A Visit From Jake, Liz and Boys

In September Jake, Liz and the boys came to visit on their way to her family reunion. It was fun to have them here, even though it was a short visit. They also stopped on their way home, so we got to see them twice!

We had fun on the patio with the bubble machine and the slide.

Josh and Charlie are such fun loving little boys. They loved the bubble machine, but when they would get interested in something else, I would turn it off to save the batteries. But as soon as I did, one of them would notice, and run over and turn it back on! Charlie love doing the teeter totter all by himself. We tried to show him how you can do it with two, but he would have none of that!

Charlie was content with the smaller slide................

But Josh prided himself on going down the big, semi scary slide. This slide has been around since their Dad was a kid, and is seriously high. There is no way it would pass the safety standards of today, so Josh's bravery was justified. 

They even managed to fit in a Ranger ride.

It was so fun to have them here for a couple of days. These last pictures are on Sunday morning and the boys are in their pajamas. I wish you could see the big holes in Josh's superman pj's! He loves those pajamas so much, and won't part with them, though the knees are shot.

We sure do love these two cute little boys. They light up our lives.

The Sollenberger Classic

I realize that it's February and I am just now blogging about August, but I am trying to get caught up. I know it would be easier to just start from now, but I can't. That just seems wrong. So here goes.

Football started early this year because we were invited to play in the Sollenberger Classic in Arizona. It was pretty exciting because we got to play in this stadium.

It's the University of Phoenix Stadium where the Arizona Cardinals play.

We stayed at the Arizona Biltmore, a ritzy hotel that was build in the 1920's or maybe 30's, not quite sure. It was a really cool hotel where all the movie stars and famous people used to stay, and it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Lexi was visiting us, so she got to come with us, and Hill and Keith and the kids came and visited us each day and took advantage of the really awesome swimming pool right outside our door.

We had so much fun swimming with the kids. There was a really cool slide that everybody loved, but it took me and Finley a while to appreciate it.

You can tell Sareny is having a great time!

The first night we had an exclusive tour of the stadium, which would have been much more enjoyable if I hadn't developed blisters on my heels from all the walking (in my new shoes I bought when all the wives went shopping). Still, it was really interesting and lots of fun.

Here we are in the Cardinal's team room.

That night they had a banquet for us and the speaker was Randall McDaniel, former Arizona State and Vikings player. Afterwards Lexi met him and had him sign her T-shirt. The next day we went swimming again, and then it was time for the big game. We were able to get tickets for Hill and Keith and the kids and it was fun to have them come. We played an Arizona school called Show Low. They were supposed to be a really good team, nationally ranked and all, but we beat them! It was really a fun game and cool that we won.

Here are a few game pictures.

The cheering section. Our son-in-law's dad, also named John Ronquillo, was supportive and came to watch the game with us. I thought it was really nice of him.

Winning this game was really fun. It felt like winning state or something (almost!)

It was a fun weekend, and even more fun because we got to share it with Lexi and Hill and Keith and the kids. Plus it's always fun to win! 





The Fallstom's Visit

Hillari and the kids came for a visit in August and we spent the day in Las Vegas going to the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus. It wasn't quite Disneyland, or even Lagoon, but the kids had fun and that's all that matters.

They were just so cute riding on all the rides. Finley loves carousels, so she was happy on this one.

Isn't Isaac so cute!

Okay, I'm having blogging problems, so now my captions will be at the bottom of the picture they are describing. This ride ended up being a favorite of Isaac and Sareny, but poor Finley got super scared on it. It was kind of a kiddie version of Tower of Terror. Fin tried to be brave but ended up crying through most of it. We felt so bad for her! The other two loved it and went on it again and again.

The ever popular bumper cars.

 

 

After we left the Adventure Dome, we went to the Belagio to take the kids to see the fantastic gardens they have there.

 

This picture is kind of dark, but the gardens are really quite fabulous.

 

After that we took them outside to watch the water show, which is short but very cool.

 

These kiddos always have to have a bubble bath in Grammy's big tub.

 

Then came the infamous disaster of the Ranger Ride gone bad. We went to the Virgin River and got super douper stuck in the mud. We had to get creative and get arm loads of bushes for traction.........

and come up with this ingenious lifting system so I could shove the bushes under. We worked really hard, but what really got us out was Isaac saying prayers and asking for divine intervention! He was so cute, and said a prayer immediately when we knew we were stuck.

Then we managed to have some fun, including a water fight!

 

We had lots of fun while they were here for their visit. We took the kids to the Winnie the Pooh movie and swimming at the pool. We loved having them visit and doing some fun things with them before the whole back to school business started up again!

On to Utah for a Visit

Cassidy wanted to go for a visit to Utah to see Grandma and Grandpa and also visit Jake, Liz, and Lexi before she traveled back to Hawaii.First we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Quarnberg's and Grandpa took Truman for a ride in his great big tractor, which Tru loved, though he was a little scared at first.

Grandpa has a ranch, and he loves to take the grandkids to see his cows and horses when they visit.

Grandma and Grandpa with Truman.

A favorite picture

On the way to Jake and Liz's we decided to stop at Yuba Dam and see how much water was coming over the spillway, which hadn't happened for 20 or more years, because of the huge spring melt.

The first thing we decided to do after arriving at Jake and Liz's was to go do a tour of the Kennecott copper mine. It was pretty amazing. This picture shows just how huge the tires are on the trucks that are as big as houses that haul the ore up from the bottom of the mine.

The mine is so huge it is mind boggling. You can see the little tiny dots down in the bottom that are the trucks.

Those trucks looks like toys!

Jake, Liz, Josh, and Charlie

Grandpa showing Truman the trucks.

Three little boys needed a bath after spending the day at the copper mine.

The next day, while Jeff and Jake went golfing, we took the boys to Thanksgiving Point Gardens. It was really fun for the boys with lots to do, and really beautiful. Here's Josh and Charlie in the maze we got kinda lost in.

Truman "riding" a bear!

There was a little stream with wooden "boats" for the kids to float down the water. I think they had the most fun here.

Liz helping Josh with his boat.

Cute little Charlie

These two little boys had so much fun!

Then it was off to play in the splash pool.

 

Tia Lexi read them a bedtime story.

Liz has been wanting to take us to Gardner Village for a long time, so the next day we went there. I loved it! There were so many cute and fun stores. But we soon learned shopping with three little boys is not very fun. I guess their parents already knew this, but I had forgotten. We still had fun though.

 

We had such a fun time at Jake and Liz's, but all too soon it was time to go. On the way home we stopped again at Mom and Dad's. We had fun taking Truman to the Petting Zoo at Dairy Queen.

 

We had another little photo session at Mom and Dad's. Their flower garden is always so beautiful.

 

Right before we left I wanted a picture of Cass and Truman with his Great Grandma and Grandpa.

We decided to make a stop at Grandma Keel's and see if she happened to be there, and to our delight, she was there. She spends most of her time in Oregon and only comes to Utah periodically, so we were glad we got to see her.

We finally spent a few days back at home, and this cute little picture is Truman having a "spit bath" in the kitchen sink.

 

Swinging in the back yard.

 

One last Ranger ride.

 

While Cass was here we wanted to do some sewing and crafting, and we were able to make lots of cute things in the time she was here. We had to utilize Truman's naps and stay up late at night to get our projects done, but we had lots of fun doing it. We tried finishing projects while Truman was around, and it was a disaster. He is a busy little boy and didn't want to be left out of the fun. This is a picture showing some of the fun hot pads, pouches, pin cushions and aprons we made. This cute apron is the one Cass made. Mine wasn't quite finished when we took this picture.

We also tried to exercise together when we could, and started P90X with some friends while Cass was here, when we weren't traveling all over. I really enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed the whole visit, and it was pretty sad and lonely around here when they left to go home. We made some fun memories though, and had a super good time!