Monday, June 25, 2012

St George

 We went to the play "Hairspray" one night while in St. George at the Tuacan Theater.  Shannon was supposed to go also, but unfortunately, a bike fell over in the garage and the pedal landed right on her toe and broke it.  She was in a lot of pain, and started getting sick also.



I went biking with Ryan, Dani and Brandon on this particular day, although I still need to upload the pictures which are on my other camera.  I was definitely the slowest, as I have not gone mountain biking in 15 years.  It was fun, although I was much more cautious then the rest of the group.  I only worried for Ryan's life a couple of times, as he jumped his bike about 4 times off the side of a small cliff.

 We celebrated Father's Day while in St. George. I'm not in this picture because I was too agitated after dealing with Aria's tantrum while the rest of the family watched, and then feeling frustrated and sad that I had forgotten to bring something for Father's Day for my dad.  I blame it on the fact that we have been so incredibly busy since I've arrived, but really, I should have just planned better, I guess.  Being in such a small home with the entire family and Aria and Zade was challenging.  It would have been fine without the kids, but with kids, it was hard- hard to get them to nap, and go to bed, and it was hard just really having no where to go when they were getting out of control.


Zade started loading his little shopping cart with pads, so we had to get a picture. :)

The Crack

 The following day, after Kristi's wedding, we departed for St. George again.  My parents wanted to move all of their furniture into the house.  The car ride with Aria and Zade was rather miserable, but the kids did have some fun times while we were there.  There was a little water park near the house that they had fun playing in with their aunts and uncles.

 We all went out to dinner every night.  At this particular restaurant Zade was really interested in the men's bathroom.  He kept wanting to go inside and had a tantrum when we took him out so we could go home.

 There is a place near my parents home where there is a thin crack between two steep walls in the canyon.  A thin person can just barely squeeze through to the other side.  Aria led the pack, and Ryan kept calling out that he was stuck and that he shouldn't have eaten so much for dinner.  It was funny to be right behind him.  All his calling out made me feel better about going through the crack because I didn't ever feel like I was stuck, and thus didn't feel too nervous as I slid myself between the walls.  Of course, Ryan had to comment about what would happen to us if we had an earthquake, and how we would be squished, just as we were in the middle of it.





Kristi's Wedding

 My cousin Kristi Willardson got married in the Salt Lake Temple.  My mom, Shannon, Brandon, Sharalee and I got to attend the sealing.  It was a beautiful ceremony and the spirit was strongly present.  Kristi's older sister Julie died from a brain tumor about ten years ago, so we were all thinking about her during the sealing.


Shopping with Shara & Shannon

 Shannon, Sharalee and I went shopping downtown at the new mall that just opened up across from the Salt Lake temple.  We had more success finding clothes since we didn't have two kids to look after.


Dinners with Ryan and Danni

 We went to dinner at Cafe Rio with Ryan and Dani.  Zade finished eating and found a broom and dustpan.  He began sweeping up the restaurant.  Aria soon joined him.  It kept them entertained for a least 20 minutes and they actually swept up quite a bit of food.


 We celebrated Shannon's birthday early, up at Ryan's house in Summit Park.
 Aria put a balloon under her dress and said that she was going to have a baby.

Girls Go Shopping

 My mom, my sisters, the kids and I spent an afternoon at South Town Mall shopping.  The kids made it difficult to shop, but we still had some interesting experiences.

 Zade's diaper leaked, so I carried him like this until we could find a changing station.  Since I didn't have any extra pants, he had to go around with just a diaper.
Aria said that she wanted to get her ears pierced.  I called Dane and he said he didn't like the idea, but he didn't actually say that she couldn't....:) Anyway, we got Aria settled into the piercing chair and we looked at the different earrings.  I was surprised at the prices and was having a hard time deciding on which pair of earrings.  Since I was taking so long, Aria started getting more and more nervous. Finally she started crying and we called the whole thing off.  It's probably a good thing because I don't Aria is emotionally mature enough.  I'm sure Dane was glad.
 While we were considering Aria's earrings, Zade found plenty of things in Claire's that interested him.

Liberty Park

 Here's some pictures from my Liberty Park outing with Shannon and Brandon.  The kids loved playing in the water.  Aria especially loved chasing leaves as they floated away.  It was a little cold on this day, and both kids were quite soaked and covered in goosebumps by the time they were done.





Monday, June 11, 2012

Trying to Work

Here's a picture that shows part of the reason we left Dane so that he can work.   It's hard to get much work done when there's little kids around.  We sure miss Dane though.
 We've been having a lot of fun with Shannon and Brandon, including going to Liberty Park and spending the afternoon.

Zoo and mountains

My parents bought a year membership to the Utah Hogle Zoo.  The zoo just finished a few new exhibits, including a polar bear and brown bear exhibit.



We spent last Friday with my dad, Shannon and Brandon.  We went up to Brighton Ski Resort and hiked around the lake.  We then drove over the pass to Park City. The weather has been wonderfully cool, a great change from the Tucson heat. 







 We played at the park in Park City and barbequed hamburgers and had watermelon.

We took the chairlift to the top of the mountain and rode the bobsled down.  Aria was very brave and even exclaimed that she wanted to do it again.