I almost want this to be its own post, but whatever. The girls excitement and stress about flying was at times intense. They asked so many questions. So. Many. Questions. The questions began at the same time that we bought the tickets, so they've been going on for months. Kate watched flight safety videos on YouTube, and they were equal parts excited and nervous about the whole thing.
In hindsight I should have done more yesterday, and maybe even the day before that, but I didn't! It was a bit of a mad rush, finishing packing, but we did it. We had told Mom we'd pick her up at 1:30, and that was giving ourselves lots of time, so when we were half an hour late, we were pretty much right on time!
We got through check-in, security and customs in just over an hour, so we had just under two hours to wait until our flight. They're so much activity in the gate area, and we took a few walks to the window to look at the weather and the planes, so the time passed quickly.
I'm so glad that I was sitting right in front of them, because I was able to take cute pictures of their expressive faces. Alice's face during take-off was just the best!
Then after the flight was the real fun, collecting all the baggage and going to find the rental car. Everything seemed to go off without a hitch, until after going to the bathroom, after we'd gotten the keys to the rental car (complimentary upgrade to a minivan!!!!), and we'd gotten all the luggage, Grandma realized that her wallet was missing. She searched her purse, and her other bag, I ran back into the terminal and ran to three different places, but the wallet was not to be found. Mom had credit cards and a lot of cash in her wallet. We texted Suzanne, she and Matthew and the kids prayed that an honest person would find the wallet, and we walked to the rental car and drove to the Bates residence.
There was much excitement, and then more excitement and then eventually everyone went to sleep and our trip had begun.
Wednesday, July 17
Suzanne, Mom and I made phone calls and then filled out online forms and found out that Mom had a second wallet in her bag that had more cash, and her drivers license and other cards. She still had her passport too, so all things considered it was okay. Her bank card and credit cards were cancelled and no one had used any of them.
The girls woke up and played and had some fun hanging out. Eventually it was time to drive down to Orem to meet up with Michelle and be reunited with Anna and Thomas who had been in St. George for a few days.
We met in the chik-fil-a parking lot. Switched children, went through the drive-thru to get drinks, and then headed back to Daybreak. I chauffered the van with all the girls, there was A LOT of screaming. I think I only yelled twice, and although it was loud, it was pretty cute.
We came back to Suzanne's, figured out dinner and then there was much playing and little girl fun! Well, and general cousin fun!
I thought a quick trip to Salt Lake would be fun. Yeah, the kids acted like we were torturing them. Poor Fiona was way too tired and was complaining and crying the whole way up to the city. We parked under the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and silly me thought it would be fun to go in the Conference Center because we didn't get to go last year. We walked over and it was closed for an event - I think preparations for the Pioneer Day Concerts, just like it was last year.
After the ice cream Michelle took the three girls, Seth and Marcus and they went to see an outdoor production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. I took the girls home, and Alice and Fiona actually got to bed at a good time!
Kate came home and raved about the musical. She loved it! I was glad it worked out.
Friday, July 19
The grown-ups had a fun start to the day. We left just after 7:30 a.m. and we went up to Salt Lake and we did an endownment session. We had a really lovely time in the temple. A former professor and mentor of Suzanne's was working in the temple and we had a lovely chat with him after our session.
Friday night was fun. Suzanne generously opened up her home to all of our Miller cousins. Matthew BBQ'd and we had such a fun night. The weather in the shade in the backyard was perfect. It was so fun catching up with family. I don't know what the final count was but we estimate around 50. It didn't feel like that to me, it was so great to be surrounded by family.
Saturday, July 20
Suzanne made the excutive decision that we were going to go to Orem and watch Marcus' final game of his tournament. They were playing in the championship match. Kate and I found a nice spot under the tree and we watched the game. Michelle brought a huge tent and everyone else was under the tent, shade is essential! It was really close, the teams were really well matched. Marcus' team ended up losing, but only 1-0. Marcus loves soccer and was proud of his team.
After the game we went to Cafe Rio - YUM! And had a nice lunch.
After lunch, the boys went to the provo river and went tubing, and we took the girls to Thanksgiving Point to the Museum of Curiosity. The girls had lots of fun playing.
After we got home from the fun we had a bite to eat (thank you Suzanne for making the pizza) and then I drove Michelle and the girls to the drug store so Auntie Michelle could run a nail salon.
The girls were funny with their nails, having a hard time doing anything! We'll see how long the nails last!
Sunday, July 21
Isaac spoke in church today. Farewells were different years ago. The whole family would speak, musical numbers... today Isaac was the opening talk and that was that. Isaac spoke about sustaining church leaders. He really did a lovely job speaking. The girls went to their primary classes, and then we walked home. It's fun that church is in Suzanne's backyard.
We all went back to Suzanne's - Matthew's brother Chris, his wife and their three boys were there, Jon and Michelle and their family, me and the girls. We took lots of pictures which was good! We had a lovely time visting.
I photographed a funny wrestling match between Isaac and Joey. Cute brothers!
Isaac's Stake President, President Peterson came over at 7 p.m. He had a short conversation with Isaac and then he asked Isaac to bear his testimony, and then he set Isaac apart as a missionary. It was simple and beautiful. Isaac was blessed with swift and accurate learning of the language, that he would develop good relationships with his companions, that he would have charity, he was blessed with health and strength, that his service would be a blessing to him and his family.
Jon and Michelle went home, and then twenty minutes or so later Jon called and said he was coming back to pick up the boys and take them to a mountain and I was supposed to come, because I was asking for a view. I felt like I shouldn't leave Suzanne and Mom with all the kids, but I did anyway. We drove up to Draper and went to this place called Potato Hill. It was a really short hike up to a lookout. We watched the sunset which was really awesome. The height freaked me out quite a bit, Jon encouraged me up the little trail, and Isaac helped me down, but the reward was spectacular. You could see the whole valley. It was really awesome.
Monday, July 22
Matthew left this morning, he flew to Rochester for business. Suzanne and Isaac did some more shopping for his mission, getting everything ready. After lunch I took Anna, Kate, Alice, Fiona and Thomas to the pool in Herriman. Michelle brought Lovey, Marcus and Seth. And fun, Kate's penpal Brielle came with her Mom and sister and cousin. (Brielle is a penpal that I found by asking the mommies on the "Mormon Mommies" Facebook group if anyone wanted a penpal.)
The girls had fun swimming. Kate had fun with Brielle. After swimming we came home and had snacks, and started thinking about the book. Fiona and Ben played at the water table. Fiona never really got to play at our water table. Kate and Alice had so much fun with it, but Fiona, not so much. It was fun to watch her today.
I think we have a basic outline. Seth has agreed to be the villain which is fun, and the girls were getting into taking pics tonight. We need some time here at the house to take pics with Seth, but I'm feeling excited!
Oh and another exciting thing that happened tonight - Mom's wallet arrived. We think Mom lost her wallet on the plane, we think it fell out of her purse under her seat. We don't know, but someone turned it into Delta in Las Vegas and they mailed it to us and we got it. Everything that was in it, still in it - money, credit cards, all of it! There are good people in the world. We're thankful too that Heavenly Father answered our prayers. We all prayed that someone honest would find the wallet, and someone did.
Tuesday, July 23
Today we went up to Snowbird. Snowbird is basically due east of South Jordan. We drove through Sandy and then into the canyon and then up the mountain. The rental van didn't seem to like the hills very much! We got there and my girls were a wreck. They find the twisting mountain roads too much and they all felt a little sick when we got there, thankfully the sick feelings didn't last long.
Snowbird has lots of fun activities in the summer - bungee jumping trampolines, bouncy castles, a little rope course and a high rope course, a mountain coaster, an alpine slide - we didn't get to do everything - but the highlight for me, was the Tram to Hidden Peak.
I bought passes for me and the girls, and we were off.
Kate and Alice got a little overwhelmed part way through the afternoon, so we all had a rest, a snack, and some water and tried to keep the Potguts (aka Uinta Ground Squirrels) away! After an extended break, we took the tram up and away!
Snowbird is at an elevation of 8110 feet (2472 metres). There's a sign inside the tram which explains that you are being taken up 1.6 miles to an elevation of 11,000 feet.
The views were absolutely spectacular. The mountains are so, so beautiful. The girls loved it. We stayed up at the summit (also called Hidden Peak) for an extra tram, after the rest of the family went down, we had a few snacks and took a few more pictures. I loved the views, I felt completely safe up at the peak, in the big huge structure, and with all of the little safety walls, that's my kind of mountain top enjoyment! The temperature too, it was in the 70s at the peak. So gorgeous.
After we came back down, the girls went bouncing on the trampolines again. Fiona, Alice and I wanted to do the mountain coaster. I took Fiona twice, and Thomas took Alice the first time, and Jon took her the second time. I wish I could have taken pictures. The short ride through the trees on the little coaster car was so pretty, and the smell! It was delicious. Then of course you go down the hill so fast that you're glad you aren't holding onto a cell phone.
At some point during the mountain coaster fun, Kate went with Joey, and then we didn't see Kate again. Everyone was ready to leave except Fiona and Alice. They both wanted to do more! Fiona wanted to do spider mountain again, and Alice desperately wanted to do the high ropes course. So we did both. Alice and I waited for Fiona, and then we all did the high ropes. Alice was so much more confident today, and Fiona wanted to do it, then tried to chicken out, but I wouldn't let her. We had fun, and I wished Kate was with us.
We left so late that we missed dinner with everyone. Alice and Fiona really don't like driving through the mountains, and both felt really sick after driving through Little Cottonwood Canyon, but once we got to Five Guys and they had something to eat, they both felt much better.
We joined back up with everyone at Suzanne's. Took a few more photos, hung out a bit and then it was off to bed. I can't believe Isaac goes into the MTC tomorrow. It's crazy!!
Wednesday, July 24
And just like that the day is here. Except it hasn't been 'just like that'. Suzanne has done so much to get Isaac ready the last little while. Isaac has done so much to prepare. Getting ready for a mission is a lot of work, but it should be I guess!
We had a pretty quiet morning. Fiona did a great job cleaning up most of the play room yesterday, and Anna and Kate helped finish it off.
Michelle and her kids came over for one last round of goodbyes and then Suzanne and the kids were off to Provo to drop off Isaac. The took a few pictures on the grounds of the Provo Temple before leaving Isaac at the MTC.
They went out to lunch on the way home, and after being home for about an hour, Suzanne had already received a very brief email from Isaac stating that he was settled and that his companion's name is Elder Coons.
See you in two years (or so) Elder Bates! We love you!
