Thursday. Matthew took Anna up to his Mom's in Bountiful for the day. Suzanne took Joey to an appointment first thing, so I bathed the girls and we all took turns keeping an eye on Ben while I made everyone breakfast. Shortly after breakfast was finished Suzanne and Joey returned, and the girls and I got in the car to head south to Spanish Fork.
Before Ken and I were married I was in the YW presidency in Richmond Hill ward. I was the second counselor responsible for the 12 and 13 year olds. We were a small group. In the Laurel class at the time were two amazing girls - Jessie, and Emily. They've both been such special people in my life! Jessie and her husband have just moved to Spanish Fork. They built a beautiful house. Jessie's husband is a professor at BYU, and right now Jessie is home with her three amazing kids. Emily and her husband live in Bountiful, which is north of Salt Lake. Jessie offered to host all of us for a play date and lunch. It was fantastic!
Jessie's kids - Kate, Lila, and Tyler are 9, almost 8, and 4.5. Emily's kids are 3.5, 2.5, and 9 months. The kids were so super cute. They played so well with each other. Jessie, Emily, Emily's Mom and I had such a lovely chat. Jessie BBQ'd hotdogs and burgers and made a delicious salad. My kids didn't want to leave. Jessie and Emily are both such remarkable women.
The drive back to Suzanne's from Spanish Fork was a little nuts. Sometimes children are not cooperative or nice to each other... Fiona screamed a lot. Hannah and Charlie stopped by so it was fun to see them. I didn't take any pictures but I'll be able to take lots tomorrow at the aquarium.
Friday. Today was Thomas' birthday, we have spent so many of his birthdays with him - it's fun for us! The Bates Family have a French Toast breakfast tradition. Mathew was home because he flies to England later today so the whole family was together! We enjoyed breakfast together and then the girls and I drove to Draper to meet Hannah and Charlie at the Aquarium.
After the sharks, the girls wanted to see the penguins, so it was off to Antarctica. The whole aquarium is organized by geographical area. You go into each area and then constantly meet back in the middle - the main entrance hall, and food court.
After the penguins we took a quick trip through Asia and then we were off to South America. I think that was my favourite area. There was this awesome rope bridge, cute life sized frogs to climb on, and a butterfly walkway.
After the butterflies it was time for cute Charlie to say good bye and go home for his nap. We decided to check out Utah and then go see the 4D movie. Hannah had really downplayed the Utah area, so I actually thought it was fun! Lol. We watched two movies - a cartoon and a movie about sardines and predators. Anna and Kate loved the predator movie.
After the movies I filled out a survey and earned us five ice cream sandwiches. YAY! We sat in the food court area and ate our "fatboys".
I spoke with Suzanne and she thought that we should come straight home and eat. I wanted to take the girls to the Draper temple. The Draper temple was only a few kms away from the aquarium, and it looks so cool on the side of the hill. Anyway, I thought Suzanne's advice made sense so I brought the girls home. Suzanne was out taking Matthew to the airport, and the girls piled on the couch and started watching a show on Netflix. I asked several times what they wanted to eat for lunch, and no one ever answered me! So I just stopped asking. This was a mistake.
Thomas wanted to eat at Cafe Rio for dinner. By the time dinner came Kate was so hangry it was not good. Cafe Rio isn't exactly what I expected. There weren't really any options for Kate, so I took Fiona and Kate across the parking lot to Wendy's. Suzanne offered to buy me food, but I told her no. Thankfully she ignored me. She ordered me a sweet pork burrito, it was so so so good! Suzanne took Thomas and Joseph to the movies, and I brought the rest of the kids home. I ate my yummy food, watched Ben, and we all watched the movie Penelope. Kate and I also had a really great talk at Wendy's. In spite of some fights, it was a great night.
Saturday. Today was get Joey ready for EFY, do errands, write hymns, and go out around town. A couple of weeks ago the church made an announcement about the hymn book. They put out a call for hymns. I decided that I wanted to write some. Each individual can submit five or something. I need to look at the requirements again. Anyway, I enjoyed some hymn writing today, I've written two and I'm working on my third. The words will be more challenging than the music, but I really want to do this.
We had lunch, and then enjoyed Thomas' birthday cake. Thomas is a teenager! Oh and Kate and I might have had some NOT fun brushing her hair... someday.
After lunch I took the girls to the park, a drive by of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, and then a long stop at the South Jordan Library. It is a great library. The girls had lots of fun. Kate read a Thea Stilton novel, Fiona and Alice did puppet plays, Anna too a little, and we enjoyed the space and books. I did a little brainstorming about lyrics.
I thought we might leave the library sooner, but Kate had to finish her novel that was over 200 pages. It was part graphic novel, and since Suzanne doesn't have a library card yet we couldn't take anything with us. Anyway, we ended up staying at the library for so long that we went directly to Tim and Angie's. Tim invited us over for pizza and a movie. They watched Nanny McPhee, ate really yummy pizza and popcorn, and the girls played on the trampoline and with this awesome doll house. Angie and Tim's house is amazing. Craziest part of the night, finding a tarantula in the backyard.
I just love family, being with family, so so much! Tim has a beautiful family, and he's just such an awesome human being and I'm so glad he's my cousin!
Sunday. I like church at 1:00 sort of. I like not having to rush in the morning, but it's amazing how the time gets away from you if you're not careful... no matter how much time there is! We had a quiet morning. Lots of cute play. Ben is such a funny baby. He does this funny circle thing - I'm not exactly sure how to describe it. He moves like those toys with the round bottoms, that bow and weave around in a circle. It's adorable. He's so busy, he doesn't stop moving or getting into things.
Last week in church it was Fiona's class's turn for talks and scriptures next week in sharing time. Well wouldn't little Miss Fiona volunteer to give a talk, because she's never given a talk and she's so excited! We wrote the talk on Friday I think, or maybe yesterday. I tried to get her to practice. This morning she didn't want to go to church! Alice graciously agreed to give the talk in primary on Fiona's behalf. Alice was really excited and took the job very seriously, and practiced lots. She did a really great job. Her primary teachers Bro. and Sis. Young think she is just the sweetest!
Tonight was busy but fun. Suzanne's brother in law Chris came over with his sweet wife Danielle and their adorable kids Caldwell and Mason. We briefly visited, because I had been invited over to Brent and Celine Godfrey's home. They lived in Richmond Hill ward years ago. It was really fun to see them and visit. Their oldest daughter Michelle was there with her family - her husband Rich and her two cute kiddies Ashley and Ben. We had ice cream and treats and a lovely time.
Tomorrow it's off to Provo to drop Joey off at EFY, drop Thomas off to Michelle and Seth to go to St. George for the week, and pick up Lovey. It's going to be a fun busy week! And Ken comes on Friday!
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