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Which was really more gray than emerald! Chelsie said it started raining the day we came over and it was gray and a little rainy at times the rest of the weekend!
Oh well, it was fun to finally get to spend a little time with Dallin and Chelsie in their apartment.
We spent part of Saturday at the zoo. Even though it was pretty cold and a little drizzly at times, we felt like a lot of the animals obliged us, and we saw quite a few.
Here are a few pictures for you, Talmage!
I think my favorite part was all the bronze statues they had after many of the exhibits, and my obliging family who cheerfully posed for me each time I asked!
The future dentist among us, was enthralled with large incisors, molars, you name it.
Here is a shout out to our High School mascot!
The rainforest was very cool, (okay, really warm and humid, my camera lens kept fogging up, but you know what I mean!) anyway, the entrance was filled with beautiful orchids. I thought of you, Alli.
This guy cracked us up! We thought of a few people he reminded us of, but they will remain nameless!
After we got back to the apartment, we were all ready to stay inside for a while. Or in other words, we wanted to stay warm and dry. We played boggle and bang. Then went to the cabana at the apartment building and made good use of the pool and ping pong tables. Scratch seemed to be the theme at the pool table, but a good time was had by all.
Saturday night rounded out with home made pizza, a movie and apple crisp (made by Amber. Yum!)
We got to meet a few people in their ward when we went to Sacrament Meeting, then after dropping off the kids at the apt, headed to Redmond for one of the farewell talk of one of Dallin's cousins. It was fun to see a few family members we met at the wedding and meet a few more new ones! I'm pretty sure we have just scratched the surface of his family.
The weekend went much too fast, and we were back home before we knew it. Riding in the new Traverse is pretty darn nice. Did it make the trip go faster though? Not sure about that!
Thanks for letting us crash your pad this weekend Chelsie and Dallin! It was great fun!
The frost is on the pumpkins, the clocks are set to standard time and the days are growing shorter. It seems a perfect time to revisit our end of the summer party with a post. It seems like forever ago that we had everyone home, not necessarily at the same time, but within a week of each other.
Having everyone home at the same time is really a mom/grandma's dream come true, and with everyone growing up, a few getting married, and another off to college, its getting harder and harder to accomplish.
So, here in no particular order are 15 pictures that relive the Peay/Dance/Alli/
Lewiston Rietz end of the summer, all be at home party.
Trev, Kristin, Amber and Ashley show their stuff on the wake board. Ashley is especially impressive.
Talmage and Tanner get jet ski driving lessons from Grandpa.
Tanner makes a fine "Winnie the Pooh" as he tried to get every last crumb of his treats.
Talmage had more fun keeping the slip and slide in good working order than actually slipping and sliding. We give high marks to Grandpa for finding a Toy Story slip and slide.
Brandon and Ashley took an opportunity to spend a few minutes alone while they were here. Along with a few bike rides, they took a jet ski ride or two.
The requisite bocce ball game was played, as was a touch football game in the park. Nothing beats boys v girls in bocce ball!
We really couldn't get enough pictures of Tanner and Talmage. Tanner seemed an especially popular subject. Actually, we couldn't get enough of them period. We really hated to see them go home.
And finally, a few random river pictures.
Well, if you've been keeping count, I exceeded my 15 picture statement, but really, can you blame me? How can I be expected to limit it when there was so much fun to record and talk about? :-)
Here are a few closing thoughts -
As the mama of the group, I loved this last part of summer. Here are a few more reasons why.
- Alli came home for just a few days as a surprise. She spent a lot of time in the car just to spend a little time with Ashley, Brandon and boys. It was wonderful to have her here.
-Dallin is the newest member of the family, and I was so happy he got to spend some time with the Peays so he could get to know them better. Brandon finally got a worthy bike riding partner when Dallin got here! Yay for that. And, both of them were so handy to have around when I needed just a few items from the store.
-Talmage was a good sport to go to the river so many times. He really didn't want to go after the first day, but didn't complain when we dragged him along. I really felt kind of bad for him when he would say, "I want to go home."
It is exciting to think our family will keep growing, as everyone gets married and has kids. I can't think of anything I'd rather do than spend a few days together playing, eating and just enjoying each other!
I love you guys!!!
According to someone in our house, we have just endured the most boring summer EVER!!! No fun out of town adventures, no day trips even, just hanging around home, doing chores and being hot, although not hot all the time because it took a while for the weather to catch up to the calendar. At any rate, we didn't sit and stare at each other the whole time and I have to pictures to prove it.
Exhibits 1 & 2 and 2A. Grandpa Sollenbarger's Surprise 70th Birthday Party. A quick trip to Denver to celebrate with family and Grandpa and Grandma's friends. It was a great success, marked by the fact that he survived two surprises - walking in the door of Jodi's house to many guests yelling SUPRISE! and Dawn and I walking down the stairs a few moments later. No rescue vehicles or responders were required. It was a great visit. I also got to spend a little time with Grandma Hughes which was on my list to do this summer, but didn't seem possible with schedule conflicts. Ya gotta love a two-fer.
Exhibits 3, 4, and 5. There is always the river for fun in the sun. Well, most years that is. This year was a little different. Really high and fast water combined with lots of debris in the river made for a late start. Combine that with a busy calendar (what kept us so busy?) and it made for not many trips to the Snake. We finally made it out the first week in July. You may recognize a familiar face in these pictures. Alli came home for a week from BYU. She got a well-deserved break and we enjoyed a mid-summer visit with her.
Exibits 6 & 7. Kristin and Amber channeled their creative side one afternoon and did a little cake decorating. Amber was making a birthday cake for a friend and Kristin just felt like making a tasty and colorful cake. (Can you tell what the paintbrush is made of?) You can't really see in the picture, but Amber used brown sugar to create sand in her beach scene. Nice work, girls.
Exhibits 8 & 9. Maybe the cool dude in the sunglasses reminds you of someone. Apparently, Trev decided to spend one of his summer afternoons as a model for a jean jacket company. I hope the sunglass manufacturer forwarded a good retainer. I'm pretty sure they have never had such a good looking young man sport a pair of their shades, ever! Exhibit 9 is Trev's last opportunity to wear his webelos uniform, as he is now an 11 yr old scout, wears a tan shirt instead of blue, and can actually go on a camp out or two this next year.
So, I rest my case. Clearly we didn't waste our summer away. Sure, no trips to Disneyland, no hiking, camping or any of that. We may have redefined the word "Stay-cation". Who knows.
Besides, our summer saved the best for last. Stay tuned for the up-coming post...
Trevor has had a busy week. Who knew that the week preceding your 11th birthday could be hold such a variety of experiences.
He has spent time at swimming lessons, tennis lessons, Cub Scout Day Camp, and at the dentist. I'm pretty sure the dentist is the thing he'll remember most from this week.
See those gaping holes in his mouth? That's what happens when a guy gets 8 teeth pulled in one day! He was a real trooper and didn't cry once. (I didn't either! :-)
Uncle Doug is a pro, and along with his staff, made sure Trev was as comfortable as possible. Whatever that means when you are getting 8 teeth pulled. Aside from not being able to chew very well the first few days, Trev has weathered this little disruption well, and is on to other things. Namely...
Turning eleven. He's modeling his new backpack for you, and his (one of many) goofy face. I'm happy he didn't grow up overnight!
And if you are wondering about the cake, it is the famous and very popular among our family, Better Than Almost Anything Cake. Maybe some of you have heard it called a different name... but I digress. We put the whipped cream on individual servings, hence the landscape of the moon appearance. Take our word for it, it was still plenty tasty.
Happy Birthday, Trev. We love you!!!
Gingerbread house decorating became more like Gingerbread house landscaping. Yes, the houses did get a little candy and frosting, but check out the yards of these little cottages. 
