Saying Goodbyes

The weekend before we left Utah, we said some last goodbyes to our families and friends.

First, on Saturday morning, we met up with the Yangs at Village Inn for some breakfast.  They were so sweet and brought little gifts for all of the kids!  That's the thing with them, they are so giving and generous always to everyone!  They brought Lucy this puppy, which she loves and carries around all over the place.  "Doggy", "Puppy" she'll always say.  Ewan and Lucy were feeding food to each other.

 The trouble-makers: Cal and Ana!  Too bad arranged marriages aren't in anymore, or we'd match these two up!  Ha ha!

 The girls - Emma loves, loves Elisha!

Goodbye, Yangs!  Thanks for the fun time!

Then we went swimming with Jerry & Stacy and kids up to North Shore Aquatics center.  We bought these passes a while ago and wanted to go together, but what we didn't know is that it was free day - ahhhh!  So it was super crowded there!  But that didn't stop our fun!

"Come to Mama!"

These girls know how to have a good time together!

We felt like sardines in this pool, it was so, so crazy!

  

So, since it was so crowded that day and we still had our passes we didn't need to use, we went two days later with them again!  It was way better the second time we went.  Plenty of room, plenty of quiet!  The kids loved the lazy river, splash pad, slides, and I even went off the high-dive for the first time!

"Yoohoo, I love to swim!!"

Lucy with Daddy, we had a hard time getting this girl out of the water!

Kaison toweling off

Snacking

 Cousins!!

Me & Stacy saying goodbye!

 Before we left, we had a little family recital so Emma could practice performing in front of others, because her last recital was over a year ago!

Grandma helping Emma. Emma's been so fortunate to be able to have lessons with Grandma instead of Mom this summer...something Emma always begs for!  My mom is the best piano teacher out there!

Tayla turning the page for her

Emma did a great job and played Schools Out, In Our Car, Hop Stop Flop & Alouette.

 We were so glad everyone came out!

 Then we opened the floor to anyone else who wanted to do anything.  Kaison tinkered around on the piano a bit and then he and Cal sand "I Am a Child of God".

 Then the girls sang "I Love to See the Temple"

And then they danced to Mama Mia!

 Lucy was danging a long with them!

Stacy and Lucy

Then my mom and I played a piece by CPE Bach, Concerto in D

The gracious audience members

Thanks everyone for coming!

Trying to get her to take a bow

After the recital, we had a bunch of cookies and bars, sugar rush!

Then we did some important things, like playing dodge ball!

And doing a hair comparison shot. Yep, I still think Dave has the most hair...yessss!

And socializing.  It was fun to have everyone there!  Here's Ryan & Julie, ow ow!  JK, Julie!

The babies, they are too cute!

Then the night before we left, we went to Paces Dairy Ann to go get some rainbows and give our last hugs goodbye!

Em & Am

 Lucy was mad because she didn't want the ice-cream we got for her, she wanted Grandpa's popsicle.  Of course, he obliged.

Ice-cream and family, what could be better?

 "It feels good to stand" as my dad always says.

The girlies!

 Kolby with Lucy & Cal - Kolb and Am are going to be great parents some day!

Playing - they all wanted to do piggy backs!

 Bye, Amber!

 Grandpa holds a soft place in his heart for his grandkids and kept teasing them that he was going to sneak into one of our suitcases to go home with us.  "Silly Grandpa!"

 Then, that night, most of the Ryerse's came over and we said our goodbyes!  We will miss everyone so much!  It was so great to be able to see everyone so much this summer! Thank you all for everything!  Before we left, Dave asked his dad for a father's blessing.  I've never heard Dave get a blessing (except for being set-apart) and it was so neat to hear his dad give him one.  He is truly inspired and we are so appreciative for the way he leads his life and the example he sets as patriarch of the family.  Sue did all of our laundry the day before we left and helped get everything cleaned up, which was so sweet of her!  Wednesday morning, we packed up, held back tears, and rolled out back home.

"I have a family here on earth, they are so good to me.  I want to share my life with them through all eternity."

We drove about 6ish hours to Emmett, ID to go see Grandma Carol and Grandpa Chuck.  They're so great!  We also got to see Kael and Kelley.  The kids loved playing there but there are so many breakables, it was hard to keep their little fingers off those things!  But we enjoyed being together for the night, we had pizza for dinner, and then talked and hung out, slept over and in the morning, had breakfast, chatted some more.  It was nice to break up the trip and to travel this direction.  We usually go up through the other side of ID and through Montana, which is faster.  But this drive was so much prettier! We saw lots of wildfires on the way there.  It was sad how much ground was burnt up!

Dave with Grandma Carol and Grandpa Chuck!

And now we're back in the regular groove (kind of, still enjoying summer and staying up late and going to fun places and all that goes along with it).  But it's good to get back to life as we know it!