Tuesday, June 3, 2014

A weekend getaway to Meridian

After J got home from school on Friday I packed up the van, picked Ken up from work and we got out of town! I quickly learned a very important lesson- NEVER give children their own water bottles while you are on a road trip. There will not be a bathroom available. SO, on our drive up to Idaho we had more than a couple "accidents". Thank goodness for leather seats in the van and washable booster seat covers.

We arrived at the home of John and Tiff Wheeler (one of Ken's older brothers) just in time for dinner on Friday night. The next morning I took a run around Meridian and Ken accompanied one of our Nephews to a local gym and had a nice run on the treadmill. We went to visit our friends Mike and Tierra Berg who recently moved from the San Jose area to Meridian. It was a fabulous visit, we hope to see them much more now that they are a little closer, we seem to make it out to Meridian more than we make it out to San Jose.
 Baby E was born last November, and John and Tiff had a little baby boy 2 weeks later.
 The boys had more fun that they ever could have imagined- other peoples toys are THE BEST!
 On Sunday after church we laid the babies on the floor next to each other, and within seconds they were holding hands. I love their expressions in this picture, but E pulled their hands behind her dress.....
 ......so here's another picture to prove that YES they were holding hands, because they are best friends!
 For our boys- it's not Sunday afternoon if they can't jump on a trampoline. And lucky for them, there is a trampoline at Uncle Johns house. Emily and Tony Bradshaw (one of Ken's little sister) and their children were also there for Sunday dinner.
Baby E has been WANTING to sit up for weeks now, at home she'd only ever been able to sit up for about 20 seconds before she would fall over, but being around her cousin Baby J, who is sitting up like a pro, helped her practice sitting up lots and lots. I liked sitting them like this because they enjoyed playing with each others feet.
 John and Tiff needed to make a trip down to Salt Lake City and so on Monday we were able to caravan together for a while. John drove in our Van with Ken and I drove with Tiff until we got to Twin Falls (which was the perfect stop for the two babies to have their lunch) and then we all got back into our own families cars and continued the journey. Ken got this action shot of John telling me not to worry, that I hadn't offended him when I said that "Baby E isn't afraid of strangers, just strange Uncles."
 We were planning on sticking close together for most of the drive but Ken and I got stuck behind a couple of semi's and while trying to pass them we missed a very crucial exit and took a little 28 mile detour. This put us a little behind schedule but it all worked out well in the end. We stopped for dinner at Applebee's in Bountiful- it was fabulous! (I love Applebee's because they have dinners that fit well with my diet)
 The boys like Applebee's because they have crayons, awesome music and yummy food, it's the Kid Tri-fecta!
 We got home just in time for Ken to see the Elders and find out how things went this weekend while we were away- and what help they needed this week.
We had a fabulous weekend.

This is the end.........

.....of Kindergarten!
He was just born, well I guess it has been 6 years and 2 months, but he is still just my little baby boy.....but now he's a Kindergarten Graduate!
He had an amazing year in Miss Johnson's Class. He's done so well, learned so much, and proved himself to be a good student and a good friend over and over and over again.
Graduation was the day before the last day of school, and on the last day of school J got a little taste of what next year will be like- when he is an "early bird" at school. All year he has taken a bus to school at 8:49- but last Friday he had to be at the bus stop almost an hour and a half earlier than that. He was only at school for 90 minutes and then he rode the bus home for the last time as a Kindergartner. His bus driver gave the kids a treat- well two treats, First he drove the bus route backwards- starting with what is usually his last stop (which just happens to be our stop) and Second- he gave each kid an otter pop as they got off the bus.

Oh, the joy of his very first- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!