First Few Weeks in Utah

We have been enjoying the cool nights, visiting with family in the area, going out to eat, setting up the house, and getting to know folks in the neighborhood and ward (and they have been very friendly!! we have had so much food and fellowship brought our way since moving in!).  Sophie went to EFY at BYU, Bella went to Beehive camp in Brighton, and Harrison attended a basketball camp at the Y.  We saw Tim McGraw at the Stadium of Fire on July 2 and enjoyed fireworks across SLC from the hills at East High on July 4.  Oh, and I performed surgery on Olaf's paw.

It has been a difficult transition but we are making the best out of the experience and trying to focus on the positives!

And this is after the Vet treated him and said there was nothing in the paw...

This is what I removed with tweezers!  We think he got it on the drive up, maybe in Moab as we were hiking.

We have had several meet ups with Naomi, which have been so fun!

And we have eaten out a lot as we are unpacking and arranging the house!

One of our favorite places is Jolley's, an old fashioned drug store that has everything from snow cones and ice cream to clothes and crafts.  We can walk there and to other little shops and stores from our house.  It is fun living in such a historic and walkable neighborhood.  

We have kept Carmax busy, trading in our old cars for ones that are 4-wheel drive for the mountains.  

We are very glad to be back together full time as a family and not dealing with the commute anymore.

Harrison enjoyed his basketball camp.

The BYU girls basketball team ran the clinics and did a very good job.

Emme and Dad got donuts on a date to Sugar House Park. 

Emme has such an easy and infectious personality, but there have not been as many opportunities for her to connect with kids her age as there have been for Sophie, Bella, and Harrison to date.  We are working hard to fix that!  

Eating J-Dogs with the Macs after Sonny finished B-ball Camp.  We went bowling and to the movies afterwards.  Good times!

Bella had a blast at Brighton Beehive Camp for 5 days in the mountains.  Phones were not allowed, so we don't have many pictures to show.  But she did encounter a moose on a 5 mile hike!

Sophie had fun at EFY, though she got a bit homesick.   All the change lately has been hard on her.  She actually was in the same session as Taylor and Jennifer's nieces, and the same apartment, so they all bonded and became friends!

The church makes the world small by connecting people across states and continents with a common purpose and set of values.  Here are the girls with an original Book of Mormon.  So neat.  

At the end of EFY and Brighton Camp, we were all glad to be back together again.  Sonny shows his excitement with silly faces.  :)

I attended the graveside service for Gene Whetten, who was my Dad's uncle on his mom's side (married to my Grandma Call's sister).  He was a kind man who lived a long and good life and left a tremendous posterity.  I enjoyed seeing many of the Whettens, Clarks, and Calls at the services in the beautiful Heber Valley, though the occasion was somewhat somber.  

One of our favorite eateries we have tried so far is a Kolaches place that just opened in SLC by a family we know from Texas.  Kolaches are big in the south but not so much in other parts of the country.  It was fun to experience tastes that feel like home, and the Kolaches at Hruska's are delicious!

Watching the Stadium of Fire at Lavelle Edwards Stadium on July 2 was a lot of fun.  Tim McGraw sang all of his hits and the fireworks show was impressive at the end.  The traffic jam driving from Provo to Salt Lake at midnight was not so fun, but some In-and-Out Burger helped ease the ride home.  :)

It is weird to think Tim McGraw started his career when I was a teenager, and now I have teenagers and we are listening to him in concert!

Harrison did not love the concert portion of the evening.  At one point he said, "So you are telling me we are just going to listen to this guy sing his songs for hours!?" 

Yep that's what a concert is, Bubby!

 But he liked the Air Force flyover and fireworks display!  

And he liked them on July 4th when we watched fireworks across the city from a perch on the hills of East High School (where High School Musical was filmed, which is about a mile from our house).

Harrison was cracking me up because he was trying to time pointing at an exploding firework perfectly during these pictures but the camera flash was not being cooperative.  These pictures required many takes!

Happy 4th!!