Fall Break 2010

For Fall break, we flew to Utah, Drove 4 hours to Rexburg, Drove 4 hours back from Rexburg, Waited two days and drove 4 hours back to Rexburg, spent the night and drove 4 hours back to fly out of Utah… so Jessica could renew her sister bonds with Summer…We are the best (senile) parents!!!

When we got into Utah we drove to the temple because it is so beautiful all lit up at night.

  The weather was beautiful!

Checking out The Christus,

The Tabernacle, (Jessica was having flash backs of pictures with Bernerd)

 

and simply being amazed by the beauty and spirit you find on temple grounds.  We managed to sneak into the Conference center just in time for a quick tour before they closed for the night and it still astounds me with its grandeur every time I go in and hear about its  construction and the vision President Hinckley had of the part this building would play in the continuing growth of the Church.

The best part of the trip though was seeing Lindsey, Mike, Amy and Matthew.  They have relocated to Pleasant Grove (staying with Mikes Parents for the time being) to regroup and make really important Life Decisions (like what do I want to be when I grow up).  Lindsey and Amy drove with us to Rexburg (Thanks Mike for watching Mathew)they just felt the need to go on a 8 hour car ride.   It was nice to have the time to visit with each other and of course we had to stop…THE WORLDS GREATEST STORE!!!…on the way.  They had lots of hats for the “little ones” to try on…

and let their inner child out.

(didn’t buy these lovely animals)

but we did buy a nice assortment of candy, nail polish, toothbrush and a bear that tells the entire store of the “Night before Christmas”…If you want it this store has It!

Now we did visit Summer when we got to Rexburg, it was  clearly an emotional reuniting of sisters… just envision the tearful reunion, the the amazing maturity that Summer and Jessica have come to have…NOT!    As always eating is the highlight of all of our trips and the experiences by which we rate them…and SCORE, we let “Maggie” (our GPS) find us a Mexican food place on the way there, which was surprising good,  and a trip to Craigo’s Pizza with Amanda,  Summer’s roommate. and we hit Olive Garden on the was back in to Utah…So the trip was…GREAT!

The next day Mike once again did his fatherly duty and let Lindsey run away with me to the amazing craft stores Utah has to offer (I will not however mention that while Mike was a job interview Matthew fell off a chair and had to get a stich under his chin…oh wait I guess I did mention it )  But he seemed to weather it just fine and what boy can grow up without a scar or two, and it was totally worth it for us to experience Rod Works, Wood connection and Tai Pan without little ones.  When we got back Dad, Lindsey, Mike and Matthew (since he had a new stich and couldn’t get it wet) went to the sports expo that Lindsey had won tickets too. Is this a good time to mention that Lindsey is forever winning things on the radio, if we ever want to win anything we sign Lindsey’s name to it.  While they were gone Amy and I went swimming at the hotel.  I had also planned to hit McDonalds and the Halloween store next door, but she was content to swim and carry out her very imaginative story lines in the pool.

She was a Fish, a mermaid, a princess and a frog.

 

and the nice part about it…all I had to do was say “good Job” every now and then and listen to her tell of her adventures!

 

I am so excited they are a little closer to Arizona.

The next day we made the trek back to Rexburg…boy is it a long drive…and took Summer, Jess, and Amanda (Summers really fun roommate) out for Pizza at Craigos, spent the night and headed back to the Airport and home.  (Oh I almost forgot…also visited Porter Craft store, a must if you ever make it to Rexburg).  Cross that trip off the list…OH WAIT… the adventure is not over…just as we were leaving the airport, we blew out a tire…(and yes I knew the bubble tire in the trunk had never been aired up and the Lord was tired of protecting stupidity)  so Arlon had to call his ever vigilant brother Dennis to drive out and air up the tire that was nice and new and without air.  But the only difference between bad experiences and good experiences…having a camera around to make it a memory so you can laugh about it….after some time has passed.

A more BOO-tiful home!

  I Love Halloween…all the glitz and glam…Food, Decorations, Costumes, and no gifts to buy!!!  This year I hosted our wards Bunko night so the incentive was there to get with the program and get the decorations up.  I will also have grandkids back in the state in time for Halloween (Yeah Taylor, Keaton and Brody)  Any one who knows me, knows original I’m not, so it was off to the computer to get my holiday inspirations. http://www.skiptomylou.org/ gave me the shoe pattern and http://picky-palate.com the Monster Mash (the stuff in the cupcake holders)

I I        

Won the Boo pumpkins at last months Bunko,

  

Added some old in with the new, and WA LA…Bring on the ladies!

  

 

 

 

(I made several sets of these to give away as prizes)

Glittery Skulls were everywhere this year!

 

My “Franks” have been with me since my old wood crafting days.  Great memories of Super Saturdays in Meadowgreen Park Ward, and Crafting with my friend Shellie who always has original ideas (no internet back then to borrow ideas from, can you even imagine I’m that old!)

My new dollar store find…a candlestick (it has little skeletons dangling from it) that I glued  a cute Halloween plate  to the top to make a great Plate holder.

Did I mention I LOVE Halloween!

Up, Up, and Away!

I wish I could have gotten the pictures to do this trip justice, but I didn’t so you will just have to use your imagination to recreate the pictures in your mind! 

This was the first annual trip to Arizona with grandma.  One day they will be old enough to get on a plane and just come see me when I need my “fix”, but for now I had to go and collect them.  So I landed in Kansas, spent a couple of days then Calli ,Taylor, Keaton and I drove to St. Louis, met the Laudie’s.  While there we visited the Zoo and Celebrated Matthews 1st Birthday (these pictures will come in a later post, I am doing my summer posts as the mood strikes and out of order…because I can).  I took possession of Amy and we drove back to Kansas.  (sounds kinda creepy…doesn’t it)  While on the trip home, Keaton, who had been advanced to a booster seat instead of a car seat, decided he know longer wanted to sit in his booster.  He kept sliding his skinny little body out of the seat totally ignoring the rather loud and constant good advice of his grandmother and mom!  So a side trip was made and a new car seat was bought and he was strapped in TIGHT!  And this was the sweet boy I had been missing and came all this way to bring back to Arizona…(I hope your mental pictures are half as good as the real ones I did not take)!  At this time I was contemplating which drugs were legal to administer to minors on a plane:)  We made it back to Kansas and I was still determined we could get to Arizona without a midair incident. 

They day arrived for us to leave.  The backpacks were loaded with treats…the dog leashes were clipped to the belt loops (you may think that was overkill , but by now I knew how fast a two year old could disappear..and I had two of them)  Brendan drove us to the airport and helped us get all the baggage checked in.  We checked in just in time to board the plane, thus no chance to take really cute pictures of the exodus to the plane.  (Picturing Three cute kids with backpacks on, leashes attached and grandma sending silent prays to heaven to help us arrive safely.)  All this was for not though because Keaton was so sober the entire trip…he didn’t feel good, Taylor sat by a very nice man and his son who listened to her talk the entire trip, and Amy was happy to color and eat.  I am SUPER GRANDMA!

 

These were the only picture I got of the plane trip!

To infinity and beyond!

It was finally the long awaited time…Toy Story 3, was finally here.  Grandma bought them the proper attire…

  

the proper junk food… and we settled back to enjoy the show!!!   Keaton hasn’t hardly let me call him anything but Buzz for months.  He was enthralled the entire time…then it was over…he just didn’t get it, we should stay and watch it again!  A classic case of “Too Much Birthday”.  Needless to say “Buzz” went home and had a nap! 

Did I mention…Keaton really enjoyed the movie!