This is me ignoring the first day of school

You notice that I continue and WILL continue to post about our Grammie's week. I am ignoring the fact that I took my firstborn to JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL today. Holy Cow - I am for sure not ready for this. I am freaking out that my kids are growing up...does anyone else feel this way?? So, next on the blog agenda will come the family reunion and I will continue to ignore the fact that I used to have little boys and now they are all growing up on me. AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Kudos to everyone else who updated their blogs to include pictures of the first day of school. I am continuing to ignore the fact that it was the first day of school today. So please don't remind me...

The motorcycle trip

I know that I am skipping ahead just a little bit. I have about 1000 pictures from the family reunion we went to on the Saturday of Grammie's week but for Amanda's sake :) I am showing you these pictures now. I'll go back to the family reunion and talk all about that later. While Danny was still in Iraq he decided that it would be fun to put together a motorcycle trip with him, David, Dad, and Uncle Johnny, and any other brother in law that would like to go. Originally the plan was to go and tour parts of Colorado (I think) and maybe tour around the Rocky mountain national park. These plans changed a little at a time with concerns about Dad's back, etc. Danny talked about it with all the brothers and sisters way before he ever brought it up to dad. It was actually Dad's birthday present from all the kids. They all had to rent bikes so everyone who could chipped in a little bit of money to help with the cost. When I talked to Dad after the trip he said that it exceeded his expectations, he LOVED it and wanted to go again. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall (or windshield) as it may be, to take pictures of their trip. I guess the scenery was beautiful and it was a fabulous ride. I did document the riders before they left so these pictures will have to do.

This first picture is Danny in front of his bike with Zachary. I've decided that anyone who doesn't know Danny would be probably make a judment of him based on his apperance. Danny is one of the sweetest and most generous men I have ever known in my entire life and I love him a ton and I am so grateful for the kind of brother he is to me and the uncle he is to my kids.
This is David on his bike. I think that my mom was the most nervous for him because he was the least experienced of the three riders but I'm sure he did fabulous. David is pretty much good at whatever he tries...love ya bro!! Danny thought he looked hot with his German helmet and black bike...I thought so too.
Danny called his bike the minivan of motorcycles so I thought it only appropriate to let Zachary hop up and give it a try. He was WAY nervous and didn't want Danny to go anywhere with him on that bike. He wore the helmet at my insistance but since he thought that wearing the helmet meant that Danny would ride away with him he wanted to get it off his head as quickly as possible. I love the little thumbs up that they were both giving me.
This is Dad on his motorcycle. Originally the motorcycle they gave my dad was orange but when he went to do a little test drive he discovered that the back blinker didn't work so he switched it out for this one. I think that three black bikes looked a lot better than two black and one orange bike, but I guess it doesn't really matter.

Here are the three motorcycle riders in front of the dealership where they rented the bikes.

When we got back to my mom's house my dad gave her a ride on the back of his motorcycle before they left. My mom is so great. She spent pretty much the whole ride with her arms raised like this. I have at least ten pictures of her with her arms up behind my dad...I love it.
This is right before they rode off. I wanted to get a picture of the three riders with just the lake and mountains in the background. Previously to this picture I only had a picture of the three of them together in front of the dealership and I didn't think that a picture with that background would look as good on my dad's desk as a picture with this background.
Here is the final picture I took of the three of them together. The hand signal that they are making (for those who don't already know) is how motorcycle riders wave to eachother when they pass eachother on the street. I thought it was really cool so I asked them to pose like this for me so I could get a picture.

Our trip to BYU

Most of you know that my dad teaches at BYU. It is a tradition of Grammie's week to go to BYU and see my dad at work, go to the bookstore and buy a souvenir from BYU, and go to (what used to be) the cougareat for lunch. This time was no exception. My dad even had fancy pens to give all the grandkids (and his daughters) when we went to see him in his office. We had a great time at BYU. The day was beautiful and everyone was well behaved. Missy and Darin weren't there but we took their boys so they could still enjoy the BYU tradition.

Heritage Park (This is the Place)

Here are the fun pictures from Heritage Park. This was Alex's favorite thing of the week. He even wanted me to buy him pioneer clothes - funny kid. I asked him when he would wear pioneer clothes and he said he could wear them for Halloween and the long sleeves would be good for keeping the sun off his arms. Ah, because we for sure don't have long sleeve shirts at home, we would need to buy pioneer clothes in order to get a long sleeve shirt and long pants. Great stuff I tell ya. Anyway, he enjoyed washing the rags in the tub and even went back into the iron worker area to ask how long it would take for him to learn that skill. It makes me realize how much I don't know about my children. I had no idea that all that would facinate Alex so much. It's nice for me to see what excites my children so I can foster some of that facination. We all had fun here but we got hot and tired and towards the end of the day splurged on ice cream which you can see Zachary chowing down on in the first picture.

Golfing with Grandaddy

In our family the grandkids get to golf with Grandaddy after they turn eight years old. This year the boys didn't do a full round, however, they got to hit balls at the range and then practice their putting. They had a great time and I got to read my book while they practiced their swings. I also took a few swings myself. After missing the ball four or so times, I finally hit it pretty decently. I wasn't too disappointed with my efforts. Anyway, enjoy these fun pictures...there will be more Grammie's week pictures to come.

more and more fun

OK - so I told you about Monday and now you're going to get an abbrevbiated version of Tuesday, Wednesday, and today. Tuesday was spent golfing with the older grandchildren (8 and up) and then off to Thanksgiving Point. We went to the gardens and saw the largest man-made waterfall in the Western Hemisphere. It was really cool looking and I'll have to share the cute picture I took of my boys in front of it. Then we came home to more swimming. Wednesday was up early and off to BYU where we went to the Bookstore, to see Grandaddy in his office, and to lunch at the Cougar-Eat. Afterwards we hurried to my aunt's house for a baby shower for my cousin. She is having a girl after three boys and so we got her some frilly stuff to celebrate. Joy and my sister in law Jackie also made some awesome bows to match all the fun outfits. The grandkids all got to swim in Aunt Kathy's pool (way fun) and then we came back to Grammie and Grandaddy's house to swim some more. My kids are LOVING having such easy access to a pool all the time. Which brings us to today. This morning we slept in a little, made hand print aprons for Grammie and Grandaddy and a shirt for Ben and then headed off to This is the Place Park. My boys absolutely LOVED Heritage Park (with This is the Place monument). Oh my goodness, I think Alex would have been fine to have been left there. He said if we lived here he would volunteer there - he just loved doing everything. Johnathan and Zachary loved it too but Alex couldn't get enough. When we left there, we surprised our friend, Heidi, at her work (the physics dept. of the University of Utah). Then we came home for hamburgers, hot dogs, and more swimming. Tonight we are again watching the olympics. We have watched so much Olympic coverage - we have been able to see all the highlights so far - SO fun!! Enjoy the pictures!!

some pictures from monday