DH's birthday

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Unfortunately for DH his birthday seems to fall each year either on Father's Day or during the N or W family reunion.  This year was no different.  We arrived at the Island Park cabin on Monday and DH's birthday was on Tuesday.  We each split up as families during the latter part of the morning to explore a little.  We drove out trying to find Hayden Lake and almost made it there until we hit a private road and had to turn around.  We then met up back at the cabin and made spaghetti for lunch.  Then all of the wives drove down to Idaho Falls to pick up DH's sister from the airport.  After we picked her up we stopped off at the local Wal-Mart to pick up a few things.  While there I bought a couple of ice cream cakes and some candles.

While we were gone DH took a short nap with MJ and the boys were getting the barbecue ready for grilling hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner.  After dinner I got out the ice cream cakes and we sang to DH and then he opened a few presents.  Unfortunately one of the presents I had bought for him didn't arrive before we left - an AC adaptor for his camera so he can take long exposure shots.  Hopefully he will get a chance soon to use that.  He also got a second battery for his camera (which we used at Yellowstone) and a new swimsuit.  Here are a couple of pictures from the day:

Naptime

Cake - plus me with my short hair

Can he get all of the candles in one breath?

Trying on the swimsuit.  Looks like a good fit!

Island Park Cabin

Here are some pictures from the rental cabin we stayed at in Island Park.  The cabin had 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.  It was really well furnished and stocked with just about everything you could want in a rental vacation home - especially in the kitchen.  There were plenty of tables and chairs for everyone and there was a nice game room (former garage) where the kids hung out most of the time.  They had a Nintendo Wii as well as an Xbox 360 and a ping pong table.  There was a good size living room/gathering area and the kitchen was good sized.  We could have used a little more room for the eating area but we were able to make do.  There were super tall lofts in 3 of the 4 bedrooms upstairs and some of the kids enjoyed sleeping in there (although M&M claims that it got really hot up there at night).  DH & I took the master suite which had a huge king size bed and plenty of room for kids on the floor.  MJ thought it was really fun to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor - but we had an incredibly hard time getting her to stay in it and go to sleep.  Since she still sleeps in a crib at home she thought it was so much fun that she could get in and out of the sleeping bag and open and close the door over and over again and try and escape from the room!  The master bath was kind of weird because it had a bathtub but no shower.  DH and I used the shower down the hall and MJ is the only one that tried out the bathtub.  I think that besides having no shower in the master bath, my only complaint with the place was that there wasn't much of a yard at all for the kids to play in.  (Plus the construction going on in the street didn't help either.)  Since we spent two very full days in Yellowstone it turned out just fine not having a yard, but it would have been something nice to have if we had stayed there longer.  (And the game room helped a ton as far as entertaining the kids while we were there.)

Kitchen

Game room (converted from a garage)

Sleeping on the floor in the master bedroom.

Master bath (tub)

Ping pong table

Living room

Kay talk

A couple of weeks ago at church I was sitting in the primary room with Kay's Sunbeam class during singing time.  A little girl from Kay's class was sitting on one side of me and Kay was sitting on my lap.  The little girl turned to me and said, "You got your hair cut, didn't you?"  I responded to her that yes, I have shorter hair now.  Kay looked at her classmate and said, "No, she didn't get a haircut.  She was bald."  I don't think the girl heard her (or understood what she said) and I said to Kay, "No, that's okay I do have a new hairstyle that is shorter now."  Kay looked at me and said, "Mom, you didn't get a haircut.  Your hair is growing.  What color is it?"

Shopping success

We finally found a new swimming suit that fits M&M!  She has been squeezing into one that we bought for the summer of 2009 and it just barely fits her still - and is wearing out.  (I just looked back on my blog to see how long we have had it and there are pictures of her with it on in 2009!  I just told M&M that and she can't believe that she has been wearing it for that long.)  She has really liked her old swimming suit.  We got it at Target and it came with a pair of matching shorts.  We have had a super hard time finding one this year that is modest and that fits her.  One Saturday we spent several hours driving from one store to another with no success.  We would find some that she likes and then when she would try them on they were always too tight in the length - even ones that were 2 or 3 sizes bigger than she wears in clothes.  We even tried a few women's sizes without any luck - they were either way too big or completely ridiculous styles or old lady looking (no offense to any older ladies out there).

There is a website that sells swimsuits that I became aware of a year or two ago so we thought it might be something for us to try out for M&M.  With her long torso though I was hesitant to buy anything without her trying it on first.  I found out that they have a store in American Fork so M&M and I took a trip down to the store yesterday while MJ was napping.  We had kind of decided on some styles to try on by looking at their website and once we were there we immediately found them and M&M tried them on.  And we had success!!  We ended up getting her a tankini style with a separate swimsuit bottom.  It looks super cute on her and fits really well.  M&M is super excited to try it out at our upcoming S Family reunion!  (And I'll have to take pictures of her in it to put on the blog.)  I also bought myself a new swimsuit there so we will post some reviews of the swimsuits once we try them out at the pool.  Here is the website for anyone interested:  hapari.com

I also finally found some sandals for M&M that she likes and that fit her.  We have been looking for those for a while as well and she is a pretty picky person as far as shoes go.  It has been a lot of work but it is fun to finally get things that she likes and that she is happy about - it puts her into a very chatty mood!

MJ talk

I'm listening to MJ playing in her bedroom by herself. She keeps saying, "Good night dog. Sweet dreams." (She's playing with a dog stuffed animal.)

Island Park, here we come!

Monday, June 18

We were able to check in to the rental home anytime after 4:00 on Monday so we were hoping to hit the road around 11 a.m. (about a 5 hour drive from our house).  Trying to get everything packed and find room for all of the food we were bringing was quite a chore!  Plus, my family was planning on heading straight to Washington from Island Park to visit DH's parents.  So we had to pack for the Island Park/Yellowstone trip plus the Washington trip on top of that!  And then of course in the middle of all of that Tan's daughter, A, injured her arm while playing and wouldn't move it at all and anytime someone touched it she would start screaming.  Our hope was that she had just dislocated her elbow (nursemaid's elbow), but there was also a chance that it might be broken.  So her parents took her in to an urgent care center near our house and said they would keep us posted.  I think they were only gone for 45 minutes, maybe an hour and she was as good as new again.  Thankfully it was just the nursemaid's elbow and the doctor quickly popped it back in place, gave her a lollipop and then sent them on their way.  (They probably spent more time filling out paperwork than they did getting treated!)

So after that minor delay we ended up actually hitting the road around 12:30 and made it to the rental cabin around 5:30 or so.  And wouldn't you know it but when we finally figured out all of the directions and made it to our destination, the road to the cabin was closed - it was being dug up by a construction crew.  So we found another way around and still we couldn't get to the cabin.  The road was being worked on just right in front of the place we were staying at.  A neighbor 2 doors down came out and talked to us and DH's brother talked to the construction workers and they claimed they would be done the following day - just some routine road maintenance that just happened to be right in front of where we were staying.  And in the end we only parked in the driveway once while we were there.  The rest of the time we were parked down the road a little bit and had to hike it in with all of our gear...  And they still weren't finished completely by the time we left on Friday!

Island Park, ID

Well, to provide a little bit of a background on our trip to Island Park, the idea all started several months ago.  Ever since DH and I have been married I have wanted to take a trip with him to Yellowstone National Park.  I visited a couple of times with my family while I was growing up and I always enjoyed those visits and have wanted to go back again and take DH and our kids too.  We have thought about taking the trip several times in the past and the timing has just never been quite right.  Well, once my surgery to remove my cancer was over and I was making it through the chemo treatments alright I decided that I wanted to take our family to Yellowstone this spring.  It looked like we would have most of the month of June available.  We have really enjoyed the recent family reunions that we have had with the N family, staying in vacation rental homes, so I started looking into possibly renting something near Yellowstone for our family.  After looking at some places and looking at the time frame that we had to work with we thought it might be fun to invite some family to come with us so the kids would have some cousins to play with.

We were already going to be seeing most of my family in July for a family reunion, so we decided to invite DH 's brother and his family who live near Spokane. It was several months ago that we mentioned it to them and they we really interested in joining us. The only tricky part would be scheduling it around my treatments.

After mentioning it to them I didn't start looking seriously at places for several weeks - I was just having a hard time finding the extra energy to make any decisions at that point. When DH's brother mentioned a few weeks later that they needed to know dates as soon as possible so he could request the time off work, I knew that I needed to start really looking at possible places and making some decisions soon. We emailed some ideas back and forth and I had set a date for when I wanted to Skype my sister-in-law and pick a place.  Well, that day came and I didn't really feel up for it so I let it go another day.  Then out of the blue the following day we got a call from our other sister-in-law that lives overseas in Indonesia right now and she mentioned that they were thinking of changing their summer plans and were considering coming out to the states during the month of June.  I mentioned our plans to go to Yellowstone and thought that the timing of everything was more than just coincidence.  (If I had gone forward with my original plan to call my sister-in-law the day before, we probably would have already booked a place.)  The dates that they were looking at for coming to the states was the exact same time frame that we were looking at for our trip and so we thought it would be a lot of fun to make this a possible family reunion for the N family.

I would have liked to have found a place in West Yellowstone, MT, but with it being so close to Yellowstone the prices were much higher there and they were filling up much quicker.  So we decided on Island Park, ID which isn't too far from West Yellowstone and seemed to have some good places in our price range that could fit all of us.  So after a lot of emails and a few phone calls and lots of internet searching we found a place that could fit all of us and that was available during the dates we were looking at.  I was a little bit nervous making all of these decisions since I have never done a vacation rental before and didn't know exactly what to watch out for.  After we decided on our top choice I went ahead and took care of reserving and paying for the place.  We reserved the rental cabin for 4 nights so we would check in on Monday and check out on Friday.

Up to this point we had been hoping that DH's parents would be able to come as well as his sister who lives in Arizona.  Once we made the reservation we emailed all of the details to them as well and hoped that everyone would be able to come.  Unfortunately in the end - due to some previous vacation plans and a car accident that DH's mother was involved in - neither of the parents were able to make it, but we were able to get his sister to join us.  She was able to get the time off of work and get some plane tickets as well.

Father's Day 2012

Sunday, June 17

Church was kind of nice because all 3 of Tan's kids are in the same primary classes as our kids.  I think that always helps when you are visiting a new ward - to be able to go to class with someone you know!  After church we had dinner and then started trying to get things ready to leave for Island Park, ID the following morning!

DH trying to guess his presents.

DH entertaining the kids (or at least Tan's daughter, A) with his opening skills.  And M&M off to the side teaching Chez how to solve a Rubik's Cube.

Mirror Lake

Saturday, June 16

On Saturday we decided to take a drive to the Uintah Mountains and visit Mirror Lake.  We also took a picnic lunch with us.  The weather was beautiful (in fact a little on the cool side) and this was the first time we have been there where the parking lot wasn't super packed!  We brought out our lunch when we first got there and found a picnic table to sit at.  As soon as we started to get out the lunches we noticed mosquitos everywhere.  Unfortunately I didn't think we would be having a problem with mosquitos during the middle of the day so I hadn't brought any insect repellant with us.  Well, Blondie was mentioning that she thought she had seen some in the back pocket of one of the front seats a few days ago so I trekked back to the car to investigate.  And wouldn't you know it but Blondie was right!  I hurried back with the repellant and after everyone was sprayed with it the mosquitos thankfully left us alone!

After our lunch we walked the path around the lake.  It's a fairly easy walk so the kids did great and we even found a little bit of snow off the side of the path for Tan's family to play in for a few minutes.  Once we made it back to the cars we started the drive back for home - and stopped a couple of times to take some pictures.  We also took a quick stop at the Provo River waterfalls.  Our drive out of the  mountains got delayed for a time because of a motorcycle accident - an older couple on a motorcycle had hit a car coming the opposite direction head on and both people on the motorcycle died.

By the time we made it close to home it was dinner time so we stopped at In-N-Out Burger for dinner.

MJ did not want to leave the river to get back in the car.

Jordanelle Reservoir

Temple Trip

Friday, June 15, 2012

On Friday DH took the day off of work and the four of us adults went to the Salt Lake Temple during the afternoon to go through a session there.  Thankfully we made it in time for the session that we wanted.  After that we walked over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and were able to get them to squeeze us in between reservations at the Roof Restaurant.  It is a beautiful restaurant on the 10th floor of the building and the food is buffet style with a live piano player.  We were told that they could squeeze us in if we could be done in an hour.  It's actually nice with the buffet style because you don't have to order and then wait for your meal to be prepared and brought to you.  It was a nice time away from the chaos of the kids!  M&M and Luke watched the little ones for us and did great - including cooking them dinner.

Family Trip Downtown

Thursday, June 14, 2012

On Thursday DH went in to work and the rest of us headed downtown to check out the new City Creek Center and visit Temple Square.  The new City Creek Center was a beautiful, open space with fountains that were choreographed to music.  We parked in the underground parking and then went across the street to Temple Square.  After walking around the temple a little we went into the Tabernacle to listen to an organ recital.  Unfortunately MJ was not going to have the patience for that so I left after the first few minutes and took MJ outside to run around.  After the recital was over we went to the Visitor's Center for a few minutes and then went back to the City Creek Center for lunch at the food court.  Next we took the kids for a ride on the TRAX light-rail system (there is a free zone downtown).  We went a couple of stops and then got off at the Gateway.  Tan & family stayed there to visit the Clark Planetarium while I took my kids back on TRAX to our car and headed home.  It was an exhausting day for me trying to keep track of all 6 of my kids!  Thank goodness the older ones are able to help out with the younger ones!

Fountain at the new City Creek downtown.

The fountains are choreographed to music.

Picture of all of the kids in front of the temple.

Salt Lake Tabernacle organ pipes

Waiting for the organ recital to begin.

Waiting for the TRAX train.

Riding on TRAX.

Copperton Park

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

DH's brother and family took a trip to Provo to visit BYU.  The kids and I just hung around the house getting some things done and starting our preparations for our trip to Yellowstone next week.  After they returned we ate dinner and then we decided to try out another park in the area.  It is an older park and the kids had a blast there!  Unfortunately Luke was at Scouts and M&M was at YW so we went without them.  (We'll have to go back another time when they can come.)

Swinging

Rings

Cool tunnels

Steep stairs

... and wall!

I'm not sure if I really want to do this... 

I hope someone's going to catch me...

Awesome green space with lots of TALL trees!

Trying to get everyone positioned for a group shot...

Best picture that we got with all the kids in it.