Summer Trip, First Leg of the Journey

We took a long summer trip this year up to Utah and then down to Arizona.  For the first part of the trip. Corey stayed home to work and then Caleb chose to stay with him.  So I drove with the other kids through Amarillo, Texas, over through New Mexico to Four Corner and up through Colorado into Utah.  We stopped at Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo and also at Four Corners.  Four Corners was out of the way some, but I didn't know if we'd have another chance to go that much out of the way again, being that we weren't in any kind of hurry, so we took the opportunity to make it part of our trip.  The drive was gorgeous through  that part of New Mexico and into Colorado and up through Utah, so I'm glad we took that route.  We took it in 2-1/2 days too.  We started after church on Sunday and drove to Amarillo and stayed there.  Then we drove through New Mexico and stopped at Four Corners before driving the rest of the way to our hotel in Cortez, Colorado.  I made sure to get hotels with swimming pools and breakfast buffets.  We made it to Provo, Utah on Tuesday in the early afternoon where we spent about a week with John and Allison and their family.

Happy 18th Anniversary!

Corey and I had our anniversary.  Eliza had a birthday party to go to in Rockwall, so Corey and I dropped her off at the party and then went to dinner there at an Italian restaurant.  We then walked around Rockwall Harbor of Lake (Ray Hubbard?  Lavon?).  We stopped at the new Buc-ee's in Royse City and Corey bought me a bird since he couldn't find a glass swan.  The bird was perfect though--a "Royalbird".  He gave me a bouquet of 18 flowers also.

Heard Museum

When I took my preschoolers to the Heard Science Museum, we discovered some hiking trails that are pretty remote and have a lot of wildlife, so we went as a family.  They kids got to see turtles and snakes and the hike was pretty good.  We hiked about 3.5 miles.  It was hot though.

Nathan's Three Year Pictures

 

Nathan had his three year pictures done at JC Penney.  I love how they turned out and I love how red his hair looks in  some of them!  I hope it stays this red!

Chilling at Home

The kids are just chilling out.  Jonah, Annmarie and Nathan play around with each other.  There is always a lot of fighting but sometimes they have fun with each other too.  And the last picture here is when Jonah threw a stuffed monkey we have that has magnets in its hands and feet and it got stuck in the air vent on the ceiling.

Summer Cooking

Again this summer I am having the kids each take a day and cook.  Westley gets Sundays since he is working now and it is not predictable when he will be home, other than Sunday.  Caleb made this fantastic pork chop recipe that we found in my cookbook.  It was delicious!

New Haircut

At Eliza's auction for Young Women's camp, one of the items was a makeover/haircut from Lizzy Wright, a lady in our ward who does beauty stuff.  So I bid on it and won and was able to get a nice haircut and she did my makeup.  I am pleased with the result.

Climbing Wall

We got a pass to the Wylie Rec Center at the beginning of the summer and one of the things they have to do is a climbing wall.  The kids love to come do the climbing wall during the free climb times.

Westley's New Job

Since Westley turned sixteen, he was able to apply at In-N-Out and got the job working at the one in Garland,  in the Firewheel shopping center.  The second picture is one a friend took and sent me when she went through the drive through and he was working.

In-N-Out Picnic

The annual In-N-Out Picnic was much earlier this year.  The last several years, it has been in August right around the start of school.  This year it was in June.  Travis had to miss it because he had scout camp.  Westley got to go as an associate and bring his own guest.  He wasn't in the picture with our family because we couldn't find him at the time.  It also was at a different place than Great Wold Lodge.  It was some water park that In-N-Out bought out for the day, which was nice because it was much less crowded.  We still had a great time, as we always do, eating In-N-Out burgers and hot dogs, endless amounts of ice cream and other treats and snacks, and swimming in the water park.