Utah Trip 2013

Our annual trip to Utah this year was mostly centered around my brother coming from his mission in Norway.  I had it all planned out in my head that that my boys would be able to see him come out of the airport we were going to be holding Norway flags and a banner.  Then I found out that his flight wasn't getting in until midnight.  And then it was delayed until 2 a.m. So, Matt went in the  middle of the night by himself and picked my brother and my parents up from the airport.  I didn't go, my kids didn't go and no flags were being waved.  But we saw him the next morning, he gave me Norwegian chocolate and I drowned all my sadness in pure, sweet, Norwegian chocolate bars.  It's all good.

Our first adventure was going to the Strawberry Days carnival.  I grew up going to this and enjoyed the special treat of eating Strawberries and cream.  Of course we had to have our boys experience that part of my life and I must say I think they were happy they did.

Usually when we visit a place Matt is giving all of us a tour of places that he spent time as a kid.  Since he lived almost everywhere it is a never ending ordeal.  This was the first time I was able to show the kids where I spent a large portion of my life.  We took them to the house I grew up in for the high school days of my life and while doing this we stopped and talked with the Cheryl, the lady who set Matt and I up on a blind date.

Before we even left for Utah I had decided that my kids needed to get a glimpse of what Utah is really about.   Besides the good ol' Mormon history which we will attempt next time we are there, but the outdoors that Utah has to offer.  I thought a hike and the Timponogas caves would be perfect.  So off to Stewart Falls.  The hike was 2 miles in and 2 miles out.  I think all of us wanted to send up a flare and have Utah County Search and Rescue bring in a helicopter and lift us out of there on the way back.  Porter refused to be held and thought running was the best way to climb a mountain. Preston wanted to be held after tripping and falling several times.  We finally made it and I quickly crossed Timp caves off the list.  

We took the boys and my nieces to the Zoo for the day and Preston enjoyed following the girls around more than looking at the animals.  The nerdy Lego lover in me came out and I enjoyed looking at the Lego animals more than the animals.  

Since Utah was unseasonably warm we spent a lot of time at the pools cooling off.
And, some of the time Matt had to spend working, so he set up a little office at my parents house.  Working conditions are not at their finest here.

I think the best part about being in Utah was the time we were able to spend with family and the boy's loved playing with their cousins.  It was fun to get them together for so many fun things.

of course we had to stop at In 'n' Out and I think my boys enjoyed the ketchup more than anything. 

Strawberries and cream at the strawberry day's carnival. (picture is so blurry but it was delicious)

Matt fell in love with this drink machine at a restaurant by the airport.  He actually asked me to take his picture with it.

Strawberry Days Carnival

Father's Day

This year for father's day we celebrated by going to Silver Dollar city.  Unfortunately, it was stormy and all the rides were closed when we arrived.  We did hide out during the storm in one of the shows which turned out to be a trick dog show and it was surprisingly entertaining.

Matt is my blueberry pancake man.  He loves them!  I swear I make him blueberry pancakes almost every "Matt" holiday but he doesn't complain, and that makes me happy.
For dinner I decided to make him ribs.  I do not have a smoker but I must say my ribs are pretty good. Pretty finger licking good. And they were enjoyed by all.  Finished the meal and day off with something Matt asks for casually like this, "so, you know that time you made Samoa cookies?  Yeah, those were really good."  I made him Samoa cookies, and I will probably take another year off from those.  Because they are so good which means I eat every last one.  And they take a LONG time to make.

I am lucky to have Matt as our kids dad.  It always amazes me at how much they they take in whenever he is doing the teaching.  He has an amazing ability to turn a wild tantrum into a game or divert the attention to something else.  Most the time I lose my temper and shout out words like "time out" "go to your room" or "bed time" but most the time, Matt can usually tame those wild ones.  He makes the best family home evening lessons.  Scripture study with Preston is always Matt telling the story from memory in his own words making it "Preston appropriate".   He taught Porter how to give big hugs and he taught him how to give kisses (he still only will kiss Matt and not me). He teaches Preston how to do tricks on his bike, and all sorts of boyish activities.  We sure do love this man!

Homemade Samoa cookies for dessert.

one of Matt's family home evening lessons

Chicken Farm

A few weeks ago a friend that Matt works with invited us to his chicken farm.  I didn't know what to expect going to a chicken farm.  I thought it would be dirty, stinky and probably gross.  I was surprised to find just the opposite.

These chicken houses are home to what starts out as 7500 chickens and 1000 roosters per house.  They have 3 of these chicken houses.  And each chicken lays about 1 egg a day during the "busy season".  When you look inside it is literately a sea of chickens.  The farm is an egg harvesting farm so the eggs are sent to a hatchery where they will hatch and be raised for...human consumption.

It was interesting to learn about chicken farming.  And I so wish that I had taken pictures of the different eggs they showed.  A Little fact.  A young chicken lays eggs with very hard shells.  So hard that if dropped they may not even crack.  An old chicken lays eggs with a shell that is as thin as newspaper and feels just like a water balloon.  Sometimes a chicken lays an egg with two yolks.  Those little chicks will not survive.  And sometimes a chicken will lay an egg within an egg. Very odd, but sad because the chicken does not survive that birth.

they let us help gather the eggs on the conveyor belt and also gave an egg to Preston and Porter.  Preston thought that was awesome and treasured his for a while.  Porter thought that it was so awesome that he threw his at the cart of good eggs and cracked about 5 of them.  What an arm Porter!

 I find all the eggs and their different shades of colors very pretty for some odd reason.

Holding his egg before the impressive throw.  I think he has his eye on the target in this picture...

see that cart of nicely stacked eggs behind Preston... That was Porter's target.

I liked porter here away from fragile things that he thought were balls.

A double yolked egg.  They are about 1 1/2 times larger than your standard large egg.