Park City and more

It became a tradition a few years back to get away for a weekend with Logan's family.  This year we decided to go to Park City.  We stayed in a condo that was right next to Olympic Park.  We ate yummy food, spent a day at Jordanelle Resivoir, rode the Alpine Slide, did some shopping and relaxed.  It was also our last farewell before Lafe left on his mission.  It didn't disappoint.  We also celebrated our 7th anniversary.  On our actual anniversary we just went out for some delicious indian food but later in the summer I surprised Logan with an overnight stay at a bed and breakfast.  I really did surprise him too.  I asked Alice to come up and watch the kids.  I packed us some bags and then once he got home I told him the kids were at my friends Jenna's house so we could go to dinner.  Really they were at the neighbors house.  We left for dinner and Alice got the kids and took them to our house.  So after dinner instead of going home, I drove to our bed and breakfast where we spent the night.  It was so nice to have a quick get away.

A common scene in the summer: dad planting flowers with dry ice root beer.

Our 7th anniversary.

The old tabernacle that burnt down and they are rebuilding into a temple.  It was close by our house and Jack liked to watch them build.

Power wheels, power wheels.  Grandma's house is so fun.

Charlotte loves to sit on peoples laps.  If there is a lap open, she will sit.  A cute picture of her and Adam.

Kitty wounds from her torturing them.

Story time at the library in Gunnison with Adam and Will.

I chopped ten inches off my hair.  My hair was not as nasty as it looks in this picture, it was quite pretty, but it felt so nice to have shorter hair for summer.  I didn't regret it. 

Playing in the sandbox with cousin Ellis.

The kids loved four wheeler rides.

Jacob and Charlotte.  Such a love hate relationship.

We ran the dirty dash with Lafe, Madee, Miranda, Gracy, Hannah and Heston.  Our team was the Harry Trotters.  

Riding in Old Red again, our summer car.  Our Tahoe was having problems and we decided to go scouting out future places to live so we took Old Red.  No A/C, so hot.  A grasshopper flew through the window and smacked Logan in the face.

It's not Utah unless there is fry sauce.

Staci came up to play a few times with the boys.  We used our  pass of all passes to go to Xtreme Sports.  The kids loved it . . . except Charlotte.

Sno cones!

Park City!  Charlotte loved Lafe.  It doesn't make sense to us either.

The Alpine Slide

Jordanelle Resivior. 

The traditional tatoos of course.  These didn't come off for weeks.  Char's says puppy princess and Jacks is Phineas and Ferb.

A Cougar Summer

While Logan interned at Workman Nydegger in Salt Lake for the summer, we lived in Provo.  No we aren't idiots.  We tried to live closer to Salt Lake but trying to find a short term, furnished, 2 bedroom apartment under 2000 was pretty much impossible.  My sister's brother in law happened to be moving out of their two bedroom apartment in Provo so we took it.  It was much cheaper and they were so kind to leave it very furnished.  All we could bring was what fit in our car so this was so helpful.  And although Provo has it's BYU/Cougar stereotypes, we really had a great summer there.  Of course we headed to Gunnison the day after we arrived to see family.  We were greeted with such love and Jack and Char were in heaven.  I am pretty sure Char hadn't really come in contact with animals up to this point and the Christenson house is literally a zoo.  She loved it.  Chasing and torturing kitties, petting Fresno, looking at the cows, and constant snake catching, she couldn't get enough.  Jack got to go for a backhoe ride with Grandpa Lynn.  Family came up to see us too.  Lafe spent the day with us at the Provo rec center and we went to a birthday part for Bradley where Jack go to play with cousins.  I loved being close to my friends Mysha and Jenna who both happened to be living in Springville.  We were good friends with the Densons and Tippets when we went to Utah State in Logan but then all went our separate ways so it was a wonderful coincidence to be so close to them both again.    

Char lovvvves puppies.  Here she is petting Fresno.

This was one of the saddest and funniest things I have ever watched.  Char had never touched a kitten until this.  And there were five of them.  And she just wouldn't stop picking them up and bringing them to me.  

Backhoe ride with Grandpa Lynn.

My children in  a nutshell.  Jack crazily driving his 12 cars and Char quietly looking at a book.

Playing with cousins at Bradley's birthday party.

Snakeeeee!

Chillin at the Provo Rec Center.  We got a family pass and pretty much lived here.

Lafe came up to play.

We didn't have many toys in Utah.  Rice and noodles are fun right?

This picture needs no explaining.

Looking at emus with Mysha and her girls.

Number 5 is alive

We have been back in Virginia for a couple weeks now and our lives are mellowing out so hopefully I will have many posts to come of our entire summer.  Although it was still unpleasant, number five was probably our best cross country trip yet.  Our Tahoe was acting up again (the same problem we had when we bought it in Laramie and tried to finish the trip to Virginia) and we just couldn't risk doing another trip in that car.  So to recap: we bought the Explorer our first year out to Virginia.  The next year we drove to Utah for the summer and on our way back the engine blew stranding us in Laramie WY.  We bought the Tahoe there and continued our trip but ended up having problems the whole way there.  We eventually made it, got it fixed and drove back to Utah the following summer.  Once we got there the Tahoe started having problems again.  We got it fixed a few times and then gave up.  So, we bought a brand new Subaru Outback.  Three years, three cars.  Let's just say we are out of money at this point.  We ended up choosing the Subaru because we got a great deal on it, it was brand new and has an awesome warranty (finally), it's practical and is AWD.  It will get us through the year, become Logan's car for work and we'll get something larger for the family.  Back to the trip, because we were downsizing vehicles, we had to leave a few things behind.  Kind of a bummer but we made it work.  We stuffed the car full and left Monday morning.  We hit the hotel that night and started again the next day.  At this point, we realized how tired of this trip we have become so Logan and I formulated a crazy plan.  We had about 14 hours left and we decided we were just going to go for it.  Just drive and drive through the night until we were there.  As crazy as it was, we tried.  We hit about 12 a.m. and we just couldn't do it.  Jack was great and sleeping away but Charlotte kept waking up and wouldn't settle down.  The crying, oh the crying.  We grabbed a hotel and got some rest.  We made it to Cville late the next night.  Which means we did it in three days instead of our usual 4 or 5 so it was still a success!  We arrived at our apartment at midnight and couldn't wait to crash but instead we found mold everywhere.  Mold on our bedding, couch, walls, everywhere.  It was weird because our friends had been checking on our apartment for us so we aren't sure what happened.  They had been away for about three weeks and it must have happened then.  Logan and I managed to make beds for the kids with some clean bedding we found and then we cleaned and did laundry until about 2 a.m.  Home sweet home right?

And so it begins.

Snoozing.

A snack at the hotel.

Taking a break at a park.  Throwing rocks in the water.

Playing with a calculator.  Thanks dollar store.

Elmo, lots and lots of Elmo.

Heading in to the hotel.  Char insisted on carrying in her own suit case every time.

You can tell we are getting close by the trees.

Elmo and fruit snacks.  She is in the zone.

At this point we were all worn out.  We caved and let the kids pick out a toy at Wal-Mart to get us through those last hours.  A remote control loader for Jack and a puppy for Charlotte. 

Glow sticks for nighttime fun.