The pool

We have an amazing family in our neighborhood who let us use their pool. We used it for Courtney's 10th birthday party. The mom called me on Saturday to let me know that they would be gone from 5-7:30 pm and their pool would be lonely. She said we were welcome to go keep it company. She didn't have to ask us twice!

We loaded up, courtney asked a friend to go along, and we walked over. It was so much fun and just what we needed.

Courtney's room

We are redecorating Courtney's room. She had been trying to figure out what she wants but finally made up her mind.

Bryan took out her desk and the cabinet. And he has been putting primer on all the walls. When her comforter comes on Thursday she will pick a paint for her accent wall. It's coming together.

Scout Camp

Ethan went with the ward to scout camp and Tifie. He likes scout camp and was happy to go. 

They left at 6 am. The first two days, the older boys were able to do more of the high adventure stuff. So they went climbing and repelling, on a zipline, and to the archery range. The last 3 days they worked on merit badges. Ethan earned the search and rescue merit badge.

Our ward paid for the cafeteria plan so they wouldn't have to worry about food but Ethan said the food was pretty gross. They had soy burgers and mystery meat. He said it made youth conference food seem good. (Yeah for me!)

He came home tired and smelly but has great stories and had a great time.

Temple trip

Bryan and I decided to take a quick trip while Ethan was at scout camp. My parents watched Courtney (who was spoiled with dinners out, bowling and lots of attention) while we were gone.

We drove to Payson and went to a temple session. That is such a beautiful temple! Then we drove to Highland to an airbnb we had rented. It was pretty nice with a pool and BBQ pit.

After putting away the groceries and looking around, we drove to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi for a concert of the Utah Symphony. 

We parked, stood in line and then went to stake out our seats. We had a blanket and small lawn chairs so we found a spot really close to the front. We decided to explore the gardens before picking up our picnic dinner.

I loved the gardens but my favorites were the Secret Garden and the Light of the World garden.

This one had beautiful bronze statues that depicted the life of Christ. They were amazing!

We picked up our dinners (which weren't very good and actually made me sick for a day) and ate while people watching. Then we went back to our lawn chairs to wait for the concert to begin.

We didn't realize that it was Gentry (the gentlemen trio) thatbwas performing accompanied by the Utah Symphony. We hadn't heard them before but it was a great concert that we really enjoyed.

The director was great and really fun to watch.

We went back to the airbnb for the night. Then on Wednesday morning, we went to the Oquirrah Mountain Temple for a session. The Jordan River Temple is closed for remodeling so it was super busy. But it was a pretty temple. We had taken the kids through in 2009 when they had the open house so it was fun to see it again.

We changed, ate lunch, talked to the owners of the airbnb (nice people who loved in Livermore, CA for 40 years) and then we went exploring around and to the Purple Store (I want one of their mattresses). We went back and swam in the pool where we were staying, ate dinner, and went to a movie.

Friday morning we woke up, went to the Draper Temple and then headed home. It was a fun trip and just what we needed to get away.

No smilie face?!

We went to Costco today and Courtney was excited to hold the receipt when we left the store but her excitement turned into disappointment. The lady didn't draw a smilie face on the receipt! 😳

 

Swollen eye

Courtney woke up Saturday and asked me "Is my eye swollen?" Yes, it is. She didn't know what had happened but her left eye was itchy and it was swollen. I have her Benadryl and she took it easy. 

 

Sunday morning came and her eyes wasn't as swollen but it had a definite bump in the lid. It still was itchy but she didn't like feeling drowsy with the Benadryl. We are hoping it goes away soon.

 

She did figure out in Monday that she can wink because the eye is swollen. So there is the silver lining. 😉

Differences

When Ethan was in California for 4 days Courtney was so lonely. She said, "I don't like being an only child."

When Courtney was at her overnighter last week Ethan told me "I don't think it would be bad to be an only child."

Haha! We figure the difference is this:

1. The oldest was an only child for a while (in Ethan's case it was 3 years) so they know how to entertain themselves and can do things alone.

2. The second child needs to entertained because what older child doesn't want to play with a baby?! We have ample video of Ethan entertaining Courtney. So now she is programmed to be entertained.

I think Courtney is going to have a rough time when Ethan goes on his mission!