The reason Jacob's family came to Utah (besides to see us and Natalie...) was for Emma (on the right) to attend an EFY session at BYU which was to help prepare her to score higher on the ACT.
Not only did she have a fabulous time and she met a lot of new friends, but we have recently learned she has taken another ACT and did score higher than her previous score. She will take the ACT one more time to see if she can increase her score even more.
Brooke spent the next week at BYU for her first experience at EFY. She is growing up and getting more independent all the time.
Brooke is now working at Lagoon in the food services department.
One day we were surprised to see Bambi on our front porch.
We watched its mother run back and forth across our yard trying to figure out where her baby was. I think she was as surprised as we were that it was on our porch. Happy were the two when they reunited.
After having a ginormous polyp removed 3 years ago, she was put on the return-often schedule. Fortunately for her, she did not have any polyps this time. HURRAH!!!! Now she can wait up to 5 years to go back for her next one.
Eli got a drone for his birthday. Their family took it out for a test run with Jeff trying to figure out how to use it before he turned it over to Eli. The next thing they knew, the drone had taken off higher and higher and disappeared into the air--never to return. WHAT??!!??
Eli insisted on helping his grandpa with the yard work by mowing the lawn. He was a good worker and stuck with the job until it was done.
It was the best thing ever to have tables set up for various activities.
It is always an accomplishment for all of us when a puzzle is completed.
They figured they better get Eli another drone so he could have a turn at using it. When the replacement drone arrived, Eli was anxious to get his hands on it and try his skill at flying it.
The drone has a camera feature, so Eli thought it would be cool to do a fly by over the Mickey Mouse puzzle. He was having a fun time and we came to the conclusion Eli is apparently a much better pilot than Jeff.
Another day we took the family to Golden Corral. The grandchildren LOVE the cotton candy they get at the end of their meal.
The magnetic tiles offered great fun for these three little boys--but mostly Lincoln who was orchestrating where each tile should go.
When we arrived in town, Glen had arranged for us to go to dinner with our former missionary Jacob Burbank and his wife Amy and their children Jaxon and Nixon.
The play we saw the first evening was called Wonderland. It was the story of Alice in Wonderland. It was very enjoyable and colorful.
The rabbit was also dressed in fur and padding and facial bunny hair and that looked HOT!!
The group did a great job of planning activities each day to keep the children busy, happy and occupied. This particular day we got take-out from Texas Roadhouse and ate it as a picnic lunch on the library grounds.
That gave us a good parking space and helped us get good seats for the magic show that was held at the library.
The gaming group talked me into playing Up the River and Down the River with them (with the alligator looking on...).
I always think it's cute when Sarah takes her boys for a Pace's Dairy Ann frozen treat since she worked there as a teenager and it apparently holds some fond memories for her.
Jeff had flown home to work the second week Sarah was here. His flight got delayed for his return flight back here to pick up Sarah and the boys to drive them back home to Las Vegas.
Once everyone was gone, we got busy getting the house cleaned. Glen loves On the Hook fish and chips and so it was nice to get food from the food truck after our busy 2 weeks.
It wasn't long until we were off on our own little vacation. We had tickets to see two plays at Tuacahn in St. George. I was anticipating a very HOT experience, so I took my Aunt Helen's advice and bought some necklace cooling fans.
I was dying thinking about how hot all those actors had to be with their costumes on. Take for instance this guy in the florescent green down coat. HOT!!!!
Alice was amazing with her beautiful singing. It seemed like she never got a break off stage to get some cool down time.
We ate a frozen lemonade treat during the first half. My personal fan helped me get through the second half.
He kept telling me his old, ratty-looking ones were just fine even though on closer inspection, he saw that they were starting to come apart. Happy was the day he threw those old things away and started wearing his new ones.
For dinner we went to HuHot Mongolian Grill before we headed out to Tuacahn for our second play.
This time we saw Mary Poppins and we LOVED it!!
The actors who played Mary and Burt were SO GOOD!!! The little Banks children were good little actors as well. It was such a well-done, wonderful performance. I was sad when this one ended.
It was very windy that night. Although it was hot, the wind kept the air circulating and we didn't need to use our personal fans during that play.
A little accident happened while all the grandchildren were here. One of the little ones threw something that hit the TV and broke it in two places. It looked like big black spiders.
It made for some interesting television viewing, that's for sure!!
Although it was a bad accident, I was actually thrilled that it happened. I was the one who talked Glen into buying a smaller size TV than what he would have bought. Each time we walk into Costco, I would see Glen looking longingly at the huge TVs.
Sooooooo--his wish has now come true. He bought himself a giant TV which got delivered to our home.
Haley and I kept the little ones busy while the men worked on the project.
SUCCESS!!!!!!!
Glen wanted to show the comparison in size of the two screens. The new one is HUGE!!
My big fear was we would be seen in the midst of the protestors in the news that evening. We just stopped to watch the "parade" go by and when it thinned down a bit, we walked north and then west a couple of blocks and headed to City Creek Center that way.
We enlisted Ben's help to get that big thing mounted on the wall.
Ray picked the Goodwood restaurant for our meal with Glen and his sisters and their husbands.
It was great news for us when we learned the free concerts in the Brigham Young Memorial Park in Salt Lake City were going to be happening this year. We missed them so much during the Covid years!!
There is lots of construction going on right in that area and we were unable to park in our favorite parking lot near the park. We decided to park at City Creek Center and walk the few blocks to the park.
Little did we know that a demonstration was going on in full force at the State Capitol Building located several blocks north of the park. As the concert was letting out, the sign-carrying, shouting demonstrators were marching down both sides of the street heading toward City Creek Center--just where we were headed.
We were a bit worried that the protestors would be blocking our exit, but we had no trouble getting out of the parking garage. It was quite the adventure...!
We knew we were going to be in for a treat with the rain scene in Singin' in the Rain and we were not disappointed. So much water rained down on the singing and dancing actor.
Caroline chose to go to Costa Vida for her 13th birthday dinner.
Oreo ice cream pie was Caroline's choice of birthday dessert.
We always enjoy our play dates with Dad, Mom and Nani. This time we went to the later afternoon matinee, so we ate lunch at Chick-fil-A before the play.
I didn't notice at the time of the photo, but got a kick later as I was viewing the photos of the day, that three adorable children were photo bombing us. So funny!!!!
The theater workers spent a lot of time getting the stage dry during the intermission. I was surprised when the whole cast came out at the end of the play with their colorful umbrellas and the rain started pouring down once again. So fun!!
A bonus of going to this play was we saw our neighbor Erin Carlson playing one of the characters. I didn't know she was in that play and it was a pleasant surprise making the play even more enjoyable.
I was getting a kick out of Madison lifting Kade up to see the cooking tortillas.
Kade wanted to join in the fun with a candle in his Oreo cookie.
The games that evening were more my speed--Rummikub.
Caroline's Young Women leaders were showing her some birthday love with the sign they put in her yard.
We echo the greeting: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to YOU!!
