feels like Friday

I think I have driven 5000 miles in the last few days.  

Grace and I went to San Diego yesterday for a quick visit with Anna and the boys.  Even though we live 2 1/2 hours apart we hardly see each other.  Everyone is too busy.

Last time we were going to go we ended up cancelling at the last minute..I don't remember why.  This time I almost did because we are down a car.  When I made our plans Hannah was going to be able to take Ethan and herself everywhere they needed to go.  Despite this hiccup I decided to go ahead and I am glad I did.  We had a very fun visit. 

Yesterday we went to the beach.  It was perfect.  Sunny, warm.  The kids played and explored.  We sat and talked.  Kept everyone alive, which is no easy task with Deo!  He's a busy crazy boy.

 We ate at a triple D diner then went home and watched Kubo. Amadeo just graduated from BYU pathways! So proud of him!

 I love the beach.  It's so relaxing and beautiful. The kids found crabs and we watched birds.

 Today we went to the zoo.

 The San Diego Zoo is one of my favorites.  They have such nice habitats and the animals are so fun to see. We fed the giraffes and watched the hippos swim, and got to see the gorillas being fed and rode the death buckets across the top of the zoo.

 Despite his best efforts we also didn't lose Deo today:)

I sure love those nephews of mine.  Joneaux is smart as a whip, he's also really nice and a good big brother.  Deo is energetic and funny and has the cutest big blue eyes.  

 When we left the zoo we said our goodbyes, with promises to see each other soon, and Grace and I took a "short detour" to pick up her new bird.  A cockatiel.  It ended up being 5 hrs to home between traffic, a gas stop, and the bird pick up.  She named him Nigel.  I will get a picture tomorrow.  Now I'm too tired.  Good times though.

scriptures

 Each night (theoretically) we gather in the living room and read the scriptures and pray as a family.  It's a nice time of the day.  Usually.  Sometimes it deteriorates to irreverent craziness.  Tonight as we read we heard a crash in Grace's room.  Steve knocked Max's cage down.  So out came Max in a big box and we lost Grace to the clean up detail.

Then Steve and Z came to check out the excitement. It soon became a music playing, ball juggling, animal romping, children laughing extravaganza.

 So maybe tomorrow will go better.

what dad did while we were gone

When we left for Utah Rob flew out to Buffalo, NY.  He had a work thing.

 Then he got back and worked.  It's all very glams!  

 One fun thing is he worked the Lockheed pavilion for the LA Air Show.  He got to see lots of fast planes and had free food and a good day.

 The valley is so pretty right now.  Green and in bloom.  The poppies are going crazy!

 These two buddies hang out together a lot...but Steve doesn't get to go to church.

 One not so fun thing is a dish washer.  Kaput.  They tried to fix it but it's hand washing for us for now.  Also the transmission to the jeep is still in many pieces on the garagemahal's floor.

He got the TV to himself, but didn't have help pulling weeds in the yard.  Pros and cons :)

sunday

 Today's our last day here.  The week went fast.  These grandkids are just delightful.  They were soooo good.  We did have some surprise messes to clean up.  For example one day Moe tucked his diggers into my bed "to take a nap cuz they were crying".  Sierra found a bucket full of dirt in the sheets. So we changed them.
Also today we were getting ready to go to Grandma's for dinner and Marshall disappeared for what I thought was 5 minutes.  We found him in the bathroom redecorating with toothpaste.  He had the wall, toilet, a lot of the floor and his hair covered by the time we got to him.  So obviously we left him for 5 1/2 hours and not 5 minutes (not).  He is fast! and creative.

 Church was great.  Dinner at Grandma's was great.  Mom made delicious pork chops and salad and jello and sweet potatoes and applesauce and rice.  It was very yummy.  She also had a super cute craft for the kids to do after dinner. It was a great way to end our week.

 Funny note: it's been musical beds around here.  In "my bed" I slept with Hannah for a couple nights, Sierra one night, Penny one night.  Even Ziva got to have a sleep over at Sierra's apartment last night:)
Tatum mostly slept in her own room but she also slept with Grace in the living room a couple of times.
Ethan and Moe are the only ones who stayed in the same bed the whole week.

one day weekend

 Mormons are known for many things.  They are not well known for having one day weekends, every weekend, but we do.  Sunday is the Lord's day.  Saturday is our play day.  We have been waiting all week with several ideas of fun things to do.  Utah has lots of awesome outdoors things to do.  Today it was raining all day.

So we made the best of it but it was definitely a plan B day.

This morning we went to see Beauty and the Beast.  We all LOVED it. I loved it even more the second time.  

When we came home we loaded up the car and went to the BYU bean museum.  It is small, but fun, and free, so that's good.  We had a fun time.  

 On the way home we stopped for froyo.  Poor Tatum walked into a bar and hit her eye.  She was sad.  We got a bag of ice for her head and a yogurt and then she was fine.

 After all our outings I dropped the kids at home and went to the store.  Shopping in Utah is awesome.  First I stopped by Deseret Books and bought a couple new pairs of garments.  It is luxurious to buy them so easily.  At home we get them at the distribution center by the temple...which is not convenient to get to at the right hours.  So that was great.  Then I bought a few groceries at Walmart and they put my food in plastic bags FOR FREE! How awesome is that!

 So the evening was dinner, and playing, and watching the women's session of conference.  Not bad for a plan B day.

 Ethan juggled in the gift shop.

 This is a fun game we invented called "paw patrol brigade".  Each child gets an antibactrial wipe and then they wipe up as many paw prints as quickly as they can!  It's fun. Penny has won two days in a row.

 Cute boy!

Uncle Ethan helped Moe when it was his turn to read the scriptures.  So sweet.

And finally here's the vacationers.  They are having an awesome time and it's been fun to see the snap stories and to chat with them each day.  The kids particularly have been enjoying watching the stories over and over.

random photos from Friday

 Hannah and Marshall and Sierra

 Another nice day so we got to spend some time digging.

 After school finally got out (it was soo tempting to let Tate be "sick" today.) we went to Provo to the soap factory.  It was a cute little shop right across the street from the new City Center Temple where you could make soap, scrubs and lip glosses etc.   We made soap.

It was pretty fun.  Penny enjoyed it the most.  She spent a long time working on her little soaps.  She made apples.  I made a bundt cake.  Marshall and Hannah were partners and they made R2 and Tatum made a bar with a butterfly and flowers on it.  Ethan and Sierra watched and offered support.

 We had pizza for dinner and then hung out and played Phase 10.  We wanted to see Beauty and the Beast but it was sold out at a number of theaters.  I was surprised.

 I spy...a beautiful temple behind a cute boy.

 Grace made a scrub.  It turned out really cool.

 Hannah took the early finishers to walk around the temple grounds.

 Grace and Tatum made slime when we got home.  They both loved it and played with it the rest of the night.

love these two!

rainy day

 We had nice weather until today.  Now it's rainy and cold.  I was hoping for a sunny Saturday so we could do something outside but I don't know if we'll get it or not.

Miss Penny had a party to go to today.  She also had preschool so that was a busy fun day.

Marshall has been so good.  He was a little sad one morning when he first got up and he's asked for his mom a few times but we've been able to distract him and he's been busy playing and having fun.  Also he is so cute.

Today is Tatum's gymnastics day.  Grace and I stayed to watch.  Her gym is really nice and she is a cute little gymnast.

 For dinner I made english muffin pizzas for the kids.  Dani left a menu and ingredients so I thought everyone would love it.  They didn't.  In fact they asked for mac and cheese after one bite. So here's the difference between a mom and a grandma.  As a mother I would have been shocked that they asked and no way would I go cook a second dinner.  (not that either of those two dishes are hard to cook).  As a grandmother I was like, ...well, Okay.  What's $2 to have everyone fed and happy at bedtime?  So I made it and they ate it and everyone was happy.

Then when everyone was ready for bed, and the kitchen was clean I left Hannah in charge and met Val at Zupas.  I don't think we have ever gone out to dinner just the two of us.  We had a fun time talking and going to Wal mart after for tape and glue.

The week is going by really fast. It's a lot of fun being here.