Call Me Cordelia: Summer Busy-ness

Warning: epic post. If I didn’t get it all in, it would never get done.

I’ve been so extremely busy lately, and I’ve finally got a night where I don’t really have anything I HAVE to get done for the next day. Sure, my bathrooms have been sorely neglected. My floors should be vacuumed. I’ve got a dozen unfinished projects going on right now now. But I don’t have to do any of it, so I’m not going to.

Here are some of the things we’ve been up to this summer:

Trip to Utah

Speaking on gardening for the meeting formerly known as enrichment

Zoo day camp for Katie

Pond day camp for Paul

Finishing the patio

Party to celebrate finished patio

Trip to Flagstaff

Swimming lessons for all kids

T-ball for Paul

Pioneer day camp

Prepping for a garage sale

Plus you have all the everyday fun, like doctor’s appointments (not so fun), birthday celebrations (Aaron’s was in July and Katie’s is coming up in a few weeks), holiday celebrations, etc. I love summer, but it is a busy time of year. I’m sure it feels even more busy because we’re trying to cram everything in before this baby comes in less than a month.

I haven’t been very good about taking pictures lately. I think it’s because my hands have been so full that carrying around a camera was just one more headache. Here are some highlights from our trip to Utah:

Sunday, May 29: Baby Emily’s blessing. Already shared those pictures. And since then, she’s started rolling over! They grow so fast!

Monday, May 30: Memorial day. We had planned a swimming party, but the weather was so terrible almost the entire time we were there, so swimming never happened. We just ate yummy food and hung out instead.

Tuesday, May 31: Went to Fetal Fotos and found out we were having a baby girl. Third time’s the charm, apparently! Went up to Park City to see where my parents are building their new condo and help them pick out their carpet and everything.

Wednesday, June 1: Trip to the aquarium. I was surprised at how good the aquarium was. It looked completely ghetto from the outside. It’s in an old craft store, and there’s no landscaping at all. But the inside was a pleasant surprise. The favorite was definitely the penguins (no pictures of that exhibit; too dark). We also had the chance to participate in sealings at the temple with my parents while Aaron’s parents took the kids to a movie.

Thursday, June 2: Ikea outing. Love that place. I think if I could pick just one store to come to ABQ, it would be Ikea. Capped off the day with a trip to Leatherby’s for an enormous ice cream sundae. I miss Utah ice cream, and most especially their shakes. There are no good shakes in Albuquerque. It’s sad when the best you can do is Chick-Fil-A. We make sure to get more than our fill of shakes every time we visit.

Friday, June 3: Grandpa Barnes took Katie to the zoo. He asked each child to pick out something special they wanted to do with Grandpa, and then they each had a date with him. I really think that this was the highlight of their trip. They got one-on-one time, which can be scarce around these parts, and they got to do things that Mom and Dad (the meanies that we are) never let them do, like ride the train or buy something at the souvenir shop. In the evening they kids all spent the night with the Jorgensens while Aaron and I went on a date, another thing that has been scarce around here.

Saturday, June 4: We had time to kill in the morning, so we decided to go on a little “hike” up Butterfield Canyon. Unfortunately, they had blocked off almost all the trails, so it wound up being a really little hike along a paved road. The kids loved it though. We ended the day with dinner at Pat’s BBQ.

My goofy family. I love them!

Paul went with Grandpa Barnes to a Real Salt Lake soccer game and to Cold Stone. The soccer game was cool, but it paled in comparison to Cold Stone. When Paul was asked what he wanted to do for his special day, his answer was, “Go to that place where they smash up brownies and put them in ice cream.” So Cold Stone it was. The game was an extra bonus, since simply going to Cold Stone seemed a little small to Grandpa B when matched against Katie’s zoo trip. I tried to convince Dad that really, all he wanted was the ice cream and he was going to be thrilled with just that. However, my dad didn’t have any boys, so he missed out on all the fun manly outings, so he was going to take advantage of having his oldest grandson in town and go see something sporty. They had a blast.

Monday, June 6: We visited the children’s museum at Gateway with my mom, Kiera, Heather and her kids, and Julie and her niece. They loved it all. It’s a great place to let them run around and just play to their heart’s content.

Paul’s about to start sobbing here on the rock climbing wall. He was just fine going up, but coming down petrified him.

This bowling ball simulator was Brayden’s favorite. He would not get off no matter what other fun things were offered. I loved watching the faces he made every time the ball crashed into the pins.

Being part of the Life Flight team.

Averi also got to have her date with Grandpa that evening. When you’re two, life’s pleasures are very simple. All she wanted to do was make chocolate cupcakes with Grandpa. She still brings up her special “date” at least once a week.

As if the day hadn’t been fun enough, we went to the Classic Fun Center to play on the bouncy castles. One adult could go in with the kids, and Aaron was the chosen one. He’s the best at that sort of thing. He was more into doing the bouncy obstacle course than the kids were, and he was pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. There was one type of bouncy structure that I had never seen before. The kids would sit on something that looked like a mushroom, and Aaron would jump on it and send them flying. It was awesome. He soon had other kids asking him to bounce them, but breaking our own kids’ necks is one thing; doing it to someone else’s kids is quite another.

This is the crazy mushroom thing. Unfortunately, I got no good pictures of the flying.

Crazed and red-eyed Aaron running through the obstacle course. He’ll probably be annoyed that I put this up, but I think it’s great. Love you, hon!

Tuesday, June 7: This was a chill-out day. I did some shopping with my mom, and then we went swimming at the city pool in the afternoon. Vacations need days like those.

Wednesday, June 8: Lagoon with the Jorgensens. I thought I would be sad that I couldn’t really go on any of the rides, but I had a surprisingly good time hanging out with Averi in the kiddie section. There were tons of little rides she could go on, and it was pretty deserted, so we had hardly any waits. She was hilarious to watch. Let’s just say that she’s not extremely brave. Bulgy the Whale, which is about the most innocuous ride in the world, terrified her. She refused to look up even once and just buried her head. Then she insisted that we go on it four more times (none of which involved her looking).

Ah, Bulgy. I have at least 15 pictures of her cowering in fear on this ride. I laugh every time I see them.

The cowering didn’t work as well on this ride, since she could see the bottom.

But she claimed to like every ride once it was over. We took her on the log flume, and the drop at the end petrified her. After that, we went on the river rapids (the one with the round tubes where everyone gets soaked). We made it through the ride just fine and then we got on the ramp that pulls the tube up to the loading platform. Paul said, “Oh no! It’s another drop!” and Averi began screaming. She seriously tried to climb overboard and abandon ship. There was no convincing her that there wasn’t a drop and Paul didn’t know what he was talking about. She only calmed down once we were safely on dry land.

These boats were more her speed, although she wouldn’t loosen her grip on the steering wheel to even try to ring the bell.

Katie with her Aunt Julie.

Thursday, June 9: Aaron and I took the kids down to Temple Square. We did one of the visitor’s centers, took a tour of the Church Office Building, and had lunch at the Beehive House.

View of the state capitol from the top of the Church Office Building.

We had specifically gone down to Temple Square that day because we knew it was the 100th anniversary of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building/Hotel Utah and we had heard that there were going to be some events taking place. When we arrived at the JSMB, we learned that the Tabernacle Choir was going to be singing and President Monson was going to be there to perform a ribbon cutting. So we stayed and watched the Joseph Smith movie they had playing and then went upstairs to wait. It turned out that the person who told us the times of the events was wrong, and beyond that, they were running behind schedule. So we had three starving, bored, out of control kids to manage in a hot, crowded room that was standing-room-only. We should have bailed and left, but we insanely stuck it out. I’m not quite sure why, although we did have cupcakes at the end.

We loved all the ladies and men in period dress. The kids got a kick out of the hats.

Friday, June 10: Katie and Paul went on a sleepover with Grandma J to Thanksgiving Point in the dinosaur museum and had a great time. Averi had a sleepover with Grandpa J, which meant that we had the evening off. We had a little dinner party with my sister and her family, Ashley, and some old friends. We played minute to win it games, and it was quite interesting to see who was the most adept at working an oreo off their forehead and into their mouth without using their hands. Let’s just say that it wasn’t me.

Saturday, June 11: We had Aaron’s 10-year mission reunion. He served in Lithuania in the Baltic States mission. He was able to meet up with some good friends, and fortunately there were some people that I knew as well. The kids love the air gun that shot candy out and the miniature airplane that dumped candy in random places all over the park. I was quite impressed at how well it was organized. We got lost getting to the park, and we ran across some of the most beautiful houses with stunning views. Let’s just say I know where I would look for houses when our ship comes in.