Hills so we ended the day here watching fireworks from their balcony in Pleasant Grove, and surrounding areas. It was a good and exhausting day!

Summer '09 Swim Team

Mya and Danielle in the bullpen waiting to swim

Mya and one of the three girls that was on the relay team

Doug and I talked Mya into being on the swim team for the summer this year at the Scera Pool. Mya thought it would be a lot of fun because she would be doing it with her cousin Danielle. But, when the preview with the parents came around and she was going to have to swim in the pool to make sure she qualified she wasn't sure any longer that she wanted to do it. After jumping in the pool and swimming though she quickly changed her mind.

Mya had swim team Monday to Friday at 11am. June was a cold one but they kept the pool warm. There was a day that you could see steam coming from the pool it was that cold outside and that warm in the pool.

Mya swam in all of the swim meets that she was in town for. On the last meet she placed second in Freestyle. I was very proud of her and I think she even surprised herself. She also got first place in a Relay Freestyle event on the last swim meet.

I think Mya had a good year. She learned a lot and by the end of July she had had enough swimming for the summer!