Happy Birthday, Honey!

The big THREE-OH! It's hard to believe you're thirty years old this year! (You don't look a day over 42 ;) I just wanted to say that I love you, and that I am so lucky to have you in my life. You are an amazing father and husband. You are so generous and selfless. I hope you had a great birthday, and I hope that this year brings you everything you could ever wish for.

Lagoon

What is a trip to Utah without a day at Lagoon? We took Sunday afternoon to hit the amusement park. It had been 3 years since I'd even been to Lagoon, and even longer since I'd ridden any rides, since I was pregnant at my last visit, so I was super excited to try some of the newer rides. Jeannie and I bought all the kids matching T-shirts, so it would be easier to keep track of them, aren't they adorable?!







The kids rode all their rides first, then us adults took turns watching them while two of us at a time rode the big kid rides. We were there for about 5 hours, and it was just about perfect. The weather wasn't TOO hot, the kids were pretty much behaved, and I got to ride the WICKED!! Sa-weet roller coaster!

The zoo

Bless her heart! On Saturday, Jeannie offered to watch Luke while Mark and the older boys and I went to the zoo. Bummer that I didn't take very many pictures, but it was fun having an outing just the four of us.

Happy Birthday, Jeannie!!!

Our second day in UT was Jeannie's birthday (hooray!) We had been planning on going to Tepanyaki for dinner, one of those Japanese grill restaurants where they cook the food right at your table, and make awesome onion volcanos. It was probably the best restaurant experience I have had since having kids! Besides amazing food, there was no wait time (on a Fridaynight!), and the kids were 100% entertained.

9-11

Yesterday marked the 7th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. I can't believe it was seven years ago! I still remember so vividly where I was and what I was doing that day, even that week. That day will be to us like the day of Kennedy's assassination is to our parent's generation, and the day Pearl Harbor was bombed is to our grandparent's generation. Everyone will have an answer to the question, "Where were you on September 11, 2001?"
It was a Tuesday morning, and I was suppossed to be at work at nine. I always had the TV on while I got ready for work, and that particular morning I was talking to my mom on the phone, so the TV was muted. I got off the phone just as I needed to head out the door for work. When I went to the TV to shut it off, I saw the image of one of the two towers smoking, and thought to myself, what movie is this? I shut off the tv and left my apartment, having no clue of what I just saw. When I arrived at work I could tell something was wrong. All the salesman, who were usually dispersed throughout the store, were standing at the front counter in a big group. As soon as I opened the doors they all turned to me and said, "have you seen?" Not knowing what they were talking about, they walked me over to the wall of big screen tv's (I was working at Vann's, an appliance and electronics store) and thats when I realized that what I had seen on my TV at home was not a movie. I looked just in time to see the second plane hit. My co-workers and I stood there all morning, surrounded by TV's, and watch the towers fall, and all the commentaries afterwards, including replay after replay. It was so surreal. Everywhere you turned was a TV showing the footage. Needless to say we had no customers that day. In fact, the only person who came in the doors was a photographer for the local newspaper. He photographed all of us perched on stools, watching the wall of TV's, with faces in our hands, and tears in our eyes. The next morning on of his photographs made front page of the paper. I was in college that year, and campus was alive with patriotism. On the Friday after I remember walking through the student union building and buying a purple ribbon to pin on my shirt. After that I went to our local Stake Center to watch President Hinckley's address. It was so beautiful, comforting, and uplifting. I remember everyone saying that it was not a time to hole up and be sad, but I time to be strong. We should not look at it as an end, but as a reason to unite. I was in the market to buy a new car, so I took someone's advice, to invest in the economy, and I drove home that Friday, the 14th, and bought myself a new car. The salesman took a picture of me infront of my new car that day, and I will never forget it, because you can see the purple ribbon still pinned to my shirt.

Beautiful Wyoming

We only had a quick stay in Wyoming, but we always love it. JoAnne takes such good care of us while we're there! The boys got to ride the horses a bit, got a ride on the four-wheelers, and best of all, I got an entire quiet, peaceful day to work on my stitchery. (which, by the way, I did finally finish and get to the framers!)




This last picture is the view out the back door of the house we are planning to buy whenever we make it down there, isn't it gorgeous!

Yellowstone

Well, we are finally back from our 12 day vacation to Bozeman/Wyoming/Utah, so get ready for some posts!
We decided to take the park route from Bozeman to Wyoming because we had high hopes of running into my dad, who had rented a Harley and was going on quite the road trip to end up in South Dakota to see Andrea's new baby. Sure enough, we passed this Wild Hog just north of the South Entrance. We waved eachother down and agreed to meet at a nearby picnic area. The boys loved to see Grandpa and his motorcycle, and each got a ride.


I got the best treat of all when dad shared some of his chocolate covered raspberries from Bear Lake. We only had a quick 10-minute visit cuz Dad wanted to make it through the park before it got dark, so we took a quick pic, said our goodbyes, and left our separate ways. We Love You Dad/Grandpa!