Great trip to Utah!

Well, we had a nice (quick) trip to Utah a week ago. We got up on Friday, Aug. 3rd & drove to the Detroit, Michigan airport. The Toronto airport and Buffalo, NY airport are both much closer, but the prices out of Detroit were quite a bit less (and they were direct flights), so we figured it was worth it. The drive was about 4 hours, but it went fine, without any problems. You never know how long it will take to get through the border (sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes 2 hours), so we allowed plenty of time to get through the border & to the airport, through check-in, etc. Well, because everything went very smoothly, we had plenty of time to wait. We stopped for lunch right before we got to the airport. We found an Italian restaurant that they had in Arkansas that we really liked (Johnny Carino's), and ate there. It was really good, and for all six of us to eat, it only cost $41 total! I forgot how inexpensive it is to feed our whole family in the U.S. vs Canada! It would have cost us closer to $90-$100 for a similar meal here in Canada!

After lunch we got to the airport, checked our bags, found our gate, and then waited...and waited...and waited some more. We waited for about 4 hours (like I said, we planned plenty of extra time in case we got stuck at the border or it took longer to check in). Thank goodness we had 3 ipods for the kids to use, as well as books, notebooks & pens, snacks, and a couple other things for entertainment. Along with those things, the kids found other exciting entertainment in the airport, like riding & watching the skytram drive back & forth above us, and going back & forth again & again on the moving sidewalks. We also walked around looking in the gift shops, eating ice cream, and watching the airplanes & people.

Then, we finally boarded the plane & got settled for yet another 4 hours of flying. The plane we were on had the little TV's on the seat backs, so we could watch the Olympics, news, kids TV shows, or listen to music. They also had this really cool feature, where you could track our flight on a map. You could see exactly where we were, in the air, over which states. It was fun to see our progress across the U.S.

Once we arrived in Utah (around 7:30 p.m. Utah time), our kids were pretty worn out. Jonah & Clay were exhausted! It was about 9:30 our time, and by the time we got them home & in bed, it was about 11:30 for them! Then of course in the morning, because they were still on Eastern Time, they were up around 4 a.m., hungry & ready to eat. I made them stay in bed until 5:30 am, and then let them get up & eat, because they thought they were going to DIE! :) Within a day or so, they adjusted to the time difference & slept in until about 6 a.m. Utah time.

On Saturday, after we all got up & had breakfast, the kids headed outside with grandpa to let the dogs out of the barn, pick some veggies from the big garden, ride the 4-wheeler, and get filthy in the dirt (which they enjoyed to the fullest, bringing piles & piles of dirt back in their pockets, on their shoes, etc.) They were in heaven! :)

At about 10:30, we had the kids shower off all the dirt & we all got dressed in our Sunday clothes, and headed into Brigham City, to get a tour of the new temple. It was absolutely beautiful! And what a neat experience to be able to go through for a personal tour just with Grandma & Grandpa Checketts. It was just us & them, so we were able to take our time, get explanations about some of the artwork & little details that others might not notice, and for the kids to be able to ask questions & have a very personal experience. Hopefully it will be something that they will all remember throughout their lives. It will be great when Neil & I to go back again once it's dedicated, to go through a session.

After our temple tour, we got to see the Temple President's house. They have a home right by the temple, for when they have long shifts, or very long days or late nights, or the weather is bad, or they have general authorities visiting, etc. We all changed into regular clothes & headed to lunch. We ate at a little Mexican restaurant there in Brigham City, and it tasted SOOOO good! We miss not having any Mexican food here in Canada!!! Then we walked down the street to the little candy shop (Idle Isle) to pick out some delicious goodies for dessert.

After lunch, the guys all headed off to do "guy" stuff, and Grandma took Tessa, & I shopping for a birthday gift for me. I picked out some new shoes (Thanks Checketts!), and then I bought Tessa a couple new things for the beginning of school. When we were done shopping, we headed back to Brigham, had a delicious dinner with a bunch of fresh produce from the garden (tomatoes, corn, new potatoes, cantalope, etc.), and then relaxed, talked, & let the kids play.

On Sunday we got up & headed to church. It's always fun to go back to that ward, because it is where Neil grew up, and we were also in that ward for a couple years at the beginning of our marriage, so we know a lot of the people. After church we had a family barbeque with Neil's siblings and their kids. It was fun to get together with everyone & let the cousins play. It's too bad we don't live closer & can't see them all more often, but at least we got a little time with everyone.

Monday morning we got up & headed over to Logan, to see my family there. We hung out at their house & let the kids play "broom hockey" with grandpa, grandma gave them all some cool rocks, and then we all went out to lunch at another one of our favorite Mexican places (Cafe Rio). YUM!!! (Thanks Willies!) Then we headed back to their house to just hang out & visit some more. After our visit with the Willies, we drove past Utah State University, and our old apartments (where Neil & I met). It was a blast from the past! :) And then we took the kids shopping for some new school clothes. The prices of clothes (and sales tax) is so much cheaper there, that we figured we'd take advantage of the opportunity (and a few back to school sales), and buy the kids a few things.

The day before we left for our trip to Utah, Neil was called to be the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric in our ward here in Canada. Knowing that we were going to be in Utah for a few days, Neil asked if his dad could ordain him while we were there(since he ordained him to all of his other preisthood offices). That was approved by our Stake President, and the Stake President in UT, so Monday evening, we met with the Stake President in the Checketts' ward, so Preston could ordain Neil. It was a really special experience & we we so glad that the timing worked out perfectly. (With Neil now in the Bishopric and my calling as YW President, we will be just a little busy! :)) That night, we took Preston & Louise out for a nice steak dinner for their anniversary (we didn't realize that it was their 47th anniversary until that morning).

On Tues. we had one last family get-together before heading home. Our trip home went well, without any problems, which is always a relief. Once we got home we had the usual whirlwind of laundry, getting groceries, and getting back into some sort of routine. The next day we all had dentist apointments, then the following day, Tessa had oral surgery to attach a chain to a canine tooth that isn't coming down on it's own. We were SO glad that it went perfectly & she has recoverd very quickly. And Clay lost another tooth just a couple days after we got home too. He was working on it the whole time we were in Utah, hoping it would come out there (so the Tooth Fairy would leave him American money). :)

This week, Neil headed out of town (to Calgary, AB) for work for a couple of days. We've had the kids' music lessons, their paper route, and PJ is heading to Youth Conference for several days. On Saturday morning, Tessa has an orthodontist appointment, and we have a ward pancake breakfast, and PJ gets home that evening. Then the day after PJ gets home, we head out very early in the morning on our way to Florida for our 2-week family vacation...HOORAY!!! :) We are SO excited! And it will be kind of fun to drive down the East coast too, to see some of the states & places that we haven't been through.

So....that's our news for now. I'll post more about our trip to Florida & all the fun back-to-school stuff (the kids start school just 2 days after we get home). And I'll post a bunch of pictures too, once we get our new computers. Our old, outdated computer (7 years old is ancient in the computer world), is having more & more problems, and we can't access or use many of the updated versions of websites (like blogger, so I can't post pictures on our blog anymore, and even accessing things from the LDS church website, etc.), so we are going to be buying new computers soon (we are going with an Apple desktop and an Apple laptop). With the kids using computers so much now for school, research, power points, projects, writing papers, checking their class websites, etc., and Neil & I using it so much too, for work, church callings, banking, planning trips, our blog, staying in touch with family & friends, etc., we figured we need to move up to 2 computers now.

So check back later for updated pictures & more about our trips.... :) ADIOS AMIGOS!