Summer 2017 June 13th-July 6th

June 13th
Liz and I arrived into DFW at 4:30pm and waited to meet the kids until 9:40pm. Our flight left at 11:10pm. When the kids arrived, they were all so excited to go to Utah! Since the checked bag was 3 pounds overweight, we stuffed some of the weightier items in our carry-on bags. I sat between Shelby and Trey and Lizi sat by Liz, something she loves to do since Liz is the one that packs all the snacks. Lizi slept for a long time, Trey for about an hour, but Shelby and I didn't sleep at all, although we tried. Once we realized that we weren't going to be getting any sleep, we just talked for about 2 hours. It was fun! We arrived at our home at about 3:45am on the 14th.

Quote of the day - Shelby: "Don't worry Daddy, I'm still sportsy."

June 14th

Despite getting home at almost 4 in the morning, the kids woke up around 8:45 and were ready to play! We first went out to the yard and Shelby picked and ate some apricots and we petted the animals (Daisy, Lyndee, Chewey, and Smokey) and then came inside for breakfast. After breakfast, we all started working in the sand box, digging out all the hard dirt so we can get new sand in there. All the kids worked so hard and I was so proud of them! After digging for about 2 hours, we laid t the water slide and then we took a break and went to walmart for toothbrushes and to get supplies for a new water slide we're making. When we got home, we had grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch and then Shelby and Lizi played with legos and Trey worked on his pin board (Liz made him a bigger one so he had to transfer all of his pins). We then went back out side and Shelby, Judi, and I played in the clubhouse while Lizi played in the Sand box and Trey hit golf balls into the pit. We then started digging in the sand box again and put dirt around the edges of the water slide and began filling it up with water. I think Trey was the first one to try it out and we all played on the water slide for about 3 hours. Trey and Judi were the last ones off of it! Shelby and Jenna retreated to the trampoline to dry off. Liz got a little cold so we got her a towel to dry off. Trey and I then played a couple of games of knockout on the trampoline before we all came in to have pancakes for dinner. After dinner we all played inside working on legos, pin boards and playing star wars with Trey's lego set. We then watched Disney cartoons. Donald Duck seems to be everyone's favorite to watch, and Shelby especially likes his Grand Canyon cartoon.After Disney cartoons, we said prayers and Lizi informed everyone that she was hungry (as she always is) :-). We then all went to bed.

Quote of the Day - Shelby: "I love Utah life. It's relaxing and fun."

June 15th

We started out by eating breakfast and then playing outside. Shelby and I dug out the sand box to get it ready for the new sand coming tomorrow. I was so proud of how hard Shelby worked! Lizi and Trey gave each other wagon rides and we all played a game of kickball. We then went  to town to order the sand for the sand box and came home and rode bikes to the mail and then went down the water slide. After the water slide, we ate lunch and then went back outside to do wheel barrow and wagon rides and play kickball. Shelby and Lizi set up a real kitchen where they would take our order and then serve us the food we ordered. We had our choice of watermelon, apricots, tuna, skittles, spice drops, and candy canes. It was a lot of fun to have them "make" the real food in their play kitchen. We also played ladder ball and did some more work in the sand box. We came inside to watch Zootopia and then had dinner and ice cream. After we ate we played Scene It and then went back outside to give wagon rides. We came back inside and looked at and traded pins. Trey and Shelby also set up pinpics accounts. We then said prayers and went to bed.

June 16th

I went into work for a couple of hours in the morning but when I got home we all ate breakfast and then went out to work in the sandbox (get it ready for our new sand) and play out side. This morning Trey really worked hard with me to get another 10 or so wheel barrow loads of dirt out of our sandbox. I am proud of how good of a worker he is! We then played on the water slide for a couple of hours and then went to pick up Jenna from work. We came back and Trey and I went down the water slide while Shelby and Lizi got their "store" ready to give out some more food. They made creative questionnaires asking if we wanted wagon rides or wheel barrow rides (we had to check a box indicating which one). We then came inside and Trey and Shelby finished adding all their pins on pinpics and then I helped Lizi set up an account and add all of her pins. The kids went outside while I finished doing Lizi's pins for her and the next thing I knew a water fight had broken out and soon Liz was right in the middle of it being attacked from every side! It was fun to watch and just as I was about to get involved in it, the sand truck came and delivered our sand. The kids had so much fun playing on the big pile! They built splash mountain and then Shelby and I dug a tunnel through the sand big enough for Chewy, Lyndee, and even Judi to crawl through! After we played in the sand box we watched Moana and ate dinner. Then it was time for bed!

Quote of the day- Trey, while digging the old dirt out of the sand box: "I'm having a little bit of fun doing this, but mostly I'm sweating."

June 17th

We all had cereal for breakfast and then went out and played in the sand box. Trey and Lizi made pirate ships and castles and had "wars" by making an enemy castle and then throwing sand balls at the enemy castle and then at theirs. I went out there after I was finished eating and made my own castle and did the war with them. We then all went to Home Depot to get paint for Jenna and Shelby's room. Liz, Jenna, and Shelby painted the walls and I think the color turned out to be a little more purple looking than they expected. While they painted I played princesses with Lizi and helped Trey set up some of his car stunt tracks. Shelby took a break from painting and she and I played the "Heart and Soul" duet and the "Peanuts" song on the piano. We then went out and played on the water slide for an hour or so. Trey and I have fun trying to keep each other from flying off the end into the mud and rabbit pellets. Today he tried to slow me down and I was going so fast that we grabbed each other's hand and I pulled him so hard he flew through the air for a few feet! After the water slide, we ate left overs for lunch and then went back outside and had a big water fight - Jenna and Liz against Trey, Shelby, and me. Lizi played in the sand box and Judi didn't want to get squirted. We all got soaked and had so much fun. After the water fight, Trey, Shelby, Jenna, and Lizi played oreo on the trampoline with the sprinklers going (we moved the tramp to the lawn yesterday while the sand truck delivered our sand). Then, after moving the trampoline back to the rocks, Trey and Jenna beat Liz and I in a game of kick ball. We knocked down a lot of apricots off the tree which, in our rules, gives them a run for each one we knock down while fielding (and we knocked 10 off!). While we played kickball, Shelby and Lizi played in the sand box. After kickball, we came in and watched Star Wars Episode 4 and had pizza for dinner. After the movie we went back outside for about an hour and started building Disneyland in our sand box, while trying to keep Daisy from lying down on the parts we had already made. We then got ready for bed.

Quote of the day - Trey while watching the Millennium Falcon getting drawn into the Death Star said: "Man, I bet their ears are really popping!"

June 18th

Father's Day! It was such a fun day! We went to church in the morning. Trey really didn't want to go to primary because there were a buch of kids that he didn't know. I remember feeling the same way when I was his age so I understood exactly how he felt. Well after church he ran up to me so excited and told me he loved it! Shelby, on the other hand, was in a class of rowdy boys and wasn't as sure about it. Lizi was ok with it but said it was boring. After church we came home and they gave me cards they made for me. Lizi made me the cutest card with "Bill" from Alice in Wonderland on the front. She did such a good job drawing him! Shelby made me two really cute cards, one with Mickey Mouse that said, "No matter where I go in the world, or what I do, I know one thing for sure...your love will follow me." That card also had a drawing of a Disney sign that I ended up buying at auction a week later. The other card she made was a cookie that said, "I love you to cookie heaven."

June 19th

The kids had a lot of fun today jumping on the po-go stick. Shelby was doing really good, setting the record of 72 that everyone was trying to break. The kids also had a lot of fun being buried in the sand box by Alley. At first Trey was going to be a storm trooper but alley didn't know how she was going to make one so she told Trey that she was going to do a mermaid tail for him. Trey hasn't moved that fast in quite a while!

June 20th

June 21st

Trey broke the po-go stick record today. Actually he shattered it! He got to 1,100 and he stopped on his own with out falling off! I'm so proud of him because when we first started jumping, he wasn't as good as Shelby or me but he never gave up and he succeeded in breaking the record. We also had so much fun playing with the marble game today. At first the kids were setting up two towers but I showed them how to do four towers and they played with them for hours. Trey, Shelby, and even Lizi for a little while kept stats on which marbles would win the marble race. I think Trey must have filled about 20 pieces of paper with his stats! It was so fun to see them keep stats since I did the same thing when I was their age.

June 22nd

We decided to hike down to the river today. Shelby and Trey wanted to hike Molly's Nipple but Lizi wasn't too keen on the idea so we compromised and had fun at the river. We actually hiked first over to an old grain storage building and a "fort" of sorts made of volcanic rock. We then hiked the river all the way over to where we normally hike down to it. Shelby and Trey had fun trying to swat wasps with my hiking poles while Lizi and Judi happily ate all the snacks on the river bank that Liz packed for everyone.

June 24th

Trey really wanted an ant farm so when we woke up he wanted to go to Walmart to try to find one. We laughed at this since every time we told him previously that we were going to Walmart, he would voice his displeasure. So we ended up driving into St George to find an ant farm and came home and tried to find ants for it. The kids also had a great time playing in the sand box. We soaked the sand box with water and the kids loved playing in the water and sand.

June 25th

After church we came home and the kids and I watched a little bit of the Disneyland Auction that was going on on the computer. It was fun to see how into it Shelby and especially Trey got! They really wanted a Splash Mountain warning sign but it got too expensive to buy. I did end up getting a Fantasyland/It's a Small World directional sign. As I was bidding on it Trey was with me and would jump up and down and squeal a little when we were the highest bidder. When we won it he jumped high, let out an excited, "YES!!" and gave me a high five. We also had a fun time playing in the sand box for most of the day.

June 26th

June 27th

June 28th

We woke up early to get an early start on our drive to California. Shelby, Trey, and Lizi sat in the far back and slept and played on the tablets for most of the way. We stopped at the Van Eaton Auction house in Sherman Oaks to pick up the Disney sign that I won in the auction. It was fun to see the Disney memorabilia there. Then we went to the Tropicana Hotel across the street from Disneyland and checked in. We handed out tickets which were mailed to us this year and did our "pin draft" which was a lot of fun. We walked to Down Town Disney and over to the Disneyland Hotel to recreate some pictures that my mom took of me there when I was a kid. We got back to our hotel and went to bed early.

June 29th-July 1st

July 2nd

After a long few days at Disneyland, we slept in for a while. We checked out of our hotel at 11:00am and headed for Huntington Beach. It was a crowded day at the beach but the kids had a lot of fun. Shelby and Trey boogie boarded for a while and then we all tried to build walls to block the water. Lizi and Shelby started one by them selves. Soon Trey wanted to do one so he built one in front and to the side of the girls. A large wave came and completely destroyed Trey's wall and damaged the girls' so Trey decided to go help them with theirs. We left the beach at about 3:00 and started the drive home. We stopped to eat at the IHOP in Corona and made it home just before midnight.

July 3rd

When I looked out the window I noticed Liz running as fast as she could across the lawn. That definitely peaked my interest so I went out to see what was going on! There was Shelby and Judi also running. Shelby was practicing for the 4th of July race! So then Trey and I jumped in and we all had races, getting ready for tomorrow. Lizi even ran a couple of practice races.

July 4th

We woke up and went to the 4th of July parade which the kids love since the participants throw out candy and other things to them. After the parade we walked over to the games and races. The kids were all both nervous and excited to do the races! It was cute to see Shelby and Trey stretching and warming up before their race! Lizi was the first to go and she won her race! It was the second time she won her race! Next up was Trey who finished 3rd, and finally Shelby who also finished third. We then went to play some games - a fishing game, putting game, football throw, and water squirting game seemed to be their favorites. Each game would give them tickets for participating which we redeemed for prizes at the end. We came home and played outside for a short while before we realized that we needed to get snow cones! After snow cones, we came home and Trey and I played catch while Shelby picked grapes and Lizi played in the sand box with Judi. Trey and I worked on his curve ball which he picked up really well! I absolutely love playing catch with Trey! I also threw some balls to Trey which he hit really good! I haven't ever seen him hit the ball so well before! Shelby wanted to play catch after Trey and I were finished. So she and I had fun playing catch until one of my knuckleballs dropped and hit her right on the foot! The kids then had a web chat with their mom and they made cup cakes with Jenna as well. Once it cooled off, we went back outside and played in the sand box until it was dark enough to light our sparklers. We then watched the Hurricane fireworks from our back yard and went to bed.

July 5th

We got up and ate breakfast. After breakfast we played outside for a bit - Shelby collecting and eating grapes that probably weren't quite ready yet, but she was so excited to try them; Lizi and Judi played in the sand box, and Trey rode his bike down into the pit. We also set up a slip and slide on the grass and the kids enjoyed playing on it, especially after I turned on the sprinklers too. We came in to watch Mulan II since it was 106 degrees outside and then we went to pick up Jenna from work. When we got back home we had lunch and went back outside to play - Jenna with Lizi in the sand box, Trey played volleyball with Judi and I and Shelby rode her bike down into the pit and around through the grape arbor where she would stop to pick and eat more grapes. We then all played the most fun games of Ultimate Frisbee. We probably played about 4 games and had so much fun we forgot about how hot it was. I then gave all the kids shoulder rides which had us all laughing! Trey asked me again to play catch with him again which made my day! We played a game where we pretended that he was really pitching to batters and had to think about what pitch to throw so they wouldn't be expecting it. Lizi then asked me to help her build Disneyland so we built the Matterhorn, Tea Cups, Alice in Wonderland, and Small World (Jenna and her had already made the Castle earlier). We came in and watched Brave, which was a little scary in parts for Shelby and Trey even though they picked it out (scary movies don't bother Lizi at all). We then got their things packed up and got ready for bed.

July 6th

We got up a little earlier than normal so we could head to the airport. After eating breakfast, Shelby said an extra goodbye to Daisy, whom she's really grown close to, and we loaded up the van. On the way to the airport, Shelby and Trey got car sick pretty bad so we stopped to get them a 7-up which seems to help them. On the flight, Lizi wanted to sit by Liz and Shelby and Trey wanted to sit by me. Lizi had a little girl that was flying by herself sitting next to her who was nice initially but who became a little "crazy" as the flight went on. Trey and I played Color Switch on my ipad and Shelby slept. When we got to Dallas, we met their Mom and Steve and it was fun to watch Trey so excitedly show his Mom the video he took on his tablet of Splash Mountain. Due to lightning, we had to wait an extra 30 minutes for the bags to be unloaded from the plane. When it was time to say goodbye, Trey's was a little bit tearful, Lizi said that she wanted to stay in Utah, and Shelby gave Liz and I HUGE hugs! I had such  fun time with the kids this year!!

*Note: Although I updated this post every night, for some reason it never saved properly and every day after June 17th was erased.