Summer Vacation Part II

I'm sure this is way more detail than anyone really cares about, but I just don't want to forget!


We woke up on our first morning in Utah with lots of energy and feeling ready to explore. We had a busy day. We started out with a trip to the local grocery store to stock the little kitchen in our timeshare. Even though we were on vacation, it was so great having a kitchen and being able to prepare our own meals. It saved lots of money and kept us from getting so sick of eating out. We ate pretty much every breakfast, and more than half of our lunches and dinners at the resort. (I packed most of the food from home and then just needed to buy all the fresh/refrigerated items when we got there.)

After breakfast we explored the grounds of the resort. It was fairly small, but had a really nice pool. We spent a few hours out on the lawn playing baseball, catching little fish in the pond, and just enjoying the beautiful scenery.


















After lunch we headed into Ogden for a visit to the Eccles Dinosaur Park, where they had a small indoor museum and then a large outdoor trail with all types of dinosaurs.







We were all terrified to see the world's most dangerous creature. Thankfully it was in a cage.



We had dinner at the very yummy Cafe Rio and got a glimpse of the Ogden Temple and tabernacle (the temple looks pretty much identical to the Provo temple). We then drove back into Eden and decided to explore the Eden/Huntsville area and the Pineview Reservoir. It really is a beautiful area, with some quaint little houses and lots of gigantic mansions! Being really close to several ski resorts and also the water, it seems to be a popular vacation spot. We found the swimming/beach area of the reservoir and talked to the park ranger. He let us know that "if you want to come on Sunday, come early because church gets out at 11:00 and then it gets packed." We were quite entertained by that and decided that we would not come back on Sunday. Sadly we didn't make it back the rest of the week either. (I'd rather swim in a clean swimming pool than a reservoir anyway.) We found the home of President David O. McKay in Huntsville. We were too late for the tour but it was cool that we were able to see it. We also found a monastery that looked interesting but visiting hours were over there as well. (The daylight savings really threw us off. It stays light until almost 9 pm).

After all that it was time to end our day with a dip in the pool. We had a great day. More to come . . .

Summer Vacation Part I

We had the chance to take a trip to Utah a few weeks ago, and I'm already starting to forget the details so I better document it now. It all started out with my parents inviting us to go on vacation with them using their timeshare. No cost for hotel? Okay, we're up for it. So we helped them pick a place that was close enough to drive and would have some good places to visit, and Utah it was. (The number one question we were asked while there: Are you visiting family? We might be unusual in the fact that we really have no family living there. Joey maybe has one uncle there, but that's it.) So that was all decided back in January.

Of course you remember that in March my dad had open heart surgery, leading to many complications that required a total of 5 surgeries and much stress! Since he is just going back to work tomorrow for the first time since March, my parents really couldn't make the trip because it just wouldn't be wise considering that my dad had only been off his IV antibiotics for a few days and my mom just couldn't take any more time off work than she already had. But since it was too late to cancel the reservation, we drove up without them. (Sorry Mom and Dad, we know you really wanted to get away, and you deserve a vacation!)

I was absolutely dreading the drive, which ended up being a total of about 14 hours including our stops. I just wasn't sure how my kids would handle it. I tried to be as organized as possible so that they would stay entertained. I did a little shopping to have some "surprises" in the car, we had the DVD player ready to go, lots of snacks and CDs, each kid packed their own backpack of car activities, and I made an activity packet of things I printed from the internet, mostly common car games and age appropriate activities for each kid. Then I tried to structure the time and only let them watch a movie at certain times, give them a snack at certain times, work on their packet at certain times, etc. I wasn't sure how it would go, but they were so great on the whole ride. I couldn't believe it. (We have an unfortunate vacation history over the last few years, which I'll save for some future blog, so now I always anticipate the worst when it comes to vacation!)

As it was getting dark we finally arrived at our destination: Wolf Creek Village in Eden, UT. It is north of Salt Lake, you have to drive through Ogden and then through a canyon and past a reservoir, a really beautiful drive to get there. We checked in, unloaded the car and set out to find dinner before every place in this little town was closed for the night. Thankfully we found a pizza place willing to serve us when they were only 15 minutes from closing time. After that we settled in for the night and assigned beds to everyone. There was a huge loft upstairs with a king size bed and a bathroom, which of course was for the grown ups! Hannah and Kendall shared the downstairs bedroom, and Noah got the pull out couch. We would have to start the real adventure in the morning because we were definitely tired!

(Is anyone still reading this. Wow, I just wrote a lot didn't I?)

To hear about our 4th of July including some unforgettable photos, click here.

My Baby Daddy

(playing Wii at a work party)

I must say that I didn't do enough to make Father's Day special for my man, so I thought I'd give him a little shout out here on the blog. We were out of most breakfast foods this morning so he had a breakfast of leftover pizza, and then we went to my parent's house for dinner where he had to grill the steaks. So there wasn't much pampering going on for him, it was more like a normal day. We did get him a gift card to Cabela's because that is now his favorite place to take the kids when I am out working. (And because he wanted a scope for his rifle, but when I asked the kids if that's what we should get him, Kendall said, "No, he might shoot us with bullets." I'm still laughing about that one.)

Joey's a pretty quiet guy most of the time, so I don't think a lot of people know his true personality. He is super duper smart. And I like to think that I'm smart, but he is constantly surprising me with how many things he knows about. We have fun together for sure, but we also really enjoy just having some quiet hanging out on the couch time. He loves to get hyper with the kids and play rough, which they don't really get from me so they definitely have fun with dad. He has also never been afraid to change a diaper, scrub the shower, or cook a meal. (In fact, he probably does all of those things better than I do! I thank my mother in law for that.)

So Happy Father's Day, I love ya.

And even though my dad has never looked at my blog, although I wrote down the address for him today, I'm sooooo grateful he's still with us this Father's Day. Having gone through so many surgeries the last few months and so many close calls really makes a girl appreciate her dad even more. Thankfully he's doing really well now!

Fond Farewell

Denial. That's where I've been these past few months. I kept hoping that if I didn't acknowledge the fact that Tonya was moving, it wouldn't actually happen. I finally had to overcome my denial and so today I said a sad goodbye to a dear friend. Actually, I said the sad goodbye yesterday. Then I said a happy goodbye today. Then I felt like crawling up in a little ball and sobbing. Then I ate some chocolate.

You know the kind of friend who you talk to every day and hang out for no reason at all, and it's always fun no matter what? The kind of friend who makes you want to be a better person, but loves you even when you're not. Someone you can call late at night without worrying about how late it actually is. A friend that you can call at the drop of the hat for babysitting, and whose kids you love so much that you never worry about who owes the other one more babysitting, because it doesn't matter and it all evens out in the end, and you'd do it for them a million times even if they never could repay the favor. You know that kind of friend?

That's the kind of friendship we have. And while I'm going to miss the every day interaction, and the laughing at ourselves, and the many, many trips to the park, I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to share a little part of my life with this amazing lady.

Of course we'll miss ALL of the Shallenbergers. I know there are some teenagers who have had the course of their lives forever changed because of Rob's influence. And Robbie is such a fun little character, so full of life and adventure. Little Lana is one of the few babies that has ever given me more baby cravings with her beautiful smile and sweet nature. And of course I don't know who will protect Kendall and tell other kids off when Bella is not around to do it. There's nowhere Kendall would rather be than with Bella.

So to Tonya, I say thank you for all you've taught me through your example, all the fun times, the presidency meetings that seemed more like a party, and for always being there. And thanks for reminding me of the value of friendship--I haven't taken the time lately to let some of my friends know how much they mean to me, but you've reminded me that it's worth the effort to have good friends.

I'll miss you guys. You rock.

A Great Weekend . . .

Joey and Noah went on the Father and Son's Outing from Thursday-Saturday, (where apparently my foil dinners were the envy of the camp--who knew?!)

so imagine my surprise when the doorbell rang Friday morning and these

were delivered to my door. It actually made me tear up when I read the sweet card from Joey and the kids. You have to understand that getting flowers from my husband is a rare occasion. (He gives a great back rub, but is not great in the gift department. Most of the time, I'd rather have the back rub and pick out my own gifts anyway.) Apparently my Noah has been urging Daddy to get me flowers for weeks now. Haven't I trained him well?

Friday night we celebrated Hannah's birthday with a few friends by going to Dramagenics, a new family-friendly improv club. It is just starting up, so our group of 6 made up about half the audience, but it was a really fun time. The girls loved it, and some of them even got to go on stage and participate. They all got t-shirts too. It would be a fun date night or even night out with the family. (They also had buy one, get one free coupons in the Val-pak mailer a few weeks ago!). The birthday party turned into an unplanned slumber party where I went to bed and the girls stayed up way too late, which I suppose is the way slumber parties are supposed to be. We've found it's the perfect opportunity to do this when the boys are out of the house!

Sunday morning I got to sleep in while Joey made breakfast. Of course we ended up being late for church because of it, but it was worth it. He's rarely home before church because he has so many meetings, but it seems like whenever he is home we are late. I'm not blaming it on him, it's just that I get lazy and think I have more time since he's here. At church, my kids did the traditional Mother's Day singing with the Primary, and it was the last time all of my kids will be in Primary together. Makes me a little sad. My kids also showered me with fun homemade gifts, but I forgot to wear my "Super Mom: Hero of the Universe" button to church.

After church, we enjoyed a nice dinner with my family and Noah finally lost that tooth. Then he literally lost the tooth. Lucky for him, we have some good connections with the tooth fairy and she came anyway.

(Hi Randi, I know you're stalking my blog!)

My Sweet Boy

Noah has big news: a loose tooth. He has been waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting to have a loose tooth ever since he started kindergarten and saw other kids losing teeth. He noticed it was loose on Saturday, and by Sunday morning he wanted it pulled out with pliers (his friend Robbie's preferred method). We explained that it has to be much looser first, or it would hurt. So he will wiggle and wait.

A funny conversation we had on Saturday.

Background: The kids have been playing with a silver "rope" type chain necklace they found in my room, it was actually a gag gift. Noah put it on Saturday just before leaving for the aforementioned birthday party.

Me: Take that necklace off, you're not wearing it to the party.

Noah: Awww, I like it mom.

Me: It makes you look like a gangster.

Noah: I am a gangster.

Me (trying not to laugh): Do you know what a gangster is?

Noah: Someone who plays jokes on people.

Me: No, that's a jokester.

Noah: Then what's a gangster?

Me: A person who does bad things, even kills people sometimes. (That was the best I could come up with).

Noah: Oh, okay. (Takes off necklace).

Now I just hope that he doesn't see someone with a necklace like that and call them a gangster. It's so hard sometimes to teach your kids about the bad things in the world without giving them too much information.

Remember These?

Kendall was hanging out on the couch watching TV this morning and I told her that she needed to turn off the TV and play with toys for awhile. She didn't like that idea and said that she wanted to watch TV all day. I told her I'd give her a little while and then she was going to turn it off. About 5 minutes later she came to me and said, "Mommy, I will play with a toy. But I want to play with YOU." I need to be reminded to play with her sometimes, I get so busy doing things and she can be good at entertaining herself. So then she said she wanted a game, so I let her pick something out of our ridiculously full game closet. I almost forgot that we even had a Lite-Brite, it must have been about 5 years since we've used it. It was one of my favorite toys as a kid. We had a lot of fun making this hot air balloon, even though she lost interest about halfway through and wanted me to finish it. We will definitely be playing with this more often. Noah will love it, and Hannah will probably even still play with it.

Here's another fun fact about Kendall: she has an unusually good sense of direction. It started out that she always wanted to go a certain way when we were leaving the house or coming home, and she would get really upset with me if I went a different way. The she started really recognizing the way to familiar places, even if she didn't know where we were going ("This is the way to Target!"). On Saturday, we were taking Noah to a birthday party and while we were standing in the house she asked, "Which way is Jakob's house?" I pointed east. We got in the car, wound our way out of the neighborhood and were then going east for about a mile. I had to turn south for a little bit before going east again, and when I turned, she said, "Mom, you said the party was that way (pointing east)." How could she remember that from inside the house, after all those different turns? It might have been a fluke, but she does stuff like that all the time. At least it could come in handy if we ever get lost!

I love my sweet Kendall! She's definitely the "baby" of the family. Everyone adores her and she almost always gets what she wants. Our biggest challenge with her right now is that she will not stay out of the pantry. We even have one of those locks that flips over at the top of the door, and she climbs right up on the counter and opens it. She has no fear and doesn't care how many times she gets in trouble. So we found a different lock that you can put a padlock through, and we're probably going to buy it. It's pathetic, but we have a padlock that we put on the refrigerator too!

Arg! Can't get spaces in between my paragraphs again!