The Party's Over

Melanie has become a lemon tea devotee.

Lemon tea is not what I had for breakfast.

I suggested a trip to BYU's paleontology museum.  Almost everyone was on board with that idea. Julia and Nate are standing with a Moabosaurus Utahensis.  And no, I'm not making that up.

The dinosaurs looked aggressive this morning.

We came through unscathed.

I was surprised to realize I had not ever brought Dave's family here before.

Melanie makes friends with everyone.

The captions in this museum are interesting and clever enough that people actually read them.

Nate had a great time.

This was my favorite dinosaur to see today.

These bones of a prehistoric sloth were the most surprising.  They were found where the Orem Walmart is now.

Everyone had a great time.

Jacob offered to drive my car home.

First, we had to stuff everyone in.

My car went to a park.

All of us had a great time.

Melanie made sure Julia had a good time.

This playground has a great zip line.

Everyone took a few turns.

The day was very cold, but we stayed warm.

Cafe Rio's Thursday special is my favorite.  Six of us had Yolanda's tamales.  

Some of us accompanied Will to BYU so he could buy books for the next semester.

I have learned that letting grandchildren buy $1 worth of candy is a big treat.

Some decisions are very difficult.

Nathan knew immediately what he wanted.

An hour later, we were all at the ice caves in Midway.

This event surpassed all expectations.

Melanie stayed warm the entire evening.

Will did not.  He's not made for cold weather.

Spending time together is the best!

Nate is coming out of an ice chute.  We all took a turn.  I took two.

Matt took a turn at everything.

I experimented with my camera.

We climbed in and out of caves.

We all had to go through on our hands and knees.

This was why most of us were wearing snow pants.

Dave wore a smile all night.

I had gloves.  I wore snow pants.  But the fire was warm.

I'm not sure what would have happened if any of us got stuck, but no one did.

The ice is all made with sprinklers which run late at night.  Dave called this ice bacon.

Papa Ben placed Julia on a big throne.

When we started talking about banana splits for dinner, we knew it was time to leave.

Carolyn made hot brownies to go with the ice cream.

This was a great day.  A great week!  A great holiday!

Bad Parenting

Dave and I enjoyed a lengthy quiet time in the early hours this morning.

We chatted while I made bagels.

We talked about President Monson.

We also talked about Little Tybee.  Before long, others got up and joined us.

I had a busy morning.  After my branch's Wednesday Sunday School and choir practice, I took 3 kids to the car wash.  Julia has been with me before.  This was Nate and Mel's first time.  It was hilarious.

Some of us went back to the crepe place for lunch.  Matt fell in love with a dill sauce that was on his crepe.

These are seriously delicious crepes.

After lunch, most of us went sledding.

Dave felt that this hill was a little too dangerous for kids.

In fact, other parents joined us for only a few minutes, and then pulled their kids off the hill.

I can't really say why we kept sledding.

But we did.

We worked on safety measures.  For example, Nathan can't brake very well, but he knows how to roll off the sled.

Big people rode down with little people.

I'm not sure who had the most fun, Carolyn or Julia.

Matt turned 18 today.  He loved the hill.

The little red sled worked very well 

The final verdict is in on the orange sleds.  They won't be coming with us again. 

I'll be honest.  I love watching Dave have fun.

Melanie had fun all day long.

The longer the walk up the hill...

The better the ride down.

Sharing a sled meant more mass and more speed.

Nate has almost enough mass by himself to have fun.

Birthday boy learned that taking a sibling with him was the best plan.

Jacob preferred riding alone.

Toward the end of our afternoon, everyone was pairing up for the ride down.

Sometimes the finish wasn't elegant.

I loved taking Dave's family into the mountains.

I loved watching everyone have a good time together.

And I love building bonds with these kids.

Sometimes they built bonds with each other.

Melanie and Matt play well together.

In all seriousness, they talk quite a bit about physics on their runs together.  Today I learned the difference between speed and velocity.  Go ahead, ask me.

These two talked about Pokemon.

This was the last sled down, and then it was time to go.

I stopped at a store to get some dill for Matt.  He did an excellent job re-creating the dill sauce from lunch.

It worked well with steak, although I also used mushroom gravy.

The birthday boy chose mousse cake for dessert.

He chose wisely.