Thairrific Times: July 2014

Warning: picture heavy post! :-)

As we have 5 weeks in the States this summer, we thought it would be fun to visit Utah while here. Both of us graduated from BYU, we have a lot of dear friends there, and we wanted to introduce our children to many of the great church sites there as well.

After a great train ride down from Tacoma, we stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Cheney for the night. The next day we caught a really nice flight from Portland down to Salt Lake. I love taking off from Portland when it's clear. I can't think of many other places in the world where you can see a half dozen volcanos shortly after take-off. I caught these great pictures on the flight.

The WiFi on the plane was cheap ($3), so I hopped on and had fun tracking our flight and catching up on emails. The kids enjoyed watching a movie on the iPad:

We stayed with Candace's sister's in-laws who stayed with us while in Thailand. They were wonderful hosts.

We spent our first full day returning to BYU and introducing our kids to the great campus, programs, education and opportunities there. The boys were asking all sorts of questions about what they needed to do to be admitted to the University and save enough money. Mission accomplished.

We also took our children by Candace and my first house right after we were married. Fun to return 15 years later with 4 kids...

One of my professors was on campus and it was nice to introduce him to the family and thank him for teaching me the skills that have served me well

We met up with our dear friends the Hepworths (from Houston!) and spent the day touring campus with them. It was a highlight for all of us.

My daughter fell in love with the ballroom dancers and quickly asked if she could do that when she comes to BYU. I hope she does!

We also stopped by Candace's college of nursing to show the kids where Mom studied

That night we visited with our good friends Brad and Jamie Horrocks and their kids. They live on a great mountain overlooking the valley.

The next day we met up with our friends the Beutlers and retraced the Mormon Pioneer trail from East of Ogden all the way into the Salt Lake Valley. It was great and the kids grew to quickly love the Beutlers. We walked a bit of the trail and talked about how Candace's ancestors walked those same paths under a lot of trials. Great day to pause and remember.

That night we drove North to Logan (7 hours of driving that day!) and had dinner with some close friends from Houston. They have a beautiful view of the Logan temple and it was great to be with everyone. The kids instantly reunited and played games the whole time.

Candace's sister and her husband watched our kids the next day and we spent the day with some amazing friends. The morning was at the Jordan River temple and afternoon/evening were all spent together in Draper talking, catching up, and learning from one another. It was truly amazing.

As we didn't finish until REALLY late Saturday, we took Sunday pretty slow. We attended church at the JSMB at Temple Square, saw a few things up there and met up with some of great individuals we'd met the day before, and then spent the afternoon back with our hosts in Draper. The Harrisons took us up to the quarry where the granite for the Salt Lake Temple and Conference Center came from. You can still see the pioneer drill holes in much of the rock. That evening we went to the Draper temple and admired the view and then spent the evening with the MacLaughlins. Such wonderful people!

Monday we spent the day at Temple Square and saw most everything. It was a tiring day on the kids, but they all remarked about how they felt there and what they learned. We introduced the kids to Lion House food (which they LOVED) and did some shopping as well. We "ran into" several people we knew from all over the country that we hadn't seen in years....and even a Thai missionary (the only one there). Small world indeed.

I love this picture with our 2 boys. Our youngest was ready to be done walking, so his older brother hooked him up...

For our last day in Utah we met up with our good friends the Parkers and hiked the mountains above Alta and Snowbird ski resorts. It was amazing and definitely my "happy place." I loved the flowers, fresh air, views, and wild life (we even saw some moose!). How I wish we lived closer to the mountains. The kids enjoyed a snowball fight at the top (10,000 ft!) and we loved catching up with Kim.

Check out this view at the top!

Lots of fun in the snow

After our hike, we had a quick picnic in Pioneer Park (ummm, ghetto?) and then went to the Utah capital building. We were surprised to have one of the House Representatives offer to give us a "behind the scenes" tour. That was great and a nice end to our amazing trip.

We had such an amazing trip to Utah. Between catching up with so many dear friends and visiting so many places special to our family, it was one of our best trip

Posted with Blogsy

Grandma and Grandpa Ball are now both retired and just moved to Anderson Island in the Puget Sound of Washington. Before taking the ferry from the "mainland" out to the island, we ran a few errands and the kids enjoyed their first "real" hamburger in a year...

The next week and a half was full of all sorts of fun. Kevin's sister Lori and her family came out to visit one day, Papa Kline came and spent a few days with us, and we had a blast exploring the island, playing, and doing all sorts of fun things together!

This is where Grandma and Grandpa go to church on the island. It's a fun house with a log-cabin feel on the inside. All of us added another third to the typical attendance in the congregation.

The kids were always excited to ride with grandma in her fun car!

The 2 cousins had a blast every day together. From singing, dancing, playing piano, and games, they truly were best friends.

Kevin took 2 days off while we were there and we went to Pike Market during one of them. We enjoyed all the fun crafts, foods, flowers and peaches! Our youngest found the smell of this particular seafood a bit gross.

What else do you do with a left-over peach bag? Wear it on your head of course!

The local raccoon came by to visit us a few days while we were there. Cute guy...but we kept our distance.

We went swimming in the (frigid) cold lake and had a good time jumping off the floating dock. Some of the kids even joined dad in swimming under the dock!

We all enjoyed using the kayaks and exploring the lake.

We introduced Papa Kline to his first s'mores and had a couple camp fires in the evening while we were there. The kids LOVE hearing Hobbit stories around the campfire.

For the 4th of July, we took the ferry back to the small town across the Sound and enjoyed a parade, outdoor market, and blacksmith shop...oh, and of course, lots of yummy food.

Later that night, we got a GREAT spot to watch the local fireworks go off right in front of us. We all agreed it was amazing...made up for no fireworks last year while in Thailand.

Shortly before we left, the family (minus Kevin) went to Wild Waves and enjoyed a day of roller coasters, rides, and the water park.

One day we all went to a nature preserve and hiked a few miles and saw quite a few neat things (frogs, birds, etc.) The kids completed the nature booklet and had an official ceremony of becoming Junior Refuge Managers!