Well our vacation went about like I said. Becky and family and Dad and Suzanne came up. Becky made Rumbi rice and chicken and veggies -- which is like rice with coconut milk and sugar on it and grilled chicken. It was pretty good. I would eat that regularly!
We visited and played bounce off before dinner and then after dinner the kids went and played upstairs while we visited some more.
Our condo was a 3rd/4th floor condo w/no AC so it was pretty warm by about 5 p.m. So after dinner we went outside -- which was really pleasant, maybe 80 degrees tops and went for a walk around our condo.
Monday was a pretty quiet low key day. We were going to get up and go to the parade but holy smokes was it busy!!! Seriously there was no parking anywhere. They have free bus system and all the bus parking areas were full too. We decided that wasn't for us and took a scenic drive up guardsman pass -- it was very steep and majestic and beautiful. When Grandpa Griffin was a young man in the national guard he worked on the road -- so that was cool to think about too!
We had a secret shop at Mojo's restaurant just like a year or two ago so we went up on the hill and had lunch. Nothing special but only cost us about $3 over the price we were paid to shop so that was good!
We went back to the condo and played spikeball and swam in our pool. We picked a great time to go as the pool was practically empty so we got to play around and not disturb anybody!
We got some cold stone ice cream and stuffed crust pizza from Pizza hut for dinner and played some more games and hung out. Never did catch any fireworks this year...and nobody seemed to care!
Tuesday morning we got up and headed down the road to home. The girls got one last slurpee as we left 7-11 territory and we enjoyed an uneventful trip home. (We got to message you during a portion of our trip so that was fun!!!)
I took off Tuesday night and Shannon and Jessica did the court thing without me. It was a light night and they did just fine. It was strange to have a Tuesday night off!
Our lawn had grown like crazy while we were gone so we mowed and cleaned up the yard.
Wednesday I talked to a lady about taking over doing our taxes next year. She had me set up an LLC and get an EIN# and setup our bank account and things differently. It's a pain to make changes but I am hopeful that she'll know some things to save us money and it will be really nice not to have the stress of doing taxes every year. It has gotten harder and harder each year as we've grown up as a family. I'm still working on doing some of the things she asked and taking things one at a time.
The girls had YW Wednesday night and played slip and slide dodge ball or something like that over at the veteran's park with the YM. I think they enjoyed that!
We played pickleball with the McCallisters.
Thursday Katie had a late night with friends Charity and Liz and Holly went to the twins house for the evening so dad and I had an unexpected free night! We played games and had a quiet dinner and just enjoyed some alone time. It was a nice surprise!
Friday dad had a meeting with his boss and talked about next year (it's so nice to have down time right now!!!! hard to think about the upcoming season for me!!!) His boss told him he's doing a great job and they talked about doing more video shows and things so I think he's gearing up for another busy school year.
Friday night we got together with McCallisters, Herdman's and Butterfields and had some fun playing pickleball switching up couples and men against men, women against women and stuff. It was kind of fun to play against other people and see their different styles and skill levels. In the past when we've done more than 2 couples it hasn't moved fast enough for me (down time in between switching) but this time they were able to keep it moving and I enjoyed it more. It is kind of strange to get split up from dad though! 
Saturday was pretty busy. Started early with spin class, came home and spent a couple of hours trimming a giant bush in our yard and doing a little bit of other yard work. Then Sister Long called waiving the white flag asking for help in moving -- they are moving next door to their old house. So we all headed over and spent about an hour moving their food storage from one house to the next house. She has a TON of water so it was kind of heavy and they were in glass jars so we had to be careful. But we got it done and it felt good to do some service. We went swimming at the Cambpell's house from the 8th ward (they got a really sweet pool recently and are in Mexico so the Riley's are house sitting and have unlimited pool time!!!) Afterward the girls played and then when all the kids went home we went to costco and walmart to shop and took the girls to red barn for ice cream for dinner. (Parent's of the year award coming out soon!!!!) We really did have fun and we got them some dinner later!!!
This morning started with a visit to the Stake President's office at 8:15 for dad to get released from his job as executive secretary. We were a little nervous because we didn't know what next...so nothing from the stake. But had another meeting with the bishop at 8:40 and he called dad to gospel doctrine teacher and to teach the teachers. So dad will be teaching probably 3 Sunday's a month. That has to be about the hardest teaching job out there...gospel doctrine seems overwhelming to me!!! But I'm sure he'll be great. He's gone on a mission, he's a great teacher...he'll be fine! But that job would probably kill me off!!!
We played with the Binder baby during sacrament meeting and the girls sang their camp song up in front and it was the camp meeting. Got to hear some of the girls talk about girls camp and youth conference. Dad taught a great lesson on parenting.
Heading over to gma and gpas pretty quick for dinner. Spaghetti and garlic bread and jello cake and salad. Should be good!
Spiritual thought for the week: This week in our parenting class we read a story about how a tree was very small and easily bendable when it was young. However it was planted and not properly staked and in time it grew the wrong way. When that was noticed and the person went out to tend the tree it had grown thick and strong and was unbendable. It was going to be crooked from then on or would require a great deal of help to fix it. 
So it is with our children. If we teach them when they are young and properly guide them they will grow up strong and in the right direction. If we are lazy and don't take the time to prepare them while they are young they will probably take a wrong path and once they head that way it is much more difficult to correct their path and teach them.
I know it is true and hope and pray always that we are doing enough to help and guide our family. I think we are about done with the boys -- they are the big strong trees with their own ideas now but the girls still have a little time left...but not much!!! So we will diligently work to stake them upright and help them all we can!
Love you lots!
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