Harry Potter 5

Harry Potter5 was a blast. Here is a review on it. It was a great movie and I really enjoyed it. Some parts it was boring but after you get into it, it gets really fun to watch. This is probably the best out of the five so far. My favorite part was when Dunbledor and Voldemort where fighting and Dunbledor traps Voldemort inside a water ball and throws it at the ground when Voldemort is in the water ball.or when Voldemort makes a huge fire snake that Dunbledor disenagrates the snake with a spell. I think it was a great movie. By:Coby

Family and Friends,

We just got back from Utah after spending a week visiting family. While there, my mom reminded me that everyone else seems to be doing this blogging thing and that it would be nice if we would do the same. I created this blog back in February but have never found the time to add anything. I am going to try and recap our adventure this last week.

We drove out to Orem on Monday, July 2nd. This took us about 13 hours. We were a little concerned if we would all still be friends by the end of the trip but the kids did great! A couple movies, little Harry Potter on CD and lots of snacks seemed to do the trick.

We first stayed with Mom and Dad Gardner in their new home. It is quite nice. I think I am the last of the kids to see it. We enjoyed taking over the basement! Kids found a lot of fun things to play with. Coby especially liked the ping pong except when Grandma whipped him. :)

Tuesday, we went and saw the new Pixar movie Ratatouille with Megan and Peter's families, Grandma and Grandpa, and Kaitlyn and Liz. Jill was especially brave in going as she does not like rodents. We all enjoyed the movie but I don't think Jill is going to be getting the DVD any time soon. I think once was enough for her.

We ended up boating quite a bit with the Wrights. They tend to go 3-4 times a week during the summer. We went, Tuesday, Thursday and Monday evenings for a couple of hours each time. Mark and Lindsay joined us on Monday. Utah lake was quite warm, almost like getting in the bath.

We enjoyed tubing, jet skiing, wake boarding, bobbing and just riding around in the boat. Ellie really liked the water activities. Her first time on the tube, they weren't leaning back far enough and it submerged when they started. Ellie cried for a moment but didn't want to get out. She got back on and had a great time, smiling, laughing and waving with both hands. One time when she was on the wave runner with Derek, she said, "This is FUN!" Derek decided that Maggie's middle name should have been Bob. She was always wanting to get in the water and just "bob." She is pretty brave in the water when she has her life jacket on. Abby was also very brave in wanting to try wake boarding.

Mark had just gone and she decided it was something that she was willing to try. She got out in the water with the board on but the water was a little rough that evening and she decided she would try it again another time. Coby learned that he really likes taking fast turns on the jet ski when he went out with Brandon. Later he went on with Jill and she let him steer. He turned it fast enough that Jill went flying off and Coby went with her since she had been holding on to him. Shelby liked tubing the most. She especially liked with when Tom would go crazy, going back and forth. Derek was able to get up trying to wake board but never really got any control once up. He kept drifting over the wake and down he would go. Maybe next time. Jill seemed to be everywhere; jet skiing, tubing with Ellie, etc. It really was a lot of fun.

On the 4th, we had a nice BBQ with the Gardner side and enjoyed a BYU soccer game in the evening where the men's team won their game 6-2. It was tied at the end of the first half 1-1. Dad asked Peter and I what we thought would happen second half. Peter gave a reasonable response while I joked that BYU would score 5 goals in the second half. All I can say is that it was a very lucky guess. The referring wasn't great at times. There were a few fairly obnoxious spectators above us that yelled all kind of things at the ref. I am hoping that Coby doesn't pick up on any of their taunts. The kids enjoyed being with their cousins. We then went home and did some fireworks that Jay and Peter supplied.

Thursday we spent the morning at Thanksgiving Point and saw the Dinosaur museum and the 3D movie about fossils. Ellie almost made it the end of movie without needing a bathroom break but not quite. I think that it will be quite a while before we all get to enjoy the end of a movie. (We saw three movies over the week and someone had to take her out for each one of them.)

Friday evening, we went on a picnic up Payson caynon to Payson Lakes. Grandpa had rented a canoe and a raft that we enjoyed taking the kids out on. Towards the end, some of the older kids took the raft out themselves and got stuck out in the middle. They couldn't quite get it going in one direction. Derek ended up going out in the canoe and towing them back into shore.

Afterwards, we walked around the lake and then took a drive to another lake where we got out and walked around. It was nice and cool there and we had an enjoyable time.

Saturday evening, we packed stuff up and moved up to Highland to stay with Liz and Tom for a few days. We went to church on Sunday with the Wrights. I was a little worried about the kids being able to get up for 9am church but they did great. Jill and I also made a trip to see Wendy in her new home in Orem. It is a nice place. They are still unpacking but I think that they (Wendy and Suzanne) will enjoy their new home. It was nice to see and visit with Wendy.

Monday we went up to Salt Lake in the morning to visit Temple Square with Grandma and Grandpa. We started with the Conference Center. It was very large. They had a lot of neat artwork in the center. Afterwards we went to the mall for lunch before we headed to the Joseph Smith Memorial to see the Joseph Smith movie. It was a neat movie. Maggie sat on my lap and asked a lot of good question about the prophet. It was a very nice time except that we actually never made it onto Temple Square! I am sure glad that we are an eternal family.

The last day in Utah, we had planned to go to Seven Peaks but decided to go a little cheaper and with a little less sun to Legacy Pool in Lehi. Megan and Grandpa joined us with some of the older cousins. It was fun with a water slide, lazy river and a HUGE bucket that dumped water every few minutes or so. When Derek was first helping Ellie onto one of the smaller slides, he didn't see the bucket and was standing in the perfect spot when the entire ocean came crashing down on him. What a surprise. Ellie and Derek enjoyed watching it dump on others later in the day as they enjoyed the breeze it created. Derek also go to go on the big slide "many a time" as he took Ellie, Maggie and Robbie down. It ended up being a good choice for the day although Abby was disappointed not to go to Seven Peaks as she was sick last time we went. Afterwards we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a nice dinner. We then went back up to Tom and Liz's to help pack for girl's camp the next day and watch a movie. Wednesday we had a long drive back to Vancouver but the kids were well behaved and we are still friends!

Thanks again to all of you that made our trip so much fun! We appreciate seeing all of you and wish it was easier to see you more often.