Lagoon

Here is the last Utah post - I think. The day before we left, Grammy Grange, Aunt Sylvie, Cousin Jessica, Esther and I went to Lagoon. It was Harmons' Lagoon Day, and Sylvie is a proud employee of said neighborhood grocery store.

I found out that Esther is a thrill seeker. Most of the kiddie rides were far too tame for her, and she is anxiously waiting until she is 46 inches tall and can ride the more exciting rides.

The whole time Esther kept asking, "When do we get to ride the bumper cars?" She thought this would be the highlight of her trip, and she was a little disappointed at how unmaneuverable they were.

Alex stayed with his Aunt Katie for a while, then got hungry and came to visit us for the rest of the day.

While the Harmons party was wrapping up, Esther and Jessica got their faces painted.

Thanks to everyone for a great trip!

Open House

On Monday, July 6, William and Alex got to play with Grandpa Grange while Esther, my parents, and I visited the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. The temple is beautiful.

It was an incredible experience taking my little girl through a temple. She's always wondered what the inside of a temple is like, and now she knows. I loved watching her see all the beautiful paintings and rooms. Her favorite part was the cookies at the end. She told me about how we could come back for someones wedding and go to the big tent for cookies. She was pretty disappointed when I told her that they don't always have cookies at the temple - it was just for the open house.

All Together Again

Due to some unforeseen difficulties, our whole family wasn't able to meet up until the afternoon of the 4th of July. We all got together at a BBQ at my sister's house.

Here they are! All 10 Lunt grandchildren together for the first time. Don't they look happy about it?

Here are the ones who actually wanted their picture taken.

Once they were done posing for pictures they had a lot of fun. It was great to be with so much family - just wish Cameron could have made it too!



And here is a shameless promotion. Notice the mural painted on this wall? That is the work of my sister's AMAZING husband David. I wish the pictures could do it justice. I didn't even notice it when I walked in because the stones looked so real.
Anyway, I just wanted to show this off and let y'all know that he is very hire-able for all your artistic needs. He's done everything from computer graphics to book covers, and is quite popular at the play-dough table. I'm happy to give any of you his contact information. He lives in Utah - but if you really want him somewhere else he can travel too.

Parade

We can't be in Magna on the 4th of July without visiting the parade. It's an unbreakable tradition. This year was especially unique because I got to sit with most of the Granges and my sister's family all at the same time. My sister's husband Troy was an announcer across the street from us.

This is pretty much how it went. Whenever something was coming Esther would jump up and down until there was candy to grab. William got whatever he could. Both were greatly supplemented by their kind older cousins Jessica and Sydney, with Aunt Sylvie as their cheerleader. They ended up with the biggest parade haul I've ever seen. We decided to share a lot.

PAINT!

My parents have been busy painting their house recently. Someone had the awesome idea that while we were all there we could let everyone loose on one of the basement rooms. It turned into quite a work of art! I forgot to get pictures of the final product, so I missed some gems like the body-print of one of my nephews. Oh well. You can still get the idea.

Cousins

Our trip to Utah was great fun. The reason we went at this particular time is because for one reason or another the rest of my family was going to be there. So since we came too, all 10 of my parents' grandkids were together for the first time. (Four more had been born since the last time we were all together.)

Too Much Information

I just got back from a week in Utah and there is far too much to blog about. Here are a few highlights. I'll go into more depth this next week or so.

~Seeing all of Esther, Will, and Alex's cousins (on both sides)

~Seeing most of our adult relatives too

~Magna 4th of July Parade

~Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house

~Lagoon

~3 Barbecues

~Painting the room in my parents' house with all the kids

~Visiting Sarah, my best friend in elementary school, who I haven't seen in probably a decade (thank you facebook)

~Free babysitting

~Watching William cook with Grandpa

~Staying up late watching movies with my dad

~William and Esther taking turns having sleepovers at Grammy and Grandpa's house.

~Discussing religion and politics

~Being invited to join my brother's compound

~Uncle Jared teaching William, "Noggin... Dude"

~Seeing my kids run to their daddy when we returned

We had a great trip. It was wonderful to see everybody. Now we just need a little time to recuperate.