Cemetery Visit and Ensign Peak Hike...

September 5th is my parents' anniversary.  This year would be their 62nd!  It is also my sister's birthday.  She would be 54.  I am so glad we live here now and I can go to the cemetery on special days like this.  We bought some flowers and drove out to place them.  As usual, we had to cut away the overgrown grass.  Last time we were there I noticed a little tiny headstone close to my parents.  I don't know how we haven't seen it all these years except that maybe since it's only 6 or 8 inches square it was probably always overgrown!  It's another Lorie (spelled with an E) who apparently died at birth in 1962 (the year I was born).  David found a loose flower blossom and so we put it on her headstone.  I would love to know more about her family.  After the cemetery we went on over to Eric's and had a BBQ.  Then we all drove up to Ensign Peak to do the hike.  It was a fairly easy hike and didn't take a long time.  We had hoped to watch the sunset from up there, but it was already getting dark by the time we were on the trail.  There were a lot of people!  We had made little snack bags for the kids and we enjoyed our snack on the top looking over the Salt Lake Valley.  What a beautiful sight!  It was all lit up and just so fun to see everything.  It is also fun to imagine Brigham Young and co. up there overlooking the valley and deciding how to lay it all out.  Planning the city of Salt Lake...what a job!   Kai rode up with us and I had the best time chatting with him!  He is growing up so fast!  We talked about all kinds of things; books, movies, his room remodel (which he is loving working on with his dad), school, fireworks (another thing he enjoys doing with his dad), his near sighted-ness (all those lights were a blur for him..I felt so bad!), and who knows what else!  It was so great being with him and connecting for a little while.  I would love some more one on one time with that kid!  He wants us to come BBQ again next weekend so we can see his room when it's done.  It was a nice, cool, beautiful evening up on Ensign Peak.  I want to do that hike again sometime!  The pictures are blurry, but I don't know how to take pictures in the dark.  Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!  And Happy Birthday Lori!  I look forward to being reunited with them and to finally meet my sister (I was 6 months old when she died).  I often wonder what she would look like and how our relationship would be if she was here.  Fun to think about.

Back to School!

Tuesday, Aug. 19th, David went back to school.  First grade!  Can't believe it!  Then a week later, Tuesday, Aug. 26th, Jacob started preschool!  He goes three days a week and loves it!  Then the next week on Tuesday, Amanda went back to school!  BYU, two semesters left...YAY!  We took pictures each day and they all look great!  Clif also began pharmacy school in Clovis so Lindsay posted a picture of him for me.  So it's been three weeks and everything is going well so far.  Grandma drops the boys off to school and has remembered to pick them up when she's supposed to! Let's hope it keeps going that way!  Grandma is also tending a 5 month old (now 6 months old!) named Zander.  The boys love him.  He's a good baby and what's one more when we are already on Grandma duty?  Here's hoping everyone has a wonderful school year!

Labor Day...

We wanted to go for a hike on Labor day...one last hurrah before Amanda started back to school...we went to try Stewart Falls but it was jam packed and they were turning people away from the parking lot!  We were disappointed...but we went to Pleasant Grove and hiked Grove Creek instead.  It wasn't that pretty of a hike, and kind of dry...but we did see a few pretty sights and we enjoyed it.  Amanda brought a friend and we told them to go on ahead because we would never be able to keep up with them.  We hiked for about an hour and then decided we were done and turned around to go back.  The best part was putting my hot, tired feet in the cold water!  Happy Labor Day!

Friends and brides!

How excited we were to know that Scott and Terry Olsen were coming up for education week! And more than that, they wanted to stay with us!  WOO HOO!  Boarder Winiecke had just moved in the previous week, but was very amiable and moved to the office so Olsens could have the "guest" room.  Ryan (we call him Boarder Winiecke in reference to a cute show we used to watch "The Torkelsons" who had a Boarder Hodges living in their basement) is boarding with us for a few months while he does an internship with the church in Riverton.  Something with computer security.  Anyway, we are all from the old home ward and it was fun to have the Olsens come!  They spoiled us in between their trips to BYU for education week.  Brought us chocolate covered cinnamon bears, gifts, bought us dinners and ice cream (the chocolate gelato at costco is my new favorite treat!) and then to top it all off they bought Dave a movie (Ephraims' Rescue) and my scripture bag that I wanted and should not have said it out loud!  ha ha.  Anyway, we loved having them here.  The dinner with them and Budges at Cafe Rio was awesome (Amanda and the boys came with us too...it was a real crowd!).  We had fun going back to the Budges and visiting while watching a storm out their big windows.  Fun, fun times.  The Olsens were supposed to go on Friday night with us to BYU for the performance of 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, but ended up having to leave Friday morning for a family gathering in Idaho.  Since we already had the tickets, we invited Amber and Rachel Winiecke to come with us - they obliged!  It was fun!  Amanda brought David and her friend Shelly came too, and Ryan even bought a ticket (but had to sit somewhere else by himself...sorry!).  It was a fun production and we loved it.  Walked out that night into a rainstorm.  We have been having crazy stormy weather!  The next morning there was even snow on Timpanogos!  Shocking!  We loved having our company here and hope they will come again soon.  We made a Utah bucket list to do with them, so I hope they follow through!  And of course, SOMEDAY we will do our Alaska cruise with them that we have been planning since who knows when...Love you Terry and Cousin Scotty!  Come see us again!!

Ice Skating!

What's a fun, cool thing to do in the summer?  Go ice skating of course!  Amanda wanted to take the boys and Grandpa wanted to try it out too.  Grandma was happy to sit and watch and take a few pictures.  It was slow going for those boys around the rink.  They wouldn't let go of the edge!  But they had fun!  The music was fun, and watching people doing fancy spins in the middle of the rink was kind of fun too!  There weren't a lot of people there so we enjoyed the time and space.  Amanda and Grandpa took a spin or two around the rink without the boys, they did pretty good...I kept waiting for Grandpa to take a spill, but thankfully he did not!  They both said their wrists were sore from helping hold up the boys.  It was a fun outing!