Visiting Temple Square

I didn't want to waste any of our precious time in Utah.  So we decided to go visit Temple Square on our first day.  It was the place I really wanted to take the kids.  I think they really enjoyed it.

The Church History Museum was our first destination.  It is a really big building and has tons of fun historical things.  I am a big history fan, so this was a great place for me.

The kids liked watching the short film about the hardships that the pioneers faced.  I couldn't imagine the faith and perseverance they must have had.

There was a bunk bed that was the size of the beds in the boats that the saints used to cross the Atlantic in the beginning of their journey.  It fit Megan just fine, but us adults would have been really cramped.

I loved the story behind this baby blessing dress.  It was sewn by a woman while she was on the boat and crossing the plains to get to Utah where her betrothed was.  This dress was worn by over eighty of her descendants.  Isn't that amazing? You just never know what one little thing could mean for your family down the generations.  It was neat.

There was a kids section that was really loved by our children.  Here Whitney and Rachel got to pretend to be on Nephi's boat, going fishing to help provide for the family.

I am not sure how some of the activities relate to church history, but they were still fun.  There was a dancing corner where you could dress up and mimic the dancers on the screen.  Whitney wasn't keen on actually dancing, but Rachel and I swished our skirts a bit.

This was the missionary room.  You could pretend to be a missionary or to feed a missionary.  Megan thought pulling the plants out of the garden was really amazing.  She did it over and over.  Whitney and Rachel took turns making me "the missionary" some dinner.

After spending a couple of hours at the history center, we checked out the beautiful temple.  Will and I have been inside the Salt Lake Temple and it is just as gorgeous on the inside.

We were lucky and made it to the tabernacle right when someone was performing a piano recital.  He only had about fifteen minutes left of playing, which was just right for my kids.

Then we stopped at the temple visitors centers.  This was a big model of Jerusalem.  You could push different buttons and different parts would light up.  I tried telling the kids that this was where Jesus spent a lot of time, but they just liked the lights.  Oh well.

We got to see the "inside" of the temple and there was a little video that gave a little tour.  I thought that was interesting.

And, finally, our family in front of the Christus statue.  I hope my kids felt the spirit while we were on Temple Square.  It really is quite a special place.

Family Pictures

I realized when I was trying to find a good family picture as one of Will's Father's Day presents that we hadn't been good at taking family pictures lately.  Our most recent one was when Will's parents came last January.  I have been meaning to take some family pictures after church for the past several Sundays.  Yesterday I finally remembered the plan before children started undressing themselves.

This was our first picture; it is probably one of the best ones too.  Rachel's shoes seemed a little prominent.  So we decided to do some more takes.

Will pushed the wrong button and the camera just went off.

This picture is pretty good.  We thought we looked too separate though so we changed our seating plans.

Will made the camera able to catch the top of my head, but he is a good eight inches taller than me, so his head got cut off.

And because the children were being so good, we told them that we could take a funny picture.

We decided to move outside and get a picture under our "cherry" tree in the backyard.  But it made funny shadows on everyone.

This was our final picture, a little squinting, but it will do.  Maybe we will try again in a few months to get one where everyone is smiling and looking at the camera.

A Fair Parade

We seem to have a lot of parade blog posts; unfortunately, there isn't a lot to do in our little town, so we must always join in any excitement of any kind.  That means we go to parades whenever they come around.  This parade before the fair is huge - like 1 1/2 hours and kids getting tired huge.  But it was still fun.  And now I have enough candy to last me until Halloween.  Hmmm....maybe I will save the boring hard candies and give them out to the trick-or-treaters.

We happened to be sitting right at the beginning of the parade.  While we waited for the parade to start, a glory riders group invited us to let the kids pet their horses.  Megan was a little skeptical but she did pet one for a second.  Rachel liked the horses and Whitney didn't want to get that close to them.

Whitney was a proud waver.  She waved at practically everything that went by us.  Will would look ahead to see which cars were throwing out candy so we could wave especially well for those ones.

We still didn't get a Hermiston watermelon this year.  Fingers crossed for next year though.  It is still fun seeing a big inflatable watermelon coming though.

There were lots of cool cars to see.

This one was for the zombies.  A little creepy, but I don't think my kids really noticed it.

There was a band, which in my mind makes it a real parade.  So it was fun and the kids enjoyed getting out and seeing all the people.

Megan learned to wave because of the parade.  She got lots of experience in one night.  Maybe I will put up a video of her new tricks next post.

Thursdays

We have fun Thursdays in Umatilla.  There is a park that is only a block from our house that is doing free breakfasts and lunches everyday.  And on Thursday there is also some learning stations for the kids.

We go for breakfast lots of times because there is always cereal for Whitney.  She has never tried anything else.  Rachel is starting to branch out a little bit and has tried a few of the different things that are served.

Megan is technically not one and doesn't get a breakfast.  But my kids never finish their food, so I don't mind sharing with her.  Megan was not too impressed with the french toast.

And then comes the playing.  Head start sets up several stations with different kinds of toys that encourage learning.  This station is my kids' favorite one.  There is food and little babies to be fed.

The 'neighborhood' station.  I like the different buildings that would be seen around a neighborhood.  I have never seen a set like this before and I think it is pretty cool.  Whitney and I played drop the people off the mechanic's shop and then take them to the hospital.  A little morbid, but she liked it.

This station has puzzles that help with learning rhymes or shapes or whatnot.  My kids don't even know they are learning.  I wish I knew where they got some of the toys.  Maybe I will ask.  There are other stations too that we go to sometimes, but I didn't get any pictures of - music, books, art.  

At the end, each kid gets a snack and gets to pick a book.  We have to rush home and read them right away.  So it is a really neat program and we have gotten quite a few free books over this summer.

Obviously, not from the park.  But here are some pictures of the cute kids.  Whitney loves dressing up like a superhero and has told me that she is going to be one for Halloween.

Rachel got this juggle bubble toy from the summer reading program party.  You wear these special gloves that help you catch bubbles.  It was a bit of a challenge for the kids to not just get super excited to pop the bubbles right away.  Maybe we will put this toy away and wait until they are a little bit older.

And Megan looking all cute in her overalls.  She is a pretty happy camper most of the time.

A Bouncing Good Time

I have heard from a couple of people in our area that the Inflatable Fun Gym in Hermiston was the place to go.  I have been putting it off until my kids were older and would appreciate the bounce houses.  We decided to try it last Saturday and the kids had a blast.

Whitney loves loves loves going down slides, and slides on a bounce house are all the better.

Checking out the pirate ship bounce house.  That one looked pretty cool.  Rachel was too scared to get on this one.

I thought this one looked the best.  You could hold onto a rope and jump.  We saw older kids sitting on the rope and swinging and then jumping off into the red bouncy part.  It looked really fun.

Megan got to go into the simplest bounce house.  It was filled with balls.  I think she liked being inside.  At least, she didn't cry.  Rachel loved this bounce house the best.

There were other toys besides the bounce houses.  There were a bunch of toy cars for kids to drive around.

Whitney and Rachel both liked this tool set table. They also had a little house and little kitchen set that were loved.

There were baby toys also.  Megan had fun with this piano.

And she got a ride on a train.  So it was definitely a fun place that wasn't too expensive and had plenty of things for the kids to do.  Now we finally have something we can take people to when they visit us.