End of July Fun

Jill and the children really lived it up the last week of July.  My mom was watching Brooklyn and Brinlyn while the rest of the family was on trek, so they all got together for a field trip.  Jill picked them up in Taylorsville and they drove downtown to the Family History Library.  It's fun to see our children interact a bit more with the Jake Bryant girls than they have before.  It's really cute to see Brooklyn and Logan talking like teenagers.  Brin has always been great with Alyssa and Alyssa loves being a part of "the girls."  They had a great time playing downtown.  There are really fun interactive displays at the Library and the kids had a great time learning a bit about their family history.  Afterward, they walked through the Church History Museum next door.

That same week, Jill and the kids went to Lagoon.  It's been about ten years since our family had been there.  Landon was a baby and has no memories of it, Logan was only two years old, and of course Alyssa wasn't a part of our family yet.  It's crazy we have been so busy we couldn't even make time to go to Lagoon.  We decided that this year we would finally go.  It was hard to find a date, though, and finally there was just no time left in the summer for us to all go as a family so Jill took the children on July 28th.  The next week, football would be starting, so we needed to fit it in before then.  I took one for the team and went to work to pay for the trip while they all had a blast!  The Roundys, Robert, and Corwin and Judy had all bought season passes, so they met up with Jill.

The kids loved Lagoon!  Logan and Landon loved the rollercoasters, especially Cannibal.  It was the most intense ride at the park and it was their favorite.  Alyssa decided that she didn't want to go on any rides that went upside down, but she had a great time on everything else.

The kiddie rides were more Alyssa's speed.

After a perfect morning of cool weather and small lines, the group took a break for lunch.  Jill had packed a lunch and the kids enjoyed eating with their cousins.  After the break, they were ready for more rides.

Jill loved Lagoon as a kid.  She found, though, that it wasn't as much fun as an adult.  The rides that she used to love now made her queasy!  Even Tidal Wave was a bit rough for her.  She was glad that Amy, Robert, and even Grandpa were able to take the boys on the roller coasters.

While the boys went on rollercoasters, Jill was pretty happy to ride the carousel with Alyssa.

It was really fun for the kids to have Robert and Grandma and Grandpa along.

Jill bought the kids dinner at the park.  Eating out is always fun.

After dinner, they rode rides for a few more hours.  The kids would have been happy to stay until closing time, they were having so much fun.  They stayed until about 9:00, so they were able to enjoy the park when all the lights came on.  I'm glad they were all able to have fun.  Landon, especially, had really been wanting to go.  He loves thrill rides and had heard all about Lagoon from friends and cousins.  The kids thought it was an amazing day.

I've had a project that kept me busy during July.  In a crazy twist of events, we bought another house in our neighborhood.  Our former bishop, Bishop Densley, decided to move to Herriman to live by his daughter.  When he held a yard sale at his house, he announced to me that he was going to move.  I told him we would miss his family and that it was sad they were moving.  They had wanted to offer the home to another family in the ward so they could upgrade from a smaller home to a larger home.  I flippantly said, "Tell them they can buy your house, and I'll buy their house."  As it worked out, that family didn't buy his house, but another former bishop, Bishop Steed, did want to buy it.  His wife, Amy, approached me at church and said, "I understand you want to buy our house so we can buy the Densley's."  It absolutely threw me off my rocker.  I asked her to walk outside so we could talk.  Ultimately the talks led to the sale of the houses.  It was crazy the way it all happened and I'm still trying to decide if it was a good move or not, but it's too late now.  July was spent getting the financing in order and I spent the month of August painting and upgrading the house so it will be a nice home to rent.  More on that later.  Here is the HomeSteed, as I will be calling it for the next few years.  It's been fun and exhausting to get another rental property.  Now I'm crossing my fingers that it will be a good move.