Our 4th week of June was our “Girls Week” with grandmas. Each year we try to take a trip to my grandma’s house with my mom. It has become a fun tradition that the girls and I look forward to. Even if no exciting events are planned, it is a fun relaxing week and we just get to be with our grandmothers, and what can be better than that? I'm so glad that we are able to do it! Thanks Mom!
We met mom just outside Rupert on Sunday after church and switched cars. This Sunday just happened to be Father’s Day and I’m grateful that Shawn wasn’t upset about us leaving him on “his day.” We did make a few goodies to leave for him, as requested. We got to Grandma Sorenson’s Sunday night and were able to visit with my cousins Sarah, Crystal and Jennie and my uncle Carl before we went to bed.
Monday morning we got up and had some of Grandma’s yummy quiche for breakfast, and then we decided to take the girls to one of the funnest parks we’ve ever been to in West Jordan. I think it is the Veteran’s Memorial Park and Wild West Jordan Playground, the largest playground in Utah. it is set up like an old west town/fort and the girls could play there for hours! We didn’t stay too long though, because it was starting to warm up a little and I’d already made a couple returns to the car for band-aids, tennis shoes, etc. We stopped in our old college town, Ephraim, UT, for lunch at the Malt Shoppe. My mom and I both attended Snow College there, so we like to drive around and see what has changed (a lot!) and show the girls the dorms we used to live in. We got to Mayfield late in the afternoon, and after dinner we helped Grandma Olsen pull the tulip and daffodil plants that were done and helped her plant corn in her garden. She has this amazing garden and spends some time every day working on her flowers, veggies, and lawn. She is 85 now and is “starting to feel old,” so she rests a lot more than she used too and didn’t plant quite as much as she usually would, but she is still very active and does more yard work than someone ½ her age!
Tuesday the girls worked on a craft I brought for them for a good hour and a half or so. They each had a new pair of flip flops and we just cut strips of ribbon and tied them on the straps to make “Tickle-Toe” flip flops. It was fun and simple and we could do variations on it as a tradition every year. After lunch we encouraged the girls to have a nap (and had a little nap ourselves) so we could go see the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti. We went to the dress-rehearsal last year, but it rained on us the whole time, so we were glad to see it in good weather this year. It is outdoors, so doesn’t start until dark – about 10 p.m. We parked right by the Patten House, which was an old pioneer house/museum that was just closing. The Daughters of the Utah Pioneer docents let us go in and look around for a few minutes before we went to get our seats. The girls were all good during the show, but a little wiggly trying to stay wrapped in the blankets to stay warm. I hope they will get to see it several more times and have fond memories (like I do) of going to see it while at Grandma’s. They were all touched by the story and the message that families can be together forever and I hope it strengthens their testimonies.
With actors from the Mormon Miracle Pageant
The beautiful Manti Temple as set and scenery
On Wednesday we got sucked into watching the record-breaking Wimbledon tennis match between John Isner (USA) and Nicolas Mahut (France). The match was in its second day at this point and we watched for hours. ESPN stopped covering it on television, so we all huddled around my laptop and watched it online. Grandma made the comment that maybe she would have to learn how to get online so she could watch her sports J The game still had not concluded with a winner so it went into a third day, where Isner finally won 70 games to 68 games in the fifth set. It was the longest game in tennis history and lasted 11 hours, 5 minutes. Although we’re not particularly tennis fans, it was pretty fascinating to watch these two athletes battle it out and fight through their exhaustion in such a historical match. My aunt Elayne and Uncle Roger came down that afternoon with my cousin Janene and her kids (Carson, Tanner and Brynlee) and the kids hit it right off. They got busy playing foosball in the basement and Janene made us all a delicious tortilla soup for dinner. It was so fun to see her and her cute kids!
Thursday we all went down to the park to see what was new – a wooden train for the kids to play on, a bridge, and a balance beam that was low to the ground, but was attached by chains so it wobbled a little. The kids all had fun playing for awhile, and then we stopped at the Mayfield Mall/Mayfield Merc (it has had many names through the years) for the “penny candy.” It isn’t a penny anymore, but Grandma Sheri gave them each a dollar (in the time-honored Grandma tradition) to spend on the 15 and 25 cent treats – which they did. They next little while was spent eating those treats, making punch out of the sugary powder of Baby Bottle Pops, and playing with the empty containers. After lunch the girls got in their swimsuits and played in the sprinklers. Evelyn is still very reluctant to play in sprinklers, but Felicity and Lydia enjoyed a good old fashioned water fight. Then we helped Great-Grandma Olsen clean a little – vacuuming, washing towels and sheets, and cleaning bathrooms before we left the next day. For dinner we had the traditional wienie roast (the girls hate it when I call it that) and toasted marshmallows for dinner. While we were waiting for the fire to burn down a little, Felicity spotted a hummingbird in one of Great-Grandma’s bushes and took some pictures of it.
Playing with second-cousins at the park
Getting our treats
The cattle drive through the middle of town
Playing in Sprinklers
Lissy's Hummingbird
A Yummy Wienie Roast
Friday morning after breakfast we left for home. Mom treated us to lunch at Maddox Ranch House in Perry, near Brigham City. It is a steak house on a ranch that has been there for over 60 years and mom has good memories of eating there with her parents and has often wanted to stop there, but couldn’t convince my dad. We were happy to oblige. The girls had some yummy lunches that were served on souvenir Frisbees and Mom and I had some of their famous beef. We met Shawn just outside Rupert again, switched cars and headed home. Shawn took us to a new little restaurant he was introduced to called Bambinos that serves little pizza-type pockets. They were yummy and so was the raspberry dessert one we tried! We relaxed the rest of that night reading our family book (The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate) and watering the lawn.
Saying good-bye to Great-Grandma and getting the traditional picture by the grainary
Saturday morning I ran to Wal-Mart to get a couple of things and had the oil in the van changed while I was there. Shawn helped his friend work on a broken sprinkler in his yard. Shawn goes to karate with this friend and accidentally broke his rib this week, so called to see if he needed anything and ended up getting some other guys to go over and help with the sprinkler. Shawn wasn’t able to stay the whole time, but I think they did eventually get it fixed late that night. We had plans to go on a little geocaching/cookout trip with the Bones. Our family, Jeff and Ben went to Ririe reservoir and picked our picnic spot, then trekked off across the hot, dusty, brush-filled hills to find a geocache. Boy, am I out of shape! We never did find it, but enjoyed the evening cooking some hotdogs and marshmallows over a charcoal fire, playing Frisbee, watching the boats and just hanging out. Nikie and her mom came later for the barbecue.
Hunting for the Geocache
Evie coming off the hill
Defeated
Tossing the frisbee
Hanging out
Tail end of June
Felicity has arranged to trade her babysitting for sewing lessons with my friend and first counselor in the primary. She had her first swaps this week and enjoyed her first out-of-home babysitting experience and learning some basic sewing skills. She learned how to thread the needle and how to sew in straight, zig-zag and curvy lines with an empty needle. Her assignments were to practice the sewing and show 2 people how to thread a needle.
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