Our Last day in Utah

August 12th was our last day in Utah. We spent the morning at my Grandma Hill's house. My grandma lives in West Kaysville in the neatest home that was built in the 1800's by Christopher Layton. Layton Utah was named after him and he is my great, great, etc. grandpa. He built the home for his fourth wife Caroline who was my grandma. I have wonderful memories of my grandma's house. It was a farm when my mom was growing up, but most of that was sold off before I was born. They still had a lot of land and their were some horses and cows. They had barns and hay in the silo and their was a creek (pronounced "crick") and we got to ride on my grandpa's golf cart that had a grass collector thing hooked to the back to pick up all the grass after my grandpa mowed. Then we put it all on a flat bed trailer and road on the trailer to the fields where we dumped all the grass. Needless to say it was a child's paradise.

So, while I was there I took pictures of some of the buildings still there. A lot has been torn down to make room for the new houses that are now in the fields.


This is my grandma's house








My kids love my grandma's house, too. She has this really cool marble game that the kids just love to play with.






The marble game





While we were there I had my dad take pictures of the kids to put up in my family room.

































We had a great time at my grandma's. I have always been close to her and I never see her as much as I should when I go to Utah. I always miss my grandpa when I go to my grandma's. He passed away in September of 1993, but I still really miss him. He was such a fun grandpa. He lived for his grandkids and he was so funny! He was a great man!

This wraps up our trip to Utah. We had a wonderful four weeks. Thanks mom and dad for having us for so looooong!

I have the best husband in the world!

Pete was busy while I was gone to Utah. He was busy, crazy with work! He would call me at ten or eleven and just be going home from work. Needless to say, I didn't expect any of our projects to be done because he just didn't have time! Or so I thought.

We got home from Utah at about 1:30 in the morning, so I was really tired. The first thing I thought as we pulled in was... this garage sure looks bigger. I get out and this is what I saw...









...shelves, shelves and more shelves! Containers organized and neatly stacked on the shelves. Food storage in the garage! Gardening items neatly organized. What I had left was containers and boxes stacked in the middle of my garage, so high they were teetering and on the verge of falling. A narrow area for me to pull the van in and squeeze out the door. My garage is HUGE! It's amazing what organization can do. (Sorry to all those neighbors who could hear my sweet husband's pounding at 2 am.)

Then I come in the house and open my fridge to get some water and this is what I see...







...Clean organized and all yucky leftovers thrown away. I had left a disgusting fridge with sticky spills and crumbs. I had wanted to clean it before I left, but I ran out of time! Never fear! Super Pete is here!


Then I go into the office because I could tell something had been done in there. And this is what I saw...









...Gorgeous, beautiful and organized. When I left you could barely walk in the office it was disorganized, cluttered and messy.

Thank you Pete! You're the best! It was such a relief to come home and know that three big projects are done and I don't have to worry about them any more.

By the way, he did these projects at like one or two in the morning because he had been working so late and he was working on Saturdays as well. He got very little sleep while I was gone. Poor guy!

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Pete!

Happy Birthday Pete! Today is Pete's thirty eighth birthday. He started his day by bringing cake to work to share with everyone there. He loves Costco carrot cake and no one else in our house appreciates it, so he brings it to work to share with those who will also enjoy it.

When he got home we had dinner and then went to Dairy Queen for icecream. We came home and had the rest of his carrot cake (I'm really not that lazy about making a cake, this was his choice) and opened presents. On Saturday he and I will go out to dinner and go see the Dark Knight. That will be fun.

On this day I just want to take the time to say how much I love and appreciate Pete for all the hard work he does for our family. He is truly a wonderful husband and a fantastic dad. August 27th is such a special day because it is the day that you graced this world with your presence. You are truly a special person and I am so glad that you are mine!

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Jaron and his cousin Steven had a lot of fun together this summer. They were double trouble for sure! Steven is about nine months older than Jaron and it was really fun to see them interact.

One night while I was there, I was watching my kids and my little sister's kids while she and her husband signed some papers for her new van and my mom was working on her Sunday school lesson. Baby Summer was tired and so I was rocking her to sleep and not paying enough attention to Jaron and Steven. After a few minutes I realized that they were awfully quiet for a one and two year old. So I got up and went into the kitchen to see what they were doing. Steven had scooted the kitchen chair over to the counter and was getting donut holes out of the container. He was very sweetly sharing with Jaron who was on the floor below him and they were stuffing donut holes into their little mouths as fast as they could. It was very funny. I got Steven down, put the chair away and closed the container of donut holes. Then I cleaned them and the floor up. By this time Summer was very tired, so I went back to rocking her. Jaron was on the floor next to my chair and again I was not paying much attention to him and Steven. I finally get the baby to sleep and look down at Jaron and see quite a mess! Steven had again somehow gotten into the donut holes and he and Jaron are not only eating them, but smashing them into the carpet as well! I took Summer straight to my mom, so I could clean up the mess before they really destroyed the carpet!



This is only one of the times these two got themselves into a mess! I can't wait until next year when they are both walking and talking to see what kind of trouble they get into.

DOUBLE TROUBLE aka Steven and Jaron!

This also made me realize that I never want a 3 month old, 15 month old and two year old! Way too many babies!

Fun summer days with the Phelon side

Pete finally got to Utah on Friday August 8th. He had to work at Tenfold that day, so I picked him up in Sandy and then we headed to the Phelon family luau. The luau was held in Provo Canyon at a really nice park. It was so beautiful up there with the mountains so close. I always forget how gorgeous and huge the mountains are in Utah.

Once we got to the park the kids went and made a candy lei. It was such a cute idea and the kids loved them! They didn't last very long around their necks because they couldn't resist and ate them before too long! Then the kids went "fishing" in the fish pond. Instead of catching fish they caught fish crackers! Another fun idea that the kids loved. Then they went digging in the sand for shells. Hidden in the sand were two red starfish that if the kids found them they got a prize. My kids found both starfish, so that was fun for them.


We had a yummy Hawaiian dinner full of all kinds of interesting Hawaiian foods I had never heard of. After dinner was over we had a hula contest. Kids and then adults. After the hula contest we played musical beach towels. The kids went first and Shaylee won! She got a bug net that her cousins promptly ripped! Played a little too hard with it a guess. Then the adults played musical beach towels. Pete got second place and won a sweet bread and bread plate.













We then had the Phelon family auction. Pete was the auctioneer and did a great job. His poor throat was so dry by the end. He did a lot of talking! We won the cutest wooden letters that spell P-H-E-L-O-N. It is now on my mantle. We also got a bracelot, sippy cup, and baseball. After the auction it was very late, so it was time to head home.

We stayed at Pete's little brother, Joe's house. The kids slept with their cousins and had a lot of fun. They didn't get a lot of sleep, but they had a lot of fun. On Saturday we spent the morning at Joe's and then we had lunch at Los Hermanos with Pete's mom. After lunch we played Ticket to Ride with Pete's mom, his oldest brother Johnny and his niece Heidi. It was a lot of fun and of course Pete won.

Saturday night was Pete's twenty year high school reunion. His two good friends, Chris and Casey were there with their wives Heidi and Vickey. I was so glad they were there since I know their wives well. Pete mingled and visited and really enjoyed himself. We headed back to his brother Dan's house at about 10:30. We decided to play Ticket to Ride again with Dan and his wife Carla. This time amazingly enough, Pete didn't win. Dan did. It was nice to visit with them and catch up on all they've been doing. They were so nice to watch our kids while we were at the reunion. Thanks so much Dan and Carla!

We were able to go to church with them on Sunday. The kids went to class with their kids and had fun getting to know their cousins better. We had dinner at Pete's moms house and then headed back to Fruit Heights.




It was a fun weekend with the Phelon's. Thanks so much Joe and Cynthia and Dan and Carla for opening up your homes to us!

The Days of Kenyon's Birthday!

For Kenyon's birthday on Friday, Pete took him, Brandon and Shaylee to the new Star Wars movie that opened up on Friday. He loved it, of course! Then they picked up Jaron and me and we went to Mickey D's, the one with the playground of course! Pete and I didn't feel like McDonald's, so we got Burgerville for us! Then we came home and had icecream. His cake wasn't going to be ready until Saturday! Oops!



On Saturday we went to Chuck E. Cheese's and had pizza and played games. The kids had a great time. Then we went to Target, so he could spend his money from Grandma Phelon. He bought a Jenga Fett transformer. Star Wars?! Amazing! Then we came home and had cake and icecream.














On Tuesday night we had also had a celebration with my family in Utah. He got two Neo Shifters from my mom and my sister. He really enjoyed them and has already started building them. Then we had cake and icecream. Pete wasn't able to be at this celebration because he was hard at work in Sandy at Tenfold!






Even though we didn't do a friend party, he had quite the celebration. It went on for about five days! Now that's what I call a birthday celebration!