An Almost 24 Hours of Fun & Relaxation

 It's been a long time since Trisha or my mom have had a whole day of relaxation and fun, so for Trisha's birthday, Emily and I booked a night at the Chateaux hotel at Silver Lake in Park City.
We spent our time shopping, hot-tubing, & enjoying the scenery. Our hotel was very nice. It had 2 large bedrooms, 4 beds, 3 fireplaces, a kitchen, washer/dryer, family room, and a balcony with a view.

We bought matching striped hoodies. They were only $4.50 each, originally over $50. We wore them to dinner because it was a lot colder up in Park City than Salt Lake. We got a lot of strange looks. One man laughed hysterically at us.

 We at at this cute little restaurant with a patio on top. It actually ended up being a saloon and they had to check our ID's. We ordered our food without dressing (cause we're weird like that). After the waitress brought us our food, she pointed out the fine print on the menu that stated: "Custom orders really upset us." I'm not sure why she pointed it out after they made our food, instead of beforehand. Although the food was very yummy, and the roof-top dining was fun, I don't think I'll eat there again, since ordering a sandwich without the dressing on it upset them so much. LOL.

It was a fun, nice, relaxing getaway. It's just too bad that Trisha and my mom have the worst luck ever and had to return to reality, which for them just isn't fair. We'll do it again, but next time we'll make sure the reality they return too isn't quite so harsh :(.

Best Summer Ever!

Ella keeps saying that this is the best summer ever, and it keeps getting better. She's right. It has been the best summer ever. Yesterday we drove out to the Ghost Town in Eureka, Utah. My kids loved seeing all the old buildings & eating lunch with their cousins. Later we went swimming at Tyler's parents house. It was the first Labor Day in years that we didn't have to work. Hooray for Best Summer Ever!

 

Colorado

My dad moved to Denver, Colorado 12 years ago. Last week the girls were Off-Track, their friends were either in school or out of town. It's hard to get any work done when they are home, so we decided it was the perfect opportunity for a quick-road trip to visit my dad, since we had never been out that way.

 The scenery on I-70 was so beautiful!

My kids loved going through all the mountain tunnels.

We visited Tiny Town.

 

Ella loved eating Pizza at a Restaurant in the Mountains.

We ran into my friend Lillian at the Denver Zoo.

We also played at some parks, went shopping at Nordstrom Rack, walked around a Lake in the Mountains, & found a Baja Fresh. Although we were only there for two days, we had a great time! Lily wants to know if we will be going back to Russia anytime soon. (Russia is what Lily calls Colorado.)

Gumball Machine

Lily: I wish my name was Gumball.
Me: Okay, Gumball. It's time for bed Gumball.
Lily: No, I wish my name was Gumball Machine.
Me: Okay Gumball Machine. Go get in bed Gumball Machine.
Lily: But mom, my name is Lily. I just WISH it was Gumball Machine.
5 minutes later
Lily: Oh, I forgot. My name is actually Little Bear.

Hawaii

 We loved Hawaii. We flew into Oahu & spent most of our time at the Waikiki Beach in Honolulu.
Thanks to Tyler's Brother & our sister-in-law we got a great deal on plane tickets out of Las Vegas. We also got a great deal on a really nice hotel next to the Waikiki Beach.

 

We signed our names on the autograph tree at the Byodo Temple.

 We ate at all the best places including this shrimp bus off the side of the street.
It had the yummiest Chicken & shrimp!

 The North Shore was our favorite. I wouldn't mind living in Haleiwa.

 It was our first time snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

 We visited the Polynesian Cultural Center.

 And the LDS Temple.

 We hiked Diamond Head.

 Ate at a delicious restaurant in China Town.

 

Tyler tried surfing in some dangerously high & strong waves with Brent and Cherese.
I stayed near the shore as I would have surely drowned.

 

 We also visited Pear Harbor and some more beaches on the East and North sides of the Island.

We ate lots of snow cones.

Someone gave us 4 days worth of free Trolley tickets (one for each of us.) They included guided tours. Other than a run in with some people who stole our stuff, it was a fantastic vacation.

I especially enjoyed our Taxi ride from the airport to our hotel. Our driver giggled and laughed the whole way. She was even slapping her knee at times because she was laughing so hard. 

Thanks Brent and Cherese for inviting us and showing us around.

Back to School... Already!

 Summer is way too short when you are on a year round schedule. My kids and I are super sad that we didn't get to go camping in our new tent, but it's hard to find people to go with when you only have a 3 week summer. Despite our sadness at not going camping. It turned out to be the best summer we've had since Lily was born.

We watched the Sandy Parade & fireworks on the 4th of July.

We previewed the 24th of July parade floats.

 Went to 3 birthday parties in one day.

We sold some Cotton Candy.

We visited Temple Square with the Jones cousins.

 Went to the drive in Movies with the Jones cousins.

 We celebrated Cait's birthday at Gateway & City Creek with the Call's, Trisha, & my mom.

 Tie Dyed T-shirts.

& played with Ryan's toads.

Ella is officially in 3rd Grade!

Ella's Baptism Part 2

We had friends and family over after for grilled chicken, hot dogs, a salad bar, & dessert.