We had an end of summer vacation last week and visited some of my family who live in Salt Lake City. We spent four days with my brother and sister-in-law and my sister and we had a really wonderful visit. It's a seven hour drive from La Grande to Salt Lake and while the girls were very well behaved along the way, they did get tuckered out pretty quickly. If only they could have slept like this the entire way.....
Aunt Tracie made a yummy chocolate cake for our visit and so the next morning for breakfast Aunt Sue let all the kiddos have cake. Who doesn't eat chocolate cake for breakfast when you're on vacation???? My niece, Katie, had most of the cake on her face but she didn't mind one bit having her picture taken.
You can't visit Salt Lake City without visiting Temple Square. Even amidst all of the ongoing construction of downtown, you can still have a really nice experience seeing all of the landmarks there. The visitors' centers are always beautiful as well as all of the gorgeous flowers and fountains.
We really only lasted a couple of hours because it was 100 degrees in Salt Lake that weekend. Too hot! If the weather had been more bearable we would have spent much more time there looking around.
One night Uncle Todd barbequed for us for dinner. And everyone knows that you can't have a BBQ without having s'mores! Here is Aunt Tracie with Emma and her cousin, Luke. Aunt Tracie is so silly when she is around all of the nieces and nephews. That's why they all love her soooo much!
Luke had chocolate on his hands, his face, his ears, his neck....everywhere!
Of course, Katie, found it more enjoyable to actually play with the marshmallow instead of eating it. No matter how messy the little ones get, they are still so adorable.
Unfortunately, the batteries in the camera stopped working after two days on our trip so I didn't get near as many pictures as I wanted to. For some reason the camera started working again for a little while on our way home. We stopped in Perry and Brigham City to pay our respects to our deceased family members. This is a family tradition for us and it's a good way to teach the girls about their ancestors and the importance of family history work.
Our plan was to be able to visit with all of our friends who live in the area while we were there. But Emma unexpectantly came down with a flu bug so two of our days were spent nursing her and making sure that she was feeling better. We thought it best that we not spread germs to our friends so we stayed home. We do miss all of you and will be in touch the next time we are there.
The school was, of course, very busy with all of the parents bringing their children. Here is Emma out in front of the school. She was starting to feel a bit nervous about being away from home all day. Daddy gave her a nice father's blessing and we assured her that all would be well.
This is outside her classroom. She is in a combined first and second grade class this year so we're looking forward to seeing how that goes. We told her that as soon as she saw some kids that she knew, she would forget about Mom and Dad and jump right in to class which is exactly what she did. I kept hanging around hoping that she would miss me a little bit but she didn't even glance our way. Mark finally told me that she didn't need me to stay and that we needed to leave and let her be a big girl. All summer I told myself that it was going to be great having her in school all day but when the day came, it was Mom who wasn't quite ready for it to happen. :)
Sam started her second year of Joy School and since I was teaching this week, she got to stay at home with me and help me to not think about Emma being gone. Sam had a great time and all of the little girls who are in her class were very happy to be there. She's a 'pro' at preschool now and she definitely won't be missing me when she attends school at the other homes.
They grow up way too fast....
