Babysitting

My parents went to China for two weeks to pick up Simon whom they were adopting. While they were there we watched the other kids during the week. My brothers watched them for the weekends. Preston and Sierra were in heaven, constant friends and their favorite aunts and uncles.

 

 Sierra had never been on the trampoline before but it didn't take long for her realize she loved it. Preston tested his ability to do tricks and did a lot of rolling.

 One of the best parts was the marshmallow cereal for breakfast. We never have this at home. 

 Skyping with my parents

 the view out my parents' back porch is amazing. 

 These were Preston's best friends most of the time we were there. This is where he had to safely park them when he went to the bathroom. Priorities for a 3 year old. 

 

 Most of the kids are home schooled. That added a fun element. I was very impressed that the kids were pretty self sufficient and were able to do their work on their own or help each other.

 Reading time

 Some kids had a creative way of reading 

We planned various activities in order to keep things interesting and give the kids something to look forward to each day instead of just counting down to when Mom and Dad would get home.

Making rockets to be launched with a straw. We all made our rockets then had a competition to see whose went furthest. 

 Launching the rockets

 Ring pops do crazy things to the tongue 

 Preston earned his new bike after the first week we were there. I think my brother's were as excited for him to get his bike as Preston was. The first morning Preston had the bike Casey, Marshall, and Clayson finished their school work as fast as possible so they could ride with Preston. I loved that they stayed right by Preston's side to cheer him on.

 Enjoying the new train table. 

 One of our activities was shooting helium balloons with nerf guns.

 

 When we are home Preston often just needs time to unwind. When there is a lot of excitement this unwind time is even more crucial so I would send him to our room with the tablet to watch a movie. Eventually I noticed I hadn't seen most of the kids for a while. Of course they all wanted to watch the movie too.

 Instead of doing their history reading we went on a field trip to see the lego exhibits of several American monuments and historic building.

 It was so cool to see the detail and size they could accomplish with just legos. 

 They had an area with bins filled with legos for kids to make cars and race them down a ramp. 

 The kids could have stayed there building and refining their cars for hours if their tummies were growling so loud wanting food. After the exhibit we headed to a park to eat lunch and enjoy the summer like weather in March.

I'm not sure how this spinning ring is allowed in the park due to safety concerns but the kids loved it. I chose not to watch and pray no one broke anything. I really didn't want my parents to come home to several kids with broken bones. 

 Preston and Hyrum wanted to catch Sierra at the bottom of the slide. 

 For how much this girl likes food I'm amazed she's so skinny. After everyone had gone to play (even the teenagers) Sierra was still there eating whatever she could get her hands on. 

 

Preston and Sierra both loved to do "school work"
 with the other kids.

 

 

One of our last activities was an egg drop. The kids used whatever items they could find to protect an egg from braking when they dropped it off the balcony. 

 Picking up my parents from the airport was an adventure. Tyler drove the bus with most everyone while I drove our Pilot with Ressa, Casey, Charlie, and Sierra. As I was looking for a parking spot Tyler called to tell me the bus had broken down on the freeway about 5 minutes from the airport. I dropped Ressa and Casey off with the babies and turned around to get anyone else I could fit in my car. We managed to fit 10 or 11 of us and left Tyler, Jessica, Britton, and Michael (a family friend) with the bus to wait for a neighbor to bring the 15 passenger van.

My parents waited inside the airport for us to get there since there was a camera crew from KSL waiting to do a story on the adoption. We gave my parents the thumbs up to come out and then we waited... and waited ... finally my parents came from behind us. They had gone down to the wrong terminal and had to walk outside to get over to the terminal we were waiting in. So much for the big reunion being on camera. It makes for a good laugh.

Eventually Tyler and everyone else got there with the van and Creed with his car. Between the three cars we had enough room to fit all the luggage and people to get my parents home after a long eventful 2 weeks.