Tuesday we spent the morning down in Provo. We parked over by the botany "pond" and then walked all the way up to the Bean museum. I had heard there was a really pretty creek walk on that side of campus and it did not disappoint. We walked along the sidewalk and enjoyed the scenery. We actually saw 2 deer running at the top of the incline! Jared and Lydia were thrilled. I looked at Mark and said who needs a trail "hike" in the mountains Especially seeing as how we struck out last week. It was a pretty walk and great Disneyland training. Jared and Lydia would lag behind partly due to distractions and partly due to being tired but we made it. We will most definitely need our little stroller at Disneyland.
Found the Y!
Mark pointed out the little girl in this statue to Lydia and she was fascinated by it.
The Bean museum was nice. Apparently they just re-modeled it and reopened on Monday. I had never been before so I have nothing to compare it too but we enjoyed it. I think it would be especially awesome if your child was really into animals. To be honest it's pretty "violent". A majority of the exhibits are animals attacking others. (Not that it upset me or anything it was just a lot of attacking) I had Jared and Lydia pick out their favorite animals so I could take their picture by it. I loved the butterfly made out of butterflies. Their favorite part was of course the "playground" as Jared called it. We walked around to each exhibit then went out for our treat, cupcakes at Sweet Tooth Fairy. Mark's nephew Zach works there. Sadly he was not there today but we enjoyed our treat. I do think that Georgetown Cupcakes are better though but that is just me well and Mark too.
We had just watched the Swan Princess Friday so I think that played a part in them choosing this animal. They really are huge!
Highlight of the museum.
Cute boy!
Hannah (Mark's sister Susan's daughter) and her husband Matt came over for dinner that night. It was great to visit with them. They got married in December so we had only met Matt once. It was fun to hang out with them and we are so glad they wanted to hang out with us! Back when Mark and I were dating Susan came out to Idaho with Sue and her daughters Hannah and Mikaela. While they were there they went out to Grandma Spencer's farm and Hannah and Mikaela named a baby calf April in my honor. I took it as a compliment. Baby calves are way cuter than grown cows. I think I have always had a little soft spot in my heart for Hannah and Mikaela because of that so I love it when we get to visit with them.
Wednesday morning we had a surprise planned for Jared and Lydia. I really enjoy going on production tours and try to find them whenever we are going somewhere. Two years go we toured Sweets candy factory here and this year I scheduled a factory tour with Mrs. Cavanaugh's Chocolates. It was really nice. It was just a dollar per person and worth the drive. We watched a short video about making chocolate from start to finish and then one about their company. We were the only ones there and our tour guide gave us lots of samples. Jared and Lydia may not have learned that much about chocolate but they loved eating it. The tour did not take us into the "factory" but upstairs to observation windows. We saw a woman who has worked there for 25 years hand dipping cherry cordials, (something you don't see tag often according to our tour guide) some gummy bears getting dipped in white chocolate, some caramel being made and boxes of chocolates being filled. It was fun. After our tour we got to sample some ice cream and then we picked out some chocolates. They are amazing. By far the best chocolates I have ever had. We ate a raspberry lemonade one and about died of happiness. That chocolate alone made the 40 minute drive worth it. We wished we had a dozen of them. I am not one to ask for or expect chocolates for holidays like Valentines or Mother's day but these would be worth it. I asked if Valentines was their biggest holiday and he said it was actually Christmas which surprised me. Then Valentines and Easter which are tied. But 25% of their annual sales come at Christmas. It was a fun and delicious trip.
We ended up getting Mark some chocolates for Father's day. They could very well all be eaten before Father's day.
Wednesday afternoon we went out to enjoy some of Utah's amazing splash parks. I think its super awesome that so many communities here have free splash parks. It's been great. Our first stop was in Alpine in a beautiful neighborhood. Jared and Lydia both had fun in the water but Lydia lasted way longer than Jared. He had fu laying on the warm ground wrapped up in his towel like a chrysalis. The splash park is in the same area as a really fun park so we went and played for awhile. It was a really nice day and it was great to go somewhere new.
Jared really liked this park. It has different features than most parks we were used to so he was excited.
After Alpine we headed over to Highland's splash pad. What is amazing to me is that these two sites were like 10 minutes down the road from each other. Utah is really on top of their free family fun. This one was really cool. Instead of the regular toy features it was set to look like a river bed. The water was ankle deep and had rocks kids could climb on and jump off. Many of the rocks had little water fountains shooting out water. At the end of the "River" the speed of the water picked up and kids loved sitting there. It was quite pretty and fun to see a different type of splash park. Lydia again lasted longer then Jared. She just loves water!
So different and fun!
Both of these splash pads had super nice mountain views.
Warming up. He did look pretty cozy.
Lydia playing "Itzy Bitzy Spider"
Thursday we met up with Elmer and went swimming. I realized that I only have like 2 pictures of Jared and Lydia with Mark's Dad so we took care of that today. After swimming we came back to Sue's and got ready for naps.
That afternoon we were lucky enough to meet up with Justin and Hannah Blank. Mark and Justin grew up together in Turlock and we all hung out at BYU Idaho when we could. Justin has been working in Afghanistan the last year with the State Department so we were really happy and lucky that he would be here on home leave while we were in Utah. It was great o catch up with them. They are just good nice people and I love visiting with them. I wish we could do it more. Jared and Lydia had a great time playing with their kids Sienna, Porter and Mairyn.
On Friday our good friend Joni came down with her 2 kids to go swimming with us. We met Joni at BYU Idaho as she was also a history education major and we had many classes and study groups with her. Her kids are the same ages as Jared and Lydia except her four year old is a girl and her 2.5 year old is a boy. We had a great time visiting and catching up over of lunch. We try to meet up with Joni each time we come to Utah. She is such a great supportive friend.
That afternoon we took Jared and Lydia over to the Provo Rec center. We love going there. They have a lazy river, 2 indoor slides, a climbing wall over water, an indoor water playground, 2 big outdoor slides and a few great outdoor play areas in water. It is really fun and only costs 4 dollars. We played on both playgrounds and then Jared decided he really wanted to try the big outdoor slides. He was feeling brave and we are so glad he was and so proud of him. One slide (the green one) is more curvy and goes slower and the other has more dips and goes really fast (the orange one). He went down with Mark and loved it! He landed in the water and immediately asked to go again. Lydia is always up fro an adventure and wanted toy try them too so we all went up together. She loved it just as much as Jared. Every time we landed at the bottom she would say "Again! again". It was really fun and I am so happy they were both brave enough to try them out. I have no idea how many times we went on them but it was a lot. I am especially glad he was wiling as it sort of gave us a chance to test him on something similar to a ride since he has never really done anything like it. More Disneyland training! We will make another trip out there next week and I will take my camera that time. I left it in the car and while that was annoying it was also nice to not worry about getting the perfect picture. It was a great afternoon.
Saturday we ran errands, washed the car, played outside, cleaned the house, did laundry and had our family movie night. We were out too late to do it Friday. We watched one of the new Tinkerbell movies and they both loved it. Lydia even wanted new Tinkerbell underwear when we went to pick some out at the store. We stopped by Target (which is Jared's favorite store) to pick up a few things and of course Jared asked to "go on his rows" (the CARS, Planes, workers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ones in the toy section) so we walked over to the toy section. For the past few months I have also been making a point to go down the Princess and Minnie Mouse row so our kids could see more Disney characters. It has also been sort of a science experiment for me because every time I go down I check to see if there is any Frozen stuff. There never is. Maybe a wand or one Anna dress but that is it. Well yesterday they actually had Elsa and Anna dresses! I had never actually seen the Elsa dress or that many toys from the movie in real life until that Saturday. Mark and I looked at each other and then I picked up the dress for Lydia. Now she has a Princess dress she can wear one morning at Disneyland. We also grabbed her a cute Minnie Mouse dress. I think Lydia is getting close to an age where she will enjoy playing dress up. A friend of ours gave us a Cinderella dress and Tinkerbell costume so it will be fun for her to have a few to play with. Now we don't have to buy her any souvenirs at Disneyland.
That night we made our Mickey Mouse Oreos for our movie treat and they turned out so cute! They were delicious too. It was fun for Jared and Lydia to help make them.
Mark's brother Steve invited us over to his house for dinner for Father's day. We picked up Mark's dad and headed down to Orem. It was really nice to visit with their family. Their kids are much older so its fun to see them interact with Jared and Lydia. Steve, who always likes a joke, told Jared he could say the prayer as long as he said it in English and Jared looked at him and said "I don't know English." So funny. After dinner Jared and Lydia went down to the basement to see what treasures they could find. A short while later Jared came running up the stairs with a Nerf sword. He was so very excited. He has been wanting one for months but we have not gotten him one. After showing us his moves he said out loud that he wished he could keep it and Steve said he could. Mark had Jared "knight" Steve with his sword while saying "Thank You very much." Not to be outdone Lydia came up the stairs dragging a large stuffed Simba. Molly asked her what she found and she said loudly and confidently, "Deer!" She was really on one yesterday.
Updated 3 generations. I think the last one was in like 2010.
Shae, Steve, Zac, Ammon, Lydia with Molly, Elmer, Mark, Aprillee, Jared.
We sure are grateful for Mark. We love him so much and greatly appreciate his love and support. Thanks for taking such good care of us!
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