This is me, Jules. Saturday we all packed the car up around noon after cleaning the house a bit and headed up Provo Canyon. I love being so close to the mountains and evidently everyone else does too. Lots of people were tubing/canoing/fishing on the Provo river. Both Deer Creek & Jordanelle Reservoirs were very busy with boats. The number of homes that are popping up in the Canyon and near Heber astounded me. We arrived at Granny’s in Heber around 1:30 pm–late enough I thought the lunch rush would be over. Boy was I wrong. I forget that Granny’s is ALWAYS busy. I guess it closed down for a while but it is back up and running by popular demand. The girls were pretty excited because we hadn’t told them where we were going. We all ordered a years supply of grease and awesome shakes. I got raspberry and boy was it good! After the shake bonanza we continued on to Park City to the outlets there.
Brian and I were calculating that we hadn’t been to the outlets since Abigail was a few days old. I took a trip up with Charlene and Catherine when Abby was literally 3-4 days old because I was flippin’ out with my first baby and had to get out of the house. So it had been about 8 years and the outlets have really improved. We decided right off the bat to pick about 4-5 stores and just go to those because there were so many people and it was pretty warm out. We hit the Children’s Place, Old Navy, Rue 21, Gap & Banana Republic. Brian was more than patient and very generous with the girls and their back to school shopping. I think they were most excited about their leopard print backpacks and matching lunch boxes! We got lemonade & bagel bites to tide Gwen over & make it through. That was one of the first times that the girls were really excited about clothes shopping–I can see how much fun shopping is going to be in the near future. I now have partners in crime!
Next, we hit the road for Salt lake via Little Cottonwood Canyon. Lucy and Gwen were literally asleep within a minute–slobber and all. We were able to attend Michael & Adriana Robinson’s wedding reception. The girls were all pretty tired so we didn’t stay long. Adriana looked beautiful and what a beautiful couple! My sister Amy has three married and four to go! We didn’t eat at the reception because it was too fancy for the circus our four little girls would have put on. We did stop at Olive Garden on the way home. Good air conditioning and endless bread sticks seemed to do the trick for all of us.
When we arrived home we had a quick fashion show of our “finds”. Lucy’s fav was a blue furry snow hat from Children’s place. She has been wearing it on and off since–I might have to hide it considering it’s 100+ out. Then it was off to bed–easier said than done! Lucy was going through our stuff in the bathroom like she does nightly and sprayed Brian’s cologne directly in her eyes. So, it was a call to poison control for some very red and irritated eyes and then a bath/rinsing of the eyes for 20 minutes. She was pretty upset and I was too. I was hoping that would teach her to stay out but she was at it again last night–BANDIT!
For family night a trip to the park was much needed. We grabbed the FHE manual, went through the Wendy’s drive-thru and headed for the rotary park near Provo river. The park was pretty much vacant much to our delight. It was overcast and warm but not unbearable. We had a lesson, compliments of Brian, on being a good friend. Then the girls were off for the playground. I just sat back on the blanket and looked up at the sky. Laying on the blanket was a good break from making apricot jam (thanks for the apricots, Amy) and refereeing the neighborhood kids earlier today. Gwen absolutely loves the slides and hates the swings! Lucy will not keep her shoes on! Grace is the little mother and Abigail is getting good at the rings.
We got to feed the ducks after the playground and that was a lot of fun. We had so much bread that by the end we were playing who can tag the duck with the biggest piece of waded bread. I pelted the one with the mohawk! Gwen would chase after them and they really weren’t that afraid of her. One time we thought she was going in the pond–on top of the ducks and all. After the park we thought we would top off the evening with a trip to the BYU creamery. It always brings back a whole lot of memories. Brian was disturbed to see that they had torn down his old Deseret Tower dorm on BYU campus where we used to hang out back in the day and play cards. It was neat to see the new Hinckley building that has gone up diagnal from the Marriott Center. It is an amazing building. Well this is getting way too lengthy and I must go check to see what Lucy’s up to. The next blog should be more entertaining with photobooth pictures and fun!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/midder/sets/72157600965315491/
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Julie- I love reading your blogs about all that you are doing and discovering in Utah. It makes my heart ache for all those places. We lived only a couple minutes from the freeway right at the base of the canyon to Park City and it was always a retreat for us. Weddings up Little/Big Cottonwood canyon are the most beautiful. I can see how you are loving being by the mountains and parks. It is what I miss the most. I too have been thinking that a FHE on being a good friend is a must before school starts. I can’t believe how much we think alike. We miss you guys and are glad we can hear about all the things you are doing. It’s like not missing a thing that is going on in your lives, even though we wish we were there to share some of it with you. Sheri