My 33rd Birthday Trip

This year, my birthday and our nearly annual weekend visit to Preston, Idaho to visit Jonathan's mom coincided.  We left on a Thursday afternoon, drove up to Logan and checked into our hotel.  We got a hotel so that we could spend the evening swimming, but unbeknownst to us, the pool was under construction for the entire summer.  Really, they should have posted that on their website when I booked the night, I would have chosen a different place.  Gwen had been running a fever for a couple days, but I was determined to not let that get in the way too much.  We went to dinner at Chuck-A-Rama where Gwen had about ten pickles and a slushie for dinner and Emily had a bite of almost everything then settled on jello and a slushie.

We had a lot of energy to burn after dinner. All that pickle fuel had to go somewhere so we drove around until we found a park.  It was an awesome park with a splash pad.  We had brought our swimming suits but they where safely back at the swimming pool-less hotel.  Oh well.  We let the girls get nice and soaked while Jonathan and I watched TV on my ipad.  I love that thing.  We undressed them and wrapped them up in blankets for the drive back to the hotel.  We rented their favorite movie - a Cirque du Soleil one that we saw this spring.  I love it and the girls love it, it combines many of their shows they've done over the years, there's very little talking and it bored Jonathan within minutes.  Emily kept calling the hotel room "our new house" and kept talking about how she wanted to live there forever.  She was so excited about it. 

The next morning was my birthday.  We slept in late, checked out of the hotel and had my favorite breakfast - a chicken breakfast burrito from Chick-fil-A.  Seriously, try one.  Then we went to the American West Heritage Center for a day of fun straight from the old west.  We rode ponies, played pioneer games, had an old-fashioned tea party, hung out with mountain men, and milked cows.  The best part was meeting up with Cookie Grandma, Jonathan's mom, for the afternoon.  Gwen and I had to leave for a little while to go see the doctor and check for strep, it was negative and she was much better that evening.  See, even being a nurse doesn't save you from the should I or shouldn't I gamble of taking kids to the doctor.

 Playing pioneer games.  I wasn't half bad at them. Must be that pioneer blood I have.

 Emily was good at this game where you have to sing this ball of cloth past the block of wood and hit it on the back swing.  The girls were great at taking turns and cheering each other on.

 Emily moving into her "other new house".  She wanted to move into the log cabin.

 Gwen throwing hatchets with the mountain man.

 Cookie Grandma and Emily practicing manners at the tea party.  Emily wore her fancy crown the entire trip and wouldn't take it off even to wear a fancy pioneer hat like her big sister.

 We played a game of Telephone.  Emily doesn't say her "s"s, so it was funny to hear what other people thought she was saying.  We're looking into speech therapy now that she's starting school.

 Each girl got a chance to milk the cow.  They were nervous around such a big animal but did great.

 On the train we stuck them in jail, at their insistence.

 Riding ponies. There was no limit to the number of times so we did it a couple times.

That night we drove the rest of the way to Preston, about 30 minutes north of Logan and got to Cookie Grandma's house and settled in.  She had to work for a few hours but planned to meet us at the Preston Night Rodeo later.  I love rodeos and planned this trip just for that because really, there's not much else to do up there.  We drove to dinner and couldn't quite make it there because of a parade, so we got out and waved and got a ton of candy from the parade.  We ate dinner at one of the few restaurants in Preston.  It was a Mexican place but Emily asked for and got a hamburger with cheese only and Gwen got two side salads.  My girls are so opposite sometimes.  After dinner we went to the rodeo.  It was three hours long and my girls where interested in it the entire time.  We had fun rooting for the "buffalos" as Emily called the bulls.  She made up stories to go with each event.  "Those cowboys are trying to catch the little buffalos because they were naughty and need to go back to jail.  But they can run really fast and get away and not go to jail."  Jonathan played on his Nintendo the entire time.

 Emily has decided to not take a single "normal" picture ever again. 

The next day was Saturday and we had fun hanging out with Cookie Grandma at her house, feeding her chickens and playing with Lady, their dog.  Gwen learned that her love of puzzles comes from Cookie Grandma.  After lunch, Jonathan and I drove about 15 miles away to a little Bed and Breakfast while the girls got to have a sleepover with Cookie Grandma and Aunt Lisa - Jonathan's sister who also came down for the weekend from Idaho Falls.

 Feeding the chickens.

 Gathering eggs.

 Leaning how to do hand stands.

 We stayed up until 1:00 am putting this puzzle together.

 Playing fetch with Lady.

 They got to ride on the 4 wheeler.

It was fun to spend time with Jonathan's mom and sister.  We also had lots of fun together and Jonathan and I got some much needed alone time.  As far as vacations go, it was pretty low key, but it was really just what we wanted.