Time With The Crook-side....

After our week in Idaho we ventured into Utah for some time with the Crook side of the family. My Mom graciously kept Presley with her for the first 3 days due to our activities planned. Activities that would be less fun toting a baby in a stroller. Our first stop in Utah was to visit some med school friends. The Flinders. Lacie fed us pizza and pop and let the kids play their hearts out. It was a great start to a great week.

Notice the bags under my eyes? Apparently late nights show on a girl my age. Lovely.

Next stop was our destination. Darla & Brian's house. Darla is Shawn's younger sister. They were willing to put us up for a few nights and it was fabulous. They are amazingly wonderful hosts. We had to get to bed early for our big day the next morning. Lagoon. The place where dreams come true. Well, according to Ethan who's never really been to an amusement park before. We were joined by Shawn's sister Rhonda and her boys Logan and Atlin, Grandma Angela, Uncle Clinton, Aunt Anna, and of course Darla, Brian, and their girls Alyssa and Aubrey. What a great place for a reunion.

After entering the park we were all so excited we didn't even know where to start. The kids saw the bumper cars so they rode while we formulated a plan.

We decided to hit the rides near the back of the park first. The wet ones so we could be a little damp through out the day. Sweltering heat wasn't going to hold us back. Rattlesnake Rapids it was. Because there was no line we went twice. Alyssa didn't want to ride so we switched out staying with her. Landon thought once was good. Jackson was angry we only went twice.

We hit all the kiddie rides next. There really weren't any lines yet. It was refreshing.


At this point we ate our picnic lunch and then took the divide-and-conquer approach. Bigger rides for bigger kids (including some for the Moms and Brian), little rides for little kids. We met up occasionally for little snack breaks. And to drink from the 100 ounce drink I spent a small fortune on. Brian also bought one. Refillable too. Nice. (Shawn later asked why I bought the small drink. Funny man.)

The heat started to get to us after awhile. None of us really wanted to put on a swimsuit and go to the water park. That's where the crowds were. Our line-free day was only getting better. We opted for the water fountain at the front entrance.

The kids were so soaked I had to change their wet shoes into flip-flops. Blisters were starting to form. And really deep wrinkles. Only signs of good times. This is where the pictures stopped. It was late afternoon and there was too much more to see. We stayed until closing. 11 pm. We were wiped out. But still relishing in the excitement we had experienced. I really felt my Mom's graciousness for keeping Presley. We never would have endured that many hours with her in tow. Thanks again Mom!

The next morning we had tickets for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. At 10:15 AM. I was dragging kids out of bed at 9:45. Nobody was too happy with me. I only wish we had tickets for a later time. I think the experience would have been far greater. It was still great. But. It would have meant more if the kids hadn't been in tears from exhaustion.

That afternoon we just laid around. And ate. And then played at a park that evening. Early to bed because the next morning was a big day for us girls. The Deseret News 10k. Sounds easy to some. But I'd never run one before. All my sis-in-laws had. But never me. And Kate had come to town to run it with us. And to bring us Miss Presley. I had a hard time sleeping due to the excitement. And because Presley decided midnight was her bedtime of choice. 4:30 came pretty early. But I was ready. The race started at 6. Brian was so nice to be willing to watch my kids while we were gone.

My finishing time wasn't anything to alert the media about, but I finished 5 minutes faster than I'd hoped. Yeah for me! And. At the finish line I was able to see Becca. A good friend from a long time ago. She's a true runner and finished waaaaay before me. She is one of my inspirations. No pictures of her though. My camera was up at the car.

Not only did Brian watch my kids that morning, he bought all us girls pedicures. And then watched my 4 other kids while we were gone. Lovely. And so thoughtful. You rock Brian!

Because that day was the 24th of July, and a huge Utah holiday, everyone headed to Darla & Brian's for a bbq that afternoon. Brian set up their waterslide and the kids had a blast.

I realize as I'm posting this that none of the extended Crook family is represented here very well either. I guess I was too focused on being a mom than I was on photography. Sorry.

We were all missing Shawn pretty badly at this point in our trip. Every ride at Lagoon was followed by "Dad has to come here and ride that!" But. Our trip wasn't over yet. Still another week of fun was to be had. Another post. Man. These are looooong. What a great trip!

Vacationings....

Three weeks is a long time to be away from home. And we did a lot this trip. So much that for journaling purposes it's going to have to be posted in installments. Too much fun not to document each activity, and too many for one ginormous post. Our drive out was uneventful. Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Kate were anxiously awaiting our arrival. Just in time for dinner. Lovely. My mom had lots planned to keep the kids entertained. Not too much that we were over-booked. Just enough to have an enjoyable first week.
One day we headed over to the green belt for a picnic and to feed the geese. The geese ate more of the kids lunch than they did. Perfect place for a picnic.

The kids fed these same geese a few times that first week. They really loved it.

One day we headed out to Rigby Lake. It's actually a lake that sits still all summer. Apparently if you swim late July and into August you run the risk of rotovirus. Lovely. Early July was fine. And we had a great time. The kids were moving so much and so fast that I was only afforded a few pictures.

My parents really wanted to take us camping. The kids anyway. Until Kennedy complained that the floor in the house was too hard to sleep on. And they noticed that Jack loved to stay awake in his bed until close to midnight. We opted to take a late afternoon hike at Heise. It was paved most of the way so it afforded me the luxury of the stroller. When we hit gravel me and the two non-hikers turned back and played in the back of the car while the others finished up.

What is a faux camping experience without roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire?Only Landon was too impatient and just liked to shove everything in his mouth.
We only suffered one tragedy. Just as I was telling the kids not to touch the hot metal spears they were holding, I saw Jack casually put his hand in his pocket. Too late. But he was too embarrassed to say anything. I noticed and got him a bag of ice. Almost as much fun as roasting marshmallows.

It happened to be blazing hot in Idaho the week we arrived. We apparently missed the recent cool spell. Nothing a little backyard kiddie pool and a few squirt guns can't fix.

Sometimes it was too hot to take time to change into swimsuits.

At the end of our first week in town I got in touch with the Thompson family. They started Medical School the same year we did, and Justin finished his residency a year before Shawn. He's now an ER doc in Idaho Falls. It was fun to catch up with some great friends who understand what my life is really like without any kind of explanation.

That evening we headed to the zoo. It really is a great zoo.

The highlight of the zoo experience was when we entered the area that was blocked by a small gate. Upon entering we realized the gate was there to keep in the Wallabies. That hop around free as ever. It was all over the place until Landon decided to pet it. Then it hopped back to it's forest-y area and hid. Presley is known to do the same thing upon encountering Landon.

That was the culmination of week one. Yep. Only the first week. See. Jam packed full of fun. Aren't grandparents awesome? I do feel that the behind-the-scenes-entertainment-committee didn't make it in most of these pictures. I'd like to add a HUGE thanks and love you's to Grandpa Eric, Grandma Deb, and Aunt Kate. The real reason our first week was so full of fun.

Sweet Arrival....

Home. I love it. Everything I was irritated by when I left I now cherish. (Including Shawn) It was a long three weeks. And what seemed to be a much longer drive. I'll write about my adventures soon. But for now? I have to watch 4 DVR'd episodes of the Closer, do laundry, pay bills, and detox my children from all the fun they've had. And sleep. Catch up on copious amounts of sleep that I lost while sharing a bed with my adorable little sister Katelyn.

Adventuresome......

I made it. All the way to Idaho. 5 kids. 2 days. I did it. We stopped after 700 some odd miles in Cheyenne Wyoming. We swam. I finally got the kids to sleep around 10:30 (11:30 our time) and Kennedy puked. In the bed. I bathed her, covered up the vomit so Jack wouldn't roll in it, and finally got back to sleep around midnight. We made it to Idaho Falls the next evening in time for dinner. It is a looooong way to Grandma's house. Wireless headphones connected to DVD players helped. A lot. And XM radio that played Dr. Laura and the Gayle King Show. Both those women are quite entertaining. For various reasons. Oh. And the Wii. Which we were also able to connect to the DVD player and the wireless headphones. Having all these gadgets for entertainment were helpful. But. The kids still don't want to see the inside of a vehicle for a long time. We were hard pressed yesterday to get them to drive 5 minutes to the park. We are here now. And have a lot of fun-filled days ahead of us. We miss Shawn who is busy studying for boards. And hopefully accomplishing a lot without feeling guilty about neglecting us. Here's to vacation. And enough family around that it makes feeling like a single mom a lot easier.

Settling Duties...

I've lived here long enough that it's time to start scrubbing toilets and mopping floors. Only I still have boxes that need to be unpacked. Good thing I leave in 4 days for a total of 3 weeks. All this work will be forgotten.

A Fond Farewell.....

I remember the very day we got this little van of ours. May of 2000. Ethan was 5 months old. Our car was dying and we needed something new. I really wanted a ford explorer. Or any kind of SUV. The only thing I refused to purchase was a mini-van. Too stereo-typical for me. After test driving vehicles every Saturday for 3 months with this one particular sales lady, she was sick of us. We showed up again and she was busy. She made herself busy and was noticeably ignoring us. So, we met Ed. He was in his early 50's. We told him our recent history. He smiled and said "I have just the vehicle for you to try". It was a mini-van. I refused. "I think you guys should just try it. It'll surprise you." Surprise me it did. 3 blocks later found us kicking tires, moving seats forward and back, opening doors, locking, unlocking, and blasting the stereo. We couldn't resist. We drove it off the lot that very afternoon. That poor sales lady that lost her commission. We got a lot of guff for buying such a large vehicle for such a small family. But we were looking into the future of medical school budgets and birthing babies. In 2003 when all our medical school friends were birthing their 3rd child and needing to upgrade vehicle size, we were able to avoid that very scenario. I have sure loved this van. We all have. A lot of memories. The orange stain under the cup holder because the McDonalds drink ate through the bottom of the cup left over night. The red crystal light stain close by because an angry child hurled his "spill proof" sippy cup up to the front in protest of something. Gum wads. Wrappers buried so deep in the recesses of the seats they will never be found. Numerous vomit clean-ups. And that isn't even the good stuff. Countless road trips. Out west and back. Nauvoo. St. Louis. Chicago. And everything in between. Sandy lake trips. Sandy park trips. A lot of laughter. And a lot of tears. We are now filled to capacity. We can either take all our people, or all our stuff. But not both. We just don't fit. My kids legs are getting longer and their bodies are getting larger. We are feeling a little cramped. It's time to bid farewell to the faithful van that has gotten us where we need to be for the last 10 years. Hopefully this baby will see us through the next 10.

Or 20. Or until all the kids have moved off to college.

Exploration...

The kids and I decided on Wednesday that we needed to get out of the house. Actually, I decided. Because we don't have any friends yet, they are irritating each other. A lot. And grating on my nerves. I felt the zoo would be a good outlet. And since it's only a mere 45 minutes away how could we not take advantage. Right?We made it in time for the Sea Lion Show. All the kids crowded around up close while Presley and I hung out in the shade. She was a little curious as to what all the hubbub was about. But mostly she just babbled in her cute little voice.

There is a Kid Zone at this Zoo complete with a ginormous tree kids can climb and explore. It's a man-made tree depicting what a tree that old would really look like. The kids had a great time exploring all the crevices.

I predicted hunger would set in just as we set foot in the park. (Have I done this before?) And I was correct in my thinking. These babies were a hit. I'm adding them to my "travel shopping list".

It was a pretty hot day. Not as humid as is typical for July, but still pretty hot. Thank goodness for the "misters" that were set up throughout the park. If the kids stood under them long enough they appeared as though they had just gotten out of the shower. Sweet relief.

While the cool mist spray worked on keeping their outsides cool, icee's the size of their heads worked on their insides.

These kids were troopers. We must have walked at least 3 miles throughout the afternoon. Little to no complaints were heard. Glorious. By the time we got back to the van we were all exhausted. Even the one that didn't even have to get out of the stroller.

The good news? I bought a family pass so we can return whenever we desire. Excellent.