Here is the rest of what we did while we were visiting Utah...
The kids helped Grandma plans pumpkins down in the garden. Before we left, they already could see plants sprouting up.
We met up with Hyrum's parents at the playground at Station Park, and went out for lunch.
The same day, we had dinner at a little restaurant in Ogden canyon. The kids all just colored happily while we ate :) It might have helped that for dinner I got them a brownie to share (they weren't hungry for real food, so why waste the money?)
Matt and family came over on Sunday to eat and hang out. Everyone likes time with the baby, and Tiago was especially looking forward to building legos with Uncle Matt, the Lego master.
Later, my friend Becca came over to visit. We always go way too long between catching up, so there was a lot to cover.
Amie didn't have to work on Monday, so we took all the kids to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. Tiago went with Matt and Kayla about 2 years ago, but it was the first time for the rest of us. They have some fossils and displays inside, then outside there are a bunch of dinosaur replicas. The girls all lasted about 2 minutes outside before just wanting to play on the playground. Tiago convinced Grandma to walk around with him and explore all the dinosaurs. Then we all spent the last little while in a sand area 'digging for dinosaur fossils'.
One afternoon we did hot dogs and hot tubbing. Ironic since it was pretty hot outside, but the kids didn't seem to mind. We turned the temperature on the hot tub down earlier in the day, but the sun was strong enough the water stayed pretty hot. The picture of Tiago hiding in that tiny shadow made me laugh because it's exactly what Hyrum would have done-- he hates being in direct sun.
I met up with Polly and Jordan Jones in Salt Lake, and we let the kids all play at this indoor play area while we caught up. Jordan was pregnant with twins... but had them last week. Even after they left, my kids played for at least another hour, so that was a winning situation.
After being gone all morning, my sister asked if the kids wanted to play at the splashpad. I was exhausted from being out with the kids all morning, so my mom offered to take them. Another winning situation. So I laid on the sofa and read a book for a few hours. When they got home, Tiago looked like this and was very sad. He said he fell and hurt his arm. My mom created this make-shift arm sling, which seemed to make him feel better. But when I tried to take it off he was convinced he needed it. Fortunately, my mom has a real arm sling she put on him and by the next day he'd forgotten about the whole 'injury'.
On Wednesday afternoon we picked Hyrum up from the airport, so we spent the morning down at Thanksgiving Point again. We wanted to go to the Butterfly exhibit, but when we showed up they said our museum membership only covers the Museum of Curiosity (not what the website said...) The kids were SO distraught. The second we left the museum they started screaming and throwing their bodies on the ground. I was close to moving them back into the lobby so the museum employees could see what they started. We ended up going back to the Museum of Curiosity. The best part was discovering this wind tunnel. It's a pregnant woman's dream come true.
Laurel and her kids also joined us, which was great. They know the outside area of the museum well and showed us around. They fed fish and played on the playground. And Laurel was very much the hands-on mom that I was NOT, so she helped my kids on the zip-line swing. Also, Charlotte and Siena were fast friends at the museum and had a good time playing together.
Everyone was happy to have Hyrum show up. He was diligent during the trip to exercise and go on runs, even when it included the big hill my parents live on. Here he is doing push-ups while the kids play in the basement. I'm sure it was either preceded or followed by watching soccer.
My dad has an exercise machine in the garage. Any time we got in or out of the van Tiago took a minute to 'exercise', which was cute because his legs could barely move around while still holding on to the handles.
We dropped the kids off with Stella while Hyrum and I went to do sealings at the Ogden Temple. I struggled for a while because I could NOT cool down, and kept stepping into the hallway to get some fresh air. But it was nice to be there. The kids had a great time playing with toys and enjoying all the snacks Abuela put out for them. That was followed up by rice and chicken, and of course hot chocolate.
Thursday night my parents watched the kids while Hyrum and I went out to dinner with his friend, Alex, and his new wife. Hyrum wasn't able to make it to the wedding in April so this was the next best thing.
On Friday morning Hyrum took the kids to Aladdin in the theater. I saw it with my mom earlier and thought it was really good. None of them have probably seen the cartoon but they enjoyed it. That afternoon we went swimming at Sariah's neighborhood pool. We ate lunch there beforehand. The girls spent most of the time up in Lilly's room playing dress up, and Tiago had a blast with Oscarito and Elliot doing wrestling. The pool situation was a little stressful because we didn't have the kids' floaties with us, so we had to keep them in the really shallow part and watch them closely.
Friday night we went out to get desserts with Amie and Jorge. We tried Dough & Co, which serves half-cooked cookie dough. It was alright, but made us feel kind of sick after because it was so sweet. That reminds me that the week before I went out with my mom and Jenna to another dessert place in Station Park. That was slightly less indulgent and fun to chat.
The kids had some pretty epic baths. Once the jets turned on in the jacuzzi they could fill up the whole tub with bubbles. That made it hard to drag Tiago out.
On Saturday morning Hyrum met up with friends to play soccer. Most of them he knows from Colombia.
Saturday afternoon was a family kabob party I was pretty excited about, because it's kind of an annual thing my mom does that we've always missed. Kabobs aren't quite as good when enjoyed through a computer screen. Jenna and Amie were out of town, but we enjoyed chatting with everyone else. And perhaps the best part (after the food) was that the weather was only in the 60's. We could sit on the back porch without melting. And the kids played outside with neighbors the entire time we our chats were uninterrupted. Also quite amazing. And to top things off, Matt brought a whole pallet of chocolate-covered caramels, so the kids came away with quite a haul.
The kids had fun going to my parents' ward. I guess they really remember it from previous visits and enjoyed recognizing several of the neighborhood kids in primary. After church we went to see Hyrum's family at his parents' house. Unfortunately, Helaman wasn't there so we didn't get to see him. Everyone caught the second part of a Colombia soccer game.
On Monday my Mom and Jenna took my kids to Lagoon. I expected that to last 2-3 hours, but they stayed for about 7 hours and decided to end things on a positive note. From their report, my kids didn't really while or complain all day. They were thrilled to run from one ride to another and kept saying everything was their favorite ride. I couldn't believe it. Hyrum and I went out for lunch at Blaze Pizza to take advantage of being kid free, but anticipated picking them up from Lagoon much earlier so we didn't do much else that afternoon. Jenna also told us that when they were getting ready to leave, Mila said Siena had to go on her favorite ride (the tilta-whirl I think?) which they hadn't been on before. So they all went on one last ride, and it ended up actually being Siena's favorite. They also liked the airplanes, and Mila talks about riding the Pirate Ship with Jenna because everyone else was too scared to go on it. Tiago liked the chair-lift thing best that takes you over the park.
Tuesday was our last day in Utah, so we left it pretty open so we wouldn't feel rushed. We decided to go out to Antelope Island, since we'd never been. My mom showed us around, and we saw several buffalo at a distance. The kids all got to try their hand at lassoing and saw the set up of a ranch, (including a sheep camp that they think is the same one Grandpa used to live in.)
After, we stopped for shaved ice which was quite a mess but still delicious.
Talia and Eden came over for a short visit to say goodbye, then we put the kids in bed early.
Wednesday morning we let the kids play outside, and around noon had to go to the airport for our flight. These are the friends they made in the backyard and spent countless hours with.
The flights home were uneventful. We entertained ourselves in the airport with these dress-up things. Having Hyrum around was helpful-- I didn't have to take all three kids to the bathroom by myself! And the kids mostly just watched movies (and ate) on the flight. We made it home before rush-hour traffic really picked up and had a few hours to relax before the bedtime routine.
A few other noteworthy things from our trip:
-the girls were constantly covered in bandaids from 'hurting' themselves. Based on how many bandaids my mom goes through herself, I think she was sympathetic to their requests. Mila also seemed to bruise herself left and right.
-the first week we were there, SO MUCH COTTON was blowing through the air from a neighbor's tree. It happens every year, but it's ridiculous.
-my mom made the girls new play dresses with rainbows, and she adjusted Tiago's bedding (that we brought out) to have zippers up the side. It makes bed-making so much easier!
-my mom helped put the kids to bed so many nights, which was great. My dad also did his fair share of baby sitting and putting the kids in bed.
