Our last week of Summer in Utah

I was determined to make the most of our last week of summer at home before we left for California. We kicked off the week with a trip to... Target! I know, we're adventurous, huh? I wanted to go look for an area rug for the new office. We didn't have any luck at Target. or Ross. or Gordmans. Three stores with three kids in tow? I wasn't kidding when I said adventurous. ;) 

After a long morning of errands, Camden's nap and some lunch we went to the Thanksgiving Point Farm. The boys' buddies, Lukus and Fischer came along too. The boys wanted to ride the horses first thing so we waited in line for what felt like forever. Of course, by the time we left there was no line at all. Lesson learned. We also went on the horse drawn wagon ride where Brady lost his shoe mid-ride. We watched it laying in the middle of the road as it slowly faded into the distance. So, that was fun. As soon as we got off the ride we had to go track it down. Luckily, it was right where he lost it. 

Fischer on a horse. He rode with his knees up like that the whole time. 

Brady and his horse. 

Ryan

Lukus was more excited about riding the horse than he let on. He is pretty good at playing "Mr. Cool."

The boys on the wagon ride: pre- shoe disaster. 

For family night we went to Costco and the Nickelcade down in Orem. The boys loved it! 

On Tuesday we packed up a linch and headed down to Provo to go the BYU duck pond and picnic with our friends, the Smiths. I didn't get any pictures which was a shame. The duck pond was so fun! They  finally installed a guard rail around the pond which makes going with toddlers MUCH less stressful. Ryan and his friend, Tucker, spent the better part of the morning trying to devise a mouse trap to catch one of the many mice that reside on the shoreline of the pond. Camden kept busy by running straight into a gigantic, stinky, muddy puddle. Straight into it. He didn't even slow down a little bit. He ended up falling flat on his face. in the mud. Now that would have been a picture worth taking! After the pond we walked through the new Life Sciences building up to main campus. We ended up eating lunch in the Eyring Science Center at some tables. It was very pleasant and the kids got to mess around with all the science exhibits after lunch. 

On Wednesday we headed back down to Provo to go swimming with Lindsey at the tricked-out Provo Rec Center. I packed a lunch and figured we would just swim inside until noon and then go eat and head home. The outdoor pools were closed for swimming lessons until noon. We were having so much fun that we decided to head outside to see what the pools were like there. They were awesome. We ended up picnicking on the pool side chairs and swimming for another two hours! Since I thought we'd only be swimming indoors I didn't bring any sunscreen. The boys didn't burn, but Lindsey and I got burnt to a crisp. It had been so long since I had a sunburn and I felt so silly for being so dumb. 

Camden chowing down

A bug landed on Brady's finger while we were getting our picnic put together. He was intrigued and concerned. After I got a picture he asked, "What do I do with it?" I just flicked it off his finger and went on with our lunch. 

One of the biggest obstacles in staying to swim was going to be Camden's nap. He had skipped his nap every morning that week, so I knew he would be tired. Luckily, he was so tired that he fell asleep on a reclining chair pretty much as soon as I laid him down. He slept for about an hour.

Ryan and Brady and I played in the pool together while Camden napped. Lindsey was nice enough to hang back while he slept so I could play with the older boys.

On Thursday we headed BACK down to Provo- it was pretty much our theme of the week- to go to the recently remodeled Bean Museum. We met my friend, Brittany, and her kids there as well as my sister Lindsey. The kids were so happy to play together and they always enjoy the museum. Brittany came with her two week old baby. She is so brave. It all went really well and everyone had fun. We ate lunch out on some picnic tables just outside of the museum and the kids ran around and played for a while before we headed back up to Cedar Hills. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of this outing either.

Friday was spent getting ready for our trip to California! We decided to take our van in to get the brakes worked on on Friday morning- yes, the morning of our big road trip. Great planning, I know. We also had to pick up the wood flooring in Orem before we could leave. Zach got off a little early from work and we went straight to pick up the van and then Zach headed the rest of the way down to Orem to get the flooring while the boys and I took the van back to get it all packed up. We ended up hitting the road a little after 6pm, which was later than we were hoping to get on the road. We pulled into Zach's parents house pretty late and then enjoyed a relaxing Saturday in St. George before making it the rest of the way to California on Sunday afternoon. More on that later!