My Week with the Family

Well, I'm back. The family and I had a really good week together. Here are a few highlights in pictures.

Tuesday
I was at work last Tuesday, so Andrea and the kids came downtown to be tourists, and then met me for lunch. At lunch, Spencer showed me many of the very expressive faces that he can pull. Here's his fighting face:
A scared face:

And a surprised face:

Very dramatic.

Wednesday

I took the rest of the week off from work. My brother Courtney flew in about 1:00 Wednesday afternoon, so we went to meet him at the airport, and then drove to Barry's house. My parents were there (the flew in on Tuesday), and there were hugs all around.

That afternoon Mom, Andrea and I took the little boys to the Living Planet Aquarium in Draper. It's a pretty nice. Certainly nothing like Sea World, but a good aquarium for a small town like Draper. Spencer loved the fish. Here he is getting acquainted with a turtle.

Can you see his reflection in the glass? It's like a 1970s portrait!

Drew was not as impressed with the turtles or fish or any of it. He slept through the whole thing.

Sierra's graduation party was Wednesday evening, and I'm just now realizing that I didn't take any pictures of it. What the heck? That's hard to believe. But, it was a lot of fun. Lots of friends stopped by. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, had salads, chips, and cake, and sat in the backyard and talked all night. Sierra was a bundle of emotions, which I suppose is to be expected. This is a big change for her - leaving high school marks the first steps away from childhood and into the grown-up world. There's a lot to think about. But she's a sharp girl, and I have no doubt that she'll do well. What I do doubt is that I'll do well when she leaves for college in the fall. I'm pretty sure that there will be crying.

Thursday

The graduation ceremony was Thursday morning, so Mom and Dad went there with Barry's family. Courtney, Andrea and I took the kids to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. The fancy name for it is The Museum of Ancient Life, and there are exhibits on the very beginnings of the planet. I learned a little bit about fossil fuels (oil is expected to last for about 50 more years, which is really going to suck for us), and I learned something about Courtney. It seems that he has inherited from our father the need to read ever single printed word in a museum. Everything. That takes some time.

There's a room in the museum where they've set up something called the erosion table. There's a bunch of sand, some running water, and you build a dam or dike and then watch the water erode it away. It's pretty fun. Spencer and Drew played and played. See that dam right in front of them? I made that. It was washed away within minutes. That poor dinosaur on the end didn't stand a chance.

Here they are with a woolly mammoth, two words that are fun to say. Court actually laid down on the floor to get the best angle for this picture.

Friday

We all went to the open house at the Oquirrh Mountain temple Friday afternoon (it's beautiful!), and then had Amalia's baby blessing at Barry's house. Court and Andrea got permission from their bishop to do the blessing here with his father and brothers. It was really very nice. I liked being in Barry's home with just family - intimate and quiet and very sweet. Courtney got choked up while giving the blessing. Such a softy. Here are my dad, Barry, Courtney, Amalia, Mike (Marla's husband) and Aaron.

All of the kids together: Noah, Cortni, Jonah, Josh, Savannah holding Amalia, Mariah, Drew, Zac standing with William, and Sierra and Spencer on the floor.

Saturday

Mom, Marla and I went to Park City with Jonah and William while the men went to the air show at Hill Air Force base. Marla bought William this sucker. You can see how happy he is. He sucked on it some, and then rolled it all over his face, on his eye lid, up to his ear. If there had been a wind leaves and dirt would have stuck to his face. Silly boy.

Yesterday Mom, Dad and I ate dinner at Marla's and then watched a movie on their big screen projector. After such a full week, it was nice to have a quiet evening. Courtney and his family left for home Saturday morning. It was sad to see them go, and I've missed them since. Mom and Dad are here tonight, and will leave tomorrow morning. We're all planning to have dinner together this evening, and then that will be it. There's always an empty feeling when everyone goes. I don't like it much. But it the emptiness doesn't last long, and then I'll get back to my usual routine. It's been a great week! Really great.