Trip to Salt Lake

I took a last minute trip to Salt Lake to say good-bye to my Grandma Anderson's last living sibling. My mom and I flew up on Friday and attended a viewing, funeral and graveside service. My great aunt Fern was 87 and lived a very full life: raising 3 daughters, supporting a professor husband in San Diego, being a substitute teacher for 27 years (bless her heart) and then living in Ogden. Wonderful, sweet lady! My Mom and I stayed with the Allred family (a dear family that I have stayed friends with since moving from Utah). They agreed to this visit last minute and were the greatest hosts. (This is where I break out in song "that's what friends are for...") A special experience during the trip was doing a session at the Bountiful temple with Julie and my mom. What a beautiful temple! We also had a nice visit with Elizabeth, an amazing woman that I am lucky to call a friend. We met up with another family member, Aunt Nancy and she treated us to a fabulous breakfast buffet at the "Little America". When in Salt lake this a must thing to do. I was practically licking up the hollandaise sauce from the eggs benedict and all the fresh fruits. I ate enough for several days. She has worked for the Utah state office of education for the past 20 years among other great things.


My mom relaxing on Temple square. Look at the gorgeous flowers!
Staci in front of the Salt Lake temple. We saw the new movie about the prophet Joseph Smith. It was faith promoting and testimony building...I cried through most of it!

The funeral was very nice and upbeat. I know she is happy.

Staci and Julie strike a pose

Bless you Allred family for taking such good care of us. Hayden and Corbin were at their Grandma's house, but look at this doll, Libby. She is an angel!

Talent Show Sample

Our Primary is compiling 2 minute videos of each child to make into a Talent Show. The biggest benefits are the kids can show multiple talents and they aren't nervous (getting stage fright). Since most of you will not be attending this event in September, please watch what our kids decided to video. Sorry, I love this part of blogging!

I wish I could edit, but here it is in pieces.

Perry making cinnamon french toast

Sage rides her bike and plays piano.

Libby sings 2 songs.

Brooke sings, climbs and builds all in a dress!

BOOK REVIEW - "Breaking Dawn"

This is the 4th and final book in the "Twilight" series. I just couldn't get enough of all the details about vampires and werewolves, love story, etc. This is the only book I wouldn't recommend to a teenager because the couple went pass kissing (they are married now), but I thought if this goes past a few sentences, then I would be reading a trashy novel. The author is way too smart for that...she leaves it to your imagination. The book is full of suspense and never leaves you a place to put it down. Well, that is until it said "The End" (the movie comes out this winter). I feel good that I can say that I didn't just make my kids read this summer, I read at least 4 books (not including all the Superfudge books) totaling well over 3000 pages. Have you read anything good lately?

Perry's Birthday camp out with friends

Perry and Lee made 1 S'more for everyone to share. Yes, it is actually a cake!
Game cube tournament...
Pitching the tent

Perry is pitching water balloons for his friends to hit. Note: Not one person was soaked during this game.

Games today (not like what it used to be)

5 boys came, 4 spent the night and went home. The details remain top secret (ask them...they speak tween). Pizza, chips, soda, donuts...time for some R&R.

Cleaning the Fridge

We are about half way done with the messy job. Go, Brooke, go!

Just one of those things that wasn't expected...a can of V-8 juice was found spilled all the way down the back wall of the fridge. This meant taking out everything to get to the mess, because it also had fun pooling at the bottom. I had to get creative with a squirt bottle to get into places that couldn't be reached with a sponge. Brooke was more than willing to help wipe up the mess. She kept handing me the yucky sponge to rinse while I kept taking things out of her way. Brooke loves to do projects with Mom, such a big helper.

Family Trip to Vegas

Brooke, Libby and Sage on the Frog Hopper. Brooke must have gone on this 15 times while the big kids went on some rides with height limitations. Wristbands can be helpful in these situations.

Super Hero party at the game room (they served yummy cake)
Playing chess and checkers was fun to do.
Libby, Perry and Sage all participated in a Wii tournament.
Treasure Hunt that took us outside to the pools and fountains and back to a treasure chest filled with goodie bags. Then they each made a pirate hat.

Kitty playing with her toy
Kitty by her waterfall
Kitty above us (glass ceiling). These were 4 year old sisters at the MGM Lion Habitat.

Face and hand painting
Aquarium at Rain Forest Cafe. Didn't eat there, just enjoyed the storm.
Not many free drinks in Vegas, so frequently we had to drink out of the sink faucets. They are so thoughtful to have warm water for hand washing...not so great when you are using it as a drinking fountain. 106 degrees is not so bad when every place you go is air conditioned.
Gardens at the Belagio; the bear behind us is literally dripping wet from catching a fish.

What didn't we do? A lot actually...when can we go back? My parents invited us to stay at their Time Share resort in Vegas (Wyndham's grand desert). Ours was a 2 bedroom condo that included a dishwasher, washing machine and dryer, a 2 person jacuzzi tub, etc. The place had 3 TVs that kept us busy during free minutes. Best of all, no gambling at this resort. There was a game room where we all learned to play the Wii. There was an assortment of movies to check out for free as well. They wanted to sell us a time share, but we walked away with $125 towards our food and a 3 day trip instead. Our salesperson turned out to be LDS and knew a cousin of Lee's from Arizona.

When we arrived last Saturday, they were having a pool party, where the girls immediately had their faces painted, ate chips and drank lemonade. The pools are in the shade most of the day (we never applied sunscreen).

Activities we enjoyed:

• Adventuredome at Circus Circus (25 different rides, including a water ride, big roller coaster and Laser Tag)


• Magic/Comedy show starring Mac King


• Buffets


• swimming


• playing Wii


• fountains, garden and chocolate at the Belagio


• Lions at MGM


• arcade at New York, New York


• elevator and escalator rides (endless turns)


• running to our room (located down a very long hall)


• treasure hunt

I'm sure I have forgotten things, but it was so much fun. We even had a visit from my niece, Lisa (Ed's granddaughter) and her boyfriend Matt. She used to work at the Belagio and showed us around. We also had a visit from my cousin Tyler (he lives in Vegas). Jim and 2 of his kids (ages 8 and 12) came for 2 of the days. Everyone added a little more fun to the trip.

T-ball comes to an end

Libby hitting off the T.
Sage, Brooke and Libby in the field.

Libby, Brooke and Sage have been involved with T-ball for the past 6 weeks. They have learned how to hit the ball, field, run bases, etc. It has been fun to watch them improve their skills. Flag football is coming their way next. My girls will know how to throw a FOOTBALL!

Perry turned 11

Perry is also going to be celebrating his birthday for the next several weeks. We started with a dinner from Pizza Hut and chocolates from See's. Then we had ice cream and Oreos the next night ('cause we ate too much pizza on his birthday). Even up in Sacramento, grandparents didn't allow him to go without a yummy lemon cake (see Jenny's blog for a photo). We are still anticipating his campout party on the 20th. So tune in for the results.

Singing and Dancing

Sometimes the kids put on shows. This time I actually got some live shots to share.

This is Brooke's best friend. Listen and watch how they actually share the stage at the age of 4.

Libby in her zone. Please forgive all the skin exposure.

BOOK REVIEW - "New Moon"

This was the second book in the "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer. It continues on with a teenage love story, but adds werewolves and more problems to the vampires. It is still fast, fun reading that keeps you trying to guess what could this girl, Bella, get herself into next? I would recommend it to anyone looking for some light reading.

Going to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Sacramento

Driving the cars at Funderland!
Michaelson and Sage on the teacups
Grandma and her boys taking a break. None of the drinking fountains were working at the amusement park. Good thing they kept refilling a cup for us :)

Jacob and Brooke playing in the sandbox. One day they even flooded the entire thing with water. I think they are quite the dynamic duo.
Tim, Sage and Gavin on the slip and slide...oh how fun that was!
Perry and Ben on the Dragon roller coaster. I think we must have gone on it over 20 times. It helps when you have an unlimited wrist band pass.
Lee and Libby are also on the coaster. Each time you get on, it goes around the track 3 times. The last seat gets a little extra jump to it.

Libby and Brooke with an adorable hedgehog at the zoo.
Sage and Brooke on the tongue of a frog catching the dragonfly that Jacob is lounging on.
Sage, Libby and Brooke checking out one of the giraffes.
What is this??? Gavin asleep in the stroller! I guess he doesn't usually fall asleep in strollers or car seats...well this trip he managed to.

Arts and Crafts with cousin Jacob
Building with Legos or connectors (or please correct me with the real name)
Look at all the choices of cereal Perry had!
Sage building with Duplos. Could possibly have been the most popular toy...well maybe close to the sandbox.

We stayed 4 days, kept going like a train, we loved it all. The food was delicious...we kept hearing about the famous pancakes, waffles and eggs - we had them all. Sorry, I didn't get pictures of swimming and the nature center. We actually saw some deer with a fawn (walking close to us) that had spots just like Bambi! Also saw some wild turkeys that didn't seem bothered by us at all. The nature center had an excellent indoor interactive area with fun things for the kids and adults. The public swimming pool had a very cool water slide and diving board. I thought I could swim a few laps...but oh my abs were sore the next day (what a wimp!)