The remainder of our Utah trip was great. Kyle and Kelli went with us to see the "Living Planet Aquarium" in Sandy, which I'd never visited before. We had our doubts about any aquarium so far from an ocean, but it was pretty good! (Just so you know, Ryan, they DID have a tank full of brine shrimp.) Connor got to pet a stingray, and we saw all kinds of cool fish. And an anaconda. 
Several days later, we went down to Spring Lake Trout Farm in Payson so that Connor could catch a fish. This place was perfect for a 4-year-old, since his attention span wasn't too long. Basically, they charge you per pound for trout, and give you fishing poles and bait to fish in the generously stocked pond (average wait time per fish: 2 minutes). When you've caught all you want, they clean and fillet the trout at their fabulously low-tech workstation, and you take home edible fish. 
Elise wasn't interested, so she took a walk down the country road with Grandma. They fed grass to some sheep and petted the horses. It was great. 
Oh, and when we got home I went to all the work of frying up Connor's catch. He tasted one bite and declared he was full. I guess it was about the experience rather than the meal, right?
Our last Tuesday in Utah, I was able to take my Grandma to the Salt Lake Temple to do an endowment session. It was really special because she hadn't been there in 60 years. Not since the day she was married. She attends the temple at least twice a week nowadays, and has visited tons of them, but for some reason she had never made it back to Salt Lake. We had an awesome day. 
When we got back, my mom was helping the kids make sugar cookies. Just the kind of thing grandmas are great for, because moms are too lazy to tackle the mess involved in such a project. 
We had a really nice visit. Thanks to everybody who entertained us and kept us company! Oh, and Ryan still doesn't know how he did on the CFA - I think they post results around the end of August. We'll let everyone know, though, as soon as we find out.
Our trip up to my mom's house was great. Very busy, and great. (And Ryan was able to get a ton of studying done while we were gone, so it was productive, too!) 
Our first Sunday there, we had a birthday party to celebrate Kevin and Kyle's birthdays. Grandma Cloe brought cake and ice cream, which you can see was enjoyed by all. 
The following Monday was Memorial Day, and we were able to accompany Grandma Cloe up to Logan to put flowers on Grandpa Dean's and Kirk's graves. This was Elise's first time to the cemetary, and (I think) Connor's first trip since he was aware of what stuff means. It was actually very pleasant and sweet. Elise loved the engraved picture of Grandpa Dean on a horse, and Connor loved playing with Kyle. The kids were even good on the ride home (relatively), which was a nice surprise. 
On this trip we got to see Kyle and Kelli's new house! It's so cute! I can't express how jealous I am. We were able to spend a day helping them paint their living and dining rooms, which had been a dinged-up whitish color. Now, I'll admit, I wasn't very enthusiastic about helping at first. I was convinced that my presence there with the kids would just be a waste of everyone's time, and end quickly. Kelli was prepared, though, with a room for them to watch DVD's, and we obtained copies of The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Mist (an awesome sheepdog movie that my kids love). Those sweeties sat there and watched movies for the ENTIRE day! It was amazing. I had alot of fun, and learned a ton about paint. Oh, and the hand you can see on the piano keys is from Kelli's attempt to give a piano lesson in the middle of a paint zone. It was pretty funny, but the little girl didn't seem to mind.
We spent one beautiful morning down at that East Bay place full of ducks (I've never been able to figure out what its real purpose is, other than duck collecting.) We scored big-time, in that there was a mama with tiny ducklings, including one fuzzy yellow one. 
Guess who got the most bread? I suspect that duckling will grow up to be some kind of duck Jabba the Hut. Oh, and it was fresh "Honey and Grains" bakery bread, too. (That's all we had.) No stale hot-dog buns for them.
