General Conference Saturday Afternoon Session

Aunt Becky & Uncle Kevin were going to come up from Arizona for Conference this year for a visit, that is until Kevin landed a job in Idaho and they are now quickly getting their home ready to sell! (EEEEEE!! We are SO excited to have them closer!)

They sent us their tickets for the session they were going to attend.

 

 

Caleb is just old enough to go, and with Cody gone to Shakespeare and Emma sick as a dog, the two younger boys got to go on a "date" with Dad and Mom.

We hopped on Front Runner and rode the trains into the city...

 

It was a fun ride! 

 

 

Because of the train schedule, we were 15 minutes late, but they still let us in!

Cameron loved "singing with the Prophet".

Caleb couldn't believe all the people that were there!

 

It was a great session!

 

When we got back to the Front Runner Station, we had a 45 minute wait for the train...

 

 

It was a lot of fun and we are so glad we could go!!

 

Next time we will not rely on the trains ---- and we want to bring everybody! Including Becky and Kevin and family! ;)

1st Stop - Bonneville Salt Flats

This first official stop on our trip was at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

The kids wandered down in the 106 degree weather to explore the salt...

Mom and Dad set up lunch at the picnic tables.

Cody & Caleb finding cool chunks of sparking salt.

Everyone came back to the table to start eating, but Caleb was enthralled! He wanted to keep exploring.

 About 5 minutes later he came running up to the table all excited! He had found a marker on the salt flat! (a permanent marker!)

We gave him a napkin to try it out on and he opened it up.

Out fell a huge marijuana joint!

YUCK!

Mom snagged it up and grab Caleb's hand and as she rushed him to the car to wash his hands with sanitizing wipes, dropping the joint and the marker into the trash!

Momma scrubbed his hands thoroughly.

Then his face.

He seemed confused.

After she was sure there was no ickiness upon his little body, we joined  the crew at lunch.

A few minutes later Caleb says in a relieved voice...

"OH!!! I get it! You were washing my hands for lunch!"

 

BWAHAHAHAHA!!

Uh - Yeah - Spot on little man!

*shudder*

 

Why is it always Caleb...?

(LOL)

 

Mom and Dad... ready to get back in the car and hit the road!

We got a late start and it could be after midnight by the time we reach Vacaville!

San Francisco! Here we come!!

We are super exicted!

My cousin Kayelani and her hubby Daniel have invited us to come visit them and spend a week playing and exploring with them!

Aunt Becky & Uncle Kevin (and Amanda & Jake) will be there visiting as well!

12 people sharing a 2 bedroom apartment!

WOOHOO!!

We will get to check off two bucket list items on this trip!

Heather's bucket list item was to see fireworks over San Francisco Bay.

Jestin's was to eat fish at Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39.

We plan to do both!

 

We bought a new (used) car a couple of weeks ago, and to save on gas money we are cramming in together to go! (You KNOW you are jealous of our fun when you see that picture right??)

It's SO gonna be worth it!

Jestin had minor surgery the Friday before we left, so Heather gets to drive us all there.

Should be an adventure!!

 

See you in a week!

Snack Boxes and Travel Food

A NEW TRAVEL TRADITION!!!

 

We are headed to San Francisco in a few days and we are taking our "new-to-us" 2004 Ford Taurus sedan. Yep. All six of us, together, in a barely-six-seater for a 13 hour car trip!

*gulp*

 

Space will be very limited and so I worried about how we were going to transport our snacks and not end up with mashed boxes and crumb chips. Not to mention, of course, the inconvenience of mom being the hander-outer non-stop in a tight space... and it all ending up at mom's feet to boot! LOL

 

I was at the Dollar Store picking up a few of our cheap favorite snacks when I passed by these tall plastic containers...

...and it hit me!

 

Everyone gets their own box to hold/keep track of!

BRILLIANT!!

 

I snagged the boxes, some sandwich baggies, the rest of the snacks and headed for home to share my excitement with the kids. :)

They were all THRILLED with the idea!

Everyone got to choose what he/she loved!!

 

We broke out the label maker and gathered all the snacks I had been buying on sale for the last 3 months for this trip. 

Cam and Code loving theirs! 

Cubs can't contain his excitement!! 

TEE HEE HEE 

Even Mom and Dad were going to be in charge of their own snacking pleasures on this trip.

 

Everyone kept their box down by their feet and we tossed all the extra space taking boxes and bags the treats came in! YAY! 

Food is ready to go!! 

Here's a variety pic so you can kind of see what each box had in it... 

We are ready to go!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

** Post trip notes **

** Instead of sugar laden drinks, each child took a water bottle and we took our 5 gal water cooler with us in the trunk and refilled at each bathroom break. It worked out perfectly! (all we ever bought was ice to refill it - the heat of the day melted it as needed!)

 

** We also filled a gallon size baggie with celery & carrots and if the kids wanted they had the single serve peanut butter cups in their own boxes to eat with them (Mom & Cody's fav!)

 

** We also had another gallon baggie with peeled and wedged oranges and 2 different kinds of apples (cut into wedges) - Em juiced one fresh lemon all over the top of the fruit and shook the bag to coat the oranges and bananas... it kept the apples fresh and crunchy with very minimal browning for almost a week! (have used bottled lemon juice before it is not as effective) 

 

** The previously mentioned baggies of fresh food we kept in a small ice chest in the trunk, along with some lunch meats, cheese, mayo/mustard and tortillas - we made wraps for the big meals on the trip. There also were some frozen applesauce pkgs (the kind you suck out) for when we needed something refreshing. When we stopped for potty breaks along the way we would rotate the fresh bags when we got water refills. It was lovely!

 

** note: Don't divvy up beef jerky into sandwich bags for this - it is too strong smelling and some of our crackers took on the flavor of jerky. Jerky will just have to stay a pass around treat LOL (meat flavored Nilla Waffers was weird LOL)

 

** The kids did not eat all their snack items, and often gathered some of their baggies of snacks for their day-packs while were in SF. (each child had their own string day pack to carry their water bottle, snacks, camera, and sovenier $ - that was a back saver for mom and dad! And saved the begging for expensive drinks and treats along the way!) A quick stop at the grocery store and the boxes were refreshed for the trip home as well! This was a real life saver!!

 

Hope to use this new tradition from now on! It was a great way to teach the kids moderation and responsibility as well: There were no boxes/bags to refill from... they had to ration smartly to make it last the whole trip and they all did beautifully with snacks to spare!! :)

The Rest of President's Day Weekend...

Saturday night Amy & I put together two of the

Pumpkin French Toast Bake

& the

Sausage Breakfast Casserole

recipes I had made for Christmas morning...

it was PERFECT for our Sunday morning.

No work.

Just a good hearty breakfast!

 Church was a 1pm.

 

We were delighted to find when we got there that it was the mission farewell of Brock Larson, one of the young men in our ward that the Sorensen's knew when they lived here.

It was a wonderful meeting!

 

Amy also got to be there with us as Cody was set apart as the new

Deacon's Quorum President

(finally a month later LOL)

We came home from church and prepared to enjoy the day together!

Amy made her Mom-in-Law Jo's famous French Bread recipe

to go with a huge lasagna and 2 huge salads.

She also attempted to copy the bread from the Italian restaurant the night before...

she is GOOD! It was pretty darn close!

YUM! 

While Jes worked on some math homework, and the Mom's made dinner, the others worked on one of the puzzles that Cam got for his birthday 

Dinnertime!!

(Someday we will so adore this cute photo of Eva peeking over the height of the counter top in great anticipation!) 

After dinner it was time to play games!

Normally when we get together there are so many things that need to get done that we rarely get to just sit and play! This was CHOICE! :) 

Everyone played! 

 

Thanks for the new game for Christmas Katie & Greg!

The T-shirt Game

(similar to Apples to Apples)

was a hit! 

 

Ema's turn... 

Cody helping Caleb 

Hmmm... which one is best.... 

Caleb and Sam moved on to Dominoes (their way LOL) after the big game. 

These three snuck off to my room to play Disney "DVD Pictionary" 

Lookin' good guys! 

Eva found a puzzle just her size 

The *ahem* "older set" gathered to play "Greed"

(a.k.a. Farkle) 

We didn't do very good Daddy! 

Hmmm... which to keep... which to keep... 

Go Henry! 

Jestin has no luck at all when it comes to dice games...

No Las Vegas for him! LOL 

He gave up on a second round and went to play with Eva (his bud) 

Austin wandered off to a puzzle too...

I think he was determined to see it finished! LOL 

They are so sweet together! 

Little Eva has always liked to play with Jestin when she comes.

Austin got some help... and... 

TA-DA!

It was a toughie!

But everyone took a turn helping to build it.

 

The next morning, Austin & Amy took over cooking duty and treated us to Buttermilk Pancakes and sausage. I attempted to make some buttermilk syrup to go with it...

yeah... it did not turn out.

(Pictures/recipe to follow)

 

 

President's Day morning, Jestin had to work.

The kids played and played.

Amy & I ran off to do their traditional huge shopping trip to take home to Ely with them.

I could not stop getting all teary eyed. I didn't realize how much I missed just hanging out with *my* friend (without kids and hubbies). That sounds terrible, but really! It felt good to giggle and chat uninterrupted as girls while we shopped. FUN!

 

We were sad to see them load up and go home...

what a wonderfully fulfilling weekend we had!

THANK YOU

to our dear friends!!

WE  LOVE YA!