Drive-in

The other day when we were on our way home from Heber/Ogden the kids saw the drive-in movie playing. We had been talking about drive-in's recently and I wondered if it was still open. This just confirmed it was open and we needed to go. So we planned to go on Eric's day off. We saw Monster's University. A very cute movie. We only stayed for one movie, because we were just too tired and knew we wouldn't make it through another movie. The kids loved sitting outside in their camp chairs, eating their caramel popcorn, and just chillin watching the movie. I always have a hard time concentrating on movies at the drive-in. I think my ADD kicks in and there are way too many distractions, but it still is fun. We will have to do it again sometime.

Julander Family Reunion & Little Texas Concert

My cousin Christine Stewart was so nice to plan a Julander family reunion in Heber. We had a pot luck lunch and were able to visit and catch up with the family that was able to come. It is always good to see those that we very seldom see. Everyone's lives are so crazy busy, that it is just so hard to get together. They also had rented a big blow up slide which they turned into a water slide. The kids had a blast playing on that. 

Afterwards we went over to my cousin Melvin's house to take a couple of photos of my Grandma Julander's paintings. There are a couple of different people that want prints of her paintings. She did such an amazing job painting. It was the one thing she loved to do. Melvin's house is gorgeous. They have only lived there a few months. You walk out their backyard and it is the mountain side. He owns part of the mountain. What a dream. I would love a place like that some day. 

I had heard on the radio a couple days earlier about Little Texas playing in Ogden, so thought it would be fun to stop there on the way home. It was a free concert and part of some Ogden Days event that was going on. After driving around and finally finding a parking spot about 1/2 mile away, we got to see the last little bit of their concert and then enjoyed the fireworks. The kids had fun. This was technically their first concert from a semi-famous band. I remember seeing Little Texas when I was a teenager. We didn't get home until pretty late though and we were all exhausted after a long day.

Seven Peaks

Earlier in the year we bought the Salt Lake City passes which gets us into Seven Peaks. We decided to go on Thursday, June 20th. Shanna's family and Kyle's family meet us down there. It was a little chilly, but the kids still had a great time. Their favorite part was the lazy river. We probably spent an hour in there. Hopefully, next time it is warmer and we can enjoy the slides.

Father's Day

Well the two father's in my life were jipped this year. We were just too exhausted from a long week to do anything. We did have a bbq later and cooked ribs. We invited Sallie over and enjoyed good company.

Just because we didn't do much, does not mean that I do not appreciate the two greatest men in my life.

First, my father, who is the best dad one could ask for. He would drop anything and everything to help any one of his kids. His kids are his first priority in life. Family means the world to him. I can not express how grateful I am for all he has done for me and my little family. I love you dad.

Second, the father to my children, Eric is the best dad I could ask for for my kiddos. He is such a hard worker and such a great example to Maisie and Parker. Just a big kid at heart. His kids are his priority. I could probably count on one hand how many times we have done things without the kids. Date nights do not exist without the kids in our household. Honestly, I don't mind.taking them along. After all, doing things with the kids keeps us young.

I love and appreciate both of them. Happy Father's Day to the two best dad's.

Brett & Laura's Wedding

Saturday, June 15 we went to Brett and Laura's wedding which was up Logan Canyon at the Guinavah campground. It was a very nice wedding and reception. It was fun attending a wedding in the outdoors. They look beautiful and happy together. We wish them the best. They had a wonderful dinner catered by USU catering. We enjoyed dancing and visiting with friends and family. Our nieces, JaSalene and Rylee, were there with their dad Brad. Brad is Brett's brother. It was really good seeing them. We don't get to see them very often.

We left the reception about 9:30 and stopped and got a couple of movies. We watched Rock of Ages. I thought it was awesome. The music was great. I love 80's rock. We cranked it up on our big screen and just enjoyed the music. Even Eric liked it.

Arriving in San Jose

We arrived in San Jose about 12:00 on Tuesday. Driving through the Sierra mountains was absolutely gorgeous. We would really like to go back there one day and camp and enjoy those mountains. It was nice breaking up the trip and not having to go the whole way in one day. We didn't do a whole lot on Tuesday other than relaxing and visiting with Mary (Gary's fiance), Sallie and Jerry. Sallie took me on a mini tour of San Jose. She showed me where she used to live before moving to Logan. She informed me that the house did not look the same as it did when they lived there. I have seen pictures and the yard was immaculate, just like her yard in Logan. We then ventured on to Safeway to get steaks for dinner.

Sara and Mark (Gary & Mary's friends) came over later that evening and we enjoyed a BBQ. It was really good to visit with them again. They are such great people.

Wednesday - We got up and went to the flea market that was just down the street. Wow! The flea market was really interesting. People and junk everywhere. Parker got a baseball glove and bat. Maisie got a belt and that was the extent of our spending at the flea market. Then when we got back to the house we helped Sallie go through a little bit more of Gary's stuff and just relaxed around the house. Eric and Sallie went to U-haul and got the trailer for the bronco. It was kind of nice having a relaxing week and just being there for Sallie and Mary. Wendy (Sallie's daughter), Chris (her boyfriend), and their little girl Mikayla came over for dinner. We cooked up the rest of the steaks and had leftover salads. After dinner they enjoyed a little game of mini baseball with Parker. He couldn't wait to put his bat and glove to use.

Thursday - We went to breakfast at the El Rancho. It was very yummy. Then it was time to load the big stuff. First we loaded the big tool box. Mary's dad came over and helped. Between Eric, Jerry, and John (Mary's dad), they were able to load everything. Then it was the gun safe. Then we hooked up the truck to the trailer and loaded the bronco. They had some problems with the trailer lights, but once they went to the parts store and replaced the plug-in on Eric's truck everything worked great and we were ready to go.

Later, Sara and Mark came over again and Mark brought pizza for dinner. There was a bit of confusion on who was bringing pizza and we had a good laugh over it. Sallie had gotten a text from Mark earlier in the day that mentioned Amy (who worked at the funeral home and who has become a friend) coming over and it sounded like she was bringing pizza. Then Mark called later and said he was bringing pizza. Sallie told him that Amy was also bringing pizza and he didn't have to bring too much. Well once Mark arrived and we got talking we realized that his text meant he was bringing the pizza and Amy was just coming over. In the meantime, Mary had texted Amy and told her she didn't need to bring too many pizza's cause Mark had brought some. She was so confused and thought oh I need to bring pizza. I will be over soon. We all got a good laugh over it, once we realized what had happened. Amy arrived a little while later and we enjoyed a game of Catch Phrase. Everyone left about 10:30 cause we were getting up at 4:00 a.m. to head home.

Friday - We got up at 4:00 and finished loading some odds and end things and were on the road at 4:45 a.m. It was amazing how many cars there were at that hour in the morning, but thankfully we didn't run into any traffic. We made it out of the cities and were on our way. We stopped just before the Sierra's for gas. I think total we had to stop 5 times for gas. We actually made really good time even carrying a big load. Maisie road with Sallie through the Sierra's and then I jumped in and road with her the rest of the way home. We had some good chats. We made it home about 7:00 Utah time, so it took us almost exactly 13 hours. It was nice to be home and make it home safely. We were grateful we were able to help Sallie.

To Reno/San Jose we go

We had told Sallie that if she needed help moving some of Gary's stuff back to Utah we had the week of June 10th off and didn't have set in stone plans. We left Logan Sunday as soon as Eric got home from work about 7:45. We set out in the trunk. I did all the driving since Eric hadn't slept. We had decided to make a mini vacation out of it and stopped in Reno for two nights. Because of the traffic and driving a big huge truck we didn't venture out much. We we arrived in Reno at about 4:00 we got all of our stuff settled and then looked up eating places that were in walking distance. We started out down the street and realized that the two places we were thinking of eating were closed because it was Sunday. Thankfully we looked down the street and saw a Wendy's about a block away. We arrived back to the hotel just in time for it to start pouring. Glad we made it back in time. The kids were very disappointed. All they had been looking forward to was swimming. Because of the rain and lightening they had closed the pool. The front desk called us about 8:00 and informed us the pool had opened. I took the kids down there and they didn't last very long. The pool was kind of dirty and cold. I think they maybe swam about 20 minutes. 

Monday morning we woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel and then we went to Virginia City. I had always wanted to go back to Virginia City. I went there when Maisie was about 18 months because of a work event in Reno. We were able to go to Virginia City, but only for a few hours. I thought it was so cool that I wanted to take Eric back there. I thought this was perfect timing and took the opportunity. VC is an old silver mining town that use to have a population of over 15,000. Today the population is less than 1,000. Now it is mainly just a tourist town with lots of fun little shops. When we first got there we rode the trolley that took us around town and gave us a little history of the town. I believe there are 16 cemetery's on the hillsides of Virginia City. Each group of people had separate cemeteries. Such as the Masons, Pacific Coast Pioneers, Knights of Pythias, Virginia City Firemen, Wilson and Brown, Improved Order of Redmen, Roman Catholic, and the city and county. After the trolley ride, we enjoyed sarsaparilla in the Bucket of Blood Saloon. 

Virgina City has about 15 cemeteries within the hillsides.

These houses were built so close together they look like one. Some grudge between to men.

Although it rained most of the day, we had a great time. Good thing the sidewalks were covered. 

We arrived back at the hotel at about 4:00. It was still pouring so we didn't go out. We had a late lunch, so walked the 1/2 block for a yummy shake. Then we just relaxed in the room.