Visiting Grandma and Grandpa D

On our first night with my family, my parents watched the kids so Jared and I could go on a long overdue date. The girls had fun with grandma, especially when she put their hair in curlers.

Nathan had fun crawling around and wrestling with his cousin Christian.

Here we are at the cabin with my dad and my Grandpa Donaldson.

We visited the Children's museum in SLC. Nathan loved riding on this little dog.

The girls liked dressing up.

And Jared liked building things.

We hiked the Y with my sister Rachel, her son Christian, and my nephew Jacob. This was Jacob's first time to the Y, and he did a great job.

The girls loved our visit to Hoogle zoo. Here they are putting their hands in the Lion drinking fountain, just like I remember doing when I was a little girl.

Abby pretending to be a turtle.

Our little chicks.

For old times sake we took the kids to the creamery on 9th and let them pick out any ice cream flavor they wanted.

"Do you like it Abby?" "Yes!," she says with her mouth stuffed full of ice cream.

Nathan with his grandpa. Almost everyone we met commented on Nathan's likeness to his grandpa.

We took the kids to the BYU museum and bookstore where the girls got their very own BYU necklaces. Abby liked the statue of the ballet dancer in the sculpture garden. Here she is showing you some of her ballet moves. We know it's probably bad, but by visiting BYU on all our trips to Utah, we are trying to inspire our children to go there someday.

My old mission companions Amanda Wickle and Tu-Anh came to visit. It was great to see them again and meet Tu-Anh's fiance.

After walking around the gardens at Thanksgiving point, the kids were excited to cool off at the Noah's ark play area. Here is Maddy pretending to be a whale.

Nathan loved splashing in the water.

Abby liked getting sprayed by the animals on the ark.

We also had fun visiting the Thanksgiving point farm. Here is Nathan riding a tractor with his cousin Mary.

Abby riding a horse.

Maddy loved riding on a real pony.

She also had fun building things at the dinosaur museum with her dad.

Nathan loved the toy dinosaurs, and started growling as he played with them.

Abby brushing the sand to find dinosaur bones.

We had a great time in Utah with my parents, and can't wait until we can see them again. The girls especially miss cuddling and reading with grandma and helping grandpa build his green house. They also miss Grandma's "bear food" (blueberries and honey on toast) and Grandpa Donaldson's bear hugs.