Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Things got a little crazy really fast. Shane came home about the middle of June and said that his work might send him to Utah for some training/testwork in Salt Lake for about a month. Then he came home and said they were going to send him for 2 weeks, but probably not until August. Then he came home about a week later and said they wanted him for 2 weeks and could he be there on June 30? So we made the quick decision for all of us to go so the kids and I could visit my sister Elizabeth who lives in Provo. He managed to convince Freeport to give him a rental car even though he drove up there and off we went. We stopped in Phoenix for a Hazmat refresher class he already had scheduled the Friday before and headed to Utah on Saturday. We made it up there without incident (except a few crying kids) and got Shane settled in his hotel room/studio apartment. Because it was an extended stay place it had a full size fridge, a stove, microwave and dishwasher. (I don't even have a dishwasher at home!!)
Sunday the kids and I went to Provo and went to church with Elizabeth and Andrew. We had a fun week with Elizabeth and her kids, Avery and Josiah. I hadn't got to see her baby, Josiah, yet so it was fun to see him. He is already 4 months old and thinks he is way bigger. He liked to put his little bum in the air like an inchworm and push himself forward.
For the 4th of July their neighborhood has a big shindig on the 3rd. They rope off a street and have a real block party. It was a lot of fun with a BBQ, music, dancing, fireworks and the "Rocket Chick," a crazy lady who dresses in a fireproof suit and rides her bike up and down the street with fireworks taped to her back and to her helmet. The kids really got a kick out of that. It would have been a great night except for my runaway son. Aidan rode off on his bike to the other end of the street looking for Elizabeth, but didn't find her and kept going. We found him about 20 minutes later 6 blocks away. It was the worst feeling I have ever had in my life. Thank goodness we found him safe and sound. In retrospect, I cannot believe that he would be the one to get lost. He is such a momma's boy and I never thought he would cross the street by himself. I won't make that mistake again! I didn't let go of him for the rest of the night and he was rather content to just stay on my lap.
Because we were in Utah we got to buy and set off our own fireworks. Shane came down from Salt Lake for the 4th and we had fun with the fireworks. We went to Pleasant Grove, where my aunt Audrey lives, to see their show and got to be pretty close. None of the kids, even Josiah, were scared of the booms and they all had fun.
While we were there we got to go see the triceratops (yep the dinosaur) that Andrew is working on putting together from fossils found in Montana. They had the whole skull together and it was really neat to be able to see actual fossils so close up. He gets to put them together and create bones that may be missing. We also went to dinosaur museum at BYU and the Bean Museum at BYU which has lots of dead stuffed animals that kids love. We spent lots of time at the park and at Target (of course!!) We also went on picnics, to the duck pond and to puppet shows at the library.
It was a great trip! It was so fun to see Elizabeth and actually get to hang out without having to worry about leaving so soon. I think Shane had a good time in Salt Lake. He got to walk around downtown by the temple every night and go out to eat with his corporate card. Freeport is even going to pay for our miles to and from Salt Lake. It was a really good deal for us. We only had to pay for food for me and the kids, which we would have had to pay for at home in Pima.
I will post pictures once I find my camera which is lost in some random bag. School will start in just a few weeks so now we need to get ready for that, whoo hoo, first grade and preschool here we come!
Rowan driving the car. He got in with the big kids and went straight for the driver's seat!
Josiah, Elizabeth's baby. A very smiley boy.
Cousins at the picnic. Front: Audrey's Shay and Wade, Kiara, Elizabeth's Avery. Back: Daphne's Brad, Audrey's Dane and Aidan. 
Aidan doing a dinosaur dance in front of the triceratops head.
Rowan just being cute at the picnic.