A Tour of Jessica's New Apartment

Jessica has five roommates that share this apartment with her. Three of the girls were already living here and so the kitchen was well stocked with pots and pans and dishes.  Jessica and her friends Mara and Sara moved in the end of August.

Here is the living room:

 Dining room:

 Kitchen (note the dishwasher):

Hall (bedroom doors are on the left bathroom on the right):

 Jessica's half of the room she shares with Mara

 Bathroom: 

 Shower:

That is it for the grand tour.  It is cozy.  She seems happy with her ward and to be getting along with all of her room mates.  Her bishop is Alan Ashton (founder of Word Perfect).

Ward Provident Living Fair

Our ward Relief Society hosted a provident living fair for the ward.  They had demonstrations and displays on everything from sewing to cooking in a solar oven to lighting a fire.  The Lehi Fire department was there with their trucks for the kids to tour.  Melanie learned to make a flower hair clip out of duck tape.  Later there was a bbq, pony rides, and games.

Happy Birthday Graig, 17 years old

 Playing the game spoons at his birthday party.

First Day of School & Trying New Foods

Melanie and Tyler were both excited to start school this year.  They choose their outfits very carefully so as to make just the right impression.

 Melanie is looking forward to her 2nd year in the A.L.L. program at Sego Lilly Elementary, although she is not looking forward to doing homework again. She has the same teacher Tyler had for 6th grade so she knows she has an awsome teacher.

 Tyler is starting 8th grade this year at Willowcreek Middle School.  He has a new way to style his hair.  He is looking forward to playing the Bass again in the orchestra this year.  

 This is a present Jessica brought home from her trip to California.  It is a tiny octopus.  She brought it home in a "doggy bag" from the restaurant where they ate dinner after her piano concert.  Tyler ate this one.  Jessica and Tyler claim the octopus tastes like shrimp, only chewier.  I couldn't even watch them eat it.   Yuck!

Seven Peaks with the Family (Most of them)

Graig, Warren, Mary, Tyler, and Melanie

Warren and Melanie in the wave pool together.

Graig and Warren waiting in line for the boomerang.

The weather was beautiful. The lines were short. It was a great day. We only stayed about 3 hours but it was plenty of time to ride the rides we like. I liked that we also got some work done around the house.

Warren and Graig rode the Boomerang over and over again. To make it more interesting, they went frontwards, facing each other, and backwards

As luck would have it we, without realizing it, put our towels down right next to my cousin Peter and his family. His girls like to hang out with Tyler and Melanie so it was perfect.

Warren likes to ride the fast slides (and he has the bruises to prove it.)

Warren and Tyler in the wave pool.

It is rare for us to have an "open" schedule on a Saturday lately but it happened today and we decided to get Warren to Seven Peaks to enjoy it. The kids and I usually make it to Seven Peaks once a summer (to use the free passes they get at school) but Warren hadn't been to Seven Peaks in many years

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Splash Park - Book Club Party

Our wonderful neighbour, Amy, organized a summer book club with age appropriate groups that Melanie and Tyler got to participate in this summer. Every other week we just got together with all of the groups for a play date. As a final activity we decided to meet at the new splash park in Highland.

Mother/Son Date at Seven Peaks and the Dentist

Tyler and I thought we were meeting my sisters and their families at Seven Peaks but their plans changed and it turned out it was just Tyler and I at the Park.

It was a great day to be at Seven Peaks. The weather was beautiful and the lines were short. Tyler got me on several slides I haven't ridden for years. Tyler did see some friends at the park that he went on some slides with, so it wasn't all mom.

I'm pretty sure Tyler took this picture himself.

This is Seven Peaks newest slide. You slide down face first on a mat. I thought going face first would be scary but it's not. The great thing about this slide is that eight people can go at a time which makes it so there is little or no line.

Crossing the lily pads is one of Tyler's favorite things to do at Seven Peaks.

After Seven Peaks, Tyler and I went to see Dr. Brown who put braces on Tyler's top teeth. He (Tyler) was relieved it didn't take as long as he thought it might. He is sore but adjusting to having all that metal in his mouth.

Senior Pictures

Graig started school on August 15th as a Senior. I decided to order some of the pictures the professional photographer took of him at orchestra camp to use for senior pictures. I do think he is quite handsome, especially in his tux.

A Triple Date

Graig and Kayla decided that while Taylor was in town they should go on a cousins triple date. Kayla agreed to set Taylor up with one of her friends and Graig asked Leah, who he met at orchestra camp, to go with him.

The date started at the Gilgal Garden in Salt Lake City. The garden was once called "The Secret Garden" because it is literally in the center of a city block with businesses and houses all around it. The garden is now a city park, open to the public and free.

Gilgal was once the private garden of Thomas Child, a masonry contractor who used it to display twelve original sculptural arrangements he created and over 70 stones engraved with scriptures, poems, and philosophical texts. The cousins brought a picnic lunch to eat in the garden and then spent a couple of hours walking around looking at the sculptures as Kayla read about them from the guide book.

Graig and Leah with a self portrait of Thomas Child.

This sculpture is called "The Monument to the Trade"

Taylor and Quincy holding up the arch.

The sculpture is called, "The monument to the Priesthood"

Graig and Leah are standing off to the side in the shadow.

Kayla and Mitch

"The Monument to Peace"

Kayla and Mitch

"The Sphinx"

The second part of the date was getting rootbeer floats and shakes at the Hires Rootbeer Restaurant around the corner.

For the final hours of their date, the group went to the Gateway mall where they spent a long time exploring the exhibits in the Clark Planetarium and a short time window shopping.

Taylor, Graig, Quincy, and Leah on Mars

I was told the date was a success. Mitch, Kayla's boyfriend, said, "I didn't know you could have that much fun on a date without spending a lot of money."

Cousin Temple Trip

My mom has a tradition where she arranges to take all the grandchildren who are old enough, to the temple to do baptisms for the dead as part of our Snowbird family reunion. My Mom worked all summer doing genealogy to find some family names for them to do. Warren went along so he could perform the baptisms. The younger grandchildren look forward to when they will be old enough to participate.

Back: Bethany, Kara, Kayla

Front: Mom, Graig, Mitch (Kayla's boyfriend), Tyler, and Taylor

Mt. Timpanogos Temple

Cecret Lake Hike II

It was a quieter day at Snowbird today. Michael and Becky and their kids took an early flight back to TN and Grandma Nelda, Dad, Connie, and Kayla went to Logan for Tammy's wedding. Warren, Debbie, Linda, my Mom and I took the rest of the cousins to Cecret Lake. It was a beautiful day for a hike and there were a lot of people on the trail.

The sign says "no swimming" so Tyler just went "wading"

Tyler and Kyle

Tyler hunting for salamanders.

They didn't catch any but they saw plenty.

Warren hunting for salamanders.

We have never seen any of these thank goodness.

While we were up at the lake my mom and I started up a conversation with a nice grandma and grandpa who were on the hike with their 11 year old grandson. We visited for a while and then the parted ways. When we got to the bottom of the trail the grandparents were there and told us that they couldn't find their grandson. They were getting worried. He had hiked ahead of them on the trail and they figured they would just meet up with him and the bottom. When they got down they couldn't find him. We offered to keep our eyes out for him in case he showed up while the grandparents did a quick search around the campground and notify the park ranger on our way down the mountain. Debbie hiked out to get her van, which was parked down the road a bit, and saw the grandson waiting by his grandparent's car. The grandparents didn't think the boy knew where the car was parked because the grandpa had dropped off the grandma and grandson at the trailhead so they hadn't thought to look there. Debbie suggested to the grandson that he might want to walk back to the trailhead and drove back to tell us she had found him. The grandma started crying with relief when she heard he was found. I then offered to send Graig and Taylor running up the trail to find the grandpa who was checking side trails along the main trail. This they did and last we saw of the Grandma and grandson they were waiting at the trailhead for grandpa to return.