Fly Away

This was Orion's year to leave us for his first foray into time away from parents for an extended period of time. Off to Seattle, drive to Canada, spend a week, drive back to Seattle and then down to Medford, OR, spend a few weeks there and then up to Bend, OR., where we will meet him. Luckily, as you all know, a lot of driving is cake to this kid.

He was super excited; I was a little wary. I don't like sending my child away. I know he will love it and I know he really wanted to go. He was so sweet, as we were packing he came up to me and put his arms around me and said, "I'm going to miss you." I think he was doing it just to be nice to me, but it felt great. He was able to fly last year, so at least that was not new to him. He was very cool about it all. There was another unaccompanied minor flying with him. That always makes me feel a little better. They did sit together, but he said they didn't speak until the plane was preparing for landing. So funny. He was busy with his DS and she was busy with her iPod... modern kids.

We spoke the morning after he arrived and he seemed very happy to be there. This year is different because he will have cousins from North Carolina there with him. He felt so lucky to be able to spend more time with them.

Thanks to Nana and Opah for taking him on. We will really miss him here, especially his best friend/worst enemy, Dylan.

How much pure joy can 48 inches hold?

It's a lot. This year was THE year. Dylan is now tall enough to ride all the rides at the water park. He is crazy and if I would have let him he would have done all the scary rides by himself. You know, the several story drop ones? I told him that he needs at least another year before I let him do those.

His first big slide was Shotgun Falls, a tube ride with a few drops where you can get some air. He loved it and his face was priceless when we were finished. We also did Boomerang, which is the scariest slide in the park. I was super nervous to go with him and I'm a screamer. He didn't make a sound. That scared me because I thought he must be too terrified to even speak. Wrong, he loved it! We went straight to the next one, Vortex. It's fun, but not too scary. He really was so incredibly happy to be tall enough to ride and it makes it so much nicer for all of us now that one of us isn't stuck in the kiddie pool. It was a fun day for the whole family.

Staycation

We didn't go away this summer so we decided to have a "staycation." Here's what we did.

Played at the park, where I laid on a blanket in the shade and read,

Sophia was stung by a bee and

the kids played in the sprinklers.
Then we went to BYU MOA to see the Walter Wick exhibit again. "Staycation"... so far, so good.

 Next day was Orion's b-day, more about that on another post. Our big thing besides his birthday was that we went swimming. Still doing okay.

We had things that kept us around the house the next day so the kids just played their little heads off, with video games. The kids were allowed to play on their DSs all week after 2 months without.

The next day we went up to the Gateway, played in the fountain and then took Trax around downtown and

stopped at Temple Square. Trax is free in the downtown area. The kids loved riding and I loved that it was free. By that day I was not doing so well. The house was a disaster, I was so tired of driving places and I was not feeling any sort of relaxation on my "stay at home vacation."

Finally the last day of the staycation. I was exhausted. We went bowling and then to the dollar movie. Kenneth was able to play with us on the last day.

Final thoughts on our "staycation." I did not love it. I wanted it to be a fun time for the kids so I was pretty lax on the work part, but the house was such a mess that it caused me a lot of stress. Maybe next time I will hire a house cleaning service for my "staycation."

Fast May-June Wrap Up

When I say fast, I mean fast.

Sophia participated in the Hope of America program at the Marriott Center in Provo in May. I was unable to attend due to the fact that I was near death or at least wishing I was dead. That's a story for another day.

Amber invited us to a lunch at a cute little shop in Highland, of which I totally don't remember the name, for her birthday. Isn't that soooo nice? She treated us for her birthday.

I went to Park City with Jenn and Amber and stayed in the super fantastic suite at Miner's Club. While there I had my only pedicure of the summer. Pretty toes, sorry if you're grossed out by toes.

Amber and I ran the Pony Express 5K together. It rocks, it's all downhill. Our fastest times, though don't ask me what they were because I don't remember.

In June Theron received his senior blue belt.

Sophia received her green belt.

Ian, Orion and Dylan started attending soccer academy in Orem which is coached by their uncle, Angel Enciso. They learned a lot and had a lot of fun. Ian also lived with the Enciso family for a few weeks over the summer. It was great for everyone.

A group of us went to Heritage Park on their free day. It was cool, in temp, and cool, interesting.

I was able to go to day camp with both Theron and Orion. How cute are they? While there we saw my nephew McKay Pelo. I thought it was so great that I could get this photo of the cousins at camp.

We attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. It was beautiful.

The Maroney's gave us tickets to the opening game of the Owlz. My kids loved sitting on the grass and trying to catch balls. So fun.

I loved June, I loved all the rain and the cooler temps. I thought it was the most perfect June, weather wise, of my whole life. Remind me again why I live in a desert?

June also marked the passing of Sadie Huish and the mission farewell of my nephew, Michael.

Stay tuned for too much to even start mentioning.