3 Week Vacation

No...the vacation isn't over yet! It's not even half-way! Since my sister was married July 29, the kids and I stayed in Utah while Rob went home to work (good thing, too! He had a bunch of new patients in July!). We stayed with my sister for several days and stayed at my mom's for several days. While at my sister's, we just had to go to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. All of the kids enjoyed looking at the dinosaurs, but they especially had fun playing with the water and "digging" for dinosaur bones. They just didn't want to leave, but the two little ones needed naps...and the Moms can only stand so much...
We also scrapbooked for two days. I brought my embellishments, cutter, stamps, etc, to work on my wedding album (yeah, it's still not done). But I forgot it at home! So I worked on my sister's wedding album instead (she wanted a scrapbook for her engagement and wedding photos to double as the reception sign-in book). And even though it had been a long time since I've scrapped, I was quite pleased with what I came up with! I ended up doing a few extra blank layouts to bring home with me.

The next day, my mom agreed to watch my kids for the afternoon while I went to visit my brother and his wife and see their wee newborn! (My kids couldn't come because there was a bug going around and my kids were definitely exposed.) It was the first time I had been to JJ's home. And I just really enjoyed the chance to bond with him, Kristy, baby Annie (I only held her for about an hour...), and their son, Justus. I also did my bit of "dinner for the new mom" by making them some of my famous stir fry, which they loved.

Then we stayed at my Mom's house for several days. I enjoyed just relaxing, spending a lot of time with the kids, and weeding their back yard (I know, I'm crazy, but I enjoy yard work!). The kids wanted to go in the Great Salt Lake, so off we went! Once you get past the gooey mud, the stink, and the bugs, it's really not bad. The kids had a blast playing in the water and catching Sea Monkeys (brine shrimp). They were literally everywhere! We only had a small water bottle, but I think we caught over 50. We brought them back to Nana's house and the kids enjoyed just watching them. They decided the big white ones were boys and the littler pink ones were girls (or was it the other way around?).

Colden and I went out far enough to float. And while I was telling him that he could "trust me" and float, his head went under water and he got a gulp of that super-salty water. Instantly, he was crying for his life and saying that his brain hurt. Not long after that, Dylan swallowed some water and started doing the same thing! Only Evelynn was cheerfully playing in the water at this point. The only fresh water we had was WAY up the beach (since you walk about 1/4 mile into the lake before it reaches your waist...and the dry non-buggy sand is about 1/8 mile away from the shore). So I booked it as well as I could to get to the fresh water bottles, all the while listening to my boys scream for their lives. Almost as soon as I arrived to the water, their cries subsided. I asked them how they felt, and they said better. grrrrr.

Oh, well. At least they'll never do that again!

A day or two later, I visited one of my favorite cousins, Treasure. I lived with her for a summer after high school, so we really enjoyed catching up. Colden and Dylan had so much fun at her place...especially seeing how many pets she has...dogs, rats, parakeets, parrot, fish. I just love how I feel when I'm around her...she's so full of love!