Utah Trip!

I go back to work soon so we are trying to finish up with summer things. Piper finished sewing her apron and we went and played in the river. We also took a trip down to Utah. We drove down on Thursday and headed straight for the Classic Fun Center to celebrate Rustin's 50th birthday. We roller bladed, skated, scooted, laser tagged, and arcade gamed. We had some pizza and ice cream followed by birthday spaghetti and cake at Nana's house. Scott and I snuck away to meet up with his high school buddies. We had a fun visit with them until way too late in the morning. We went to Richard's new house first. He very recently moved back to Utah after being in Vegas for many years. After that we went a mile down the road to Royce's house to sit in his hot tub. On Friday Nana helped the kids paint bird houses and later that day they went swimming at Clark and Sarah's very cold pool. Ryan told me it was almost as cold as the river...COLD! Noel and I snuck away and got pedi's and had lunch. That night we went and had dinner at Carole's fun house and played games and the kids spent the night. On Saturday Scott and I drove with Nicole and Rustin up Cottonwood Canyon to check out his mom's mountain home up there. It is still a work in progress but it is a BEAUTIFUL house in a beautiful location. That afternoon we went swimming in the neighbor's perfect temperature pool. That night Nana had an intricate Harry Potter themed dinner with games. The dinner menu was Shepard's pie with wand breadsticks. We got sorted into houses and had a series of activities from fortune readings, to pin the beak on buck beak. It was very clever and very well done. My kids need to up their game on their Harry Potter knowledge though. Today we had a delicious breakfast and slowly got on the road (we had to turn around and go back and pick up my forgotten purse...woops)! This is my last week before I go back to work. We are going to try to get our back to school shopping done and sneak to the pool. 

Piper is very cautious but she does good work!

Cute Pipes!

River time.

After swimming watermelon time.

Piper is OBSESSED with mermaids and she finally got her own mermaid tail. She is pretty good at swimming with it. 

Ryan chopped up the tomatoes for dinner the other night.

Rollerblading. 

Getting instructions for laser tag. 

Pedi's!

He's so proud.

Pool games. (Such a nice pool, just down the hill from nana and papa!)

Thimble game.

Ryan loves dogs.

Cutest!

Fortune reading time.

Cute chipmunk spotted up Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Ryan likes to eat the rind. Mmmm kay?

Dog love.

We played spoons. It was Corbin and Gabby's first time. They loved it!

Hansen's have swings in their basement...what!

Richard's new office.

Update

This past week was pretty chill. Nothing much to speak of and I didn't really take pictures. We went to a splash pad and to the Meridian pool. Corbin met his friends at a game store and played Dungeons and Dragons for about 5 hours on Wednesday. I kind of love that Corbin is a nerd with nerd friends. 

Ryan is doing awesome with his nighttime potty training. He has woken up dry 11 times in the last 12 days and 9 days dry in a row. Woot! I'm so excited that this program seems to be working. I asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate being dry for a month  and he said "I like balloons." Okee dokee. Easy! He also said, "maybe extra swimming." I think we will move Ryan back to his own room and bed after a month of dry nights. Hopefully, he makes it. I start work soonish so it will be nice if he is night trained by then.

I finished my last PD course today. I wanted to take 14 classes this summer but they only let me take 9. I was really annoyed at first and I was thinking of ways to get 10 more credits from other places but then I decided it was fine and I could wait until next year. I did move from lane 2 to lane 7 of 8 on the pay scale in one school year. Not bad! I also earned 20 credits this summer. I say, job well done.  

I started intermittent fasting this past week. My mom has been raving about it for years and I've not been interested and also skeptical. I am skeptical of all things health-related because health experts are constantly contradicting each other. My roommate for my AVID training talked about it and talked about the claimed health benefits to the immune system and it piqued my interest. I grabbed my mom's book last weekend and have been reading up and giving it a try. I'm giving it a month for sure to see how I feel and what I think. I am curious to do it until my next health screen at school. Every year the school does a health screening and previous to that I would get yearly blood work done. I'm always within the correct limits on everything except my cholesterol is always slightly high and it BUGS me. I'm curious if intermittent fasting would change that (the book claims it lowers cholesterol). Anyway, I'm curious. We will see....

Mostly Gabby has been in craft mode. 

She's doing something (I think maybe a homemade doll house???) anyway it involves making mini pillows.

One of Scott's blueberry bushes is producing blueberries for the first time!

Atomic Days

We had a fun week this past week. On Wednesday we took our annual trip to Roaring Springs. We typically go once a year so we go ALL day! Piper is very cautious and hates rides so she opted to stay home. Corbin brought a friend and Gabby brought a friend. I was Ryan's buddy. Ryan loves to swim and is fearless on rides so we were GO GO GO all day. It was fun but exhausting. On Friday we got packed up and headed to Arco for the weekend. Rustin has been wanting to go back to my parent's farm ever since he came for the Eclipse back in 2017. We finally made it happen. We figured Atomic Days would be a fun weekend to go. The Boise Cannons arrived around 6:00 on Friday night. For the most part, the weekend was spent in the backyard chatting in the shade. Friday night some played dodge ball. Saturday morning I woke up early and joined Kelsey for her high-low fitness class. It was fun, it was hard. We attended the parade at 11:00. They gave away SO much candy this year. They also went crazy and had a wet portion of the parade and soaked everyone over and over. Luckily I was able to back away. No thanks! Scott's parents joined us Saturday afternoon. Every evening we went on a bike ride. On Sunday morning some of us went to Craters of the Moon. The rest of the time was back yard sitting and the littles playing. It was very fun and I love seeing my parent's house in the summertime. My mom's yard is spectacular and it is wonderful to see and enjoy. We are heading home right now because I hate sleeping away from my house. Homeward bound! Rustin was so happy. Thanks to my mom and dad for having us.   

4 Wheeler Rides

A lost dog hung out for a bit Friday night.

Indian Tunnel

Boat Races

Bike Ride!

Parade!

Statue dodge ball?

Dodge Ball!

Ryan's Design.

Gabby & Audelia

More Summer Things

We had a pretty chill 4th of July. I power washed the house the night before so I did some touch up painting the morning of the 4th. The North side of the house had some weird stuff on the paint and some nails had rust. Our gutters were moved so I had to paint the underside of the gutters. I spent about 3 hours painting and cleaning my house. Power washing my house was my number 1 house project goal this summer so that felt great to get that off my list. My house looks so fresh and clean! Later that evening I cooked tin foil dinners in the oven and we ate them at the park and floated the canal at the park. We didn't feel like bothering with fireworks (our own or going to a show) so we just put up our camping chairs and watched various neighbors' firework shows. It worked out great. 

The kids had a big friend week. Corbin had some friends over for a sleepover Wednesday night and the same group of friends had a Dungeons and Dragons night last night at someone else's house. Gabby's best friend who moved to New Mexico is in town so she's spent hours with her everyday that she's been here (she's with her right now). Piper went to a movie in the park with her friend. Ryan is obsessed with swimming so I am his swimming friend. He and I went several times last week alone. So I guess I'm Ryan's friend. Speaking of Ryan he stayed dry three nights this past week. We will see how that continues to hopefully progress. He gets very excited when he earns a blue star (stays dry all night). We are still waiting for him to earn a red star (after three blue stars in a row). This morning after he put his star on his chart he walked away and said, "doing the victory walk." Cute boy! 

A picture from the Beal reunion and the boys looking at the sheep.

The kids enjoying some form of berry from the yard.

Scott took the kids to get some apricots from a nearby "public?" apricot tree.

Piper spun herself too much that day. Regret.

Ryan can entertain himself for a long time at a splash pad.

Corbin sparring with a friend at his sleepover. 

Ryan enjoying some Italian Ice.

Gabby and Audelia reunited! 

Piper's park movie night.

Gabby really wanted to watch the fireworks on the roof and freaked out when she got up there. Ryan wasn't scared even a little bit.

Looking for fireworks.

Floating the canal at DeMeyer Park.

Piper has been diligent in her stretching exercises. She wants to get back into dance next year. Ouch!

Ouch!