Quick Utah Vacation - Part 1

We had planned a quick trip to Utah as part of a celebration for Tutu's arrival home from their mission. We booked our plane tickets and hotel. We were excited to go and celebrate with cousins and go on a short adventure. Turns out, after everything was booked, Tutu's changed their plans and came home a month early. The penalty fees to change things were too steep and wasn't worth it, so we decided we were going on a family vacation and we were going to make the most of it.

We left the day after the boys got out of school. Logan was especially excited to be on a plane since he is now collecting airplanes for each airline. We flew into SLC and headed toward Spencer and Kristin's home in Lehi. On our way, we found a new Mongolian BBQ place to try. It was something different and we were all feeling adventurous. Turns out it was just okay but I'm still glad we tried it.
We spent the evening visiting and playing with Spencer's family.

Saturday morning we packed our family up and headed to SLC for the day. We made a quick stop to see Roo, Annie, Esme and Penny at their new home. By the time our visit with them was over it was lunch time so our next stop was lunch at the Lion House. The boys love to go through the assembly line and pick their choice for lunch. Ricky loves that they serve Coke there. We all love it so it's somewhere we are making a tradition of going. We then walked around Temple Grounds. We watched an "I am a Mormon" video in the Joseph Smith Building and took a tour of the conference center. Ricky found his happy place, in the church library, where there were special one of a kind historical documents like original journals and letters for Joseph Smith's time.

We returned back to Spencer and Kristin's house for the evening so the boys could play with cousins while being babysat by cousin Sierra. Spencer, Kristin, Ricky and I got to go out on a double date. It was so nice to just have dinner and visit with them. I don't think we've had the opportunity to do that before, without kids. After dinner we headed to the Lehi cemetery. Ricky had done so much family history work over the last year that it was nice to go and see where his grandparents and many others on the Phillips side were buried. It was not a typical date activity but we actually really enjoyed it and had a nice time together.

 Sky Harbor Airport Tram. Logan is super excited and being his silly self. 

 Delta plane for our ride on a Delta plane.

 it's not often that we get to fly over the Grand Canyon during the day when it's light enough to see it so we were lucky this time. 

 The boys travel so well. They played iPads, played with toys and snacked for the entire flight. 

 Logan waiting for his food to be cooked. 

 I'm so impressed with boys boys. They are far more brave when it comes to trying new things. They both tried tofu and a few other new veggies. 

Lincoln showing the little corn and that he ate a ton of food. 

 Logan testing Uncle Spencer's strength.

 Logan is always drawn to the animals. This is in Spencer's backyard. 

L-R: Leah, Knox, Lincoln, Mary, Logan, Sam (missing J)

 Downtown SLC at City Creek Mall

 Lion House

 This is a picture that CR Savage took and the picture now hangs in the Lion House a long with serval of his other pictures. 

SLC Temple

Ricky and the boys in front of the church office building.

 Ricky and the boys in front of the Conference Center.

Family picture on the rooftop of the Conference Center with the SLC Temple in the background.

This was a beautiful flower I found on the roof.  I don't typically like flowers but I want this in my front yard if it can handle the heat.

Inside the massive conference center.

 We have one or two other family pictures from this same location from previous visits over the years. 

 The entrance to Temple Square

 This is a bust statue of CR Savage. This is Ricky's great-great-great grandfather who was a famous photographer in his time. 

 Lehi cemetery at the grave site of Ricky's paternal grandparents. 

Spencer and Ricky 

Last Day of School - May 25th

The last day of the 2016-2017 school year crept up fairly quickly. This year was a little different because next year they will be switching schools - moving from Rosefield to Legacy. I'm not worried about their ability to make new friends and they actually both already have friends at the new school. It's just never an easy transition to change schools. I had four different elementary schools, one middle school (that was a different school than about 95% of my elementary friends went to) and two different high schools. Each was a tough transition for its own reasons. The boys are handling it well and are excited for the new school but will certainly miss friends, teachers and the familiarity of somewhere they've been for many years. Going to Legacy will allow them to stay in the same school for another four years together though verses just one if they stayed at Rosefield. I think it means a lot for them to stay together as long as possible...especially while Logan is still young. I'm excited for them and for what's in store for them at the new school.

Lincoln finished the year strong with great grades (all A's and B+) completing work 1-2 grade levels above him. He's been reading 500-700 page novels, specifically the Five Kingdoms series and Fable Haven. His math scores are off the charts. His teacher, Mrs. Leto, always had nothing but the best things to say about him. School comes quite easy for him. That is part of the reason we started him early. Lincoln completed fourth grade and is moving on up!

Lincoln and Mrs. Leto at last day parent pick-up.

Logan struggled in first grade but has made some incredible improvements over the last couple of months. Logan struggled with a few different behavioral situations but working with his teacher, we did our best to address it with him. He is such a physical and active kid, that sitting down to focus on reading or writing has been a challenge. He has come a long way in both reading and writing. He was filling up his AR reading chart the last couple months of school. Since about January we had really focused hard on getting good grades on his spelling tests and for the most part, he was bringing home perfect scores each week. His teacher, Ms. Farrell, told us that he was always winning, or one of the last people standing during Sparkle Spelling (a spelling game they play in class together) and that was a motivator to him. We are very proud of Logan and the effort he's put in. He has many amazing gifts and talents and easily learning in an academic environment, isn't one of them so he's had to work hard. His forth quarter grades significantly improved and he passed first grade. He's movin' on!

 The boys pulling out of the driveway to school for the last time to second and forth grade at Rosefield. 

Logan's First grade memories. 

We let the boys pick where they wanted to go for dinner to celebrate the school year and they, of course, picked Red Robin.