The Heber Creeper

Matt had a work party in Heber City, Utah where we got to have a nice dinner, watch a Western "show down," then board the Heber Creeper for a 45 minute train ride.  I LOVED it!!  It was if I was being taken back in time by riding in train cars from over 100 year ago.  And the scenery was beautiful.  I think I will always remember this day we rode the train.

First Day of 2nd Grade!

 Gavin started school on Tuesday, August 20th.  He has the same teacher he had in 1st grade - Mrs. Schiess.  They moved up together, although Mrs. Schiess says she won't be doing that again for when Gavin goes to 3rd grade because it was too much work switching classrooms/preparing for a new grade! LOL.

He was pretty nervous venturing off on his first day, and may have been a bit late due to terrible traffic issues.  The roads are so congested here - took us 20 minutes to go less than a mile.

Compound Fracture

On the Saturday before school started, Gavin was riding his bike "faster than he's ever ridden it before" and lost control.  He crashed on the sidewalk and his ulna and radius broke - even cutting through his skin.  We rushed him to the ER in Riverton only to be told we needed to go to Primary Children's Hospital in SLC because Riverton doesn't deal with compound fractures.

Surprisingly, Gavin was really calm throughout the whole experience.  I thought he was experiencing shock, but he wasn't.  Turns out SPD kids experience pain differently than others.  He freaks out when a toilet flushes, but apparently broken bones protruding from your arm is no big deal.

I think he was secretly GLAD he broke his arm because that meant he got to play the Nintendo.

They had to sedate Gavin to put his bones back in place.  Luckily they went back well enough that surgery wasn't required.  After a week in a sling, they put a hard cast on.  He will wear that cast for 4 weeks and then they'll put a second cast on below the elbow that he'll need to wear for 3 more weeks.

Completing Our Summer Bucket List - Donut Falls

At the beginning of summer, we made a simple list of things we'd like to do.  We did EVERYTHING on the list - except hike to Donut Falls.  Well, if you know me, you know I like check lists and not being able to check off "hike Donut Falls" was killing me.  So on one of the last days of summer break, I took the kids up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It turned out they were doing maintenance work on the bathrooms and had blocked off the road to the trail head so we had to hike an extra 1/2 mile in and out.  The kids were troopers though.

The prairie dogs are hilariously cute.  They would come right up to us, touch our shoes then run away.  They've become domesticated to some degree from seeing the frequent passersby and I'm sure being fed by most of them.  LOL

After the hike, we stopped at a store for DONUTS, of course.

Bailey and Rachel

August 9-11, Bailey and Rachel came to visit.  Their parents and brothers went to Alaska for 10 days and we got to have the girls visit us for 2 1/2 of them.  They played in the pool, had fun dressing up in Laynie's dress ups, made lots of messes but were always good to clean them right up, and made ice cream mustaches.  It was fun having them over for cousin time.

Family Vacation 2019

Besides our Family Stay-cation summer of 2016, this is the first vacation our family has ever been on together.... and it was wonderful!

On July 30th, we drove up to Rexburg, Idaho.  This was the first time Lanie had ever been out of Utah.  (Gavin went to Wyoming as a 2 week old for his great grandmother's funeral.)

Matt met up with his BYU-I roommate and friend, Tyler, at their favorite Chinese Restaurant - New Fong's.  (Not to be confused with the old Fong's.  Apparently there was a family rift and they split up the business.)

The kids were a bit restless so I took them for a walk around the block while Matt caught up with Tyler.

My fortune cookie was pretty accurate.

We stayed at a little air bnb on Rexburg's Main Street.  It wasn't pretty, but it served it's purpose. Matt and I ended up switching the kids beds after the first night because the queen mattress was horrible.  The futon proved more comfy, believe it or not.

Day 2, we went north of Rexburg to St. Anthony Sand Dunes.

The sand was soft, but there was a lot of garbage in it - we found a few treasures and took a box full of junk to the trash.  

After the sand dunes, we took the kids to the Spray Park for a picnic lunch and play time.  Laynie rode on the carousel there and got cotton candy to share.  Matt and I lounged in the shade and took care of some random lady's baby.  Still pretty shocked she felt safe asking 2 strangers to comfort her crying 4 month old baby while she played in the park with her 18 month old...

We visited BYU-I's botanical gardens.

Then went on a hike to Cress Creek Nature Trail.  It had lots of water cress along the way.

The Snake River

Day 3 - Yellowstone National Park!  Note to self:  Next time we go here, plan on spending 3 days.  There was so much to do.  We only saw 1/6 of the park in a day.  And... the entrance fee is the same cost for 7 days as it is for 1 day.

Waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Gavin and Laynie in their (not so comfy) bed.

Our last day we checked out of the air bnb, went to the local DI, then drove to Lava Hot Springs to float down the Port Neuf River.  It was a lot of fun.  We paid for tube rental and transportation back up the hill.  We even got to soak in the "healing waters" of the hot springs - and they are named lava hot springs for a reason.  If we got too close to the outlet of water, our skin would burn!