Family Field Trip

(Big Mister, I am in the shadow….can you re-arrange us?)  HA HA!

We’ve been wanting to head up to the Logan area since we moved.  We finally got the chance last weekend and figured we’d better take our road trip before winter arrives.  Brigham City was our first stop and it’s only a one hour drive.  Brigham City is a fun little town and known for it’s wonderful peaches.  We missed it this year, but next year we will be attending their annual Peach Days celebration which is always the weekend after Labor Day.

A new temple is under construction and sits directly across the street from the Brigham City Tabernacle.  They face each other.  The kids cannot wait until the temple is open for tours before the dedication.

Brigham City Tabernacle

Water that runs on the grounds of the Brigham City Tabernacle.

Inside the Tabernacle’s front doors.

On our way from Brigham City to Logan,  Little Mister took pictures out the car window of the landscape turning into Fall. 

He did a pretty good job capturing this tractor.

We were all impressed with this motorcycle group we saw on the highway as they were leaving Logan.  There must have been 200 or more of them traveling together.  We don’t know what it was for, but when we were in Logan a couple of hours later we saw them again…coming back into Logan.  Several of them had big stuffed animals on the back of their bikes!  Hmmm? 

The Logan Temple

This one has a fixation lately of climbing in trees! We like to read up on the temples before we visit them so we can learn fun and interesting facts.  We learned that the Logan Temple was originally painted an off-white color to hide the dark limestone.  In the early 1900’s the paint was allowed to weather away revealing the beautiful brownish colored stone.  We found a farmer’s market at a park in Logan.  They had some huge pumpkins and all kinds of wonderful produce.   Utah has tons of farmer’s markets between August and October! 

The kids found a tire swing to play on while dad watched them and mom shopped at the farmer’s market.

The Logan Tabernacle is under construction.  They are building a new, larger parking and fixing the outside of the building.  We couldn’t get a great picture of it due to the construction and street closures – no parking.  It was also Homecoming Day for Utah State University so the town was really crowded. 

While in Logan we ate lunch at a small Mexican food restaurant that came recommended by Big Mister’s co-worker.  We were so excited thinking maybe, just maybe we could find some Mexican food that would not disappoint in this great state.   Unfortunately, the restaurant did not live up to its recommendation.  It was actually pretty bad:)  We’ll keep trying. 

Logan’s Main Street

We visited the Bluebird Cafe (see the sign?).  This cafe is known for its gourmet candies.  We all chose just one!  Unfortunately, they were not very good either.  Hmmm?   What’s going on with the eateries in Logan? 

What absolutely did not disappoint is this next gem that we found just down from the Bluebird Cafe.

The “Books of Yesterday” Bookstore.  They have over 20,000 books of every kind you might be looking for.  They have a huge basement full as well.   The book lover, Big Mister, was in absolute heaven.  If you are ever in Logan, Utah, this is a must stop and is right on Main Street!

They even have a great selection of sheet music.  Oh my.  I wanted it all. 

When I spotted this book:I had to have it.  Mainly because my mom had this book and I remember her using it a lot so it brings back memories of every Saturday chili beans and homemade bread.   It has been fun to look through.  I don’t know where my mom’s copy ended up…but I wanted one of my own.  For $3, it was a good deal!

For fun, I picked up the book “The Search for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie”, 1975 edition.   I have my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes for sure, but I may just try a couple of these recipes.  I can always give them away, right!

While in Logan we also went to Gossner Foods.  We came prepared with our ice chest so we could purchase some famous cache valley cheese.  The store did not disappoint.  Another must stop. 

From Logan we traveled North to a little town called Richmond, UT.  In Richmond they have a Pepperidge Farm food outlet right off the main highway.  We learned to get the best stuff you must get there early.  The shelves were pretty empty when we arrived in the afternoon.    They sell all of their cookies, goldfish, croutons, bread, frozen foods, etc. at deep discounts.  A busy and fun place.  Mint Milano cookies…yum yum.  But they didn’t have any left :(

From Richmond we traveled North again and crossed the state line into Idaho. 

We love the old buildings in all the small towns we traveled through.  This is the Tabernacle in Preston, ID and we aren’t sure if it is being rebuilt or not.  It looks like it is in need of lots of work.  

Just before entering the town of Preston, ID, we stumbled upon Whitney, ID, the birthplace of Prophet Benson. The town appears to have a population of about 100.  It’s tiny, tiny. 

On our way back home we made it a point to stop in Ogden, Utah.  We wanted to see the temple there as well, even though we knew it was under construction.  They have it so blocked off with lined fencing that we couldn’t even take a picture.   We’ll just have to go back as it progresses further along.

We did spot this cool looking theatre there that Big Mister hurriedly snapped a picture of as we were driving.

We had a fun day and want to take more family field trips!

ps.  Little Mister just received his first phone call from a girl classmate.  Oh no!  He’s embarrassed. 

Outings with Grandma

  (Brigham Young’s grave site)

 

(Big Mister’s niece…it’s her grandma, too!)

(Could not take a good picture in here….)

I slacked off taking pictures with grandma…we were able to do a lot of fun things and had fun showing her the sites of Utah!

Some highlights….

Toured the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers museum (a must).  It has a huge collection of pioneer items and is nicknamed “Utah’s attic”.  We could have spent hours…

Toured the Church History Museum

Went up on the 26th floor observation deck of the Church Office Building

Toured the Conference Center…it’s worth it to see the pictures in the “hall of prophets” and to go up on the roof that I call the “forest on the roof.”

Took a drive through Provo Canyon.  Saw Bridal Veil Falls and Sundance Ski Resort.  Beautiful.  One of our favorite drives.  Can’t wait to go again and see Fall coming upon us.

Went to Swiss Days in Midway Utah.  Drove by Park City and saw some 2002 Winter Olympic sites.

Introduced grandma to Brick Oven Pizza in Provo (soon to be one in South Jordan right by our house..can’t wait)

Went to the BYU campus and bookstore.  A favorite stop!

Got ice cream from the BYU creamery.  Yummy.  Saw an old friend there, too. 

Picked up Elizabeth (Big Mister’s niece) from Orem several times so she could spend time with Grandma, too.  We also had her spend the night just before grandma left. 

We watched 17 Miracles all together.  Loved it.

We watched Just Like Heaven, too.  It’s a good rent.

Drove around Salt Lake to view all the historic buildings and homes.

Grandma got to see several temples, too!

A birthday for Little Miss

Little Miss wanted a watermelon themed 10th birthday party!  We had watermelon to eat, of course, and watermelon cupcakes especially hand made by mom and grandma:)

Don’t know why she chose watermelon…but it was easy.

A watermelon pinata.  What luck finding that!

A bouncy slide. 

And a bunch of girls!  Little Miss was so happy with her party and said her mom “rocked” it out with the watermelon cupcakes.  Too funny!

It was a bit rainy, but cleared up enough to enjoy a good hour outside before we had to bring all the girls inside to play games for the last hour of the party.

Once everyone came inside due to the rain, we played hide and seek and charades.  It ended up working out just fine and the kids had a lot of fun.

Happy 10th Birthday Little Miss. 

Where has the time gone?

Ahhh!

Been feeling kind of scattered....if ya know what I mean!
Trying to get to a normal feeling again....

So,

*Got a new dishwasher. It' s really nice....the old one just stopped working one day.
*Went to the Jordan River Temple today. Much needed.
*Mother-in-law left last Monday after a month long visit. We had a wonderful time, but she was ready to get home and we were ready to get back to normal.
*Going on a road trip this weekend. Can't wait!
* The "Welcome Wagon" came by with a bunch of coupons for free stuff. I used a bunch at the grocery store today and was totally in my element.
* I have started "couponing" again....I have missed it so much. Deals are not as good as in AZ, but still pretty good.
* Both of the kids birthdays are over and done with for a whole year!
* Both of the kids "student of the week" adventure is over and done with for a whole year.
* It's disco day at school....kids looked funny.
* Started the kids piano lessons again. I'm teaching them now and it's going pretty good so far.
* Went to Walmart last night and had to wear a jacket. Loving the cool weather.
* I finally got my hair cut and colored. It's been since May (in AZ) and was long overdue. I think I found someone pretty good! That right there will make a girl feel like she's "back".
*I Got to see one of my sisters last weekend here in Utah. She was visiting some male hopefuls.
*I Get to see another sister this weekend who is attending a work meeting in Salt Lake.

Ahhh!

Feeling better.

I love living here.

Let's not even begin to count how many days until Christmas!

Healing Field

A 9-11 Memorial

This magnificent display in Sandy, Utah, commemorates the tragic loss that took place 10 years ago with a display of more than 3000 American flags – one for each victim. 

Each flag has a card attached with the name of a victim and some personal information about each one. 

What an awesome site!

They also unveiled this brand new “three times life-size” bronze monument of three firefighters raising the flag over ground zero on 9/11/01.  The monument sits directly in front of the Sandy City Hall. 

We drove by the Healing Field again and again.  It was so, so beautiful…a sea of American Flags.  Truly amazing.  It sure brings back that Patriotic Feeling…

Proud papa

Most people know the major scouter that Big Mister is.   He was very proud to be able to stand next to his boy as Little Mister earned his Wolf Badge, a bunch of belt loops and some arrow points.   Conducting the Pledge of Allegiance. After the awards program all the scouts and their siblings played water baseball.  It’s their August tradition and the kids love it.  Play pools are filled with water and act as the bases.  They had a Slip ‘n Slide in between third base and home with the sprinklers turned on so the kids could slide right in to home and get really wet!

Little Miss on second base.

Little Mister on first base

Of course, the event would not be complete without…

ICE CREAM for all!

Good job Little Mister.  You’re working hard!

Birthday Boy

Little Mister planned his own 9th birthday party.  He sent notes home with a few classmates the week before the big day.

At a ward party a few days before his birthday, one of the boys mom’s was asking me about the party her son had been invited to.  She said when she saw the handwritten note in pencil, scratched out on a torn piece of notebook paper, she questioned it.  That’s when I found out what Little Mister had done.  He made the plan and invited his friends…but mom didn’t know anything about it.   We had a pretty good laugh about it.

Mom to Little Mister:  Did you have something you wanted to tell me about notes you sent home with your friends?

Little Mister:  I was going to tell you.

Mom:  When

Little Mister:  Well, I was going to tell you.

Mom:  Did you invite your friends to a birthday party?

Little Mister:  Yes.

Mom:  You know, parties generally go a little better when your mom is involved.  Like maybe mom could provide a cake and ice cream or help plan the activities,  make cool looking birthday invitations, or even have balloons and prizes.  Mom’s can really help do a lot of fun things at a birthday party.

Little Mister:  But I was going to tell you.

Mom:  When?

Little Mister:  I don’t know, but can we still have the party?

We went ahead with the party and I called the mom’s to let them know what happened and that the notes were real.  There was going to be a party.  It turned out to be really easy and Little Mister was super excited.

His friends came over after school and they played with the hose, slide, swing, basketball, etc. for a good 1 1/2 hours.  Then we had cake, ice cream and opened gifts.  It started to rain just as the party was ending.  Perfect timing.

Little Mister decorated his own cake.  Hey…it’s what he wanted and he was happy!

Little Miss and our next door neighbor filled the ice chest with water and tried to dump it on the boys.  They never got a very good shot because the boys would flip it up on the girls first. 

Run!  Faster….Faster.

She just got dumped on!  Paybacks!!

Overall, Little Mister really enjoyed his party and his gifts.  I am so glad that he has made so many new friends.  He said he wished he would have invited more boys.  Mom told him that next time he should fill her in on what was being planned and maybe she could help him have an even “funner” party!

On a side note, one of the boys he invited to his party is having his own birthday party this Friday.  They are picking the boys up from school in a LIMO and taking them to see Spy Kids in 4D.  A LIMO!  Turns out that the dad owns the limo as his part of his business.   Little Mister is so excited.

Now, we just have to plan something for Little Miss who’s birthday is next week.  Hope she doesn’t feel the need to plan it herself without her parents knowing about it!

We are also so happy to have Big Mister’s mom here with us.  She came just before Little Mister’s birthday and is staying until after Little Misses birthday.  We have had so much fun showing her Salt Lake City!  (right now she is up in Centerville Utah spending four days with her brother).

Trying to catch up……….