Hobbitses Day 5: All Through The Town

Friday, July 5th, 2013

We started the day off with a tour of the Humanitarian Center.  Then we toured Welfare Square.  It is amazing to me all of the help and aid our church gives to people all over the world.  If you haven't toured these facilities, you should!

 After those two tours, we had lunch then boarded the train to head for downtown Salt Lake City.

Our first stop downtown was the Church History Museum.

We spent the majority of our time at the museum at this hands on display for kids.  There was one part that had a video of dancers and you could dress up and follow along.  Some of the kids spent most of their time just in this one spot.  Yes.  That is my son.  Dancing.  In the pink skirt.

 All of the "kids" really had fun, as you can see.  Zac walked around hitting us all with the face of this donkey.  He said he was Sampson and he was hitting us all with the jawbone of an ass.  At least he knows his scripture stories, right?

Like, when I say some of the children spent the entire time at this one display, I mean Aubrey.  She was joined by others from time to time, but she pretty much dominated it.  She loved it and has been begging for a skirt like this ever since.

And we found the sweet spot.  A bench.  Right in front of the air intake. 

Next stop, The Church Office Building.  Where someone freaked out over a plant.  I must admit, it is a really cool plant.  If you find out what it is, Redneck, let me know.  I loved this centerpiece and wouldn't mind having one just like it myself.

Atop the Church Office Building.

The Salt Lake Temple

 The Joseph Smith Memorial Building

 Temple Square

 The Conference Center

Thank you for not touching.  We were all a little tired, hungry and delirious by this time.  Except Zac.  He's just being his normal self.

Just as we were getting to the part of the tour where you get to go out on the roof and see the beautiful rooftop gardens and fountains, it started lightening.  So instead of touring the roof, we got to watch a video about the roof.

 Squished in the elevator on the ride down.  Some people tried to make my ride extra squishy.  Glad I'm not claustrophobic or anything.

Then we took the light rail up to the University of Utah and walked the rest of the way to The Pie for dinner.  Sierra, who's dream it has always been to go to BYU was not too excited to be in enemy territory.  For some strange reason my two eldest children love the U. 

Waiting to get in.

OK, I'm not even kidding when I say this is the absolute best pizza ever.  I dream about this pizza.  I want some of this pizza RIGHT NOW!  Here is a description of it: An Xtreme mix of tangy Marinara, Fresh Spinach,Artichoke Hearts, Sicilian Spiced Tomatoes, Red Onions, Feta and Mozzarella Cheeses.  Those artichoke hearts are as big as my fist.  For real!

Is that not the biggest pizza you have ever seen?   The Hobbs ate this for dinner and then some people had it for a midnight snack and then we all ate it for lunch the next day.

And then it was time to call it a day.  We took one wrong trax ride, but eventually found our way home.

Click here for day 1

Click here for day 2

Click here for day 3

Click here for day 4

Hobbitses Day 4: Let Freedom Ring

Thursday, July 4th, 2013

Independence Day

So.  I about had a nervous breakdown yesterday when I went to look for 4th of July pictures on my computer and there were none there.  I wondered how I could have missed downloading them off of my camera when I downloaded the rest.  So I got out my camera.  And guess what???  Right between camping pictures and 4th of July evening pictures, where the 4th of July day time pictures should be, there is nothing.  Like no thing.  It takes a lot to make me cry, and I came way super close to all out bawling.  I was depressed for a good few hours.  But then I shook myself out of it and I am fully recovered (kind of) today.  I did have a few pictures on my phone.  But here is what is not pictured, that transpired on that day:  

We had Independence Day pancakes complete with blueberries and strawberries.  We had a devotional and a flag ceremony.  We went to the parade.  We drove the army truck to the parade.  Not in the parade, just to the parade.  The Steves sat in the front and the rest of us piled into the back.  Not pictured is Redneck taking a turn driving the truck, all of us stuck in the back of the truck, cute pictures of my mom and Lauren and Addy at the parade, the water fight at the end of the parade when the kids got soaked by the fire trucks, and anything else that transpired that I forgot about because I DON'T GOT NO PICTURES TO LOOK AT TO REMIND ME!  (I did say I was only kind of over it)  Anyhoosers, here is Emily, who marched in the parade.  She is the one in the red sunglasses.

After the parade we headed home and had homemade hamburgers that were, if I do say so myself, delicious.  Then the boys played more games, some of us napped, some of us watched some more Jericho on Netflix.

And apparently someone took pictures of me sleeping whilst I was napping/watching Jericho.  If you don't know me very well, that is usually how I watch things.

Then the kids decided they needed a little more excitement than what we had to offer inside.  So they went out and rode the ATV's around the yard.

That night, we met my mom and Lauren at the park to watch fireworks.

Click here for day 1

Click here for day 2

Click here for day 3

Hobbitses Day 3: The Day We Got To Shower

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

I woke up Wednesday morning to find Emily and Aubrey asleep like this.  

We had breakfast and then began to pack up camp.  We had fun camping, but there eventually comes a point when  you just need a shower.   We had arrived at that point and I think maybe had even gone a little beyond.  Emily took the below picture of herself as we were getting ready to head for home.

On our way home we passed the Manti Temple.  

We stopped by a cute little Malt Shop for some ice cream.  I'm sure we smelled fabulous to the other customers in the joint.  There was a set of missionaries there eating lunch.  It was a fight between the two families as to who was going to pay for their lunch.  The Hobbs won but some old man beat them to it.  Another set of missionaries came in right before we left and they were able to buy their lunch.

When we got home from camping, Zac stuck these fruit snacks to his head.  They remained there the rest of the night.  The adults went to a movie and dinner and didn't get home until almost midnight.  He still had these on his head at that time.

After unloading the camping stuff and cleaning ourselves up, we were all tired and were looking for something on Netflix to watch.  We turned on one of our family's favorite shows, Jericho, and got the Hobbs hooked on it as well.  Over the next few days we watched most of the series with them.

This must be a good part in the show because Zac looked up from his Axis & Allies game.

The adults left the kids at home and went to see a movie.  No, the movie was not Monsters U.  We saw World War Z.

After the movie we were starving.  It was almost 10 PM on a weeknight and most everything was closing.  I called several places while we drove around looking for some type of nourishment.  They all said they closed at 10.  It was looking like our only choice would be McDonalds.  Then I called one place and when they told me they closed at 10 I asked them if they knew of any place that was open later.  They said Buffalo Wild Wings was open late.  YAY!  Something other than McDonalds!  While at the restaurant, Heather ordered Jalapeno poppers.  She tried to get the two spicy taste bud babies to try them but we both refused.  Someone got offended that I called him a baby and that ended up in a contest to see who could eat a half of a popper and go the longest without a drink.  We were both brave and ate our half and both agreed that it wasn't even spicy.  But just for the record, he took a drink first!

Click here for day one

Click here for day two