Good times...

A couple months ago, Madelyn and Drew memorized their articles of faith--in only 2 weeks.  We gave them a little incentive beforehand and told them if they did it, we would take them on a special "date."  We had wanted to take them to a play and we looked and looked for a good play to take them to, but the ones going on around here just weren't a good fit.  

Then a week or so ago, I told Jed I really would love to take them to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat--but it wasn't showing any where we knew of.  Then last weekend my mother-in-law let me in on the info of a performance of that very musical taking place in a neighboring stake.  Knowing it was a stake production, my expectations were not very high, but I was excited to go nonetheless.  We got a babysitter for the rest of the kids, and Drew and Madelyn accompanied us on a date.  We took them to Carl's Jr. for a big Carl (man those kids can eat a lot!) and we had to stuff them down as fast as possible because we wanted to get in and get a good seat.  

We were so pleasantly surprised by the cast, the lighting, the use of stage/gym space, etc!!  It was spectacular and we had such a great time together!!  The kids adored the music and humor, as did we.  When it was intermission, they were so worried it was over!  It was such a good night. 

Then of course, to make an awesome night even better, we shared milkshakes from Artic Circle and headed home.  I didn't get any pictures, darn it, but that is a night that will live on because of the awesome time we had--and the catchy music that is still in our heads!!

 Then the next day we headed to my sisters house in Utah.  We visited and shared lunch with them and then headed for Salt Lake to go the Supercross.  Jed was excited to go, it had been several years since he had gone to one.  It was fun to drive together. 

 Claire was happy to get out of that carseat and stretch in the drivers seat.

 We found this guy with a roasted pig.....by the time we were looking for food for ourselves, the pig was nearly gone.  I just couldn't stomach eating from that pig...especially when we saw them scrape the fat out as they went....  what can I say?  I'm a wuss...
We were amused as we people watched together.  So many people from different walks of life...

 The special effects were awesome.  You could feel huge waves of heat when these flame blowers went off.  And they sent a huge smoke ring into the air which totally stumped us.  It was cool.

 Parachuters came down and landed in a precise area at the front of the track...amazing.

It was fun to watch the races....

They are amazingly good.

We didn't get to watch a whole lot of the racing, our timing wasn't perfect with our arrival and we thought we would be able to watch some preliminary races....but we missed them.  So we waited until the main event and only stayed for a couple of races.  We (I) was so worried about being away from Claire for a long time and so we felt pressed by the clock quite a bit. Then it was more racing against the clock to get home in good time.  Jed needed some good sleep for his Sunday meetings/conducting the next day. 

But we had a great time and are glad we saw what we did.  It was great being with Jed and having fun together: racing back to the car that was parked a mile away, having good talks on the drive, walking around in the pits, etc.  It was also fun to visit with my sister, and we're so grateful their family took in our little ones for a day even in the midst of crazy busy-ness at their house!

Then to top off Hannah's weekend, Jed took her on a "date" on Sunday night to make some visits.  She was over the moon about spending one on one time with her dad.  She came into the room where I was with all of the kids and said, "Guys, I have to tell you something so you don't freak out.  I'm going on a date with Dad so I'm going to be leaving.  Mom can you babysit these guys?"  Too cute!  She told Jed what car to drive and where she would sit.  She took this date with her dad extremely seriously.  She even planned out who they would visit although their plans had to be adjusted.  She had a great time and boy did that girl feel like a million bucks!!  what a sweetie...