Last Week of Summer Vacation

Two Fridays ago, the kids and I went up to Sam's brother and sis-in-law's in Heber City and went swimming and played all day. We had a great time as their son, Emmett is only 26 days younger than Curtis and we don't ever just hang out with them. I had a really nice time visiting with Doug and Laie and we ended up staying 8 hours! Even after 8 hours the kids did not want to leave. On the way home Noah told me we hadn't done anything fun all summer. So, I of course listed off all the fun things we have done. He realized we did do a lot but I decided we should end the summer with a bang!

So, this is what we did last week:
We toured the Sweets Candy Factory with some friends and had a blast. It was really interesting to see how they make the different candy...I thought it was fascinating, the kids thought it was cool but weren't quite as fascinated. My favorite part was in the chocolate room (shocker, I know) where they coat all the candy with chocolate. Our tour guide told us to look up...there were several big pipes on the ceiling marked "chocolate" "sugar" "corn syrup". Pipes with chocolate flowing through them! I felt like we were in the Willy Wonka movie. We also got free samples along the way, my favorite perhaps was the candy corn taffy that was right off the line. It was so fresh, it was still warm. Yummmm.

We also went to Fat Cats for bowling and pizza. There were 3 moms and 7 kids. It was a little chaotic but everyone had a blast. On the bowling monitors, it shows the speed of your ball which was hilarious with the little kids. My friend's little girl at one point rolled the ball so slow that it only went 1.2 mph! I wasn't sure the ball was going to make it to the end but it eventually did!

My dad called Thursday and said he was going to come get the boys to spend the day at his house...thanks Dad! They had fun playing with the neighbor kids and I was able to get some things done for the weekend.

Friday morning, we loaded the car and headed up to Bear Lake with Emily and Adam and crew. Adam's dad has a "cabin" right on the lake and they invited us to stay there with them. Adam's parents kind of have an open door policy with the kids meaning anyone can come up whenever so there ended up being 12 adults and I think 22 kids there! Even with all the craziness, our kids were really happy and obedient. I think the boys really only had one or two moments each where I needed to tell them to stop doing whatever they were doing.
The weather was so beautiful on Friday and the water was warm. The beach we were on is really sandy and the water is shallow (up to my knees) for about 50 yards out at least so the kids had a lot of territory to play in. There were kayaks and catamarans that we went for rides in and they have a water trampoline and raft that the kids had a great time with. Lucy loved splashing in the water and eating the sand. She was pretty content the whole time. Emily and I had lawn chairs and an umbrella set up with treats, drinks and sandwiches. It was really relaxing and enjoyable.
Saturday morning was cold and windy but that didn't stop us from getting to the beach around 10. By afternoon it was warmer but still a little windy. But we still had a great time! We packed up after dinner and headed home. We finally pulled into our driveway after 11pm and went to sleep immediately. Sam forgot to set his alarm for high council meeting and we all slept in! We did make it to Sacrament mtg but just barely! Thanks Tollhousens, for a fabulous weekend! We can't wait to go again!

We enjoyed the rest of the Olympics on Sunday at my parent's house but the kids were exhausted by 8:00 from our fun weekend. Monday we did a little school shopping and I took the kids to McDonalds for lunch. That evening we went to a Back to School Night BBQ and met the kids teachers. They were both so excited to find out that even though not all of their friends were in their same class again, they each were in the same class as their best friend!

Tuesday morning we were up at 7:00, Sam made the kids breakfast, I packed their lunches then Sam was able to give the boys each a Father's blessing to help them with this school year. This is something I looked forward to each year before I started school from my own dad. It always seemed to calm the first day of school jitters and give me some perspective for the school year. It also conveyed the love my dad and my Heavenly Father had for me (and still do!). I'm so grateful Sam has the desire to give these blessings to our children! After that, we all walked the boys to school and sent them on their way!

After school, we went to Thanksgiving Point for their last $2 Tuesday. We had never been to the dinosaur museum there so we took advantage of the discount and braved the crowds. The museum is really great and huge! Sam wants to go back without the kids so he can actually read everything. We also went over to the gardens there that are absolutely amazing. We walked and walked but had a great time. We were gone for over 5 hours! It was a fun way to celebrate the kids' first day of school!

Thanks to my Mom for saving the day and letting me borrow her camera since mine is still broken. As soon as I get the pics downloaded, I'll post some!