Chocolate Chip Salad

Jorgen asked what I was making for dinner yesterday. I told him Taco Salad. He heard Chocolate Chip Salad. Not sure how he heard that, but he was insistent that I make one. I was already planning on doing Strawberry Shortcake, so I improvised and here it is - Chocolate Chip Salad - strawberries, bananas, marshmallows and semi-sweet chocolate chips:

It was actually quite yummy as a shortcake or even on it's own. :)

Pioneer Day

After our weekend trip, Pioneer Day was just a normal day. Dan had to work, I had tons of laundry to catch up on, and the kids were back to their normal whiney selves. We did take a few minutes to play with some sparklers and pop-its. We went el-cheapo on the fireworks this year, but we had plenty of neighbors setting off the big ones so it worked out fine :)

Weekend Getaway

We had a fun little weekend getaway to Deer Valley and Park City this past weekend. We dropped the kids off at Dan's parents' home Friday, then went to a session at the Salt Lake Temple. Our temple, Ogden, is closed for remodeling, and the next closest, Bountiful, is currently closed for cleaning. After the session we had lunch at The Garden cafe, and this was our view from the window:


After some shopping at the outlet mall, we headed up to Deer Valley. Dan got a great deal to stay at the new St. Regis hotel in Deer Valley. (It was the Utah local rate - when we checked out they told us that is their very best rate and to always ask for it, just letting my Utah friends know...) The hotel is built on top of a mountain, and you leave your car with valet parking and ride up the Funicular to get to the hotel. It was pretty cool.

The Funicular:

Saturday morning we headed to Park City to have some fun.

This is the view leaving the hotel Saturday morning:

Riding the ski-lift up to the Alpine Slide:

This is the Zip-Rider that we went on. You can't really get a picture while on it. Pretty intense but fun!

Alpine Coaster:

Back at the hotel. View from our window:

We didn't have a balcony, that's for the more expensive rooms :)

Relaxing by the pool. What a beautiful day it was!

Later that night at the Chris Botti concert. He's an awesome trumpet player. It was a great concert! Couldn't believe how many people were drinking, though, ha ha! Not quite like Davis County...

Sunday morning we had planned to go to a local church, but slept in and missed it. Woops! (We were on vacation, give us a break). So we decided to ride up the ski-lift at Deer Valley and go on a short hike before heading home. It was perfect hiking weather, except for the flies! As long as you kept moving they were only slightly annoying, but if you stopped at all they would swarm you. Ick! Motivation to keep moving :)

On top of Bald Mountain. This was the easy way to get to the top.

Heber City in the distance:

Jordanelle, I think:

Pretty wildflowers:

Finally some shade!

After the hike, coming back down the lift:

This shows a better view of the St. Regis. I should also mention their awesome food - it was so good! The French Toast was amazing! Best I've ever had. The other meals we had there were equally amazing. We didn't eat there every meal, cause they were expensive, but what we had was awesome.

We picked up the kiddos and crammed them in the back seat of the Civic. Why? Because the transmission in our minivan went out the week before we left. So it was in the shop. Nothing like a few thousand dollars in car repairs to remind us of reality...

The kids said they had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's. They went fishing, swimming, went to a kid's building class at Lowes, went to see Cars 2, and Bethany even got to help babysit her cousin Emmaline who was visiting, while her parents went on a date. It was a fun weekend!

Perfect Day for a Car Wash

The boys wanted to ride their wiggle cars, but Andrew's had bird poop on it. So I suggested they wash them. We filled up a bucket and got some rags and they had a great time.

Family Reunion at Cherry Hill

Every year we have the Tolman reunion. Some years it is the big family - so all of the descendents of my mom's grandparents. This year it was the "smaller" family - all of the descendents of my mom's parents (my grandparents). It is usually somewhere in Idaho, but once in awhile they come down to Utah, mainly to Cherry Hill. Because it's fun, and has camping, but it's still close to motels for the old folks who don't want to camp. It was nice not to have to drive very far for a change. It was fun to see a lot of my cousins and their kids, who are growing up so fast! We camped there for Friday night. The kids liked helping Dan set up the tents. I don't know how much help they were. We had two tents because Dan was going to leave to do the Antelope by Moonlight bike ride, and wouldn't get back until really late. I didn't want him to wake up the kids, so he got his own tent. :)

Mini-golfing:

Coin-op rides are fun even without the coins :)

Waiting for lunch on Saturday, after a morning of swimming and water slides.

Bethany was so hungry she was first in line, while the six Tolman siblings bickered over where on the table to put the mayo and mustard (it was pretty funny).

The only chance I had to take pics of us in the water was when Andrew was wrapped in a towel to warm up. He got cold really fast in the water.

Saturday night we had the traditional family auction. Bethany made some more hair bows and sold most of them. The kids bid on some odd things, like a jar of Skittles, a yo-yo, and a flashlight charger.

We didn't camp Saturday night, since we live so close. We figured Sunday morning would go a lot better if we started out at home. It was a fun weekend!

Science Camp

While Bethany was at her camp, I signed Andrew up for a Science Camp. It was held for 3 hours a day for 5 days. He LOVED it! The first day he learned about pH levels, then came home and tested several different household items for pH levels. The second day he learned about molecules. He knew how to make oxygen, water, sugar, and a couple others that I can't remember. The third day he learned how to make slime, among other things. The fourth day he learned about digestion. He never did tell me what he learned the last day, but he had a great time.

The picture is not great because it was through the glass. He was in the party room at the Aquatic Center.

Here is Andrew with his "Digestor Inspector." He got to put cereal, water, and lemon juice in the mouth, smash it up, then push it through to the stomach. The next day he got to push it through to the intestines. And the last day...well, you know. He thought it was great. Bethany thought it was gross.

Building Rockets

A long time ago, we bought some rocket kits for the kids. Then we sort of forgot about them, and they sat in the garage for awhile. When Bethany went to camp, the boys thought it would be fun to assemble their rockets. So here's a few pics of the spray painting. Bethany still needs to paint hers, and then we can go shoot them off somewhere (future post).