Grandfather and other dinosaurs :)

On Wednesday May 4, 2011 we headed out to visit my Mom's dad (Grandfather), the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point, and our friends Nathan and Stephanie.
Grandfather recently moved to an assisted living place and it was our first visit with him there.  Even though his memory is terrible these days, he is such a kind and gentle man.  He loved just being with our girls and shared some treats with them.  He asked their names over and over again because he wanted so badly to remember.  It was a nice visit and I'm thankful for such a wonderful grandfather--he has led an amazing life.

Grandfather, Megan, Amber, Brooke

We headed over to the Dinosaur Museum and the kids were having a great time.  It was very kid-friendly (I loved the signs that said "please touch").  Here they are checking out a fossil...

They built their own dinosaur...

They did some shape matching...

They especially loved the erosion room--right up until the power went out...uh oh.  We hung around for about 20 minutes and when it hadn't come back on, we went with plan B--BYU campus!

We ate Creamery ice cream in the Cougareat (and ran into some good friends who have moved from Houston there), walked around the bookstore, and enjoyed seeing all the new construction happening around campus.  Then it was off to Orem to have dinner with Nathan and Stephanie.  We had a good time chatting, laughing, trying to get our kids to sleep, and playing Pinochle.  It was a great day.

Kennecott Copper and a Low Point

Tuesday May 3, we headed out with Grandma to check out the Kennecott Copper mine.  Apparently I'd probably been there before, but not in my memory.  It was pretty amazing to see such a gigantic hole in the ground and there was a little museum and movie to watch.  The kids actually liked the movie, but had to be strapped down in the stroller while in the museum.  I think boys might have liked the museum more (there were tons of models of tractors everywhere), but for the girls it was a tough sell.  We'll have to try it again in a few years :).

Me, Megan, Dan

Grandma and Brooke, Dan and Megan

We left around noon to head back to Bountiful.  This was also the day of my mom's follow-up appointment with her oncologist.  On the way back to Bountiful, I called my parents' house to see if they were home and got no answer, so I called my sister in Connecticut to see if she'd heard anything.  She then read me an email from my Dad telling us that my Mom's cancer had not responded to the 3 additional chemo treatments she'd just finished--in fact, it grew and spread quite a bit during those treatments.  Hearing that part I started to choke up, but then my Dad explained that they'd be canceling the around the world trip they had planned for July and I immediately started sobbing.  Mom was set to meet with the doctors at MD Anderson to discuss clinical trials and would likely be in for a long summer of treatments--not remission like we'd all hoped.  It was hard to be away on that day.  I wanted to be there to see Mom and reassure myself as to exactly how she was doing.  Our trip was going great, but suddenly I just wanted to be home.  I was able to talk to Mom the next day and calmed down a bit, but I was glad to be heading home soon.
When we got back to Bountiful, Dan's parents offered to stay with the girls so we could go spend some time in the temple.  I have never been so emotional during a session as I was that day, but it was comforting to be in that "home" and feel of the peace and love of Heavenly Father.

Grandma Great and Temple Square

After a nice day at church on May 1, 2011 we went to visit with Dan's Grandma (our kids call her Grandma-Great).  We never miss a chance at 4 generation photos, so here are the best from that day.

As you can see, Brooke is in an especially helpful picture stage--this was the best we got before she scrambled away.  Megan, Dan, Grandma-great, Brooke, and Papa

Brooke came back...with her thumb and blankie and only on Mom's lap (but at least she held still)

Grandma-great got some books for the girls--they LOVED them...

Monday, May 2, 2011 dawned sunny and almost warm!  We packed up the kids and Ben and headed down to Temple Square.  It was a beautiful, beautiful day.

Ben and Dan...

We are matching the statue (cute, I know).  By the way, I'm 28 weeks and 1 day along in this picture

Trying to get the girls to stand there for a picture--they mostly just jumped...

After walking around outside and checking out the Christus statue, we headed over to the Church History Museum where they have a new Children's section on the top floor.  It was AWESOME!  It was like any other Children's museum, but it was free!  Wahoo!  I think we'll make this a new part of our Utah visit routine from now on.  We were there about an hour but could have stayed longer.  The girls loved it.


Here they are learning some Ballet Folklorico.

Family Party

Since Dan didn't arrive until April 29, his parents and siblings waited to have their Easter party with him on April 30.  It was the first time since Ben's homecoming that the whole clan was together and we had a blast.  We ate delicious food, talked, laughed, and played his parents' version of Let's Make a Deal.

Dan's parents like to set up a game show with prizes for their children each year at the Easter party (past ones include Deal or No Deal, Minute to Win It, etc.).  For Let's Make a Deal, we had to answer a trivia question and if we got it right, we then got to choose from a mystery box or an envelope.   I won some really awesome "shave powder formulated for the African-American man".  Sweet.  I was able to trade it later for $5.  I was much happier with my $5!

Brooke so happy to be with Daddy again.  The girls were so excited to see him Saturday morning that they dragged their cousins into our room to show him off...at 6:30 in the morning.

The "little" cousins with their treasures from Grandma and Papa (Lily, Megan, Alonzo, and Brooke)

A little basketball while waiting for the game show setup...

The siblings:  Ben, Ali, Amberly, Dan, Michelle, Heather

Height order (6'10", 6'4", 6'3", 6', 5'11", 5'10") (don't quote me on these heights :) )

Their best side...

On the rocks...with Robby's legs, not Michelle's best face (sorry Michelle!)...

The older grandkids (back row:  Jake, Will, Brooke, Savannah, Tyler, Isaac; front row: Clara, Megan, Lily, Boston, Alonzo)...we're only missing the babies, Sarah and Whitney

Dan's parents, Ken and Jane (I love this picture of them!)

Michelle and Robby

Dan and I

Spencer and Amberly

Heather and fake Randy (he was on a business trip)

Ali and Ben (he was recovering from ACL repair surgery and was still pretty miserable)

*This was the last post my Mom read. I was sitting on her bed with her and Tami when Tami got out Mom's iPad and read it to her, showing her the pictures. She loved seeing the pictures of Dan's family and trying to put faces with names. She commented on how tall they all are.

Tour of Utah...

After our few days in Riverton with Maren and girl's day in Bountiful, we continued our tour of Utah by heading to Dan's sister Ali's in Logan after girl's day.  Amberly (another sister) and her kids came over for some BBQ and Megan had a blast playing with Ali's kids.

Brooke...

Alonzo and Megan (cuties)...

Unfortunately, they were fighting pink eye and then Alonzo's tummy started acting up, so we spent the night April 26 but instead of spending the day with Ali on April 27, we headed out early to our next stop--Layton!

Dan's sister Michelle and her 4 kids were such fun hosts.  I was a pretty boring guest (I napped and did laundry), but we had fun walking to pick up the big kids from school (it was actually nice outside!), making cookies and dinner, and letting the kids play in the backyard.  

Megan and Isaac singing their hearts out (we're never getting these by the way, Megan sings plenty loud without amplification!)...

Cookie face Brookie...

Isaac, Will, Savannah, and Megan enjoying the outside...

Brooke was eating too much dirt to stay outside, so instead she hung out with the baby doll in the doll size pack-n-play...

We left after dinner to stay the night in Bountiful and had a great morning with Grandma and Papa on April 28.  I took the rental car to the airport around noon and Heather picked us up for our next tour stop--Tooele!  (*dropping off the rental car was an adventure--I had to drag my 2 crying kids, 2 carseats, and a big duffel from the parking area to the pickup zone.  Longest 50 yards of my life.  I dropped our carseats just inside the doors and my kids sat crying in the rental car terminal while I dragged those over, had the rental car guy go search the parking area for Brooke's shoe that got lost on the way in, and watched Heather drive by us!)
Heather saw us on her second pass and we had a fun lunch at the Carl's Jr. in Tooele.  Heather spent the rest of the day preparing to make and decorate this ridiculously AMAZING cake while I tried to keep the kids out of her hair.  We stayed up late watching/laughing at a movie and talking. 

Don't they look innocent...(don't believe it--they're not!  but they're stinking cute)

Tub time with cousins!

All snuggled up, ready for bed...

April 29 once again brought snow, so while Heather continued to build her cake, I took the kids to the library to play.  We had fun chatting while she worked during naptime.  We had pizza for dinner and got everybody ready for a wedding reception.  Dan's cousin James got married April 23 in Arizona and his Utah reception was that night.  It was fun to see James's family (probably only about the second time I'd met them) and spend time with Dan's siblings and their kids.  They had a blast breaking in the dance floor and watching the bride and groom dance (Megan and Brooke loved seeing the "beautiful princess" that got married in the temple).

Jake and Megan ready for some snow...

Jake trying to show Megan the ropes (she was done with the snow after about 3 minutes outside)...

Brooke enjoyed the snow much more once she realized it was edible (sigh, my poor pica child)...

Lily and Savannah, Megan and Brooke (yes, they are adorable)...

James and Corina, the happy couple (they took dance lessons and were quite good!)...

The end of the day was the best--we went back to Dan's parents' house and played games until it was time to go get Dan just before midnight!  Wahoo!  I was so excited to see him after our week apart.  I was also excited to spend the rest of our trip in just one location :). But I really did enjoy our tour while it lasted.  It was great to spend some quality time with Dan's sisters and their families.

Play Day and Girl's Day (utah cont.)

The girls and I were with Maren Easter night (April 24, 2011) and the next night too (April 25, 2011)! It was so fun to get to actually spend large amounts of time with her--usually we only get an hour or two when I come out to visit. We'd put the kids to bed and stay up "late" (til 10!) talking and playing games.

We spent Monday (April 25, 2011) playing and playing and playing. Ok, well mostly the kids played and we talked and laughed and talked. It was way too cold to send the kids outside, so we took advantage of a jumping place, picnicked at the mall food court, played at that mall's playplace and then another mall's playplace after naps.

My little jumpers...

All 4 of the kiddos...

Look at my little Brookie--taking on the big slides!  I couldn't believe how brave she was!

Megan was always nervous at the top but had a blast sliding...

You know the playplace is fun when you can't get your kids to look at you for a picture...

Finally a good one...

The fun didn't end there--we then got to go out to eat and have family night with Maren's family AND Stephanie and Nathan's family! Like Maren, Stephanie is another former roommate and nurse who also got married to a guy in our single's ward the same summer as Maren and I. And Nathan and Dan are cousins, so Stephanie and I have a blast together at extended family gatherings. Being at dinner with 6 kids age 4 and under was "exciting" (insanity?). Thankfully it was at "Jim's Family Restaurant" and it was not crowded so people didn't care too much when the kids ran around like crazies. To help them calm down, we kept them up late, headed back to Maren's and loaded them with ice cream. Then we attempted pictures. Ha! But we had a great time catching up (we did miss Dan though!).

Dinner...

Ice cream...

Family night (with 2 pianists and 4 choristers)...

Amber, Stephanie, Maren (oh and Henry's face..part of Henry's face at least)...

The six kids--Ben, Henry, William, Brigham, Brooke, and Megan... (I love this picture)

Tuesday, April 26 dawned with giant, wet snowflakes! Ahh! It was so crazy. I got the kids loaded up and we headed on our way to Bountiful for Girl's Day! Dan's sisters (he has 4 of them), their little kids that aren't in school, and his Mom get together about once a month or so to do projects, have some snacks, and catch up. We were so happy to be there for this one.
We had a yummy lunch, played games, discussed a book, and tried to keep the kids from tearing the house apart. I am so lucky to have married into such a wonderful family. I count Dan's sisters among my closest friends and love spending time with them.

A last morning playing with Maren's boys...

So hard to say goodbye :)

Amber and Maren (for old time's sake, she let me borrow some clothes while I was there--I don't own much cold weather maternity clothes)...

At Grandma's house--lunch time at girl's day... (clockwise from Brooke, Megan, Lily,and Alonzo)

Left to right, Isaac, Boston, and Jake...