Happy Birthday Carson

For Carson's birthday, he chose to go with some friends to Magic Mountain.  

Needless to say, he had a blast!  

The next day, his actual birthday, mom and I went out for dinner, cake, and presents.  How can this young man be so old?  He's already been driving for a year and will be a senior this next August!!

Beach Camping

 The best things about beach camping...

Time with friends

the baby beach

beautiful sunsets

staring into the fire

cooking donuts...

...and eating them

cooking over the firepit.

Utah Visit

 With COVID seemingly in the rearview mirror, and mom safely being taken care of by Marianna and Olympia, I decided it was time for a quick trip up to Utah to see Todd, Kathy, and the kids.

There were no special plans, so we spent most of our time just hanging out.  I did get a couple of river trail walks in.  It's always refreshing and renewing to see this beautiful landscape.  It always makes coming home and walking around my neighborhood a little boring!!

We played games and watched a movie and just enjoyed being together.  How I love my Utah family.

I was there for Father's Day, so Todd smoked ribs...lot and lots of ribs...for the family dinner.  They were fall off the bone delicious.

And it's always fun to see how their garden fares and to retrieve the eggs.

When we were in St George together, Todd put the wooden spoon in the slit of the frying pan and said that was why the slit was there...a spoon holder!!  He did it again this weekend!!  So funny!!!

Jury Summons

 Yes...that's right...mom got a jury summons!!  A 98 year old woman with dementia got a jury summons! After I stopped laughing, I sent in the excuse form and she was excused in a few days.

President Mortensen

 

I got a phone call yesterday from Amy.  She said that I should plan on attending church with them tomorrow!  I knew it was their stake conference and that they were getting a new stake president, so I figured that Todd had a new calling.  Yep...stake president.  I wasn't surprised.  He is such a wonderful man.  A spiritual man.  A man full of service and love.  He will be great.

Death Valley

 On our way home, we decided to make a detour and visit Death Valley. It was very hot, dry, windy, and barren. Did I mention hot...and dry…and barren?! Wyatt found a little indentation in the salt bed and wanted it known that he was the lowest man in the world!! He was also the one who was brave enough to taste the salt.

Razors

Saturday, the hottest day of our trip, found us off roading along the trails and sand dunes above the lake. I’ll admit I was a little nervous about this activity!! But it was so much fun. Except for the one time we almost died!! The only bummer was when one of the razors shredded a belt and we had to wait for someone to come fix it. He couldn’t. Neither of the Todd’s could fix it. It ended up being towed! Luckily, we were on our way back when this happened, so all was good.

After lunch and a cool down, the big boys stayed home and played a board game with Todd J while the others took a dip in the pool.

Boating Sand Hallow

 The activity that I most looking forward to was spending the day on the lake.  We rented a surf boat and jet ski for the day and it was a blast.  The boys tired to knock each other off and the girls just liked to go fast!

Then we tried surfing behind the boat.  And by we, I mean everyone else!!  It was a lot harder than it looked, but eventually all who tried it were successful.

Water skiing and wakeboarding were also enjoyed

The jet ski was fun, but the kids were disappointed that they weren't allowed to drive them!

Todd took me out for a "G-rated" experience.

The kids also enjoyed rock jumping.

It was such a fun time!!