1 Year

 

Today marks 1 year since Grandma Utah passed away.  We miss her so much and think about her all the time.  We think about the happy memories and how grateful we are for them.  We wish she was here to laugh with us at the funny things the kids do.  We think she would like the little girl full of spunk and hugs that Zuri has grown in to that she only got such a short time with.  We know she would be so pleased with Kai and Rori and how hard they are working at everything they do.   We hope she's happy with the decisions we are making and we hope she is helping guide us in the paths we should go.  It has been a long year without her and I think we are still very much in shock that she is really gone.  We love you Grandma Utah!      

July Road Trip #2- Del Mar

Our second big road trip in July was to Del Mar.  Lance was scheduled to be a presenter at a conference in Reno so we decided it would be a good time for the kids and I to once again beat the heat and get out of town.  Driving to San Diego takes me about 5 hours with only 1 quick gas/ bathroom break.  That really isn't a bad distance, but it sure is nice to be done with it at the end of the day.  The kids actually did great on the drive.  Thanks to the DVD player and a stash of new to us movies courtesy of the Public Library and several rounds of snacks they were all pretty happily entertained.  I was the bored one.  We were all super excited when we finally pulled in! 

Our first full day we headed to the beach followed by the pool.  It was perfect weather and all the kids had a great time.  Kai was really tearing it up on the boogie board.  He and grandma both went out on their own boards and had lots of fun out in the waves.  Rori took a turn too and was starting to get the hang of it in the smaller surf.  Zuri is now not afraid of getting messy in the sand or getting wet in the water and just happily ran back and forth between the two.  Grandpa helped them build some sandcastles and I think they could have happily done that for a long time.  Eventually we decided to head back to the pool though.  The beach is so beautiful and fun but cleaning off 3 kids and all the stuff your bring from the sand is not my favorite thing.  The pool is wonderful in that regard.

 

 

 

 

 

The next day was movie day.  We went and saw Monster's University.  The theatre had the large recliner seats so we all had fun with that.  This was our first attempt at a movie theatre with Zuri and she did pretty well.  I think the fact that she consumed a lot of popcorn and and got to snuggle in with all of us in the big chairs probably helped a lot.  After the movie we went to the mall and ate lunch by the ice skating rink which is always fun.  That night Grandpa had a special project that he had been saving for the kids.  He took them to the Grocery Store to cash in on his change jars at the change machine.  It was great fun for the kids to pour in all those coins and watch the machine add it all up.  In the end Grandpa had collected over $60 in change that he shared with his little workers!

 

 

 

On Friday the boys went to the driving range and then to Torrey Pines to watch some of a Junior Tournament that was going on there.  The girls went shopping and had some good success.  Rori was a good little shopper while we were looking for her and talked Grandma in to several cute things including her favorite new hat.  That night Sandy came and watched Whitney so we could grab a quick dinner before heading home to watch the new Disney Channel musical on TV that the kids had been anxiously anticipating.  Grandma and Grandpa were a good sport to make it all the way through the movie with them.

 

 

 

We also had a great time just playing, hanging out, making smoothies, telling stories, playing music, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a nice trip and great to get to spend some fun time with Grandma and Grandpa and Whitney.  They make it so special and nice for us when we go visit.  We were sad to pull out again when it was time to go.  The drive back went just fine again and I was once again grateful to have had a safe and great trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July Road Trip #1- SLC

On the 4th of July we headed up to Utah.  It was so nice to get out of the heat for awhile.  The kids had a blast playing in grandpa's back yard a ton the whole time we were there.  It was so nice to be able to just let them go outside and play.  We made it town in time to head to Sugarhouse park for a great fireworks show.  We all loved it and Zuri has been talking about fireworks ever since.  We also fit in checking out all the new happenings in Sugarhouse including getting a preview of the new Firehouse Subs our friends are opening there which is so exciting.  We also got to try a new pizza place there that was so yummy.  It is such a fun new area and it is so neat to see how it is taking off.  Our last night the Wilkinson's met up with us for some hiking and smores making.  We ended up getting rained out part way through, but we headed back to Brice's and played and made the smores in his fireplace.  It was super fun and we loved it all including the big rainstorm.  We had a great trip!