A Week Without The Girls

On July 7th, David and the girls embarked on an adventure!  They hopped in the van and drove 11 hours to Pendleton, Oregon. The girls had been invited to stay a whole WEEK with Shawn and Amy's family.  I can't even begin to say how cool that was for the girls, but I'll write about their trip in the next post.  For now, just know that they left early on Saturday morning.

They had a great time driving!  Between headphones, movies, and free space (aka no boys) it was a super pleasant drive!

Ali sent this picture while they were driving.  She said it was so beautiful!  They arrived in Pendleton in the late afternoon.  David had a great time visiting with his brother and the girls went to a movie in the park.  David drove home the next day, leaving the girls for a week.

Meanwhile, the boys and I celebrated my birthday a day early by hitting our neighborhood Chinese restaurant.  Yum!

My birthday fell on a Sunday this year.  I went to church and then celebrated in royal fashion.  Don't worry.  I didn't wear the crown.

My fabulous mother fed us dinner on my birthday.  She made it very fancy.  It was lovely.  David came home from Oregon while we were still there, so he came over and ate as well.

The next day, my mom watched the boys while Kristin and Brian gave me a birthday gift - they took me to the best Sushi restaurant I have ever been to!  It's called Tona Sushi.  I can't tell you how fabulous it was!

These were the roasted brussel sprouts.  I LOVE brussel sprouts already, but these were the best I have EVER tasted.  I have no idea what they do to them, but they were crazy good!

Here's a picture of the vegetable tempura and one of the rolls we got.

Oh man! Look at that!  It's art!

Too many sushi pictures? Sorry.  But I'm telling you - my life changed after this place!

And here are my benefactors.  Aren't they so cute!  I love these two foodies!  We had so much fun!

********************************************************************************

The rest of the week without the girls was lonely.  It's amazing what a difference it makes when just one or two people are missing!  But we tried to do a few fun things with the boys.

The boys and I went to Chick-Fil-A for cow appreciation day.  That was fun (Josh is the bull).

And Kristin and her kids introduced us to their favorite dog park in Ogden.  It was really fun!

There are four different enclosed areas you can go into.  One is small and shady.

L-R: Bronson and Percy, Quinton, Payton, Buddy

In this one, we lost Payton and picked up Finn.

I guess I didn't get pictures in two of the enclosed areas.  One is larger with a gazebo and another is HUGE along a wooded hillside with pathways throughout it.  I think it's so great for dog owners to have a place like this!

The park is right next to the river, so we went over for a dip.

Can you tell Percy is half Portuguese Water Dog?

Just hanging out under the overpass.

The final section of the park has obstacles for the dogs to maneuver. Our boys tried to get Buddy to learn, but I guess it's true what they say - you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Buddy had a great time, but he got hot and tired by the end.  When we started heading to our cars, Buddy ran ahead and jumped in Kristin's driver side door.  He was ready to go!