This Is The Place

Historic Town

I love little historic Villages, and the "This Is the Place" is no exception. After a little bit of lunch at.........wait for it...... CAFE RIO! We headed out with Drea and the girls to Play. It was so fun to watch the kids together and to walk and talk together.

Liza took the "big sister role" especially with the little ones, and I think she brought her Auntie Drea a welcome break.
Alex is ALWAYS talking about panning for gold, and mining for jewels. He really wishes he could "strike it rich" one day. He has really wanted to look for gold in rivers so this was a perfect opportunity. Because it was an activity here, I knew that the environment would be 'rich'. Alex enjoyed it up until they told him that he could turn his one piece of gold in at the bank for a candy. Then he realized that this was probably not real gold. Yet he really wanted more then one piece. I told him he could take 4. one for him, myself, drea and Ashley. He was happy.
There were a few pretty photo opportunities out there..... I loved this pretty little window in one of the homes.
The place gave us each a wrist band upon entry. Each 'special' activity counted for one 'punch' off your band. There were only 3 punches on the band. Imagine the disappointment when we discovered that the kids had spent a few punches, and now only have enough left to ride horses one time.
However, after some tears, a kind woman shared with us that mommy wrist band punches can also be used towards the kiddos doing activities.
So, Back on the horses they went!! They all loved it SOOO much. And sweet Liza took Ashley both times. Ashley seemed to like it.
Alex... I don't know if he was waiting for some saddle bronc, or if he was waving.... LOL...
And Miss Katie loving the horses too!
There was a house, where the children could work and do the jobs that the pioneer children used to do. Amber here, washing some laundry... gotta love those beautiful Utah/Wyoming Mountains in the back drop there.
And Alex, now working SOOO hard. (In flip flops) :-)

My favorite moments are these, where cousins walk hand in hand. Like old friends, cousins pick up like they just saw each other yesterday! Katie and Amber had fun together, it was sweet to watch them talk and play.

And of course the school house! Gotta do the school house.
And for kicks, I asked the school teacher about punishments for bad behavior. Lucky lucky Alex got picked to be the demonstrator.
He was quite worried that she would really paddle his backside when she had him assume the position up there in front of the class. Actually, she gave the paddle to his big sister, so his worries were quite justified. LOL!!!
We headed over to the petting zoo, and we got an offer to go over and feed the lambs. Oh YES!! Wouldn't miss it for the world. Sweet little lambs!!!
Everyone got a turn holding the bottle, and feeling the little guy tug on it. They were so cute, and so lost out there w/o their mama.
Here's Katie "helping" Amber feed.
And Amber sneaking in for a soft touch of a goats ear.
Katie finally took a seat and churned some butter for us inside one of the houses.
We found this FANTASTIC little bucket hanging on the wall of the house. I asked if we could pull it down and put the baby in it... the woman was sweet and agreed. Oh how I just wanted to line up 1 year olds and slide them into this bucket, with this backdrop.
My favorite picture of the day!!! I love it!! She's so CUTE!!!

While Drea and I were with the kids, Jeff was at school and Brent was up doing some mountain flight hours. (poor guy, up there flying around, missed all the fun and heat of the historical village.) :-)

Brent said that flying over those mountains was SOOO cool and he wanted to go again and again. He tells me that someday he is going to take his family up there to fly over those mountains. I am sure it's beautiful from a small plane.

We had a lovely day, and wrapped it up with a visit to Grandma and Grandpa Davies (pics to come) and a quick jaunt into Ikea! :-) It was a long day, but boy did I love spending it with my little sis!

Guest Blogger Jeri Tidwell, Cuz I forgot my camera on this day.

The drive from Bend to SLC... one word.... UGLY!!!

Bleck, no pictures of that, that's for sure!

But once we got to Salt Lake we had fun! I forgot my camera on a very special day, but my dear friend Jeri did not. (and she's the better photographer anyway... :0) ) So I am stealing her blog.. and calling her a "guest blogger".

Jeri:

First let me set the stage.

This is a great story!

My friend Christie and her family moved to Tennessee a year ago. Before they left our families did EVERYTHING together since about July 2006. Wyatt's best friend was Alex, and Natalia's best friend was Tori. We were the best of friends, and there has been a big hole in our hearts since they moved away.

Christie and I found out that we were both going to be in Utah at the same time, and we hatched a fantastic plan to meet up BUT not tell the kids and let them discover their friends on their own. I didn't even tell my Mom or anyone about the plan so I wouldn't accidentally ruin it!

We met at the big fountain at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City. The fountain is giant and so fun to play in, and every 15 minutes or so it becomes a water/music show. We got there first and played. While I waited my heart was POUNDING! I was so excited to see them.

I saw the Wall family walking up and the music show began. It wasthis song...so this entire experience was set to music and made it super emotional!

The Wall kids got ready to go into the water, while Christie, Brent and their oldest daughter, Liza, sat on the bench and watched.

This is the first picture I took! Do you see how close they all are to each other!!! Wyatt in blue, Alex in the red/black trunks, Tori in green, and Talia in blue.

They didn't notice each other.

A few moments later Talia spotted Liza on the bench and WAVED.

Talia ran over. Tori was there, and she said "Hi Tori" right in front of her.

Talia yells, "MOMMY! THE WALLS ARE HERE!!"
Tori looks at her parents and shrugs her shoulders. =)

Talia runs over to tell me. I tell her, "I know!" and to go play! She heads back over.
See this "Kodak Moment".....................

They ran right passed each other! Talia had a goal to get back over there,
and didn't even see Tori coming!

Talia yells to Wyatt, "THE WALLS ARE HERE!"
Wyatt starts scanning for his friend. This is when he spots him.

THIS is how they say hello!

This is where I tear up every time....

The next photo I took was these two little friends
who picked up exactly where they left off one year ago.

The boys went to PLAY! They had so much fun.

The four little ones.

Simone did this most of the time.

The girls dancing to a swing song.

Lincoln's Grandma Eaton was there with us.

Right before I took this picture Alex said, "This is the best day of my life!"

love this

All the kids!

One of Christie and I.

OH what a memorable experience this was! We went to lunch, and the kids played at a little arcade. Then it was time to say goodbye again.
We should do it again, Christie! We'll make some plans! =)

Back to me:

It makes my heart hurt just looking at these. Mostly for Alex. Wyatt was his best friend. People like that don't come along every day. Sure we can find friends that are good friends, people we can hang out with and invite to parties, but to find your bestest bestie, and have to leave, that's rough. He still struggles finding someone and it's been over a year. :-( I wait for a new boy to move into the ward that maybe, just maybe will hit it off with him. Until then, we'll wait patiently for a visit with Wyatt again. It was a fun day. Lovely company. The only thing that could have made it better would have been just one hour of shopping with Jeri. We love to shop together. I miss that. :-) Good times, great memories. Thanks Tidwells.

More Oregon

We spent a day at the wildlife center. What an amazing place this was. Here, we are all listening to a presentation on wild cats. (totally up Victoria's ally) She was loving that. I don't know why I'm getting "the look" from my big sister, but there it is folks... "the look". I'm used to it now, it no longer scares me. :-P

The Brothers! They got to hang out and chat a bit while the kids were entertained.
A porcupine.... How cute his he?
This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. Logan just looks so done... and Ben, so happy. Such a cute father son combo.
Me and Ben. I came into this family when Ben was about 15. We were so tight. He is SO my little brother. And he gives the bestest hugs! We have always had a special bond, and although we don't keep in touch very well, it was like we hadn't missed a beat when we got together this summer.
The center had this great little area that was kind of like a pioneer village. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm all about a pioneer village. I love stuff like that. They didn't have a whole lot there, so it mostly wet my pallet for the pioneer village in Utah.
Here's Tori doing some scrubbing. Get to work girl!
And Alex playing a game.. Typical. :-) He liked the challenge involved here. It was pretty fun
Tori scrubbing the front porch! If you look closely her cheeks have dirt on them. Poor Cinderella. :-)
Kaite's pretty pink dress was a mess after this adventure. Mucky water on a mucky dusty deck and a hard bristled brush on a uneven wood surface. Yeah, she was messy. Happy, but messy.
Emily, tho younger then Jodilyn, was the next sister in law in the family after me. See, Emily and Ben are High school Sweethearts. We started hanging out together before they even finished High School. Emily is my shopping buddy, we can sniff out a deal from a mile away. We make a good team. It was so fun to see her too.

And my regrets that I didn't take a picture with my sister. :-( Somehow I missed my mom and my sister. figure that! The last day that we were in Bend we went to some cave. We had to rent a light to get back in there. I was sure glad to have a lamp, cuz it kept me warm as we walked way back in this underground pathway. The kids really liked it! Brent went this morning to go to an airplane something. :-) A place where they sell kits to build planes. He just went to snoop. I was sure to warn him when he left not to buy anything! LOL Airplanes! He met up with us just as we were coming out of the cave. So he got to see a bit of it and feel how chilly it was down there.

We had a great time with the Bryans. All the fun stuff to do, and the great times hanging out. I wish I would have had my camera as we took a float down the river. Tho the river was cold, the sun was warm and we all made it safely down the river. Bend has this river that runs through town, and they have specified places where you get in and get out of the water on your tubes, or other flotation devices. This is a common practice, and lots of people were doing it. They even have a bus on the weekends that will take you back up river to your car when you're done. Quite a fun little activity. Thank you for having us Bryans, and thank you for making the drive down Ben & Em.