The long awaited Ditch the Parents Day has finally arrived! Last year, Chris, Tricia, and I took the kids to Boondocks. We like helping the kids know their cousins and building relationships with their aunts. This year we decided to do a sleep over at the Holiday Inn Express in West Valley. It took some thorough furniture rearranging, but we managed to get all eight of us in one room. Talk about family togetherness! We had Loriel and Tricia in one bed, Chris and I had a bed, Daniel and Josh had the sofa bed, and Ian and Alex slept on hiking mats on the floor.
Next week is Daniel’s high school graduation, so we had a Hooray-Daniel-is-graduating-pizza-dinner, gifts, and an epic silly string fight. Chris picked up Joshua, Ian and Alex for DTP Day, and they stopped at a dollar store to pick out gifts for Daniel. Josh picked up a ninja sword that makes a swish sound because he knew Daniel likes Ninjas. Ian picked out a fun graduation balloon. And, Alex, found some ring pops because “Daniel is going to love this!” From Chris, Tricia and I, we gave him two neck ties—one to recognize his past (an American Fork red and black tie) and to look toward the future (a BYU blue tie). Afterward, Alex and Josh had a pretty intense silly sting fight. I believe they got everyone and every nook and cranny of the room.
I have two favorite memories from Friday. The first was when we all made it to the hotel and the hugs, chatting, and catching up. We were LOUD but so HAPPY to be together. Later we went swimming and Loriel was our official event photographer. As we were lying in our respective beds and everyone was settling in and drifting off to sleep. The room was quiet and then Ian said his nightly prayers. His sweet voice echoed everything I had in my heart. “I am thankful for the world. Please bless we won’t have nightmares. Please bless we will have fun tomorrow.”
I have two favorite memories from Friday. The first was when we all made it to the hotel and the hugs, chatting, and catching up. We were LOUD but so HAPPY to be together. Later we went swimming and Loriel was our official event photographer. As we were lying in our respective beds and everyone was settling in and drifting off to sleep. The room was quiet and then Ian said his nightly prayers. His sweet voice echoed everything I had in my heart. “I am thankful for the world. Please bless we won’t have nightmares. Please bless we will have fun tomorrow.”
Saturday was a breakfast of omelets, bacon, sausage and chocolate chip “muffins” followed up with more swimming (I went down the slide twice!), packing up and putting the hotel room back together, chicken nuggets at McDonald’s for lunch (Ian ate 15), and then back at Erica’s house for milkshakes and Lego Rock Band. Daniel and Loriel were having so much fun they called their parents and talked them into coming and picking them up at Erica’s house later that afternoon instead of me dropping them off in the morning. Our nephews and niece are so hilarious and we had a hilarious time.
