What has Chloe Been Up To?

Chloe has been a busy little tyke as well. She has been many places and seen many things. Chloe got to go to Girls camp for the first time this year. You can see some pictures of her getting her hair done before camp. She had a really good time out in the mountains with the girls and the bears.

Chloe got home from girls camp and left (on the same day) for Sacramento. She was promised that good grades would get her to Sacramento for a summer vacation, but we did not know the dates for girls camp. Chloe got to take a plane ride all be herself. Her grandma picked her up at the airport (and got Kevin Johnson's autograph). Chloe then got to spend the weekend with her cousins having a good time. She drove home with Jordan and my parents.

Chloe went to St. George with me and Jordan, but she did not have to come home on Sunday afternoon like Jordan and I did. She stayed in St. George for an entire week. She played with Addison and Izzie and had a good time with her cousins playing and swimming. It was quite an exciting week.

Now that Chloe is home she is booking babysitting jobs like crazy and hopes to make a bunch of money this summer.

The pictures below show Chloe getting ready to leave for girls camp. The top picture is her after Robin braided her hair. The second picture is Robin actually braiding her hair (with Squishy sitting by her). The last picture is from Chloe's dance recital this year (she danced to Love Is A Battlefield). She did a great job at her dance.

There is still a lot of time in Chloe's summer as well, I am sure she will fill it with all kinds of amazing and fun activities.

What Has Jordan Been Up To?

So, Jordan has been busy so far this summer. He has been in California, Mill Hollow, and Camp Tracy. Not to even mention all of his fun time with friends. Jordan was promised that if he got "good grades" we would let him go to Sacramento to see Camden (Jordan's cousin) get baptized. At the end of the school year his grades were deemed "good" and we set up the trip for him to go. Jordan drove with my parents all the way to Sacramento. My parents even said he was good! Way to go Jordan! Jordan spent about a week in California doing all kinds of fun things: riding the 4-wheelers, swimming, scootering and biking. He had a ton of fun.

Jordan went to Mill Hollow as well. We paid for Mill Hollow during the school year and told Jordan to qualify to go he had to have no C's on his report card. On the say when we could no longer get our money back one of Jordan's grades fell to a C (and ended the year at that). We told Jordan he could still go (we couldn't get our money back) but he would owe us the $60 that Mill Hollow costs. Jordan agreed and went to Mill Hollow (with his friends Gavin and Tanner) and had a great time. He hiked, tied boondoggle and just generally hung out with his friends.

We went to St. George for the weekend in July and had a good time in the pool. It was just a quick trip, but fun! Once we got home from St. George Jordan got to go to 11-year old Boy Scout camp. He went up to the mountains at Camp Tracy and did rifle shooting, carving and other scout activities. He even got to sleep up there one night.

As you can tell Jordan has been pretty busy and he still has a month of summer left. Below you can see some pictures. The top one is from the 4th of July celebration we had at my parents. Jordan is holding Izzie. The other two pictures are from a bike ride Jordan and I went on and Jordan stopped at a park to do the monkey bars.

Chloe is 12!

Chloe turned 12 on Sunday. I can barely believe it was 12 years ago that she was born under 4 pounds and a "tall" 18 inches. She was so tiny. Now, she is a young women. I hadn't really noticed until she walked upstairs Sunday morning in her pajamas. It just hit me that she is going through a growth spurt and just looked so much older. Maybe it was her haircut from Saturday. Chloe is growing up.

It has been a good year for Chloe. She has done some fun stuff (Disneyland and Sacramento), she has been great at school (straight A's) and she completed all the requirements for her Faith in God award (which she got on Sunday). Chloe is super-excited to start attending Young Womens.

I am so proud of her. Here are some pictures of the quick-growing Chloe:

New Photos on Flickr!

I just posted some pictures on Flickr from Chloe and my vacation to Sacramento and San Francisco. We had a good time and Chloe went crazy with the camera. Diana let Chloe take it becuase she knew I would just take pictures with my Curve and post those on my blog. Chloe drained two sets of batteries while we were there. There are probably one hundred more pictures, but I am at my limit for a Flickr account. I have to decide if it is worth $24.95 to have a pro account. I have commented on all the pictures so you will know what is going on.

Shopping, part 2

We were only in San Francisco from about 11am to 2pm, but we got everywhere. After the Wharf and the taxi ride back to the BART station Chloe still wanted to go shopping. We went back to the Powell Street station and went back to the mall. This time we went to a bunch of shops and looked for stuff for Chloe. We ended up at H&M and Chloe picked out a bunch of shirts for her. We couldn't find any pants (they were too low - crack is whack) for her though. It was almost 2pm and we still had to get to the Hilton to pick up out bags. We leave the mall and there is a Gap right across the street. I tell Chloe we can go to the Gap to find her some pants. We go in and end up getting a couple more shirts as well as a pair of pants. Chloe loved it. She likes to shop. When she is a teenager she is going to be trouble.

All in all I think Chloe liked her time in San Francisco and really liked her time in Sacramento. It was a good week and we had a lot of fun. After Chloe and I picked up our luggage from the Hilton we got back on the BART and rode to Oakland where we then took the bus from the BART stop to the airport and flew home.

Thanks DeVoogd's

Chloe and I just wanted to say thanks to Kelly, Cindi, and the whole gang (even the dogs that always bark at me) for the good time this week. We had a lot of fun. Let's do this again soon.

P.S. Screw you Kelly.

Travel Day

Chloe and I head home today, but before that we are going to San Francisco to hang out. More on that later. I am currently sitting in the Oakland Airport waiting for our plane. We had a quick snack at got Chloe a Sprite, now we just wait. Plane leaves at 4:35. Probably 20 minutes til we board. Hopefully Southwest is better at being on time than Delta.

Dark Knight Tonight

My tickets are for 5:20PM. Kelly and I are going to be there at 4:30 so we can get in and get seated without any problems. I am so excited. This could be the greatest movie ever!

Jelly Belly Loves Dogs

In the Jelly Belly parking lot there is this sign:

Jelly Belly loves your dog, they even want them to have their own hydrant. How nice!

Jelly Belly

Today we went to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield which is about 40 minutes away. At the factory is a tour, food court, and shop. We left early in the morning so we could be front in line. Cindi kept saying how the line would be bad. Once we got there is did not seem too busy. We got in line for the tour and I saw a sign that talked about how Jelly Belly and Coldstone Ice Cream have joined forces for good. Jelly Belly has created flavors for some of Coldstones flavors. The Jelly Belly people brought around samples of Strawberry Blonde - and it was excellent. It tasted exactly as it should.

We started the tour and it was pretty good. I found out that Buttered Popcorn, one of Diana's favorite, is the number 3 flavor in all of Jelly Belly land. The tour showed how flavors are created and then made. Did you know that the centers are made and then the shells are added? I thought it was all the same process. It takes 21 days to make Jelly Bellys. The shipping is pretty cool also. I have never seen so many jelly beans at once. There is a huge machine that dumps the jelly beans on a belt. The machine was spilling everywhere. It was funny.

After the tour we went to the shop and I got a BUNCH of jelly beans. I got watermelon for me. Pina Colada and Buttered Popcorn for Diana. Soda Pop and Smoothie for Chloe. I also got some Coldstone flavors. These ones are super good.

Lastly we went to the food court to get food. Chloe and I got a jelly bean shaped pizza. It was really good. My sister and her kids got jelly bean shaped hamburger, jelly bean shaped personal pizza, chicken fingers, onion rings. A lot of good stuff. The food was overpriced, but the tour was free!

As we exited we learned why Cindi wanted to be early as the tour line had passed the one hour marker. It was long. It was busy. It was crazy there. A lot of people like the Jelly Belly tour. Here are some pics of our fun day:

Big Moon in Sacramento

Driving home the moon looked like this:I thought it looked great. My Curve probably did not take the best shot - it would have been better in Cindi would have slowed down a little. The moon just looked huge in the sky. It was also super bright.

Almost Got This For Diana...

Walking the streets of Old Town Sacramento I came across this:A freaking Wonder Woman cookie jar! It was hard to walk away, I just did not know how I would get it home. You can't find stuff like this in Salt Lake.

Old Town Sacramento

Right on the water in Sacramento they have an old town. It is pretty cool. I had never been before, Chloe had been. The shops actually look like an old western town. There is even an old paddle/steam boat. You can see a picture of the boat above. We went to the Joe's Crab Shack they have there, and then walked the streets. There are all kinds of crazy stores. A bunch of tourist trap shops and some restaurants. There was a huge candy store (Candy Heaven is the name) where you get free samples of candies.

Overall, Old Sacramento was pretty good. I enjoyed my time there.

4-Wheeling

Chloe and I went four-wheeling today. It was Chloe's first time on a 4-wheeler. At first she drove a little slow (she said "safe"). By the end of the day she was flying around (almost) as fast as everyone else. Me, I drive like I always do - fast. Here are the pics.

Got Any Fruit?

We just got stopped at the fruit checkpoint. The inspector wanted to actually go through our stuff. Now the kids are full of questions as to why you cannot bring fruit from Utah or Idaho to California. Chloe is freaking out that fruit has diseases on it. I let her know that it is just the fruit tree disease, not a human disease. My sister did not even try to bribe the inspector with a chocolate.

Welcome to California

Just passed the California state line. 2 hours left on the drive. The fruitcakes in the back only know one line from any of the songs they sing. I put the iPod in and we are rocking, and yes, we did listen to some Augustana.

Good News, Bad News

Good news: we just passed the first mileage sign for Sacramento, 258 miles to go.

Bad news: we just passed the first mileage sign for Sacramento, 258 miles to go.

The Armpit Of America

Yes, we just drove through Battle Mountain, Nevada. No, we did not stop.

West Wendover, Nevada

Me and Chloe's excellent Sacramento adventure has officially started. We are at Burger King in Wendover for breakfast. Almost ready to get back in the car. The kids have slept most of the way so far, but I think they will be up for a while now that they have had food.

Reward Time

Chloe got straight A's at school (5 A+'s) and that means she gets a reward. Chloe and I will be going to Sacramento this summer to hang at my sister's house. It will be a good time. Chloe worked hard to get to her grades so I think it is great that she can get rewarded. Jordan did not quite get his grades where they needed to be, so he will not be going on the trip. There won't be any punishments for his grades, but there won't be any rewards for him either.

The current plan is me and Chloe drive with my sister to Sacramento (she will be in town for the family reunion this summer). Chloe and I will stay in Sacramento for a couple days and then fly home. We will hit the Jelly Belly factory as well as anything else Sacramento has (does Sac have anything else?)