What a Week!

For any of you who have been checking in for an updated post, I apologize for being so slothful. It has been a very busy, yet fun-filled week.
We had lots of company. On Tuesday, Kerri & Robert came with Emily & Nikolas. They were soon followed by Grandma & Grandpa B. A couple of hours later David & Vera arrived with Brett, Kiersten and Dylan. It was a houseful! But it was really nice to have everyone there. However, they did not all sleep at our house, thank goodness. As fun as that might have been, we're not really equipped for such a load.
The next day, my good friend Karen (from Camas, WA) and her daughter, Malia arrived. We hadn't seen them since we left Camas two years ago. That evening was the Rodeo, which was awesome! I hadn't been to one since I was a kid, and my kids had never seen one. We had a great time.
The next morning (the 24th) was the Big Parade. We had great front-row seats on Paul & MaryEllen's front yard. The weather was perfect. Everyone had a great time and the kids collected a nearly Halloween-sized stash of candy off the street. A parade is great because it's the only time that we allow our children to pick up candy off the ground and eat it. Who doesn't love doing that, huh?
The parade was followed by a huge gathering of Beckstroms, some I don't think I've met yet. And when you have that many Beckstroms, you also have a huge amount of wonderful food. Even though it was still early in the day, I managed to make room for more than I needed.
All of the morning fun was followed by a fun swim for all the kids (and most of the adults), a big, delicious dinner at Outback Steakhouse, and awesome ice cream at SubZero.
That was all followed by fireworks, sparklers and flying potato at our house, along with an amusing game of Props. Everyone stayed till almost midnight.
The next day I had to work, so I missed out on another fun day of swimming, but everyone else had a great time.
By Saturday, all the Beckstroms had left except for Mark & Anita who stayed till Monday.
On Saturday, I took Karen & Malia up to see Temple Square. They really enjoyed seeing everything there, although we wore ourselves out at the end by searching for the See's Candy store that was no longer where it used to be.
Sunday was Church. I really enjoyed having Karen with me. You really see things differently at church when you have a non-member with you.
Monday was spent at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. Had another fun-filled day.
Karen and Malia went home on Tuesday, and now all is quiet here. And, it may be my imagination, but my house seems to have grown bigger overnight. We suddenly seem to have a lot of space.
I will (hopefully) post some pictures from this busy week soon. I now have a working camera, but seem to no longer have a cable to connect it to the computer to download the pictures. So please keep checking back.