Costco Run!

Our trips to Utah over the last few months have been brief and packed with fun things like visiting friends and grandparents.  So when we've gone, I've never had time to stop and shop at Costco.  By August, I'd gone 5 months without stocking up on anything and we were getting desperate.  Shopping in bulk in Star Valley is NOT a good idea for the budget.  With a few must-have back-to-school items on our list and plenty we needed at Costco, I knew we needed to make a trip to Utah before school started.

We left Sunday after church and got to spend Sunday evening in North Salt Lake with the Whetstones and the Coulams.  We had one of our old-time dessert nights and let the kids enjoy playing together out in the front yard.  When we're there with our friends, sometimes it's easy to forget that we ever moved.  And then I remember and I'm kind of sad, but so glad that when we get together it's easy to jump back into our friendships.  

Natalie, Henry and Emma

Joely and Lucy. . .these girls are CRAZY together!

Super Kiddos

Andrew, Carson, Anna, Abigail, and Natalie (I love her expression!)

The Whetstones were kind enough to let us stay with them over night, which was totally fun!  Joely was a stinker about laying down and going to sleep, but once I brought her downstairs with me and held her while I visited, she was out pretty fast.  The next morning we all walked Anna to school, and it was just like old times.  I got to see Angela, my former first counselor, and Cari Scott and her boys.  Man, I miss our friends in North Salt Lake!  We were blessed to know so many good people there.  I'm grateful for the chance to see some of them.

Sara watched the kids while I took my life in my hands by trying to get the jogging stroller out of our packed-unbelievably-full storage unit.  I have to say that I was quite impressed with myself for getting both the stroller and myself out of the storage unit in less than half an hour with no injuries.  I was like Spiderman crawling up and over furniture!  :)

The kids and I hit Target, Walmart, Great Clips (Emma needed a haircut), the Dollar Store, and Baskin Robbins (for Emma's free birthday cone) before heading south in time to beat the rush hour traffic.  

We stopped in Lehi to see Great-Grandma McClure at her nursing home.  Grandma was in one of the many recliners watching TV, but there was an empty spot next to her so the kids and I just plopped down and visited for about half an hour.  I wasn't expecting much, but she actually sort of had a conversation with me.  She loved the kids and kept telling me how cute and beautiful they are.  We sang a few songs and took a couple of pictures.

Ok, I know I look scary, but I was trying to make sure Carson didn't hurt my camera while taking this picture!  Grandma thought I was funny. . .

Peek-a-boo, Grandma!

It was quite a special half an hour for me.  I don't think the kids thought it was spectacular, but it felt like Grandma and I were actually visiting, instead of me just having a one-sided conversation.  I was so glad we went.

We checked in to our hotel in north Orem and then headed to Provo for dinner.  I had a KSL Deal for the Crepe Company that we needed to use.  When we walked in, the restaurant was nothing like I'd imagined.  It looked run down and kind of ghetto, to be honest.  There was only one employee, and it took her quite some time to make the crepes we ordered.  But, oh boy!  We LOVED our crepes.  The kids and I had 3 savory crepes and one dessert crepe that we shared.  It was really good.  Now I need to make some for our dinner at home some time.

We managed to make it to Costco before they closed.  After going up and down pretty much every aisle at least twice and losing one of Joely's flip flops in the process, we had what we needed.  Luckily Joely's missing flip flop had made it into the lost and found, so we really did get everything.  $200 later, we were ready to head for the hotel.

We haven't slept in hotels with our kids much.  Actually, I can still say that I haven't SLEPT in a hotel with my kids much.  Because we didn't really sleep.  At all.  First Joely refused to go down (keep in mind this is at 10:00 after a previous night of little sleep for her).  She kept jumping out of bed and running around while I was in the shower.  I sang several primary songs and it seemed like all the kids had finally fallen asleep.  I checked Facebook and my email for awhile and was able to sleep for a bit.  But by 2:00 in the morning, Carson was awake.  And moving around.  And waking Emma up every few minutes while he pulled the sheet over or got situated.  I threatened, and I begged, but it didn't change much.  By about 5:30, he'd finally stopped moving around and I figured the kids were all asleep again.  During all that wakeful time, I was also constantly moving Joely over (we were sharing a bed).  She slept well once she fell asleep, but she sure is wiggly!  Dave and I never have the kids in our bed, so this was a new experience.  Dave and I will still never have the kids in our bed!  It wasn't restful, to say the least!

I'm sure this sounds very complainy. . .and in the middle of the night I felt very complainy.  But by the time the real morning came around, we actually were all okay.  No headaches, no extreme grumpiness.  So I guess it really wasn't that bad at all. . .

Emma had a photo appointment at JC Penney at noon, so after we ate breakfast, packed everything, and checked out, we drove over to East Bay to pick some things up for Grandpa Robinson at Sam's Club and hit the Dollar Store (again).  Emma was FANTASTIC for her photos.  She had been grumpy in the morning, but she totally flipped a switch once the camera was around.  She smiled and did everything the lady asked.  They even had me stand in a few of the pictures because they're trying to incorporate parents more.  I loved it!  Joely was really mad when Emma was done because she thought it was her turn to take pictures.  By the time we'd left, I'd joined the JC Penney portrait club (hey, it only cost me $6), and we had ordered plenty of cute pictures of Emma for her 5th birthday/kindergarten pictures.

For lunch we ate at Sammy's in downtown Provo (another KSL deal).  The kids weren't too hungry, but we all enjoyed the sweet potato fries and chicken tenders.  It was nice to eat outside where we could watch the cranes working on the new Provo Tabernacle Temple.  We ran by Toys 'R Us to find a little something for Emma's birthday (using the $3 coupon they mailed her) and then headed over to Grandma Jex's house for a couple of hours.

We hadn't seen Grandma Jex in awhile; we were so glad to see her!  We got to visit and run around outside and make sack dinners to take with us on our drive to Star Valley.  We're glad for every opportunity we have to visit with Grandpa and Grandma Jex!

The drive home wasn't too bad.  In fact, both the drive to and from Utah felt easy because we've been doing the Colorado drive more often this summer, and this drive is only half as long.  It was good to be home.  We'd only been gone about 48 hours, but they were jam-packed.  I was glad to be home for a few days of quiet before Labor Day weekend and the start of school.