Labor Day Weekend

We were excited to have Scott, Elisha, and kids come visit us for Labor Day weekend!  Elisha was already in Sacramento visiting her sister, so she drove the 2 hours to our house on Thursday evening and Scott flew in from Utah right after work to meet her here.  We had dinner, gave them the tour of our house, chatted, and planned out our weekend.

Dan had the day off work on Friday (perfect!) so we headed over to Scheel’s, the mecca of all sporting goods stores.  We rode the giant ferris wheel they have in the middle of the store, looked at the animals, had lots of samples of fudge, rode bikes, tried our hand at the shooting gallery, bought orange blood gelato, played at the kids’ play place, bought an inflatable boat for Tahoe, and looked at lots of sports stuff.  It’s such a fun store.  

 

Friday evening we headed over to the famous Rib Cook Off in downtown Sparks.  We had heard a lot about this event, and were excited to check it out for ourselves.  It was so fun to walk around amid the masses of people and see all the vendors showcasing their ribs.  The idea is to try multiple ($7) samples and then vote on your favorite ribs.

 

 

We weren’t really sure which ones to try, so we just went with whoever looked like they had the most signs and trophies.  I mean, really, how can you go wrong with the 2007 winner of the best ribs in Sioux Falls, SD?       

We were planning on trying ribs at more than one place, but the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory caramel apples were calling out to us . . . . so we bought two, and polished them off very quickly:) 

Then we walked over to the fountains where the kids kept saying, “Please can we get our clothes wet?”  Sure, kids, whatever.  But just so you know, you will be cold.  Of course, they loved it anyway.   

Then on Saturday we headed up to Lake Tahoe.  We decided to go to Sand Harbor again, since we loved that spot last time we went.  We were a little worried about it being too crowded since it was the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, but we were happily surprised to find the large parking lot quite empty when we arrived at 10:45 am.  We had a perfect day at the lake.  This time we came much more prepared . . . . thanks to Wayne and Vickie Abbott.  We borrowed their beach umbrellas, tons of sand toys, a beach blanket, inflatable toys, etc.  And the boat we bought at Scheel’s was a ton of fun as well . . . . definitely a good buy!  We packed a picnic lunch to eat on the beach, and the weather was perfect.  Nice and warm, but not too hot.  It was another successful day at Tahoe! 

Cold cold water!!

We packed everything up late afternoon and then decided to walk down the boardwalk and explore around the rocks.  The kids love doing this, and think it’s such a fun adventure. 

We came across these pools surrounded by huge granite boulders where all these kids were trying to catch crawdads.  It was fun to watch.  They would lure the crawdads out with big strips of raw bacon, and then catch them in their nets and dump them into buckets. 

We got home Saturday evening, changed into our BYU gear, barbequed some chicken, ate dinner, and watched BYU win their season opener against the University of Washington.  It was a fun game to watch and it gave us some hope in this rebuilding year for the Cougars. 

On Sunday we went to our ward, had dinner, took an evening walk around our neighborhood, and talked and talked.  We also played a lot of games of Carcassonne – that was definitely the game of the weekend!  Funny how that always happens.  Anyway, we had such a great weekend with Scott and Elisha.  It’s always fun to have one-on-one time with family.  Thanks for coming you guys!!  We can’t wait to do it again. 

Back to Utah

On Tuesday, August 24th we drove to Utah for a last minute “one last summer vacation” trip.  I say last minute because we weren’t even planning on going until 2 nights before.  John and Kristen (who had lived with my parents all summer) were driving their stuff back to Utah and were planning on spending the night with us on Monday night.  My mom, Ashley, and Michael were flying there on Monday, so they were going to be there all week as well.  I wasn’t even thinking about going until Sunday night when Dan said, “Hey, why don’t we go to Utah too?”  “Yeah!  We should!”  I said, when I realized we COULD go.  Dan had the whole week off because this first month of work he is working one week on, then one week off – working the same schedule as the doctor he’s taking over for.  We did have to take Annie out of school, but hey, it’s just kindergarten, right?  I’m pretty sure she already knows what a circle is.  So, John and Kristen stayed with us Monday night, and then bright and early Tuesday morning we both pulled out of our driveway and headed to Utah!

It was so fun helping them move into their Wymount apartment and seeing their set up.  They got a great little spot.

I also helped Ash get all moved in and organized into her Liberty Square apartment.  She’s living there with Allison and Andrea (cousins) so it was fun to be able to see their place.  Bummer I didn’t get a picture of Ash moving in! 

We stayed at the Brinton’s with my mom and Michael, so of course it was fun just hanging out at their house!  Their house is the perfect place to just hang out and relax. 

Andi, Mom, Ash, me, Monica, and Kim with the 3 babies, Drew, James, and Noah.

We also got to see these guys while we were there!!  I posted something on my Facebook account about us taking a last minute trip to Utah, and a few hours later Kristie called me and said, “Are you guys really coming here this week?  Because we’re here!”  We were so excited.  Our girls couldn’t wait to see Cohen and Chloe.  We took them to Trafalga Lehi and played there for awhile . . . . it’s so nice to be able to do all this stuff for free!!  Thanks Brintons:)

         

And of course some pictures from the Trafalga in Orem.  No trip to Utah is complete without some arcade games, dippin dots, stacks of tickets, and picking out some cheap prize from behind the counter.  The kids love it.  And so does Michael:)

We also went out to dinner (Cafe Rio) with our good friends, Brandon and Sara Hicks, who recently moved to Salt Lake from Ohio.  It was so fun to see them again as well.  And then the rest of the week we spent just doing our usual Utah stuff – buying new t-shirts at the BYU Bookstore, dinner at Brick Oven, shopping at University Mall, going to Seven Peaks, etc. (Although 7 peaks was a total bust this time – we went during the one afternoon that it was rainy and stormy.  We went down one slide, and then went home. haha.)   Dan got to go golfing Saturday with Scott, Amy, and Chris, and then we all went out to dinner at Cafe Rio and then went back to the Brinton’s to shoot some pool and play foosball.  We drove back to Reno on Saturday night.  We didn’t leave until 7 pm (which is a little later than we would have liked) and got home at 1:30 am Reno time.  Not too bad at all.  We’re just happy to be living in the west now so last minute trips to Utah like this are now possible.  It was so fun, and I’m glad we went.  We always have so much fun in Utah . . . . and now we can just go whenever we want!