It's time for school...

It used to be that EVERYONE didn't start school until the day after Labor Day. Now, school's start clear in July even! Well, today was the first day of school for Sidney and Hayden. They got up and got ready without incident, and had time enough for pictures. It will just be this year and next school year that they go to the same school, and then not until Sidney is a senior in High school, so I hope they know how lucky they are to have each other.

Here they were this morning:

Alright, all set with their backpacks and everything.

I like this one of the both of them. Real candid.

Sidney gets nervous I think when she gets her picture taken.

Hayden is pretty photogenic.

Another of the both of them.

It looks like there isn't anyone else at school, but it was truly packed with people, I guess I got lucky without anyone else in the shot. Hope they have a great first day.

Part 4: Utah

After a pretty good night's sleep, we packed up the van and left the hotel to head to Utah. Another six hours in the van was starting to wear on all of us, but we made it, just barely. John arrived to let us all know that his ear has been hurting for some time. He went to an urgent care and sure enough...swimmer's ear! We're all glad he got it taken care of pretty quickly though.

We relaxed with family that Thursday and just visited.

We got up early the next morning to head out to West Jordan, UT for the second to the last day of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. It was so awesome! We did our best to try to explain to the kids what they would see and the importance of it, I hope some of it sank in! It really is a beautiful temple. The celestial room was especially bright with the morning sun coming in! At the end we got to sit in one of the sealing rooms and just take it all in. The irony is that some great friends will be getting sealed there next month. Cool, huh?

Once again, we forgot the camera during the tour, but we drove up next to it after we were done.

We came home, played games with John's parents, brother and sister-in-law and the kids played with their cousins.

Then, John and I got ready to go to his 20-year High school reunion. We rode with John's good friend, Chris and his fiance, Janelle (the ones getting sealed next month), to the reunion. It was held in Salt Lake at the Grand America. All-in-all, it was pretty darn fun. Easy for me to say, though since I wasn't the one seeing people I haven't seen for 20 years. I knew a handful of people that John has kept in contact with, so I didn't feel left out. It seemed to go on for quite a while since we didn't leave until about 12:30 in the morning. Lots of people did some catching up and reminiscing.

Here's a capture of some of his graduating class of '89 from Alta High. John's up near the top row with his friend, Chris to the left.

They played some games, relived some good and bad, laughed at old photos, and had some pretty good food.

Saturday was much relaxed with family; another of John's brothers, Trevor and his new wife, Kayla drove up from Orem to spend the day.

Check out the kids getting into the tickle tackle with Trevor!

We drove over to an aquarium nearby and saw lots of cool things with all the kids. An octopus, a couple different kinds of sharks, got to pet some rays, and see some big tarantula.

Sidney got up close and personal with the rays.

We headed back home for games and then a barbeque. Some more games out on the lawn. We all tried to show our best bocce ball game.

I thought this was a nice capture of our bocce ball game, mid-throw and everything. Here they are from L-R; Brittany holding Xander, John's dad, Allen, Ryan's in mid-throw, John's mom, Pat, John, and then Trevor.

The cousins had fun watching videos and playing with each other. It's nice they can be instant friends when they are together.

The next day was Sunday, so we went to church, had a nice dinner and visited and played more games with the family. It's really nice to have these times together, they are some of my very favorite.

Later that night we headed south to Lindon, UT for a mini-reunion of sorts. Some people that John grew up with in high-school that really were a tight-knit group and they all just seemed to fall right back into step with each other. Four girls and 3 boys that some had crushes on and some didn't, but they all just were a great group of friends. John had brought a video that they made while they were extremely bored one late evening in high-school and it was a riot watching with them to see the old styles and how much they have or haven't changed. The evening was a blast! Most everyone was able to bring their spouse (or future spouse) and their children, so that everyone could meet and get acquainted. Then each person took a turn catching everbody up to date of what they had been up to since graduating. The kids seemed to have fun, and I know the adults had a blast recalling funny moments and teasing each other. It was great!

Here's the crew: Marcia, Stanton, Chris, John, Kristin, then in the front, Leanna, and Stacey. They are a pretty unique bunch!

Ok, we are nearing the end...hang in there!

Monday...we went to .....Lagoon! The kids almost didn't earn the trip, but they squeaked by and got to go at the last minute. It was very hot, but pretty fun.

There was a new ride added 2 years ago called Wicked and so we got on pretty soon after we arrived. At first, Hayden said he didn't like it, but after 2 more times and some distance, he liked it well enough

We are far away, but here we are just before getting on Wicked.

Here are Hayden and Sidney on the Dinosaur Drop.

Then John and Sidney are on the Rocket Blast Off......they both seemed to like it...afterward.

Probably because it was hot, but that seemed like the longest day on the trip up to that point. Little did I realized that 11 hours in the van the next to drive home would seem longer, much longer.

We traveled many miles, we saw many people and visited some very fun places and got to each some great food. That seems to be a pretty good vacation.

Part 3: Las Vegas

Ok, I have to apologize right off the bat because we didn't take a single photo in Las Vegas. Nada, nothing, zilch. We spent the most money here, but nothing to show for it. Only memories.

Alright, on with the story. We drove Wednesday to Las Vegas from CA, and thank heavens it was only a little over 4 hours!!! We got to our hotel, checked in, and had some down time. So, John took a nap, I read a book and the kids watched a little TV. Then we got hungry, ate at the Mexican restaurant there at the hotel (it was only so-so). Then we came back to the room and got all fancied up to go to the big show --- "O"! We had to pick up our tickets by a certain time so we headed over to the strip, valet parked (the only way to go at the big hotels), and got in line for our tickets. When we realized we had a little time to kill we went the front of the Bellagio to watch the water show. After which Hayden asked, "That was it?"
We walked through the shops a little, checked out some of the Cirque du Soleil paraphenalia, and looked at the sculpture exhibit outside the theater. We seemed to wait forever in our seats for the show to start, and before we knew it, the hour and a half was over. "O" is a great show, I recommend it to families. It really is like watching a circus since there are some many things going on at once. I felt like I was missing out on some of it because you couldn't watch everything at once.

Go to the website and watch the trailer. It's very cool.

Sorry again about the no pictures. Guess we were just really out of it!

Part 2: California and the beach

After only one day to do laundry, tie up loose ends, pack for several venues, plan a menu for a couple meals, we headed out on Sunday morning to Carlsbad, CA for some fun on the beach with great friends.

Even though I did not drive the leg to CA, I was so done being stuck in a vehicle. I wanted to be outside, or walking or doing anything else! We got to our hotel room, unpacked a little and then headed to our friends campsite that overlooked the beach.

They fed us a great meal! And then we took a walk down to the beach. Already we were feeling rejuvenated by the wind and sand. Here's the motley crew down at the beach:

We played a rousing game of Mafia with all the kids. I think the kids enjoyed it more than the adults, but we all had fun regardless.

The next day, we were all pretty anxious to get to the beach and play! The kids had a blast boogie boarding, making sand castles, playing in the water, and finding sand crabs, some even tried surfing.

Here some of the girls, Sierra, Sidney, Peyton and Kaylee made a fancy sandcastle!

Sidney and Tanner were logging in quite some time on those boogie boards. And they were plenty water-logged to prove it!

Hayden and Haylee were working together to combat the waves. So sweet!

After a full day at the beach, we got cleaned up at the hotel, and returned to make dinner for everyone. Then we sat around and visited, laughing and telling stories and jokes, and then John taught the kids some of the games he learned in Korea.

The next day was pretty similar, except we went to a different beach just a couple miles north of where we were before. The water was a little choppier than the first day so the kids could only swim and boogie board in certain areas and the water seemed a bit cooler. The beach, though, was nicer. Less rock and seaweed and the kids teamed together for a good hour and half building a fortress in the sand. There was a lot more sunscreen applied on this second day since many of the kids got s little sunburned the day before.

This is what was left of the sand fortress. When they knew we were heading out they had just as much fun stomping on it as they did building it!

Our friend Craig got some good naptime in, but unknowningly got caught in pictures. They put sand on him and even a sand crab, but he took it all in good spirits.

The adults went out to dinner to a super-yummy place called Rockin Baja Lobster. It was sooooo good!

We got some nice pictures at the pier during the sunset.

Then we came back and got the kids to head over to Cold Stone for yummy treats. We took another night-time walk on the beach and got some cool pictures with the kids twirling their glow-sticks in front of them. Check it out:


We said our good-byes to our friends that night since we were headed out in the morning to go to Las Vegas.

The Way Round-about

Miles traveled: 3248

States visited: 4

Days gone: 12

Calories consumed: too many to count

Fun Had: lots and lots

We are home, we are tired, and we survived probably the longest vacation we've ever endeavored upon.

So to make it easier to post, I'll go in stages so that no one gets confused.

Part 1: New Mexico

Early on a Thursday morning, the kids and I left to drive to New Mexico. Why there you ask? My brother was moving his family there from Dallas. He had been staying alone at the house in NM for a little bit, while his wife was in Dallas waiting for the arrival of their 3rd child. My mom flew to Dallas to help them pack and help with the kids. Then, we she was a little older than 2 weeks they flew the family to Roswell and drove to Artesia. Then my brother had to fly the next morning back to Dallas to drive the moving truck to the home. On that same day I drove from AZ. Sidney and Hayden got some good playing time with their cousins in a near empty house.

My brother arrived after 12:30 am with the truck and hit the hay for a little rest before unloading the truck in the morning. My kids did their best to keep the little boys out of the way of the movers. I tried to help as much as I could by putting the boys' beds back together. At about 12:30 pm we had to be on the road with my mom in tow or we'd get back home really late. It turned out to be an almost 10 hour drive each way. PHEW! Totally worth it, though.

Here's some snapshots of the kiddos.

We got to play some games in the living room before the furniture got loaded in.

And my sweet little niece, is just adorable! Can you believe that hair?

We hated to come and go so quickly, but we had to get back to pack for our next bigger and longer part of vacation.