Visiting the Salisburys in Basin City, Washington

The kids and I drove up to Washington to visit my sister, Krista, her husband, John, and their kids: Kelsey, Lindsey, Justin, Jenna and Jared. A fun time was had by all! We played games, ate delicious food, built things with Legos, swam, and played Laser Tag with the laser guns we brought from home.

After swimming we had quite the scare when we couldn't find Weston. We knew he came home in the van but didn't know if he wandered off on the farm somewhere. We ran around frantically calling his name thinking he could've followed a kitty into a far away field somewhere when we found him in a heap by all of the stuff by the front door. The poor, tired little guy barely made it past the front door before his swimming induced drowsiness got the best of him.

We were all VERY relieved to find him!

"When the party was over," as my Dad used to say, we left Basin City early in the morning and headed back home to Utah. I awoke the kids and put them in the van with their pillows and blankets. Hayden is laying all the way down in the back seat and had already fallen back to sleep. They relaxed while we drove to Pasco and got breakfast at McDonald's. We didn't make very many stops on the way home and arrived in Spanish Fork, Utah safe and sound. I love modern day travel. Road trips are the bomb!

Mesa, Arizona AKA: Kayle's house

After saying our sweet goodbyes to the Mathews family in St. George, we headed for Mesa, Arizona. Rob's boss, Kayle Neely, has a house there that he and his wife, Becky, don't currently live in. We had fun exploring the house filled with historical relics from the past including a life sized statue of a terracotta soldier from China! Upon seeing it standing as a sentinel to Kayle's home office Weston asked, "Is he scary?" I loved that I could answer that question with a, "Nope." That was so much easier than using persuasion after a statement like, "He is scary." Weston being the wonderful child that he is trusted me and wasn't in the least bit scared. This was an extraordinary improvement from the child whose entire body would shudder and the mouth part of his body would emit loud wailing noises when we'd see scary monsters around Halloween at Sam's Club. He has since conquered those fears and made peace with the fact that some things aren't what they seem.

During our stay we did some night swimming with Dad after he came home from work, barbecued outside, ate raspberry and mango sorbet, and watched a movie or two.




The kids and I went to Aunt Shelly's house to hang out with Aunt Shelly, Aubrey, Olivia, and Lucy while Rob was at work. We swam in her diving pool and had a ball. I love summertime and all the fun it has to offer!

St. George Temple

After church on Sunday we went to the beautiful St. George Temple grounds and admired the bright white edifice surrounded by manicured landscape. I love the history behind this temple. Indeed, sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. The sun was reflecting off the bright white temple and the kids could hardly open their eyes for the picture...even in the shade!

Annebel and Shelby love thier older cousing Abby and look up to her so much. Abby loves them right back and enjoys the companionship of girls since she surrounded by brothers in our family. After visiting the Temple we boarded our already packed minivan and headed to Mesa, AZ. Goodbye, St. George! We love you and hope to see you again next year!

What a fun family to hang out with for the week. We sure do love the Mathews family!

St. George, Brigham Young House

We toured the Brigham Young Home while in St. George. We learned much about the early saints, their hard work and provident living.

This tree got so big and heavy that it started to split. They hire a "tree surgeon" to come in and fix the problem with these metal links.

St. George Swimming

One of the best things about St. George is swimming everyday in the warm summer sun. Uncle Nate ignore the sign that said, "No running."

Rob taught us all how to walk on water.

Jessica purchased an underwater disposable camera from the grocery store to try out and we got some pretty great shots. Those are some cute bunners!

We enjoyed playing with some water guns purchased at the dollar store that suck pool water in like a syringe and shoot it out. The boys were relentlessly trying to squirt each other. Rob of course was also in on this and kept shooting anyone and everyone. Abby even got in a few splashes aimed at dad. Then a neighborhood boy came up to Rob and told him he needed his water gun back. Rob had been using someone else's the whole time and didn't even know it! He explained that we have them too, but looked ever so guilty because he couldn't wipe the grin off his face. Some things never change.