Happy Birthday Alex and trip to Zion Canyon

We decided to take a weekend road trip. Sean told me the other day he wanted to go on a trip. I said "we are going to St George this weekend". He said "that's a mini trip. I want a real trip. I want to go to the Bahama's and stay at the Atlantis. That would be our most epic trip ever!" Later in the day he asked me if I had booked that trip. Alas, I had not, we had to settle for a not so epic trip to Zion's Canyon National Park. 

We spent the night in Hurricane so we could see Alex for his birthday. We were going to take him to breakfast but he was unloading a trailer and putting furniture in storage in the morning. He has everything out of his house now so he can list it. Divorce sucks but he'll be happier once he's passed through this really hard time and moved on to the other side of divorce (the happy side). I know he's really sad about having to sell the house. Since he couldn't do breakfast we did dinner and since it was a Friday night in St George we did Rumbi Grill. Not an exciting dinner but it was good to see Alex.

Saturday morning we got up and went to Zion's Canyon National Park. We took the shuttle all around the park. It was the 100 year anniversary of the National Park system so admission was free. Bonus!

We did the Emerald Pools Trail. There are three different pools and we visited all of them. The weather was an anomaly. It was so cool. There was a little bit of rain. The slot canyons were closed most of the day because of flash flood risk. We didn't plan on going to the slots anyway. The trail to the first pool was about .5 miles and paved. After that trail it got rocky and steep but it wasn't a bad hike. It would have been if it had been really hot.

At the top of the trail.

Milla fell asleep and she got photo bombed with a trailhead sign.

I thought Sean was asleep too but he was not! After Zions and driving through Dixie National Forrest we spent the night in Cedar city and then headed home on Sunday. We were home by 2.

White Coat

From the time he was 4-years-old he's been wanting to wear this white coat and today it happened. AJ had his white coat ceremony as he enters the PharmD. I am really, really proud of him!

Val was proud too.

The ceremony was about 90 minutes. Val was so good. She laid on a blanket and played with her feet. About five minutes before it was over I picked her up and she immediately fell asleep. She has the sweetest little personality and is so laid back.  When Khloe was 4 months old we would have left 10 minutes after we got there. I love my Khloe but she was not an easy baby.

Coolest feet ever!

The donning of the white coat. Only 3 years between him and his Doctorate. Three years will pass so quickly but it will be a lot of stress and hard work and lets not forget the massive student loans. It will all be worth it in the end.

First Day of Third Grade

This little boy is in 3rd grade. Time goes so fast it boggles my mind. Before I know it I'm going to be old!

Ting Ming (the other student teacher) and Milla.

Milla and Sean.

New Teacher from Taiwan

We got another student teacher from Taiwan, Milla. She arrived after 10 on Friday night.

We got up Saturday morning and went to the lake for a final summer boat ride. David and Kendra came.

Milla had never been boating or tubing so that was a fun experience. Sean is a fearless tuber now.

Alika, Garret and Ozark came too.

Lagoon and Khloe's soccer

It was a nice day, not too hot so Sean and I went to Lagoon. I went on rides I don't usually go on and I didn't get sick!

Khloe at her first soccer game. She was so cute. She ran up and down that field until she was out of breath.

Val looking cute.

Khloe's #1.

Two more cute kid pictures

Lunch at Robintinos. Brie doesn't look thrilled.

Fascinated by Val.

Another remodel

It's been a tough rental year. V4 vacated on July 1. The renter had been there 7 years and she always paid her rent on time but dang that place was nasty. I didn't even want to walk on the carpet and the fridge, oh my heck. But we got it turned around pretty fast. New carpet, new fake hard wood, new paint, new shower. It's already been rented. Don's just over fixing the door today. We sold Park City which stops a big drain. Riviera had the water main break. We had a $250 water bill and it was $3800 to fix the main. We are waiting to see what the HOA pays.  Hopefully in the next couple of months Don can get Q 15 done and then with the exception of Riviera and the lake we should be making more than we are spending.

With the new floor. We joked with the new renters that the cabinets and cupboards are "vintage." I guess it's preferable over ghetto. Maybe when we rent this one again we will do something with the counters. We just wanted to quit spending money. As it was we spent about $7000. I haven't tallied it yet.

New carpet, new blinds, new paint.

New light fixture in the stair well.

I really like the flooring. It wasn't that much more than carpet and it will be easier to clean and not have to be replaced so often.