Cleveland Rocks Day 6: Greatness

Thursday, June 27th, 2013

On Thursday, while Teresa and Alaina were visiting us from Ohio, we went to Salt Lake to visit some Great people.  Our first stop was my Great Aunt Verdene and Uncle Fred's house.  Verdene is my Mother's Mother's Sister.  Fred and Verdene will always have a special place in my heart because I lived with them when I first moved to Utah.  They taught me all the important things I needed to know about living in Utah.  Like driving in the snow, how to shovel snow off your roof (my first year here they had an enormous amount of snowfall and people were afraid their roofs would cave in)  and how to plant a garden.  Before we moved into our new house, we lived only about a block away from them.  It was good to see them again.  When we first arrived, Uncle Fred was in his back yard practicing his swing.

 Fred showed us around his garden.  He always grows a big beautiful garden.  Most of what he grows, he gives away.

 After we left Fred and Verdne's house, we drove about a mile to my Great Aunt June and Uncle Buck's house.  June is my Mother's Father's Sister.

Uncle Buck showed us some of the things he has been carving.

Zac loves to carve and do wood working.  Uncle Buck showed him some of his tools.  Today, as I type this, it is July 9th and Zac is spending his second day in a row under Uncle Buck's tutelage.  

The kids had fun finding themselves on Aunt June's "Wall of Fame".

Then we went to the Music Room and were able to sing along while Aunt June and Uncle Buck played their guitars for us.  It was so much fun.

We were able to enjoy their beautiful backyard for a few minutes before we had to leave.  (We had to leave because after 2 years without one, I was getting a new dishwasher installed!)

At home the girls played with Alaina.

And Grandmas Ipad.

They colored pictures with Teresa.

I made my mom and Teresa (and everyone else) happy by making Buffalo Chicken Dip.

Alaina helped Zac play video games.  I have pictures like this of Sam and Zac when Zac was a baby.

 After waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for the dishwasher to come, it finally came!  And I have been loving it ever since!

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Cleveland Rocks Days 4 & 5: Shopping, Cupcakes, Dancing, Swimming and Pillows Made of Chicken

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

On Tuesday we went to hang out at Station Park.  We went to H&M.  My girls been begging me to take them there since it opened.  This is how my experience there went.  I about lost my mind.  I could not keep a straight thought in my mind because they were playing the most irritating music at an extremely uncomfortable level.  I seriously developed a splitting headache in that place because I was trying so hard to tune out the music so that I could actually think straight, which was basically impossible at that decimal level.  I sound so old, don't I?  I've decided if I ever have to go back to that place ever again, I will not be able to go unless I take some noise cancelling headphones.  You think I'm kidding, but I'm not.  Seriously.  The girls found some cute shirts.  I tried looking for a shirt for Zac, who was at Trek Youth Conference at the time.  I very quickly decided that was not a place where I could find one single shirt that Zac would wear.  I especially came to that conclusion when we were in the Men's section and Addy kept asking me why I was looking for a shirt for Zac in the girls section. 

After that experience, I really needed a cupcake to calm my nerves.  So we went to Sugar Daisy and had a little refreshment.

Then we hung out at the fountain for a while.

When we got home, Addy found some science experiment kits Zac had put in a DI box in the garage.  She about made me crazy with the mess she made.

 When she wasn't looking, I put the experiments "away".  She did keep the goggles and wore them around the rest of the evening.  Even at the dinner table.

We had a little dance party after dinner.

Here is a dance video:

 Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Teresa and Lauren took Emily, Aubrey and Addy swimming and I got to stay home and take care of cute little Alaina.

When the girls got home Emily and Addy read to Alaina  and kept her occupied while her mom made dinner.

Lauren and Aubrey helped Teresa make her famous Chicken Pillows for dinner.  They were delicious.

Alaina and Grandma

We just hung out the rest of the evening.

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Cleveland Rocks Days 2 & 3: Pioneers, Nails & Awesome Furniture

 Sunday & Monday June 23 & 24

On Sunday, we went to my mom's house for dinner.  Steve and Zac had on their typical Sunday afternoon attire.  Black church socks with shorts.  Zac is definitely learning from the master.

Addy was trying to relive her younger years by sitting in the  high chair.

We called my nephew Baron to wish him a Happy Birthday.  Aubrey and her BFC (Best Friend Cousin) Tia ended up video chatting for a long time.  How awesome that we live in a time when a cousin in Utah can see and talk to a cousin in Virginia!

Monday morning started off by me dropping my pioneer off for Trek.  What is Trek?  It is a Youth Conference for 14-18 year old youth in our church.  They usually do a Trek Youth Conference every 4 years so each youth gets to go once.  They reenact certain aspects of the Mormon Pioneer's trek across the United States to help the kids gain a greater appreciation for what their ancestors went through.  We are certainly blessed by the sacrifices our Pioneer ancestors went through so we can enjoy the life we have today.

Lauren, Teresa and Alaina came over and we had lunch.

Then we painted nails.

I painted Alaina's cute little tootsies.  Teresa said she wasn't sure what Sam would think about that when he saw it.  I told her to tell him that his sister did it, and she did it to him when he was little too!

 Alaina with her cute pink toes.

That night for dinner we had a girls night at The Olive Garden.

And!  That was the night I got my new couch!

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Cleveland Rocks Day 1: Surprises, Big Trucks & Bean-O

On Saturday June22, my Sister-in-Law, Teresa, and her baby Alaina surprised my kids.  Teresa and my Brother Sam used to live in Rexburg while they were going to BYU Idaho.  We got used to spending a lot of time with them because they would come down quite a bit.  Almost a year ago they moved to Ohio.  We have really missed them.  And they added a family member that we had never even met yet.  Sweet little Baby Alaina.  Teresa and Alaina came to visit for a week.  We had so much fun with them when they were here.  My kids didn't know they were coming.  Here are the videos when they first saw them.  There was no screaming like I thought there would be.  I think they were in shock.

 Meeting her cousins

After we had lunch we decided to take the truck out for a little spin.  We all piled in and we added a few neighborhood kids as well.  Don't worry, I did text their mothers that we had them after we were on the road.  Except for one I tagged in the photo on facebook to let her know her son was with us.  Just your typical friendly neighborhood army kidnapping truck, nothing to see here.

My mom didn't want to go but we made her.

 My mom's victory stance after successfully ascending and descending the truck..

When we got home we did a little video chat with my brother Sam who had to stay home and work.  His dog, Bean-O, got excited when he saw us all.  Then he stuck his booty in front of the camera.  So since Bean-O stuck his booty in front of the camera, Zac and Em returned the gesture.