We Miss Our Family in Utah

We have been back in Omaha for about 3 weeks now and we are really loving being in our home and getting into the swing of things. Jantsen and Kyle both started school last Monday (Aug 25th) and I have started back at working and teaching classes. So we really have gotten back into our schedule and it has been nice. But with that said, we miss being around so many of our family members in Utah. I haven't yet put some pictures up of the fun family reunions, family BBQ and some fun family memories we were able to experience this last summer. So I am going to put up a quick summary and lots of pictures of the fun times we had with all our family we have in Utah! We love you all and miss you.

(Beginning of July) While Kristen was at girls camp, we "watched" Eme, well we were suppose to watch her so Evelyn could go to work, but Evelyn ended up taking the day off at the last minute. So it made babysitting Eme REALLY easy! We spent the afternoon at the park by the house and watched kids float down the little creek/river. We had every intention of floating it ourselves but never got around to it. Maybe next summer.


It was a hot day but we had alot of fun with Grandma Nana at her park. We love throwing rocks in the river too. One of Jantsen favorite past times at her house. It is something we do EVERY time we are there!

(July 22) Jim gave us tickets to go to the Hogal Zoo. It also included tickets to ride the train. Heaven for Jantsen! Of course it was the first thing we did. But Jantsen also loved seeing the white alligator, Kambryn enjoyed the elephant show (well actually just pointing and running and saying WHOAAA to every animal). We caught a little bit of the bird show and I thought that was pretty cool. That is one thing that I wish the Omaha Zoo would do, more shows!

We got caught in a rain storm, and so for about 20 minutes we crowded under a small shelter stand and waited out the rain. It was nice that it was overcast and the weather was great, but wearing a white skirt, yeah didn't stay that white by the end of the day. But we had a great time. Thank you Jim for giving us the free tickets.

(Aug 2nd) Every year Claudia's family (Lawrence Family) has a family reunion at a swimming pool in Toelle. It is out by the Larry H. Miller raceway. We have hamburgers, hot dogs, and lots of food. It was fun to see the Wests' side of the family. We had a great day swimming, going down slides, jumping of diving boards and hanging out with family.

Jantsen was sick (same sickness as what we dealt with on our anniversary) and so he wasn't really in it that whole time. His fever kept going and coming, but he still had fun going down the slide and swimming. This is when we found out that Kambryn is a little fish! She loves the water and LOVES putting her face in it and blowing bubbles. She liked laying on a tube and kicking her legs behind her. I can't wait till she gets alittle older and putting her in swim lessons. She loves the water! It was a fun day to spend with Pa and Claudia and the gang.

(Aug 3) We had a BBQ with the Walser family. I love this side of Kyle's family (not that I don't enjoy all my in-laws) but we really have a fun time with all the family. There is always lots of laughing and lots of fun. It makes me excited for Christmas when we all get together at Evelyn's house and have a big gift exchange. I only took a few pictures while we were at the BBQ, and I really wish I would have gotten more of other family members. But we had a good time eating REALLY good food, especially Debbie's jalapeno mozzarella stick dipping sauce. That was so good, sweet and spicy!!

Jants and Kam loved playing with all the cousins and kids, even though Kyle's cousins are all alittle older than our kids, it was still fun for them to run around the big yard! Eme and Kambryn played on a tractor, in the tree and on a chair. So exciting!

Jantsen with one of his best friends, Kari (Kyle's cousin) She was so fun and Jantsen absolutely loved being around Kari and Hallie. Even though they are 15 or so, they entertained Jantsen almost the whole time. They are great!!

(Mid August) My brother Curt is coaching a soccer team and in August he was at a tournament in Salt Lake. So, Natalie, Kyle, the kiddies and I went up to cheer on his little team. After we went to eat and had a fun time hanging out. That is one thing that I love doing with my family; sitting around the dinner table, or restaurant table or wherever, and talking and laughing with each other. Sunday dinners have always been so entertaining at my parents house. I know that is one thing I miss and truly cherish now that I am away. Fun times and always laughter. Too bad my dad is at the bottom of most of the jokes. It is great!!

(Aug 13-15) Kyle and I decided to go to St. George on our way back to Omaha and spend a few days with Pa and Claudia down at their home. I am SO glad that we did. It is always so relaxing and comfortable being in the hot St. George and it was a great way to end the summer. We had amazing food for each meal, I swear I was full for 3 weeks just for how we ate in those 3 days. We spent lots of the time with Brent and Heather and their boys.

Claudia brought a bunch of flat stones down from their property to let the grandkids paint a rock and then she will put them outside the house. So Jantsen was able to paint his rock, and he used every color of paint she had. Kambryn went to town on the play dough during this time. Another thing we did as a family was take a drive by the St. George temple over to a park that was across the street from his Grandparent old home. He reminisced about the good times him and his siblings had each summer while growing up. We took some pictures of the park and I think Kyle was glad he could share it with us, especially Jantsen. We also went swimming with Brent and Heather and had a lot of fun with them. Jantsen just loves their little guy Carter (1 year older than Jants) and their little Parker was the cutest tag-a-long but totally could hold his own. What alittle fireball/tornado he is. So cute and fun! Carter was teaching Jantsen how to swim alittle better and so it was fun for Jantsen to have an older cousin to learn from. All in all- we had a blast in St. George, it was sweltering hot during the day, but it was alot of fun!

(Aug 15) We did the drive through the night thing again on the way home to Omaha. With leaving from St. George and going on I-70 through Denver, it was going to add an additional 4 hours to the drive. So we left around 3:00 in the afternoon, hoping to get to Omaha Saturday morning around 10am. Well we should have known that nothing really works according to schedule. And it didn't help that I wanted to stop in Richfield and visit with Cami and Parker for just alittle bit. I promised Kyle that we would only be there for about 45 minutes, but an hour and a half later we finally left.

Jantsen and Parker totally love each other and are each other's best friend so why wouldn't we stop! Kyle was glad we stopped too, but only after we finally reach Omaha at about 1:00 in the afternoon on Saturday, and he was able to sleep for alitle bit. It only took him 24 hours to get past the long stop we had. (We actually had to stop longer for dinner than what we expected, so that just added to our long trip. Not just our short stay in Richfield) It was great to see Cami, Parker, and the twins (in the belly) one last time before we went back home. We got to Omaha safely and it is all great now! We loved our summer, those short 6 weeks we were there but are glad we are back into the normal life for us, as normal as it is going to get.