Disney Vacation 2021 - Day 3: Church & Temple

On Sunday morning we went down and ate breakfast at the hotel.  They had a better spread then we thought that they might with Covid still being an issue.  After breakfast we got changed for church.  Once dressed we drove to the ward building we chose and attended their sacrament meeting.  It was a nice service.  

After church we went back to the hotel and got changed.  I wanted to kids to get some school work done since we didn't a lot of free time during the week to get it done.  So they all worked on their homework.

After they had done a good amount we went out and got some lunch.  Tony found a donut and cheese burger place so we went and tried it.  The food was pretty good for a donut place.  After we ate Tony and Margie wanted to go to a swap meet.  I didn't want to go and I knew that most the kids didn't want to go either.  So I said I would rather the kids work on their school work then make them go to a swap meet.  Megan decided that she wanted to go to the swap meet so she went with Tony and Margie.

After they got back we decided to go see the Newport Temple.  I thought it was far away from our hotel and that traffic would be terrible, but when Margie looked it up it was only like 15 minutes away.  So we drove to it without any problems.  Luckily for us the property was open to the public and we were able to walk around the temple grounds.  It is a beautiful temple and we loved finding fun places to take pictures.  We only saw three other people while we were there so it felt like we had the place to ourselves.  We sure do love to see the temple.

After the temple we decided to go to an Italian restaurant by Disneyland for dinner.  It is a place that we've gone to a few times and we knew that we liked it.  After we went back to Joe's since we were so close and we can.  We took our Joe's back to the hotel and then got ready for bed.  We needed a good nights sleep to prepare us for Disneyland!

Disney Vacation 2021 - Day 2: California

 On Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel before loading back into the van for our drive to California.  We didn't have any problems with traffic and made good time to our hotel in Santa Ana.  We got all unloaded and unpacked before we got back in the van to go to Downtown Disney.  

We walked around Downtown Disney and went in the shop before having some dinner at Earl of Sandwich.  They have good sandwiches and everyone liked their food.  We then decided to leave to go over to Joe's Italian Ice.  It's Tony's favorite and the rest of us like it a lot too.  We all picked our cold treat before driving back to the hotel.

Once we got back we got ready to go swimming in the pool.  It was dark but not too cool outside.  No one else was in the pool, so that's always fun.  The water was a little too cold for us old adults so we enjoyed the hot tub while the kids swam.  After the kids had their swimming fun we went up and got showered and ready for bed.  Another good day of vacationing fun.

Disney Vacation 2021 - Day 1: St. George

We started our vacation after the kids got out of school on Friday.  Margie came over about 1:30 so we could load up the van and then after the younger kids came home from school we all packed up and went to pick up Tyler from school. 

After we got Tyler we drove down to St. George where we were staying for the night.  We filled up with gas, got some more popcorn, and then got some dinner at Chick-fil-a.  

After eating we checked into our hotel and then got ready to go swimming in their pool.  The hotel had an inside and outside pool.  The outside pool was a little cold, so we swam inside and it was much better.  We all had fun and loved the pool and hot tub.  We then showered up and got ready for bed.  The vacation started off very well and we were all having fun. 

Fall Sports 2021

 Fall sports is in full swing.  Saturday was the first day of all three kids playing their games.  It all started with Megan's basketball game.  She did pretty good for her first game.  She rebounded the ball, she shot the ball and almost made a basket a couple of times and did good passing the ball.  The boys on her team are already good basketball players so her team totally beat the other team.  She had a great time.

Josh was next with flag football.  Tony had a meeting during all of the games so he dropped off Josh and Tyler at Josh's game and then went to his meeting.  Allie and I went to Megan's game and then drove to Josh's game.  Josh did good and tried the best he could.  He wanted to play more offense and he was able to do that a little by the end of the game.  

After Josh's game we rushed back to the Taylorsville Rec Center for Allie's soccer game.  She was excited to play.  The coach put her in as center forward and she just stayed their and didn't move for a while.  I had to tell her to go get the ball.  She then ran around a whole lot during the game and really only kicked the ball once or twice.  At this age the kids all just run around and chase the ball.  Hopefully they will pick up how to spread out and play a little better.  She had fun and we had fun watching her.

Luckily Tyler plays during the week so we didn't have to worry about getting him to a game or practice too.  He did good being a cheer leader.  It was a fun and busy day of sports.  Luckily Tony should be able to help with the upcoming games.

Family Birthday Party for Josh and Allie & Josh Turns 12!

We had our annual birthday party for Josh and Allie with our families.  It was sad not having the Sutherland's there since they moved to California.  We were thankful for those that could come and the kids had a great time with family, eating cake and ice cream, and opening presents.  

Josh had school on his birthday.  The big 12 for him!  He got to take cupcakes to his classmates.  Tyler had a baseball game that day so the other kids just chilled at home.  I did come home during the game to put together dinner for the kids.  After Tyler's game we had donuts and then Josh opened his last few presents.  He chose an alarm clock with a radio and wireless ear buds.  The bishopric also brought Josh over a gift that he really liked.  I think that he had a good birthday and is happy to be 12.  

Canning Tomatoes

My parents garden has produced lots of tomatoes this year, so my mom has been bottling lots of tomatoes.  Julie wanted some jarred tomatoes so I told my mom I would come help her bottle them with her.  

Megan woke up that morning with a really bad headache.  I gave her some medicine but it was still hurting before school started.  Just as it was starting to feel better she said her throat hurt and then she threw up (looked like mostly stomach acid).  Since she threw up I couldn't let her go to school so she came with me to grandma's house.  Luckily she felt lots better after she threw up, so she was happy to go to grandma's and help with the harvesting of the veggies and playing with Eddie.  I was glad that she felt better and that we were able to get the bottling done.

Cabin Outing

I really thought that we would spend a lot of time up at the cabin this past summer.  We didn't get up there very often so I was glad that we were able to get up there.  Tony had to work so I just took the kids up for the day.  Kevin and Betsy were up there with Gavin and Jenni.  It is always fun to hang out with family while enjoying nature.  We saw three deer and a mouse with her baby while on our four wheeling rides.  Gotta love the cabin!

Allie's 7th Birthday

Our baby girl is 7!  She has really wanted Grandma Margie to take her to Build a Bear so that is what we did.  Megan even got to pick out a bear to stuff.  The worker at the store was so funny and good with the girls, they had the best time.  I let Allie pick out a dress and some shoes for her bear that she named Elizabeth.  

After we went back to grandma's house to get our car and then the girls and I went to Chick-fil-a for lunch.  Tony had to work and the boys wanted to stay home.  So it was a fun girls outing.  After Tony got home from work we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  She happily sat on the saddle and let them shout out for her birthday.  We gave her a couple of her gifts at home after dinner.  She loved all the attention and had a great birthday.  

First Day of School 2021-2022

Today was the first day of school for these kiddos.  Even though this was a shorter summer they were all very excited to go back to school.  Tyler started high school as a 9th grader.  He said he had a good day and really like it so far.  Today was A Day with four classes and tomorrow will be B Day with another four classes.  Tyler said he knew some kids in every class except his first period.  I guess we will see how tomorrow goes.  I am sure just as good as today.

The other three had an equally good day.  They all like their teachers and have friends in their classes.  Josh has a new to the schoolteacher and he was a little nervous about how she would be.  He is still not so sure about her and how she'll be, but I think it'll be a good year for him.  It is so nice having them all back in school.  They love it and I love to see them so happy learning and growing.

Father's Blessings

Last night before we put the kids to bed Tony gave each of them a father's blessing before the first day of school.  Each of the blessings were super sweet and just what they needed to hear.  We are lucky that Tony is worthy and able to give us all blessings when we need them.