The In-N-Out Family Picnic is an event we look forward to every year. Here in Arizona, we get to go to a water park. We also get to eat as many INO hamburgers as we want made in the cookout trailer, which just seem to taste better. There's also tons of fruit, corn on the cob, and ice cream. The picnic this year was on June 8th and 9th at Big Surf Water Park in Tempe. We went on the first day. We got there in the early afternoon, since Corey was singing in a competition that was new this year--In-N-Out Superstar. He sang "With Arms Wide Open" by Creed. Actually, he downloaded the music and practiced it on the way to the picnic. He did very well in the competition and was a crowd favorite.
We left Travis and Eliza with my friend Lindsey for the afternoon, since they can't swim and we wouldn't be able to do much at the water park with such young kids. We were able to go down a few slides, but Caleb wasn't tall enough for one of them and Westley was barely tall enough. All in all, it was a fun day. I wonder where the picnics will be in Utah...
More than a month later, I'm finally getting around to posting about our ward campout that took place on June 19th and 20th. We are not campers. My camping experiences are limited to going camping with my family no more than twice, if even that many times, girls' camp through my church each summer from Summer of 1990 through 1995, and going once with a few friends over the 4th of July in 1999. Corey has even less experience. So we borrowed my parents' tent and sleeping bags, bought some sleeping bags for the kids, and finally opened from the box the propane camp stove and lantern we got as a wedding gift 8 years ago. We loaded up the car and headed out. We were fortunate to set up camp between several very experienced campers. The kids were in their own wonderland--the woods--one of nature's best playgrounds. They loved exploring and collecting pine cones with their friends from the ward.
Corey cooked up some dinner for us on our camp stove--hot dogs and hamburgers. A little later, we had s'mores by the fire. The weather wasn't exactly favorable, we had quite a bit of drizzly rain that started just after we'd all eaten a fair share of s'mores that lasted into the night until about 1 or 2 am. It was also pretty cold for us Arizona-hot-blooded people. I had meant to grab our jackets on the way out the door but forgot, so other than the bedding we brought and long pant pajamas for the kids, we had nothing else to keep us warm during the night. I made sure to have the kids wear jeans, but in the morning, it was pretty chilly just in a T-shirt and jeans. Our kids were up at the crack of dawn, or earlier, I think around 4:30, so at 5:30, we finally got dressed and got up. Corey quickly took down the tent and loaded the car. We ate breakfast, scrambled eggs, bacon and orange juice and then left.
The kids were gloriously dirty and we were able to go swimming later at Grandma and Grandpa's house when we stopped to pick up Snoopy. It was a fun experience, though a little stressful to us because of our inexperience, but we hope to make camping a tradition, something we do at least once a year.
Because I went out of town on June 22nd, this post is really late in coming. Not only was Sunday, June 21st Father's Day, but it was also our 8th anniversary. We didn't really do much to celebrate. We order take-out Chinese on Saturday night and I made a nice dinner on Sunday. The kids and I made pancakes for breakfast on Sunday morning. We spelled "DAD" with letter-shaped pancakes for Corey.
One of Corey's favorite things as a dad is snuggling with the kids.
Westley started school on Monday. I didn't take any pictures. I forgot. I didn't even get him new school clothes this year, since most of his nicer stuff from last year still fits and wasn't too worn. He did need a new backpack after going through 2 cheap ones last year. We ended up buying a cheap one again, the more durable, higher-priced ones don't have characters on them, like Spider-man.
Westley loves first grade, as he says, "First grade is more better than kindergarten!" I think the fact that the material is actually interesting and a bit more challenging is good for him. We have to settle into a new routine because he has a lot of homework. I don't understand why schools think they have to give an hour of homework to a 6-year-old. Seriously? He started his homework yesterday at 5 pm and at 6 pm, when we sat down to dinner, he still had a little bit of one packet left. He's already been in school for 7 hours! And on top of that, we still had to read for 15-30 minutes, which we do anyway, but for accountability, I have to write down the title of the book we read on his Reading Calendar.
So now he has 9 weeks of school until a break at the end of September, at which point we will probably be moving to Utah.
Okay, so it's taken me a few days to post these. That's because my computer is slow and it takes like 10 minutes to upload 5 pictures, so I've been doing sets of 5 in little spurts. Anyway, here are the pictures I want to post from the trip. Not all of them, of course, there were tons to choose from, but these highlight the main events, I think.
In San Marcos visiting G.G.. This is the last picture of her with the kids, as she passed away less than two weeks later.
At the Wild Animal Park. The kids were as helpful as a 6-year-old, 4-year-old, and 2-year-old can be. Eliza didn't help. She just sat in her stroller and got sunburned.
Travis riding the Lion on the Carousel. Our park passes included a free ride on the Carousel as well as a ride on the Safari Train and passes to Dino Mountain.
At Dino Mountain in front of the T-Rex. If you haven't been there, this is an attraction that has life-sized mechanically animated dinosaurs that move and growl. Every time the dinosaurs would growl Eliza would cover her eyes. It was too cute!
Waiting in line for the Safari Train and Westley just being silly.
After the Wild Animal Park we went to Chula Vista to Aaron and Kaori's house. Westley just loved little A.J. and wanted to hold him a lot.
One of the days we went to the local mall's splash pad. Eliza did not want to get wet, but she sure looked cute in her swimsuit.
Travis was hard to capture at the splash pad as he kept avoiding the camera.
At Mission Bay beach, Westley and Caleb fought the waves with Uncle Aaron and had a blast. They can't wait to be able to go to a beach again. Travis and Eliza just played in the sand with their cousin Maggie.
Westley cuddling A.J. again.
One afternoon, I think it was Monday, we got all 5 kids to sit at the table drawing. Only lasted about 15 minutes, but it was a nice 15 minutes!
At the neighborhood park near Aaron and Kaori's house.
In Hesperia, the cousins played in the backyard with bubbles, the sprinkler and a slip'n'slide. This is Eliza and her cousin Savannah, who is about 2 weeks older than her.
The kids loved the slip'n'slide.
At the Freedom Parade on the 4th of July in Downtown Provo, Utah. Great parade and the kids really enjoyed it.
On the 4th of July at Murray City Park Travis with cousin Leah
Eating KFC at Murray City Park on the 4th
Eliza plays with Grandpa as Grandma holding A.J. looks on at Murray City Park
Stopping in Cove Fort on the drive home to Arizona.
I just really like this picture of Travis and Eliza walking.
I have had a busy last few weeks with much to post about. In fact, when the pictures from these past couple weeks were uploaded, I found that I had almost 300 in there! Yikes! Sorting through that is not likely to be very quick or easy, but probably will be fun.
So I'm going to write all about the trip and then have another post (or two or three, depending on how many pictures) of just pictures!
San Marcos I left with the kids on June 22nd around noon, just after lunch so the kids would be more likely to nap in the car at their regular naptime. We drove down I-8 from Casa Grande into the San Diego area. We made one stop in Yuma to buy an umbrella stroller at Wal-mart and another stop near El Centro at McDonald's for dinner before arriving around 7:30 pm to San Marcos to visit Corey's grandmother, the children's great-grandma, fondly known as G.G. We stayed the night one night, the kids playing with the fun toys and watching some Noggin early in the morning when they woke up. My ultimate destination was Chula Vista (yes, I know I passed this on the way to San Marcos) to visit my brother Aaron and his wife Kaori. They weren't going to be ready for me until the evening of the 23rd, and I felt that we were overwhelming G.G., so I had to find something to do to pass the day. We decided to go to the Wild Animal Park, and we left G.G.'s at about 9:30 am and drove for about 45 minutes to the Wild Animal Park. We spent the day there, until about 2:30 pm, and then went to Chula Vista. First I tried to go see the ocean, but halfway there decided it would be too hard and take too long to get back to the I-15, so turned around and went back to I-15 and on to Chula Vista. We arrived there around 4:30 pm and enjoyed a delicious dinner of fajitas that Kaori made for us. Yummy!
Chula Vista We were in Chula Vista from Tuesday, June 23rd through Wednesday July 1st. Originally I'd intended to stay through June 30th and then go back to Arizona, but plans changed. I'll explain that all as I go. So on Wednesday, June 24th, Kaori and I took the kids to a neighborhood park in the morning. We spent the afternoon hanging around the house and drawing with chalk on the driveway. It was in the early evening, I believe, maybe earlier, I don't remember, that we learned from my dad that our grandfather (my mother's father) had passed away that morning. So we all of a sudden had to figure out a new set of plans to possibly include Utah in the road trip.
On Thursday, June 25th, Kaori and I took the kids to the neighborhood pool. That was an adventure, 6 kids under the age of 7 at the pool together. Westley is actually a pretty good swimmer and Caleb and Travis are getting a lot better, but still need to stick to the shallow end. The kids' pool there was the kind where it starts at 0 depth and then gradually descends deeper, maxing out at about 3-1/2 feet. It was shaped like a figure 8/hourglass so I told the kids they couldn't go past the narrow part to make it easier for me to keep track of them. Of course, since Eliza likes to leap headfirst into the water and refuses to use any type of floating device, I have to remain within arm's length of her. Maggie, Aaron and Kaori's daughter who is 2, also has no shyness of the water, but she at least would use a float half the time. Kaori mostly stayed on the side with baby A.J., who wasn't old enough to go in the water yet. I think it overwhelmed me a little, but it was still fun. I enjoy taking my kids to the pool here, same type of pool, but we usually only stay for 30 minutes at the most because by then I'm too stressed out from trying to keep the kids from going too deep and upright! But the water felt wonderful.
On Friday, the 26th, we were going to go to the pool again but when we got there, the kids' pool was closed, so we ended up taking the kids to the mall splash pad and letting them run around in the water. Unfortunately, Eliza doesn't like being sprayed with water so she wouldn't go in. She would have had more fun swimming. Friday night we stayed up way too late talking (Aaron, Kaori and I), which is probably why Kaori didn't feel well the rest of the weekend. Staying up late is never a good idea for a new mom who is nursing a newborn around the clock.
On Saturday, the 27th, we went to the beach, Mission Bay to be exact. The weather was perfect and the older boys loved "fighting the waves" with Uncle Aaron. Travis got knocked over by a wave the first time we went down to the shore to collect water in our buckets for our sand castle, and refused to go by the water after that. He and Eliza and Maggie stayed by the towels and umbrella playing in the sand. Kaori and A.J. stayed up there as well. I went back and forth carrying water for the sand while Aaron played with Caleb and Westley in the water. We ate lunch on the grass a little ways away from the water before heading home.
On Sunday, Kaori wasn't feeling well, so she stayed home from church with little A.J. and Aaron and I took the other 5 kids. I was disappointed that a childhood friend of mine who lives in Aaron's ward didn't make it out to church that day, but overall, church went well. Caleb did not like visiting a strange primary and ended up going to class with Westley. But Eliza and Travis did great in nursery.
On Monday and Tuesday, we just stayed at the house and rested, making it to the park one more time. The kids got to play outside in the mornings before too many bees were out in the great fort Aaron and Kaori have in their backyard. On Wednesday morning, I left and drove up to Hesperia with the kids, about 2-1/2 hours long. We went to visit Corey's mom and sister who live there. That was part of the plan that changed, was going to Hesperia for a few days during the week. Originally I had thought to go up on Saturday or Sunday for a day trip.
Hesperia Even though we were only in Hesperia for a few days, we had a lot of fun. Right after we got there on Wednesday, Leslie and I left all 6 kids with Nana and went shopping for some essentials that I'd run out of, like diapers, plus the food for Nana's birthday dinner, since it was her birthday on Thursday, the 2nd. When we got back, I was so tired from the previous week so I went upstairs and took a nice long nap. We ate a nice dinner and then I put the kids to bed.
On Thursday, the 2nd, we went to lunch at a fun pizza place, similar to a Chuck E. Cheese or Peter Piper. The kids really enjoyed that. In the afternoon, we set up a slip'n'slide in the backyard and the kids had a lot of fun playing in the water. Eliza and her cousin Savannah, who is the same age, really loved it too. In the evening we had a birthday dinner for Nana and then the kids went to bed, after which I went out with my mother-in-law to the store for some essentials for the long drive the next day.
Driving to Salt Lake City The next day, my brother from Chula Vista drove up with his family and met me in Hesperia and then we got on the road to Salt Lake City. The drive was the worst from Hesperia to Las Vegas, took us about 3-1/2 hours. once we hit Vegas, the traffic really died down and we made it to Mesquite pretty quickly. In Mesquite, we took a break for lunch and nursing the baby and gas. We got going again and eventually found my parents, who had crossed over from the 89 on the 20 near Central Utah on their way up from Arizona. My brother and his wife pushed on ahead and I stopped with my parents at a park in Fillmore, Utah to eat dinner with the kids and let them run around. We got back on the road and stayed together until Orem, where my parents got off to drop something off at my cousin's and I drove on to stay at my mom's cousin Scott's house. Scott and Wendy were actually up at the lake they visit every year in Canada, but their daughter Michelle, a YSA college student, was home. The kids LOVED Scott and Wendy's basement playroom, full of all sorts of great toys, and I had a hard time getting them settled for bed that night.
The 4th of July On the 4th, my mom dropped my dad off at Scott and Wendy's and then he drove the kids and me down to Provo for the Freedom Parade, We barely made it in time and found a spot on Center Street and 7th East. The kids really loved the parade in the beginning, but after about one hour started losing interest. They had some great floats as well as all t he marching bands and horses. The kids really got excited to see some of that. After the parade, we went to a Walmart so I could pick up a few things and then we met my brother Adam and his wife Eve at Scera Park in Orem for lunch. Adam and Eve provided the food, pizza from Brick Oven, and we chowed down. Then the kids were able to play on the playground and my mom met us down there after taking care of some funeral stuff up in Salt Lake. After the park, we followed my mom and dad back up to North Salt Lake to my Aunt Amy's house to relax for a bit. I snoozed a little until Westley had a tantrum that woke me up and then the kids all took turns with Grandma playing on the Wii.
After a couple hours at Aunt Amy's, we went down to Murray City Park and met the rest of the Fowles Family that were in Utah for a 4th of July Picnic and Fireworks. Jordan provided the chicken from KFC, Aaron brought drinks, Adam and Eve found the spot and set the whole thing up, and Mom brought some fruit salad. John and his oldest daughter Marianne came later after some stuff with Allison's side of the family. Jordan had brought only his oldest daughter Leah along. The kids ran around the park, watching the ducks and playing on the playground after we ate until dark when the fireworks started. Eliza was terrified of the fireworks, but the other kids thought they were cool. Travis was a little scared, but intrigued also.
Funeral On Sunday, my little brood spent the morning taking it easy. Most everyone slept until 8 after the late night before. We didn't have to leave for church until noon. I got a call that morning from Corey that his grandmother, G.G., the one we'd visited only a couple weeks before in San Marcos, had passed away. We left for church in South Jordan at noon, I wanted to drive the kids by the old houses first. We drove by the one in Holladay and then got on the freeway and went to South Jordan. We drove by that house and around that neighborhood and then I drove them by Bingham High School. At least Westley was interested in all of it. Then we drove over to the church to attend Sacrament Meeting services in the South Jordan 3rd ward, where I'd gone when I was in high school. Aaron blessed his little boy there (he was supposed to blessing him in Chula Vista on the 5th and had made arrangements with the 3rd ward bishop to do it in S.J. instead). It was very neat to see a lot of people in that ward and how their families have grown and changed. I was shocked and left feeling very old after learning that a little boy I had baby-sat at the age of 1-1/2 was now 14 and being ordained a teacher in the Aaronic priesthood! Sure made me feel old! I just can't believe it's been that long!
After Sacrament meeting, we left and went up to Aunt Amy's house for a lunch/dinner. Ruth and Neil and their kids were there. I left at about 5 pm to get Corey from the airport and then we drove straight over to the viewing in downtown Salt Lake City. It was great to see so many family members there, including cousins I haven't seen in forever and cousins that Corey hadn't even met yet. After the viewing, we went back to Scott and Wendy's and went straight to bed.
On Monday morning, we woke up and went out to breakfast and then over to the mortuary for the service. After the very nice service we followed the hearse to the Salt Lake City Cemetary where Grandpa Fellows was buried by Grandma Fellows (died 1994) and Uncle Tom (who was killed in a car crash on his mission in the late 70's). After that, we went up to North Salt Lake for a luncheon at Aunt Amy's ward building. Then my little family went back to Scott and Wendy's to change our clothes and then we went into West Jordan and Draper to look at some rental homes we'd found on ksl.com. We didn't find anything we liked though. Then we stopped at Village Baker, the pizza/bakery that I worked at my junior and senior years of high school, and got pizza, sandwiches, bread, and cookies. We ate all that when we arrived back at Scott and Wendy's house. Scott was home, and we were able to visit with him while the kids played on the trampoline out back.
Driving Home We drove home on Tuesday. We didn't leave Holladay until about 7:30 am. We had to stop in Murray and turn in some keys that we'd checked out to look at a few houses. We also stopped at the Walmart in Orem on University Parkway to get some road trip snacks and supplies. Then we went down to State Street to see the site where In-N-Out will go in Orem, on State and University Parkway. We drove out to the freeway through Provo Center Street. We ended up stopping in Cove Fort near the I-70 around lunchtime and went on the tour. Then we tried to eat lunch, but it was too windy, so we ended up eating in the car. We didn't stop again until Page, where we got gas, and then in Flagstaff for dinner. We got home at about 9:30 pm.
All in all, a very busy two weeks and it is great to be home!
So, I was tagged a few weeks ago, and I'm catching up to that finally. I also have 2-1/2 weeks worth of fun stuff to blog about, and if you read my letters weekly (or as close to that as possible) you'll know that there are quite a few pictures to post and a little bit of catching up to do. I will get to that later. Might be much later, but I'm a busy person, what can I say? That's why it's rather lame that I'm wasting my time doing this, but I'm doing it anyway...
8 Things I did Yesterday
1. I woke up in Holladay in my mom's cousin's house yesterday morning, the last day of a short stint to Utah for the funeral services of my maternal grandfather.
2. I slept for 2 hours in the car while Corey drove.
3. I ate lunch at Cove Fort after taking the tour.
4. I listened to three movies play while I drove.
5. I battled a really bad headache all day long--caused by stress and lack of sleep.
6. I had McDonald's for dinner.
7. I saw my dog for the first time in just over two weeks.
8. I slept in my bed for the first time in just over two weeks.
8 Favorite TV Shows Note: A year-and-a-half ago I would have a hard time listing only 8, but since then have pretty much weaned myself from T.V. other than a few shows. Most of these will probably be old shows that only show re-runs now.
1.The Secret Life of the American Teenager
2.Nanny 911
3.Friends
4.Home Improvement
5.Sabrina the Teenage Witch
6.Yes, Dear
7. Full House
8. Saved by the Bell
(As you could probably tell, I was reaching there)
8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Brick Oven (in Provo)
2. Outback Steakhouse
3. California Pizza Kitchen
4. Olive Garden
5. T.G.I.F.
6. Applebee's
7. Chen's Chinese
8. La Dolce Vita (in Provo)
8 Things I am Looking Forward to
1. Westley going back to school
2. Going back to CA this coming weekend
3. Christmas
4. Travis' birthday
5. Going to Legoland someday with the kids
6. Eating dinner (I'm hungry!)
7. Being done with this move
8. Getting out of debt
8 Things on my Wish List
1. More income
2. Finding a permanent place to live, no more moving around 3. Figuring out how to enjoy life and just be happy 4. Gorgeous hair--mine is so hideous 5. Children who are perfectly behaved in public 6. Cars that don't break down all the time 7. A nice place to live that's affordable where we're moving to 8. Owning horses
In San Marcos visiting G.G.. This is the last picture of her with the kids, as she passed away less than two weeks later.
At the Wild Animal Park. The kids were as helpful as a 6-year-old, 4-year-old, and 2-year-old can be. Eliza didn't help. She just sat in her stroller and got sunburned.
Travis riding the Lion on the Carousel. Our park passes included a free ride on the Carousel as well as a ride on the Safari Train and passes to Dino Mountain.
At Dino Mountain in front of the T-Rex. If you haven't been there, this is an attraction that has life-sized mechanically animated dinosaurs that move and growl. Every time the dinosaurs would growl Eliza would cover her eyes. It was too cute!
Waiting in line for the Safari Train and Westley just being silly.
After the Wild Animal Park we went to Chula Vista to Aaron and Kaori's house. Westley just loved little A.J. and wanted to hold him a lot.
One of the days we went to the local mall's splash pad. Eliza did not want to get wet, but she sure looked cute in her swimsuit.
Travis was hard to capture at the splash pad as he kept avoiding the camera.
At Mission Bay beach, Westley and Caleb fought the waves with Uncle Aaron and had a blast. They can't wait to be able to go to a beach again. Travis and Eliza just played in the sand with their cousin Maggie.
Westley cuddling A.J. again.
One afternoon, I think it was Monday, we got all 5 kids to sit at the table drawing. Only lasted about 15 minutes, but it was a nice 15 minutes!
At the neighborhood park near Aaron and Kaori's house.
In Hesperia, the cousins played in the backyard with bubbles, the sprinkler and a slip'n'slide.
The kids loved the slip'n'slide.
At the Freedom Parade on the 4th of July in Downtown Provo, Utah. Great parade and the kids really enjoyed it.
On the 4th of July at Murray City Park
Eating KFC at Murray City Park on the 4th
Eliza plays with Grandpa as Grandma holding A.J. looks on at Murray City Park
Stopping in Cove Fort on the drive home to Arizona.
I just really like this picture of Travis and Eliza walking.
