Back in Town

We’re back in Vegas after our five day trip to Salt Lake City, Helper, Price and South Jordan, with stops up and down I-15 along the way.

Charley and Lori’s wedding celebration was a terrific, finger-lickin’ afternoon barbeque lunch on Saturday at their home in Helper. It was fun to see the extended Snow family and to meet Lori’s clan from Idaho.

We took in the fabulous Helper Arts Festival complete with snacks, clowns and balloon tying, a long kid’s train ride, some cool old restored cars and motorcycles, and just about every type of artwork you could imagine.

The family supported Charley in his second motor sports car racing endeavor Saturday evening. Charley raced twice, nearly coming in third in his first race and having to head to the pit just before the end of the second race with car troubles. He’s learning the tricks of the trade and I’m sure will be tearing up the dust in Price in no time.

Vickey was a trooper and stayed home with the little ones — Dominic, Eliana and Emma — while the rest of us braved the crowd at the racetrack. And just so she didn’t feel left out of all the action, there was quite a bit of commotion when Emma exclaimed that Eliana pooped in the bathtub after their two hour swim-a-thon in the pool at the hotel. There was also a ketchup dropping incident at a local fast food establishment that involved Eliana and Vickey’s foot. Needless to say, Vickey’s foot and sandal needed some cleaning up after dinner time.

Rachel brought her new beau from New York City, Brooklyn actually, via Philadelphia (correct me if I’m wrong, Rachel), to meet the family. It was fun meeting Kevin and learning they’ve been dating longer than Charley and Lori who are now married.

After an amazing Sunday morning breakfast at the Helper café and antique shop we headed to South Jordan to spend a day with Brian and Melissa and the two boys. We attended church with them and hung out Sunday evening. We sure can’t say enough about the perfect temperature in Utah this time of year. It was fun for Eliana to play with Carter and Luke and for us to spend some time at their place. We’re jealous of their big yard and the ability to let the kiddies play outside with plenty to entertain them and lots of little neighborhood cohorts.

Monday, after going out to lunch with Brian’s family, we dropped by Vickey’s old Mill Hollow buddy’s place. Steve and Cyndy Seeley have been dear friends since we were married and Vickey’s known Cyndy since they worked together at the Granite School District’s summer camp, Mill Hollow (I think Vickey’s first summer there was when she was 17). We learned that the Seeley kids (there are six of them) stay up on our family’s activities through my blog. Sorry for not writing more lately guys. We visited long enough for Dominic to fill his little tummy and then headed south. Cyndy talked us into stopping at their Great Harvest bread store in Orem on our way out of town. Loved the mazurkas! And let’s hear it for that new tropical bread. What a terrific recipe! The Seeley’s are so nice to stock us up with delicious baked goods whenever occasion permits.

We finally made it back to the hot desert Monday evening around 10 p.m. It was a long drive and Eliana had just had enough by the time we exited the freeway. She was screaming at the top of her lungs as we pulled into the subdivision. Needless to say, she got carried straight upstairs to potty and go to bed. After a good night’s sleep our old Ellie was back Tuesday morning.

We’ve still got a home disrupted by projects from two weeks ago, pictures to re-hang, moulding to put up, and a new French door with two broken glass panes and all the hardware to install. Someday we’ll get around to finishing that project.

Vickey’s at a young women’s activity tonight while I’m with the two kids. I guess having more than one child will become the new normal but it still seems a little weird to talk about the kids instead of just Eliana.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot that yesterday was Dominic’s doctor’s appointment check-up. He’s grown a little more than 2 pounds and 2 inches since he was born. He’s doing well and developing as he should according to the doctor. And Eliana got her three year-old shots so we can say she received them before she turns four next week.