We met up with Richard's family at Top Golf. They needed one more player so we convinced Holly to come with us and I think we all had a lot of fun! The girls had never been golfing before so it was a good experience for all of us.
Aunt Rita had fallen and hit her head so she was in the hospital and then moved to a rehab center. We were able to go visit her twice- once with the kids and once without. It was nice to see her even if it wasn't the best of circumstances!
While we were gone, Brooklyn and Tess put together a carnival in Grandma's basement. I was SO impressed with their creativity in every detail and with how many games they came up with just from things laying around.
We played their carnival games and then headed to Scott's house for dinner where we were able to chat with Kai.
Richard had never been to the Taylorsville temple so we went to do an endowment session. Scott, Holly, Julie, and Adam went with us and it was really special. Mom and Dad took us on a mini tour afterwards so he could see some other parts of the temple too.
While we were in the temple, Kristi was nice enough to take McKenna and Brooklyn swimming and out to get lunch and donuts after.
Richard went out to dinner with Jason, who he hasn't seen for a few years and loved being able to spend time with him. They had so much fun, they arranged to meet again for breakfast before we left!
That night we went to the Heber Faith Walk with the Awerkamp's and DuVall's. I had heard it was really good but it even exceeded my expectations! They had so much technology involved and ways to make it really personal. Each person got their own headsets that played music and had quotes from General Authorities. They even took a picture of everyone and at one part, you sit down and listen to talks and songs about how we are all special children of God and they rotate through pictures of everyone there at that time! Everyone wrote down something they are struggling with in invisible ink and then they had people run our papers up to a part further down the trail and hung them up underneath black lights so you could walk through and read some of the hard things people are dealing with. I do wish it had just been a little slower so I could read everything! At another part, they had us go to each station and collect a string and then at the end, everyone turned in the string and got a completed bracelet to keep. Then towards the end, they had us write down what we think God would say to us right now and again, they had someone run the papers ahead to put them up and we could read them. At the very end, they had a huge picture of Christ and they had quotes of GAs testifying of Christ and then a lot of pretty music. They did a fantastic job choosing the quotes and the music and all of us really enjoyed the entire thing. We were so happy we were able to get in to do it!
Richard took McKenna and Brooklyn camping with his family the next day. They went to Payson Lake and were able to swim, kayak, paddleboard, tube, and have some great time in nature and with cousins.
Since Holly and I were both alone, we decided to do a girl's night with Julie and Kristi. We met at Julie's house to play games and then went to a super fun pirate escape room, which was one of the coolest ones I've ever done. Then we ate dinner and got ice cream at a new place called Brookers, which was delicious!
The next day. we picked up Kaylee and Madsy from their EFY and brought them home to rest. Because they had been in Southern Utah and it has been really dry and windy, EVERYTHING was covered in sand. It took Holly, Mom and I over two hours to clean everything off! But it was worth it because they had the most amazing time and could not stop talking about all the fun things they did and what they learned.
That night we had a DuVall family BBQ. After dinner, we played water balloon volleyball and some other water balloon games. Mom really wanted us to try this silly game where you put on huge pants with a hula hoop waist and try to catch as many balls as you can in them. They looked hilarious and it was fun to cheer everyone on!
Sunday we went to church with Kristi and in the evening we got together with everyone to rewatch some of our old videos from the challenges we did in 2020. They were still just as funny as they were back then! We had an early bday celebration for Dad and had root beer floats for him and gave him his favorite thing, which is singing together.
Monday, Richard went out to breakfast with Jason again and then we all met up at the new Humanitarian Center for a tour. It was a really fun, interactive tour and we learned a lot (like that only 13% of donated merch is bought at DI! The rest gets donated to other countries!). We got to do things like help sort clothes, write about what service means to us, and put together homeless kits.
Since we had a little time, we decided to run over to Welfare Square to do the tour there as well. This one wasn't quite as interactive but it was interesting to see all the things the Church does to help people around the world. At the end of the tour, we got to try the Creamery's chocolate milk!
After the tours, we headed to Rob's house for a Henricksen family BBQ. Unfortunately, it was so windy we could barely eat outside without everything flying away. We were able to snap a picture of everyone and by the end, the wind had calmed down.
Kaylee has made matching mom/baby bracelets for a few years now for an organization who makes tiny baby dresses, suits, blankets, and bracelets to donate to families who lose their babies (Analane's Angel Apparel). We had another bundle to deliver to her so we were able to meet up with her in Provo and pass them on. I didn't know what to expect but we were able to sit down with her and hear her whole story of how this organization has started and spread to many other states and countries. It was amazing to hear her story and some of the miracles that she has seen along the way.
We went to eat lunch at the BYU Creamery and then had to say goodbye to the Gregory's and Awerkamp's. Then we walked with Sharon over to the BYU Bookstore for the girls to see a little bit of the campus. And we made sure to buy some mint brownies!
Then we took Holly and Madsy to the airport. It was super sad to say goodbye and we had an amazing trip with them!
That night we were busy cleaning and packing but Richard did go out to dinner with Dale and we were able to go say goodbye to the DuVall's. We flew out the next morning and were very sad to leave Utah!
We went to the Columbus Book Festival that Saturday and were disappointed. There were hardly any booths with things to do or games to play and a lot of booths showing inappropriate books. We even waited in line this time to shop at the huge bookstore the library always does and didn't find anything we wanted.
Unfortunately, we also came home to a broken dishwasher when it is only about 5 years old. We had someone come look at it and they said the new parts would cost almost as much as a new dishwasher so we ended up just buying a new one instead. It couldn't come for almost two weeks so the girls were introduced to the glory of washing all the dishes by hand, just like I did all growing up!
Richard's coworker was getting rid of a bunch of Harry Potter stuff and asked if Brooklyn wanted it. Of course the answer was yes! She got a bunch of stuffies, a wand and a backpack.
Kaylee had little time to rest. We got home on Wednesday night and she left the next Monday for FSY. Luckily she was just going to OSU this time so it wasn't a long drive and she went with Clair, Brenton, and Caleb and had an amazing time! Towards the end of the week, they had to move a lot of their activities indoors because of the air quality. Some of the wildfires in Canada had a lot of smoke come down this way and I was grateful that they kept Kaylee out of it as much as they could. It also meant she had less walking to do so it was a blessing for her!
While Kaylee was gone, we met up with the Crossley's for Dress Like A Cow Day. Richard asked the kids to put together costumes for everyone so we could go as soon as he got off work. Brookie decided to make a cow snout, horns, spots, and an utter and McKenna took it one step further and made a working udder that she could drink milk from! She put a cup of milk in the waistband of her pants and then ran straws up through the udder to her mouth. It was so dirty but so hilarious and creative!
Richard had a conference in Louisville and was gone for a couple of days. Besides the conference, they had a ton of food, prizes, dances, and SWAG. They also got to go to Churchill Downs, where they hold the Kentucky Derby. Richard played a bunch of games that had prizes so he brought home Kentucky Derby-themed chocolate for all of us!
He also had a little bit of time on the day they left to go to the Louisville Slugger Museum. He said it was pretty cool and he even got to hold some bats from famous baseball players and came home with a tiny Louisville Slugger.
While Richard was gone, I took the kids out to get frozen yogurt one night. I didn't realize it was right next to the pet store so of course we had to go and snuggle some puppies too!
I had heard that the lily pads were in full bloom so I convinced Kaylee to go on a bike ride with me to see them. They were HUGE and looked really cool so I'm glad we went. I didn't even know they grew that way or got that high!
