Shopping with Briggs

My cute little Briggs has hit the stage of saying things to embarrass his Mom.

We went to the dollar store the other day. As we were shopping, a large lady in the isle in front of me was bent over to get something off of the bottom shelf. Briggs stopped in his tracks and said "Wow, dat is a BIG bum." I couldn't help but laugh after I told him to be quiet and not say things like that. I really hoped she didn't hear. Gotta love the funny things kids say.

Can I refill your eggnog for you?

Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?

We had discussed a trip to Disneyland with Jane's parents 6 months ago and it took some smooth talking to get them on board. Jane's folks have never been to Disneyland. We had been telling the kids we were going to Las Vegas, and they seemed pretty excited to see all the lights and "casinos" .

Inviting Jane's parents brought a few changes to our trip plans. We added a couple of days and about 500 more miles. They were also able to bring a 15 passenger van to the party (more on that in a moment)...... We left November 12, 2010 and headed West to Reno (yes the wrong way to get to Disneyland). The van seemed to be fine other than two quick odd sounds during the first 200 miles and then just outside of Wells Nevada it started whistling....
We pulled over and the right front wheel was hot. We pulled the tire and we thought it may have a bad brake or wheel bearing. We limped into Wells NV. and found a tire shop that seemed confident they could fix anything.

The wheel bearing was shot and even more the spindle (the post the wheel & bearing rotate around) got so hot it now had a pretty nice curve to it. At that moment I thought well, this shouldn't delay us to much. Well as we learned, spindles for a 15 passenger van are not in large supply in Wells, NV. The shop told us they might be able to get one shipped here tomorrow (Saturday) or the following Monday. This would have ruined our plans for the trip.

We were stuck with a van that wasn't going to move until we had a spindle and the shop couldn't get one for at least a day.

Hoping to save the trip from a major delay.... Scott called his Dad. Scott was able to find a spindle at the GM dealer a block from his parents and his Dad was able to drive the part three hours out to Wells, NV. and three hours back. He is our hero!!! After 5 hours of exploring Wells, Nevada, the part was installed and the van was ready to go and worked flawlessly the rest of the trip.

We stopped in Winnemucca for dinner and were eager to thank our Heavenly Father for the blessings and help we received to save our trip!! We arrived the first night in Reno, exhausted from all the van excitement ~we checked in and went to bed.


The next morning we stopped by the Reno temple and then headed on to Berkeley, California and San Francisco. Jane's Dad was born in the area and his Mother was buried in Berkeley and we had never seen the grave (Jane's Dad had only been here one other time).



(Golden Gate, SF trolley, Lombard St were a few of the highlights)

Jane's best friend lives south of San Francisco and we were able to visit with her for a few hours too.

About two hours from Disneyland we asked the kids if they would rather go to Disneyland or Las Vegas... and then we told them we were going to Disneyland. They didn't believe us. We were kinda stunned. We finally arrived in Anaheim. And they finally got it when they saw the sign for "Disneyland Drive". They jumped out of the van at the hotel very excited.

We all had a great time in Disneyland. The weather was wonderful. The hotel was great. The pool and hot tub felt so good after walking the park all day. Disneyland was all dressed up for Christmas. It was so pretty and fun. Small world and Haunted Mansion was in Christmas mode. They also had fireworks every night and a Christmas parade.

"World of Color" at California Adventures was amazing!! It just doesn't compare to any other water show.


We spent our last day in California at Sea World and then drove to Las Vegas for the night. It was a great trip. We made some great memories and had a lot of fun.

Boooo!

This is the kids at our ward Trunk R Treat.

SoJo Half Marathon

We ran South Jordan Half Marathon in September. This is the first year for the So. Jordan race. It had a few glitches (not well organized)..... but it was fun! It was the first race that we have really trained for and run together. It was a nice down hill 13 miles. The race started in Copperton (cute little town at the base of the copper pit) and runs East towards the Jordan River Temple.

G & G Miles came down and took our kids to the finish. It was fun to see them along the road and then at the finish. The girls ran the last 100 yards with Jane which was neat!~

Mrs. the Place.....

The kids had there picture taken the last time they were at "This is the Place". They (and Jane) love it there. Briggs calls it "Mrs. the Place".

Swimming

We really enjoyed the pool this year. We tried to go at least twice a week- usually three times. It was so fun. The kids are fish! Miles and Lilly can swim all over. Vanna is getting pretty good too. Briggs is always putting his face in the water and is fine as long as he has his life jacket on. He is so fearless that he is scary unless he has it on.


Miles doing his "Squints" impression.

Photos

We went out last Saturday and took some photos of the kids... we kinda like this one.

Labor Day Fun

Our annual Labor day run in Pocatello was great! Miles joined us this year to run the 5K. He did really well considering he had to use the potty in a hurry half way through. It is always a great time and a fun way to start the long weekend.

Scott set a personal best by finishing in 23:30, and took 3rd in his age group!
After the race we went to the FAIR! Tiger ears!!! Yummm.
It was a great Labor day Weekend.

First Day of School 10-11

Jane is running

Jane has been thinking she wanted to run a little longer race (half marathon, 13.1 miles).
She has never (even in a training run) run more than 3 miles.

So off she went. Her first long training run was 6 Miles. Then she ran 7. Then she was going to do 8 miles but missed a turn on the route and ended up running 9!!

So it looks like Scott and Jane will both be running the South Jordan Half Marathon at the end of September. It should be alot of fun!!
Way to go Jane!!!

Snowbird Tram

We have really enjoyed the canyons this summer. It has been a great way to get out of the heat.
So we took the kids up to Snowbird and took the tram to the top. It was a nice 60° at the top.

B & L, and kids..


B & L Family at the top.

Our Gang at the top.

Scott's trip to the Tetons

Scott took the Varsity Scouts (14-16) to the Teton High Adventure Base.
They went white water rafting, hiking in the Tetons, played games, shot guns and other wild guy stuff.


On one of the hikes they walked past this bear.... 10 feet way. It was too busy digging in an old log to be worried about a bunch of scouts.

Silverlake

We went up to Silverlake with B & L and kids. It was a lot of fun. It's really pretty and we were able to get out of the heat for a few hours.


B & L brought ice cream which was a fun treat for the kids.
Summer will be over before we know it!!!

Sam turns ONE!

Samuel turned 1.
Our baby is growing so fast!!
It is a little weird to think that this is the beginning of the "lasts".

It's the last time we will have a child turn one.
He just started walking so it's the last time we will have a child learning to walk.


I am not sure he ate much of his cake but he had a great time with it.