St George

The kids are in St George right now visiting their Grammy and Papa down there. I am trying not to hover so I am limiting my phone calls :) It sounds like they are having a ton of fun though and swimming, swimming, swimming. What a great time for them. I am grateful they get these opportunities to spend time with grandparents. I didn't get that as a child, but Jeremy did and my regret is one of his fondest memories. So how wonderful for them.

Home for Sale?

So our house is up for sale. We put it up for sale about two weeks ago. We did that because we looked at a house in West Farmington and fell in love. We immediately drove to the store and bought a for sale sign. I called our broker the next day to get us a pre-aproved letter (thinking I needed that in order to make an offer). We took a week to get our ducks in a row and get the pre-approved letter. We were going to make an offer on the 21st, but apparently while we were in St. Anthony's (the 19th) someone else made an offer and the home owners accepted it. We are BUMMED! It was a great neighborhood, on .51 acres and 4900 square feet. It was a brick rambler with a walk out basement, a basketball court and best of all a 4 car garage up front and another 2 (more like 1 though) in back. So perfect for us. We are still bummed (and moping a bit :( ). So I don't know what we are doing now, other than keeping our eye out to find another one (although this one took me about 3 years to find).

Lava Hot Springs

What a great weekend with family. We went up to Lava Hot Springs with Jeremy's moms family this weekend. It was great to get to see everyone and to get to chat and it was great having Amy and Kerry come and spend the weekend with us. We went swimming all day Saturday and the kids did great. Austin went off the diving boards (low and high), I was so proud of him that he is getting confident enough in his swimming to do that. (We need to let them swim more often). We got to sit in the hot pots (hot, hot hot!!!) and we got to hang out with family. Almost all of Jeremy's family was there. His Aunt Dixie and Uncle Lane, his Aunt Diane and Uncle Lanny, His Aunt Kay, His cousin Brian and his family, his Cousin Val and her family and his cousins Marty (and her boy Brady), and Heidi. It was a full Strand weekend. The only people missing were his Uncle Randy and Family, and his uncle Emery. It was such a good time to hang out with them. I feel so at home with them, as do my kids. We took our dog though, and he got so spoiled he started whining and barking for attention when he didn't get it. That drove us a little nuts, but all in all I am glad we were able to bring him. As we said our goodbyes to everyone and drove away Jeremy and I both commented on what good people they all are and how blessed we feel to be able to have them in our lives. The Strands are a great group of people. I have always felt comfortable around them, probably because they remind me so much of my own family. I know Jeremy gets a lot of who he is from them and I am grateful.

St. Anthonys

We had a TON of fun at St Anthony's in Idaho. We went up on the 17th and came back on the 20th. When we first got up there we were planning on meeting up with Scott Ellerbeck and family. We had James and Nicole following us, and Mike and Andrea coming up the next day. But as we went to turn into the campground James and Nicole got concerned. Come to find out, they and Mike and Andrea were booked at a different campground. What to do? We scrambled, made calls and did everything we could to get them out of their reservations, since Scott was already set up and we told him we would camp with him too. But it was all to no avail, so we packed our stuff back up (in the mean time we had set up camp with Scott for the night), and headed over to the campground Mike and Andrea had booked. It ended up being much further away from the big hills, but this one had grass and the kids could ride their four wheelers on the dunes right next to camp. So it worked out to be great. The kids had a ton of fun playing on the dunes, and riding four wheelers. The girls (me, myself and Nicole) had a good time hauling a** over the dunes in the Rhinos, it was a great time. The dunes up there are HUGE!!! It just goes forever and ever, it is like a 20 mile freeway of sand and hills. It was great, can't wait to go back.

New Day Care

As the school year winded down we were trying to decide what to do for summer. Most of the kids' friends at Kinder Care wouldn't be there for the summer, they were going elsewhere, and Kinder Cares summer rates were pretty expensive ($155 a kid per week). The only reason we go to Kinder Care is because they bus the kids to school, so they didn't have to go there for the summer if they didn't want to. The final thing was when we heard they weren't going to take the kids on ANY field trips all summer. They were going to bring something in each week (and charge us $16 a week for it), but the kids wouldn't be leaving the center. I don't like the idea of my kids spending all summer cooped up like that and neither did the kids. So for the summer they are going to one of their old day cares called "Ready Set Grow". So far they have made new friends, enjoy getting to watch a movie every day and have really enjoyed it. Today I got the June schedule and I am excited for them. According to the calendar they will be going swimming every Thursday, going to Tracy Aviary and lunch at Liberty Park, Visiting the Zoo, heading to Kangaroo Zoo (a huge inflatable play place), doing a Lagoon Walk, and going to the Capitol for a war memorial tour. Not to mention the art projects and things they do every other day.
Sounds like a fun summer for them.

Scuba Divers?

We took the kids with us to Neptune Divers so they could learn to Snorkel and so I could try out my BC. It took the kids some getting used to, to be able to breath out of the snorkel, and they had a hard time (especially Trinity) having something over there nose. But it didn't take them long and they were off swimming the distance of the pool. (Trinity had to stay close to the wall and get support occasionally, but Austin had no problem swimming back and forth). Looks like swimming lessons paid off.
It didn't take long before they wanted to try the scuba gear. So I let Trinity have my secondary air hose and the two of us went down. She loved it and took to it like a natural. Austin then wanted a turn, but before long he wanted the whole gear on. So I took mine off and strapped it all on him. It was obviously way to big, so the tank would make him flop on his side some near the surface. But he did great. Both he and Trinity mastered breathing and using the scuba gear. Unfortunately the scuba shop worker came out and said they couldn't use our gear :( (they weren't certified).
But he brought them out an "Aqua lung breathing assisted snorkel gear" which was essentially scuba gear for kids, but without the ability to go down to the bottom of the pool. So it kept them on the surface, but other than that it had a tank and everything, just like scuba gear. It was awesome. They loved it, and loved snorkeling.
I can't wait to get them out in the Ocean where they can see fish.

Fun Weekend!

We had a great weekend. We got the lawn mowed, the house cleaned, helped some friends move and then decided to have some fun. Jeremy's Aunt Kay watched the kids for us Saturday night and Jeremy and I went out. We started at Takashi's and had some fantastic Sushi. I love that place! Then we left there and walked to Keys On Main, it is a Piano bar downtown. It was fun and it is a really upbeat place. We enjoyed it, but I have to admit I was surprised to find so many gay couples. One after another kept pouring in. I figured it must be sort of a hang out for them or something (over half the people there that night was gay), not that it mattered, it was just surprising. (We found out at breakfast Sunday it was Gay Pride Celebration that night :)) Like I said though, lots of good music, we may have to take some friends/family members there, just cause you don't drink doesn't mean you can't appreciate some fun Piano Dueling :)
Then we left there and walked to the Red Door. They usually have fantastic Martini's but I have to admit, it wasn't very good this time (I didn't even drink half of mine). But the music there was good too.
What a night we loved it. Then we woke up the next morning and had brunch at Moxi Bistro in bountiful. It's a great place. I can't wait to take Amy and Kerry when they come in town. Infusion Yoga is attached to it as well, I am excited to go try out the Yoga (and maybe the Massage parlor upstairs :)). From there we headed to the Gym, then came home, grabbed the kids and headed to Neptune divers to try some scuba/snorkeling.