At the end of July, my brother, Alex, came to have some dental work done. The girls and I drove him back to Utah and stayed for 2 weeks. Mike joined us for the last few days.
This picture was taken in honor of my dad, who loves driving, loves road trips, and always keeps one of these hand-strengthening things in his car.
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The girls are awesome travelers (especially with Uncle Alex along).
We spent the first week at Grandma Orva and Grandpa Paul's. The Hirschis were there for the first few days. Cousins are the best! The girls also spent lots of time reading with Grandpa Paul and hanging with their uncles, Vic and David.
My Aunt Amy so generously opened her pool to us the whole time we were there! We went almost every day and LOVED it!
One of my mom's friends, Rachel Gibson, took these beautiful pictures of the kids:
More swimming pictures:
I love this one: Elaine and Paul are so focused on whatever David is telling them.
Mariah watched me give a diving lesson to one of Amy's friend's daughters. The next day she said she wanted to learn. Elaine wanted a lesson too. I was amazed at how well they did!
Mariah's one-lesson progression shocked us all!
We went up the canyon a couple times. Oh, how I miss my Utah mountains!
Watching the storm rolling over the mountain toward us:
The girls found a deer rib on our hike and took it back to Grandma's for Yankee.
The evening before we left Grandma Orva's, little Sal took a tumble down the stairs and broke her collarbone. I took her 2 doors down to Dr. Aznar, our chiropractor, because she was complaining her neck hurt, and she couldn't turn her head. The way she was crying when I moved her and/or picked her up (and I had seen the way she landed), I suspected she had broken her collarbone in addition to kinking her neck. Dr. Aznar fixed her neck and back and put her arm in a sling for the night. The adjustment hurt her pretty bad, and Sally still talks about how "that one girl at the 'chirofactor's' house gave her a sucker for being a good sport."
We had a pretty rough night that night, so I took her in to the ER first thing in the morning. Sure enough: broken collarbone. Sal was a trooper through all the (very painful) x-rays.
We went straight from the ER to cousin Orva's 5th birthday party. Her mom (my sister, Christine) knows how to put on a party! The girls were in heaven! (I had to explain to them that such a party will never (NEVER) happen at my house. This kind of party only happens at Christine's house.)
Elaine and Orva: 5 weeks apart.
We spent the second half of our stay at Grandma Shaunna and Grandpa Jim's house.
Elaine got a belated birthday from Grandma and Grandpa!
We went to Amy's pool. Grandma walked Sally around in this floaty the whole time 'cause she couldn't swim with her broken collarbone.
The other girls played an intense game of keep-away with Aunt Cami.
Grandma taught the girls how to weave.
The girls put on a (very long) play.
Some (blurry) P90-X with Grandma and Grandpa.
Lots of dressing up!
We met up with Mike's Uncle Tom and Aunt Greta (who are my age) and their daughters, Ella and Audrey. Mariah and Ella were instant besties!
Manicures and pedicures with Grandma.
Checking out the progress of the Provo Tabernacle/Temple.
Mike joined us for the last few days. We sure missed him!
S'mores!
One of the hardest and most rewarding/therapeutic things we (I) did while in Utah was finish filming for this video. I interviewed for the video back in April, when I was in Utah for our Sisters' Weekend (post to come eventually). They decided they wanted footage of our family; Mike was such a good sport to do it the morning after he flew in. (If you watch the video, the girls greeting Mike at the door when he "gets home from work" is the first time they had seen him in almost 2 weeks.)
The process was exhausting and emotionally draining (though therapeutic at the same time), and I still can't watch the video without crying. Something about feeling perfect empathy while watching myself cry, I guess.
And finally: the road home. Oklahoma always greets us with a rainbow.
(Wow. This post might be my longest post ever! Congratulations if you made it to the end.)
