Hotel CaliFarnsworth

Elder Hendershot (who is serving in our ward) is awesome! We love him. He has been teaching our friends, The Jones' (Kathy, Anthony, JohnPaul, Brandy, and Andrew). He helped baptize JohnPaul, Brandy, and Andrew. Yay! While we were in Utah we promised Elder Hendershot that we would meet his family and bring him back some goodies (his Dad sells Little Debbie snacks). Yum. Well, the Hendershots are about the cutest most fun family ever! We met up with them at their hotel in Smithfield (yeah, I'd never heard of it either). They took us over to Wingers for dinner and treated our whole family to some delicious dinner! Wingers is Elder Hendershot's favorite place ever. While at dinner Douglas and I let Brother and Sister Hendershot know that even though they cannot call Elder Hendershot, we had 3 phones with local numbers (909 numbers) and we could call him. See, when Jared was in Italy serving on his mission we had the opportunity to meet an Italian who came to Orange County for Thanksgiving. Since he had a cell phone with an Italian number he was able to call Jared and let us talk to him for some time. We were happy to be able to do the same for the Hendershots. They were so excited to be able to talk to their son and give him words of encouragement. Elder Hendershot had been having a hard time with his new companion. After dinner, Brother Hendershot surprised the kids by spoiling them rotten. Literally. He hooked them up with BOXES of Litttle Debbie snacks. Preston, Chloe, and Derek got to climb in his truck, open boxes and take packages after packages of treats. No kidding. It was a DREAM come TRUE for them. So FUN. The cutest thing in his truck though was not the snacks. Or the kids. It was this: How sweet is that? And this: Elder Hendershot and his Dad are best friends. Elder hendershot is a total mini me of his father and so this two year separation has been hard for the both of them. I think Doug will be the same way with Derek since Derek is his mini me. So sweet though. After the truck raid we went to their hotel suite to chat. We talked for so long and could have stayed a lot longer even. We just love this family! But after snapping some pictures and promising to keep in touch we had to get going to be at our Fisher Family reunion in Cedar City. Thank you Hendershot Family!! We look forward to seeing you again! your son is great!!

Doug and I both adore Park City! Doug worked at both Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resort. I even worked as a cashier at Park City Mountain resort for a summer. LOL. Anyway, Park City is beautiful and we would LIVE there if we could. Douglas and I have been wanting to take our kids there for quite some time. Doug cannot wait until they can ski well enough to ski in Park City. That'll be soon I think. So, we took a day to go up to Park City and show the kids why we love it even in the summer months. First up was visiting our long time friend Joe Saladaga. It's been way too long since we've seen him. He had a booth set up advertising his mad catering skills at the Park City Farmer's Market. The kids liked tasting Joe's scrumptious appetizers and kept Joe talking by asking two million questions. Despite it raining off and on we still chatted for quite awhile. Next we headed over to Joe's kitchen., Here the kids were spoiled with Sweet Potato Fries and some fresh bread. Yum! Again, we were so busy trying to catch up with Joe that I neglected to get any pictures. I should be so fired I know.

After visiting with Joe we headed over to Park City Mountain resort to SKI---nah, we went for the BEST SUMMER ACTIVITY EVER-----the ALPINE SLIDE!!! So. Much. Fun. The kids were excited when we told them that to get to the top of the slide we had to go on the chair lift. Yay! The funniest though was that on the chair lift they started to get nervous. Finally Preston asked "But Mom, how are we supposed to get off this thing? We don't even have skiis on!" Ha ha. I let him know that we just walk off and that he'd be fine. It's much easier than skiing off. Chloe and Derek were not tall enough to ride alone so Chloe opted to go with me (thinking I'd be slower and less scary than Daddy) and Derek went with Doug. In line we got more rain and had to wait for it to clear so we could ride the slide. They do not let you ride in the rain because then the brakes won't work and you will probably die. I remember racing on the Alpine Slide after work with Doug and Aaron Waldrip everyday and those boys came close to dying more than once. They had to "gear up" for their rides. They put on long sleeves and long pants so they wouldn't get burns form the fiberglass. Well, we did not go that crazy I'll tell you that. Chloe was getting nervous though since the guy kept making a big deal about the rain. He made us promise that if it started to rain we would stop and get off immediately and proceed to walk down the mountain. We promised and were granted a ride! Preston wasn't quite big enough to push his lever all the way down so he could go super fast so he went a lil slower than others. At the end of the slide a few people had caught up to him. Oops. Preston had a blast though! Doug took a video of his and Derek's ride. My favorite part of the video? Derek shouting "Don't stop believing" all the way down the mountain.

Before we headed back to Aunt Kimmy's house we decided to meet Joe and his kids at an outdoor concert at Deer Valley. We walked around Park City Mountain resort though first and Preston just HAD to take a picture next to some miners. Can you tell he is looking forward to 4th grade history? Gold Rush anyone? We also took a picture of our kids being goofy. When we got to Deer Valley it started to thunder. "No problem", said Doug. Well, the rain down poured and the band had to stop playing. Joe and his kids didn't make it to the concert so we left after just a little while. Our kids were soaked and freezing.

It was important to us that Doug would have time to go Mountain biking in Utah. The amount of trails and level of difficulty are much higher in Utah than in California. Uncle Ben Humpherys told Doug about a sweet riding spot in the mountains by Bountiful!Look how amazingly green and beautiful it is! While Doug biked the rest of us had no problem hanging out with Aunt Kimmy and our cute cousins! Douglas came back from biking letting me know that he got two pictures of by FAR the coolest place his mountain bike has ever been. Here they are: Insane right? Well this one is even crazier!! Doug had a blast and I am glad I was not there with him (I would've had a heart attack I believe)!

For our Utah trip this summer we wanted to spend some time with Doug's grandparents and some friends that we haven't seen in years. So we drove straight to Pleasant Grove without stopping in Vegas. Long drive with 3 kids doesn't sound like much to you? To us, it's like a date because this is our kids in the car: Ha ha! The car always magically does that to them!

As soon as we got into town we headed over to a nice park and had a Family Picnic with Doug's cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and grandparents. This was such a treat for us. We were able to visit and really get to know Doug's extended family. I was so excited. What neat people the Farnsworths are. I was so busy visiting and getting to know people thought that I didn't remember to take pictures! What a nut case!

Doug's Uncle invited us to spend the night at his house. As soon as my kiddos heard he had bulldogs, it was on like Donkey Kong. Our kids were in heaven!! Preston found bookshelves full of books to read (Uncle is a teacher) and Chloe and Derek found mounds of toys (they are grandparents too). Lol. Thank you so much for letting us invade our home!!

Chloe was able to take a gymnastics class this summer. She LOVED it! Chloe learned how to perfect her cartwheels, do backward rolls, forward rolls, and a standing back bend! Yay! She is now trying to learn a back walkover. Her session ended with a performance at Redhill Park.

I love going to the Drive In during the summer time. In the past we've gone a lot. This summer was so busy and such strange weather that we only made it once. Bummer. But we had such a great time at the movies! Chloe brought her friend Kaleb and Preston brought Ryan. The car needed to be completely detailed when we got home though. Oops.

Do you find yourself wanting to play nail salon but don't have a sister to play with? No problem. Just grab the nearest person, a brother will do, and BRIBE the heck out of 'em! They will give in and then it's just like having a sister. After all, all brothers will do ANYTHING for a quarter right? Chloe's brother will . . .