I'm a City Girl Again

Hello Salt Lake City! It's great to be back again. We joined BD for his annual work conference at the U. Work for him, play for us right??
After spending the first morning in a dark, stuffy hotel room and 2 hours of SpongeBob and kids fighting over the remote I was beginning to think that maybe BD had the better end of the deal! I almost cried, really, "Wait--send me to the conference!" No, in the end we pulled it off. We had plenty of adventure but not so much sleep. Here's how we spent our week:

DAY 1: This is the Place/ Heritage Park
The best thing about this is that it is way less crowded than the zoo across the street and you can pet the animals---at least the farm ones. Kate has been begging for a bunny ever since.
They enjoyed learning about pioneer life, making rag dolls, Indian arrowhead necklaces. The trainride was fun and the pony rides were a hit. Then it was..."Mom, when are we going to Lagoon?...."
DAY 2 : Lagoon. I wasn't about to tote a clunky camera around but boy I wish I could have captured the looks on Brynn and Kate's faces in the House of Horror, Colossus, Wicked, the Spider...Thanks to Cannon and Adrie for staying with Aunt Shannon so we could have such fun.
I think I got my fill of funnel cake for at least 5 years.

DAY 3: Museum of Natural History.
We always like to see rocks and dinosaur bones plus they had a pretty fun live frog exhibit. I can do a RIBBIT that really impresses the neighbor kids.


DAY 4: Why go anywhere when we can stay at the hotel and swim all day?

DAY 5: Ice skating.

Brynn won the gold-medal for ATTITUDE on this trip and this was her one request to go ice skating. How could I have remembered to pack jackets and gloves in the middle of summer? Luckily we scavenged a few items around my parents house. I just don't get how people can go backwards on those awkward things they call skates, let alone do any jumping or spinning.



Next door was Murray Park.

The girls couldn't resist the call of rolling green hills and vine trees dripping over a rushing river. We had to enjoy the freshness for a while before heading South.

There you have it. 5 days of city fun as an almost single parent. Sound exhausting? Well it was.

I'm glad to be home and sleeping in my own room. Could I just sleep for one whole day?

Do What?!

Brandon had a great idea for a church activity for the couples in our ward. As EQ President he planned it and in a few spare minutes last Sunday, typed up and printed out an invitation. These were passed out at church.. The party was on!
Apparently step 3 caused some speculation...

FIREPROOFING YOUR MARRIAGE IS AS EASY AS 1-2-3

1. See the movie Fireproof at the home of ___ .

2. Enjoy ice cream with all the fixings as you watch.

3. Return to the privacy of your home and complete with your spouse a Marriage Wellness Excercise to enhance your relationship.

It's as easy as 1-2-3. Hope to see you there!

Brandon received all kinds of feedback and chuckles about this. If you don't get it, go back and read step 3 with a dirty mind.
Really, step 3 was to be a writing exercise or questionnaire that couples could fill out to evaluate their marriage. Brandon came up with a few good questions on a handout. So as to avoid any marital feuds, he thought it would be best if couples discussed their answers "in the privacy of their own homes." Of course!
Brandon responded in good humor that even though step 3 was intended to be a written excercise, it would be great if the other happened too.

Here is a sampling of questions with possible answers of OFTEN, OCCASIONALLY or NEVER.


1. I express gratitude for my spouse's gifts, talents, and daily efforts.
2. I pray for my spouse and children.
3. I solve current problems without bringing up my spouse's past imperfections/incidents.
4. I live by the principle "Never go to bed angry" True/False
5. I am willing to ask my spouse 2-3 things I could do differently to improve our relationship. True/False

Feel free to enjoy this excercise in the privacy of YOUR own homes--ha ha.

Proof that we went camping

I know, it's shocking--which is why I took pictures to prove it.
We went camping with 8 or so other families in a beautiful spot just 30 minutes away from home. Kate and Brynn were very excited for their very first ever camping trip. We were sorry to leave Brandon home--he was on-call. But, we were glad to leave Cannon and Adrie home where they wouldn't be tempted by the many water hazards and campfire dangers.

We might have seemed a little pathetic sleeping in our van and eating Lunchables around the campfire but for us it was adventure enough!

What could be better entertainment in the mountains than a stream with a couple of rope swings hanging from the trees? Even I couldn't resist them. In addition to the water fun, the kids enjoyed a nature scavenger hunt, a raft race, geo-caching, fishing, and making hemp-bracelets.

Except for the the terrifying outhouse experiences (which were thankfully few) our girls had the time of their lives. We maybe would even do it again...if I had shower/toilet access...so, I did some research when we got home:

Cost of trailer: $20,000

Cost of truck to pull the trailer: $20,000

I think for $40,000 we could have some pretty nice beach vacations over the years.

Luckily mountain fun is not so far away that we can't return home and sleep in our own beds!

I love you bed!