The Last Week of Summer

How did we spend our last week of summer?  We had a whole lot of fun!

We played Mario Party on the Wii.

We visited the Huntsman Center with Grandma Allen.

We played at the splash-pad in Kaysville.

And most importantly, we just got a whole lot of wiggles out by having fun as a family.

Weber State University's New Faculty Retreat

Two weekends ago I got to go with Bryce to beautiful Midway, Utah to attend a New Faculty Retreat for Weber State University.  Grandma Allen, Owen, and MayLynn came up to Heber City to be nearby and Bryce, River, and I got to stay at the Zermott Resort.  During the 2 1/2 days of the retreat we learned a lot of important information about being a full-time employee and teacher at Weber State, and got to enjoy the beautiful Wasatch Mountains.

The first day of the retreat, Bryce and I took a 4 mile hike with a group of other new faculty, and the pictures above show the beautiful sights we saw as well as a rainbow I saw in the evening after a brief rain shower.

These are pictures of the resort - first the view from our bedroom's window, the decorations on/around the fireplace in the lobby, and the fancy bed that we got to sleep in.

On the last day that we were there, we had Grandma, Owen, and MayLynn came join us at the resort  for some swimming, sight seeing, and a ride on the carousel.

It was hard to leave the fun behind, but when it was over we returned home to finish getting ready for school to start.

The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point

Last week we took our kids to the Museum of Ancient Life (a.k.a. Dinosaur Museum) at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah.  They were having $2 admission on Tuesdays in August, so we decided that Bryce would take an afternoon off of work and we'd take the kids and Grandma Allen and go to the museum.  We also met up with StacyAnn and baby Jack to make a complete party of fun. 

All of our kids seemed to enjoy themselves. We pulled out our double stroller for the first time, and River seemed to enjoy it.  She started out the excursion sleeping, but she woke up and had fun for part of the time.

MayLynn, who has become more independent since River was born, had fun doing things her way.  She had fun looking at the exhibits and playing with the hands-on activities.

Owen just loves dinosaurs, so he was in his element.  He was especially excited when he saw skeletons that he recognized, and he surprised me with how much he knows about different types of dinosaurs.

Some of the other highlights of the afternoon were all of the hand-on activities that the museum had to offer. Owen and Grandma Allen had fun putting together a Stegosaurus skeleton, we all had fun playing at the erosion table, and digging for bones in the excavation pit.  

And to top it all off, we managed to escape death by a megalodon (an ancient giant shark) when the camera's flash scared him away ; ).

We Love to See the Temple

Last week we took our kids to the open house for the Ogden, Utah Temple.  Our kids have seen the outside of various temples many times, but they are too young to go inside of a dedicated temple, so they looked forward to seeing what it looked like inside. When we first got to the temple parking lot, the kids were super excited and MayLynn kept saying, "Look Mommy, pretty temple!" They fidgeted through the introductory video, and then got excited as we got near the entrance to the temple.  Owen was a champ and let the helpers put the plastic "booties" over his shoes, but MayLynn was less cooperative, so instead we got to wipe down her shoes so she could wear them inside and keep the floors clean.  

We walked along, following the designated path and the kids enjoyed seeing all the decorative vases and flowers, the stain-glass windows, and the pretty furniture and carpets. They both really liked the oxen that hold up the baptismal font.  They also liked seeing all the beautiful pictures that decorate the walls, and we even got to see one of Jesus Christ that my brother, Bradley, was the model for.  When we exited the building, they also liked looking at the fountains and the flowers and plants on the temple grounds.

The kids also really liked the statue of Jesus Christ that was inside the visitor information tent, and I got them to stand for a picture with Grandma Allen, after they had given the statue a big hug that made me smile.

And then, since one of the main purposes of temples is to help create eternal families, no visit to the temple is complete without a family picture - so here are the five of us by the fountain in front of the Ogden Utah Temple.

Also, on a personal note, this remodeled temple replaces the old Ogden Temple, where I received my Endowment almost 11 years ago at Thanksgiving time.  At the time my Grandma and Grandpa Christensen were ordinance workers at the Ogden Temple, and so I chose this temple to receive my Endowment because Grandpa Christensen would be able to officiate the session. When the church decided to update the temple facilities, they chose to do more than a simple remodel of the temple. 11 years ago this is how the temple looked:

And this is how it looks today:

And in just a few more weeks the temple will be dedicated as one of our Heavenly Father's houses here on earth.

For more information regarding this and other LDS Temples you can go to http://mormontemples.org/ogden.

In the mountains we forget to count the days . . .

There's a framed picture on the wall of my grandparent's cabin that has says, "In the mountains we forget to count the days." That's exactly how we felt as we got to enjoy the peace, serenity, and beauty of nature at the Christensen Family Cabin in the high Uintah's last week, and the picture above hopefully trapped a tiny portion of that beauty.

We left civilization behind last Wednesday and headed to the cabin.  The first day there, it was just the five of us - Bryce, Owen, MayLynn, River, and me.  The kids fell right to work enjoying the swings that were set up right alongside the driveway.  Over the several days that we were there, they spent hours swinging.

They also had fun playing horseshoes - MayLynn style.  

And of course, since the wildflowers were in bloom, we had to go looking for them.  MayLynn picked a few, but we managed to leave most behind - especially the prickly thistles.

River also really enjoyed being outside. She gladly spent as much time in the fresh outdoors as I allowed her to.

 She even opened her eyes and enjoyed it awake part of the time.

Bryce especially enjoyed having the time off of work to be able to spend time with his family.

On Thursday, after we were joined by StacyAnn, J.J., and Jack, we took a short fishing trip up to Butterfly Lake.  River proved to be a very good luck charm.  With her strapped to my belly, I caught 4 fish in a very short amount of time.  Bryce also caught 4 fish, and StacyAnn caught 2.  We only were at the lake for about an hour and we managed to catch 10 fish - enough for two yummy meals during our stay at the cabin.

The next day - Friday - provided even more fun.  The kids discovered the sandbox. We made roads, and sandcastles, and rock trains.  The kids all needed baths afterwards, but they didn't mind.

On Friday, we also started a project that everybody got to help with.  The driveway up to the cabin had grown very bumpy over the past several years, so we got to help spread wood-chips to smooth out the road and fill in potholes.  Bryce, Owen, and I started out the old-fashioned way - hauling the chips with a wheelbarrow, but J.J. saved the day - and our backs - with his pickup truck.  He and Bryce would fill the truck up, Bryce and Owen would empty it out, and then Owen and I spread the wood-chips out on the road.

After a hard day's work and play, Friday evening was topped off with fish and hotdogs cooked over a campfire. It was a perfect ending to a day in the mountains.

On Saturday we were joined by the rest of the Allen clan (all those still in Utah - we missed you Craig, Lindsay & Emery).  The first item of business for the day was to finish spreading wood-chips on the road. We had two teams - the observers and the workers. The observers kept the children safe and entertained, and the workers did the hard labor.

There was some cross-over between the two groups, but we made short work of the rest of the road, and now cars will have a much smoother drive up the driveway to the cabin.

On Saturday - as well as on the other days of our cabin stay - after the work was over, we were able to enjoy our small vacation. We visited, played games, and ate good food.  We enjoyed every minute of our stay in the mountains, and we look forward to the next time that we can come and enjoy the beauty of the mountains and the hospitality of the Christensen Family Cabin.