A few more things

I neglected to mention that after the movie, Janae took Emily, Eleanor, Ava, Savannah, Vivi, & Nicolette back to her house for more cousin time. I also forgot to mention that Kris & her kids came over in the afternoon and stayed to eat dinner with us. We love the family time here! We don't have too much planned as far as tourist attractions, we just want to spend time with family. :-)

Priorities

We've been going to bed late and getting up late during our vacation, so the thought of getting up early this morning to go to the Bountiful Temple was not appealing, but we did it. Matt & I went to the 6am session, yes you read that right 6am, which means I was out of bed at 4:15am. That's earlier than when I get up to go to the Boston Temple! I'm glad we went that early though because the kids slept right through it. They were still asleep when we got back.

Kerri, Janae, Zoe, Emily, Eleanor, Zach, Sarah, Lilli, Ava, Vivi, Nicolette, Savannah, & I went to see Toy Story 3 this afternoon. 3-D style. I thought it was a good movie. I had heard that some scenes were too scary for young children, so Kate & Noah stayed with Matt. I'm glad they did because there were some scenes that I think Kate would have been freaked out by. As another mom pointed out, it wasn't a painful movie to sit through, it was pretty entertaining.

Kerri, Sarah, Zoe, Lilli, Zach, & I went to Wendy's for lunch after the movie. The kids enjoyed more cousin time, and Kerri & I enjoyed talking with one another. :-)

Zoe & Emily are now watching Sarah play softball.

I am going to go get ready for the Blogger Moms movie night. I am so excited to be included! I'm also excited that we are going to see Eclipse!

Time with cousins is the BEST

We met up with Kris, Savannah, Leif, & Finn at Temple Square this morning. The kids LOVED being with their cousins, and they humored us as we showed them around Temple Square. Here are Emily & Savannah in front of one of several fountains we saw. We all threw a penny into the fountain and made a wish. Matt tried to get his penny to land on the slope of the fountain, but failed. Zach wanted his penny to go in the water, but his penny ended up on the slope of the fountain. He cried until I gave him another penny to throw in the water. The kids spent quite a bit of time playing around this fountain.

Kate & Savannah

Leif, Eleanor, & Zoe

We went into the Visitor's Center to cool off and to look at this awesome model of the Salt Lake Temple.






Then we went back out into the heat for pictures in front of the real Salt Lake Temple. A nice man offered to take the picture, so Kris could be in the picture, too. :-)
More water to play in. We had planned to go into the Conference Center, but by this time, the kids were hot, thirsty, hungry, and ready to leave Temple Square.

Zach & Finn

They are having fun getting to know each other. They think it is so cool that they are both 5!

There was a loud cheer when we told the kids we were going to hang out at Kris' house for awhile. More cousin time!

We ate dinner with Steve & Janet before Zoe left to sleep over at "Sarah's" house and Emily & Eleanor left to sleep over at "Ava & Vivi's" house. Matt & I took Zach, Kate, & Noah to a park before getting them ready for bed.





Notice Noah's new sandals. I forgot his shoes this morning when we went to Temple Square, so we went to the Gap and lucked out finding these sandals that not only look good and fit, but they were on sale. :-)

Pictures for Grammie & Grampie

Heading to our gate at the airport on Tuesday.

Swimming at the hotel pool in Portland on Wednesday.

Kate looking cute and cold at the hotel pool.

Noah looking cute at the hotel pool.

Noah found a new bed in the hotel room.

Noah fell out of the real bed a few times, so we covered him up on the floor. This is how we found him in the morning.

Only a foot was sticking out a little later.

Hanging out in the hotel. Not where we wanted to be, but we made the best of it.

Noah being Noah.

We can't stay in Portland and not eat at Norm's! Eleanor was the one child who was excited to eat at Norm's, but when she wanted to order a grilled cheese sandwich and was told they didn't have that, she had a meltdown. The rest of the kids enjoyed the fries and tolerated being there. Matt and I enjoyed our delicious country ribs!



We went to Freeport to visit L.L. Bean.

They have a fun kids' area!




Back at the airport on Thursday. We missed our friends that we had made on Tuesday!

Will we make it on the plane this time? Uh....
Yes!

The many hours of tv watching begins.

Friday was a fun swim day at the Trump pool! Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts, and cousins were there. :-)










Notice anything different about Matt?

Zach enjoyed Grandpa time after swimming.

We went to Alpine on Saturday for the Healey reunion. Fun!
This home has been a part of the Healey family for many years and still continues to be.





We went to church Sunday morning and then had our big family picture Sunday evening. Wende took our pictures and she did a great job! She had a lot of patience for our big group, which made a difference. Who knows if we captured a perfect picture, but the experience was pleasant and actually fun. After all the pictures were taken, we ate a yummy meal outside together. We all cherish this time that we can all be together.

We took Emily to see a doctor this morning. She has a very swollen ear canal, so she was prescribed some ear drops and she was told to hold off on more swimming for a few days. This was hard for her this evening when Zoe got to go in the Trump pool again and she couldn't. :-(

We went to Logan after the doctor's appointment. We stopped at Smith & Edwards on the way. Matt told the kids that it was a law here that people have to stop at Smith & Edwards, there is no just going by. They believed him. They ended up really liking the store and they each left with at least one thing.

We stopped at Utah State. We would have enrolled Zoe, but she is only 11 you know. Matt gave Zoe and the rest of us a tour, just in case he is not around when she is old enough to go there.

Before we put the younger 4 kids to bed this evening, we had strawberry marshmallows that we bought at Smith & Edwards. The kids also enjoyed the teepee that Matt used to play in when he was a kid.

We wanted a picture of all 4 kids sticking their heads out of the teepee, but as you can tell on Eleanor's face, it was too painful!

We got this instead.

And this.

Time for bed. The younger 4 kids got to bed early this evening. 9pm early!

Live from Utah

We made it! After a short delay in Portland and then a long delay as we sat on the plane waiting to leave New York, we finally arrived in Utah around 7:30 MST. The kids did really well traveling. Kate and Noah had their moments, but overall they were content to watch tv and chill out. I don't know if I could fly on an airline that doesn't have the tvs on the back of the seats again. It made a huge difference! My tv addicts were in heaven!

We are so happy to be visiting with Matt's family. We have a pool day planned for today with the cousins. It's a perfect summer day for my kids when swimming is involved!

I should be writing this from Utah

but I am writing from Portland, Maine. We left our house at 6am Tuesday morning and arrived at the Portland airport around 8:50am...what we thought was 2 hours before our flight left. Our flight was scheduled to leave an hour later than we thought, so we had an extra hour to kill. Yikes! We went through security with no problems. Noah walked through the scanner like he had done it many times before. He's so funny! We settled in to wait after going through security. The kids had snacks to eat, nintendos to play, and mp3 players to listen to. We waited and waited and waited. I took the kids to the bathroom before it was time to board the plane. We were so ready to get on a plane! Then the announcement came. A part of the landing gear on the plane was broken and they were looking into getting that part fixed or replaced before leaving. That made me nervous. I didn't want to fly on a plane that had just been worked on! The plane couldn't be fixed in time for the flight, so our flight was cancelled. We sat for 4 more hours waiting to rebook. I must say, the kids were very well behaved considering all the sitting around and waiting we did! There was a couple sitting by us that took to the kids and the kids took to them, so that was a huge help. We are so grateful for this couple! We couldn't get 7 seats rebooked for the next day, so we got on a flight leaving today. The airline has paid for our stay here in the hotel for the 2 nights and has paid for our food. We did splurge and went to Norm's for dinner yesterday. We also went to Freeport to go to L.L. Bean and the kids ran around on the grass for awhile. The highlight for the kids has been swimming in the pool here at the hotel. We are so glad that we have been able to stay here in Portland. It would have been so depressing to turn around and go home on Tuesday and then drive back today. So, our 2nd attempt better be a charm. We want to be in Utah his evening!

Dang!

That's what Noah says when something doesn't go right. Of course, he learned that from me. We had a lightning storm yesterday afternoon and now our internet and our oven are not working. The oven doesn't bother me as much as the internet! I am at my parents' house right now getting ready to go visiting teaching with my mom. The last evening we could do it before leaving for Utah. We have been busy today (except for the hours at the pool) packing and shopping for snacks to bring on the plane. We can't rely on the airline to keep our kids fed, so we stocked up. We are all excited to leave in the morning!

Fun for all

The kids and I were all back together again this afternoon. We went to a beginning of summer/end of school year party at the park hosted by Daisy, Anna, and Ryder. We played fun games like kick ball, a water balloon game, and Red Rover, Red Rover. There were other fun activities like jump rope, bubbles, and playing on the playground equipment. The dad took pictures of each child and then he went home to make t-shirts for the kids with their picture on it. The t-shirts were a big hit! We ate lots of yummy food and we had lots of fun!

Matt arrived home this evening around 8:00. He had a fun time, too.

We found out today that Zach's Kindergarten teacher will be Mrs. Pelletier. Yay! Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor had Mrs. Pelletier, so we are excited!

Sunny & in the 80's today :-)

My mom treated the kids and I to lunch at Governor's today. Governor's is celebrating it's 50th birthday this month, so the kids' meals were $.50 each and we got free birthday cake with our meals. We didn't know about the $.50 meals, so that was a pleasant surprise! My mom and I used to take Zoe and Emily to Governor's a lot for lunch when they were young, but as they got older and more siblings joined our family, our lunch dates stopped. We had a favorite waitress, Kathy, who still works there, so we made sure she was our waitress today. It was fun to see her! My mom and I are planning on more lunch dates this upcoming school year now that Kate and Noah will be the only 2 at home. :-)

Zoe got her hair cut this afternoon. It is now a little above her shoulders and she loves it!

Our family is scattered this evening. Matt is at MAN vs. RIVER, Zoe and Emily are staying with Caitlin & Cassidy, Zach, Kate, and Noah are staying with my mom, and Eleanor and I are home. Eleanor has been asking for a one on one time, since she had birthday money to spend, so tonight her wish came true. She spent her money at Walmart, we ate dinner at McDonald's and then she played in the outdoor play area there, then we came home to watch "G-Force" on Netflix. We have had a fun evening!

Whatever creature is around here broke my hummingbird feeder last night, so I bought a new one today. I guess I should start bringing the feeder in at night or find a new spot for the feeder. A new spot will be the answer for when we are in Utah.

Tomorrow is a new day

No more rainy days are allowed during our summer vacation! We have had a long, rainy at-home movie day and I don't plan to repeat it any time soon. I think someone was either fighting or crying every single minute of this day. I am exhausted!

Matt went to help clean the chapel this evening. Now that Jerry & Judy Booth have moved away, we realize all they did to keep our building looking spotless and so nice. They were the custodians for our building, but they will not be replaced, so now the members of our branch are taking on the job. Matt is also loading canoes and gear this evening for MAN vs. RIVER, which starts tomorrow morning at 6am. I think there are 8 brethren, including Matt going to conquer the St. Croix River. They'll be back sometime Saturday evening. Hopefully. :-)

When I looked out the kitchen window this morning to check on our hummingbird feeder, I saw that not only was the hummingbird feeder gone, but the entire branch it was on was gone! Luckily, Matt found my feeder before he left for work. I suspect a bear, Matt suspects a raccoon. Whatever it is, I really wish it would leave my hummingbird food alone!

Day 1 of summer vacation

Our first day of summer vacation went well. I got up at my usual time, 5:30am to shower, say my prayer, and do my spiritual reading for the day. Kate woke up a little after 6am, so we cuddled while I read and she drank her chocolate milk. I'm going to enjoy getting my reading done first thing in the morning this summer.

During Family Council on Sunday, we talked about what was expected of the children during summer vacation. They have a morning routine of watching a movie, eating breakfast, getting dressed, brushing their hair, brushing their teeth, putting away their pajamas, putting away their beds, saying their prayers, cleaning up their areas, and doing a brief school review before free time. They will take turns putting away dishes and washing dishes after lunch. The afternoons will be spent doing something fun, hopefully away from home. When we get back from Utah, we'll spend most afternoons at the pool. Rainy days will be harder to get out, but we'll plan special things to do inside at home those days. We stuck to our morning routine today, dishes were done by Emily & Eleanor, and we went to the park this afternoon. A great start!

Zoe watched the kids for me before we went to the park while I got my hair cut and stopped at the grocery store. My hair looks basically the same, one length and about shoulder length, but I wanted my hair trimmed before our family picture (which will include all of Matt's family) that will be taken in Utah. I toyed with the idea of changing my hairstyle with a chin length summer cut, but I chickened out. Since Zoe watched the kids for me today, I told her she could stay up as late as she wants tonight. We played a game of Phase 10 after the kids went to bed and then she got on the computer until I kicked her off to blog. Now she is reading.

We went to the park across from Matt's work, so Matt came over to visit us. That was nice since he worked late this evening.

Noah was so funny at the park today. His shorts kept falling down when he would run and he learned how to hike them back up by himself. He only did it himself a few times, though before he would just waddle over to me so I would pull them back up. He needs to grow a waist or a butt! It was also cute to hear him say "That hurt" when he would bump his head or something.

Last day of school

Zoe, Emily, & Eleanor had a half day of school today before starting their summer vacation. We are all excited for summer! Zach is so excited that he will be going to school, too when fall gets here. We went to the children's museum this afternoon to celebrate the end of a great school year and the start of a fun summer. We will be in Utah a week from today!

Life Saver

Zach, Kate, Noah, and I were walking in the Walmart parking lot today when I told Kate to walk closer to me because she was inching her way into the road. There was no danger in sight, but after Kate moved closer to me she exclaimed, "Thanks mommy, you saved my life!" It was so funny!

Losing a tooth with a friend is more fun!

Zoe and her best friend, Morgan each went to church this morning with a loose tooth. They set a goal before church to lose their teeth today before going home. Zoe yanked her tooth out before church even started and Morgan got her tooth out during Sacrament Meeting. Goals accomplished!

My Girl

I took Emily out for one on one time this evening. She had her 9 year picture taken, we ate dinner at Friendly's (can you tell that I love to eat out?), and we went shopping. When we were leaving Goodwill where Emily found a necklace and a pair of earrings for just $.98 she said, "Goodwill is awesome!". Yes it is.

My mom and I went visiting teaching this morning to see Tasha. Tasha lives on Deer Isle, which is about 45 minutes away from where we live. It is rare that we go see her due to finances or scheduling, so my mom and I feel good when we do get out to see her. My mom and I enjoy the time we have to talk to each other on the way there and back and we always have fun talking with Tasha. She was put on my visiting teaching list I think because she is around my age and she has 3 young children and we always enjoy visiting together, but the distance makes it hard to visit regularly. We keep trying though!

I finished weeding behind the trailer today! I took before and after pictures from 2 different angles this time.
Before...

After...

Before...

After...


Noah put shoes on himself this morning to go outside.


Zach wanted to pose for a picture with Kate, but Kate was upset, so Zach settled for Noah.


Zach got his hair cut this afternoon.


It is tick central around here this year! We find a tick on someone, whether it is just crawling on them or stuck in them, about every other day. Matt found a tick in Noah's shoulder this evening. I found a tick on Kate's head the other day that was all blown up and disgusting. In the hair is a great place for a tick to hide.

Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor are spending the night at my parents' house tonight. I dropped Emily off after our time together. I borrowed my mom's car to get around tonight because the Yukon has been in the shop today. It had about 4 different belts that needed to be replaced. I'm glad the squeaky noise is gone now. I was getting tired of people looking at me to see who was driving the noisy car. The Yukon is fixed and back home again. :-)