Utah Trip

July was once again time for the Burr Family Reunion. We made the trek to Utah on July 9th (our 18th wedding anniversary) This is not the first year that we've been driving on our anniversary and probably won't be the last! We had a nice drive to Utah (besides the construction on I-80) and got there about 5 PM. We arrived to an empty house, but shortly met Trav's parents and Chan, Jen and the boys down at Salt City Burger for dinner.

The kids were so excited to see their cousins! Jarom was leaving for Boy Scout Camp on Monday morning, so the boys went and spent the night at Chan and Jen's so they could have a little more time together. Sunday, we went to church and had all the family over for dinner. Monday, we headed to the park to play some basketball, baseball, lacrosse, and tennis. The kids had a great time and then we enjoyed dinner together again that night. After dinner, we headed down to South Jordan to see Kaisen play in his all-star baseball game. We also got a chance to see the Pulu's and play at the park for a while with them!

Tuesday we visited the Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine (which is on the list of Historic National Monuments I learned for Parker's merit badge). This picture does not do it justice. It is massive! Those little specks down at the bottom are giant dump trucks. You can see in the next picture how massive just the wheels are. We visited the visitors center and enjoyed a movie about the mine.
The Pulu's joined us there for the tour.

Naomi, Noah and Calissa in front of the giant tire

Great friends!
Eisley, Conner, Eli and Parker
It was pretty windy up there!

After saying goodbye to the Pulu's, we went to Gateway in Salt Lake City to play in the fountain, stop by our favorite chocolate shop for cookies and Carmel apples and do a little shopping! Then, we went back down to South Jordan for another of Kaisen's games.

Wednesday was Grandpa Burr's birthday and we celebrated by going to the Hogel Zoo in Salt Lake. (I'm sure that was what Grandpa wanted to do on his birthday, don't you?)

We had a fun time finding our favorite animals.

Most of the kids with Grandpa (and a dinosaur in the background).

Cute little baby elephant!

Calissa, Conner, Parker, Kaisen, Kylee and Eisley

Taking a break for an ice cream cone!

They had a special dinosaur exhibit and had dinosaurs all around the park. They moved, their eyes moved, and some even sprayed water. They were a little freaky, but pretty cool!

Calissa's favorite animal, the lemur.

That night we had yummy pulled pork sandwiches and homemade Oreo ice cream!

We also had fun lighting fireworks (which we can't do in California)!

Thursday morning we got up bright and early and went to visit my Grandparents in Layton. Conner and Calissa had fun playing with their dog, Tipper!

After catching up with Grandma and Grandpa, we met everyone at Lagoon.

It was a fun-filled, long day.

Parker with his shaved ice that was huge and turned his mouth blue!

MiQuelle taking a little snooze.

Having a snack and a short break before dinner.

Grandma and Grandpa Burr

Calissa loved the rides.

Conner didn't love the rides so much! He was a trooper that day and never complained as he held our bags and followed us from ride to ride. He enjoyed chatting with Grandma and Grandpa. We went on several new rides there, but our favorites were the Spider (A spinning roller coaster with two facing front and two facing back. It's locked into place until it makes its first decent and then you keep spinning and changing directions - Tons of fun!) and Wicked (8 people ride at a time and go straight UP a 110 foot track over the top and back down and then into loops, etc. It seriously goes STRAIGHT UP - Wicked fun though!).

Friday morning, Parker and Travis went golfing really early. Once they were back, we headed out to get pedicures.

Calissa's cute nails.

After lunch we pulled out the slip and slide and the kids had tons of fun. The fun lasted until it looked like we might damage the grass (and we wouldn't want to damage grandma and grandpa's beautiful grass!)

Logan, with a big smile!

Maddie, so excited!

Patiently waiting their turn.

Conner

Calissa

Parker looking scared?

Uncle Jordan decided to join in the fun.

His imitation of a seal was fabulous!

He even did tricks.

Friday night after a dutch oven dinner, we made one last trip to Nielsen's Frozen Custard to get Concretes. The boys had been waiting all week for one and asking every night! After our yummy dessert, we went outside for one last night of fireworks. It gets dark really late there. (Like 10 PM)!

Saturday morning we were spoiled with yet another yummy breakfast from Grandma, packed up and headed to Layton to visit Kevin, Kellie and kids, and see their new house (which is beautiful). We visited with them, had lunch and then headed home about 1 PM. We ended up driving all the way and made it home about 11 PM California time. We had a great time, like always but it was nice to come home and sleep in our own beds again!

It had to end sometime ...

Well, Conner's all-star season has come to an end. Their team made it to the top 8 out of 15 teams. They had a fun few weeks together, but it's over for another year.Here is Conner on his way to his first game.

His pants are still white!

(Game 1 was supposed to be on Tuesday, June 28th, but we were RAINED OUT!

They ended up playing on the 29th instead!)

Announcing the line-up for the first game.

#11 - Conner Burr!

Conner got to be one of the team captains for the first game.

He got a single for his first at-bat.

Conner played center field and was 1-2 that game.

They ended up winning 15-1.

Game 2 was in Pittsburg on Friday, July 1st.

It was HOT!!!

Miles and Conner trying to warm up in the shade.

Conner made a great catch in the outfield this game and kept all the balls in front of him. He also hit a grounder to center field for a single! They ended up loosing 2-7.

Because they lost on Friday night, they played on Saturday morning in Alameda.

Conner was excited to start the game, and he got to catch!

He really loves playing catcher and does a great job!

They ended up winning this exciting game 9-4! The kids looked really good!

Their final game was on Tuesday night at Continental. Our team just couldn't hit the ball off their pitcher and we made several errors. Conner did a great job though and we are very proud of him.

4th of July

On the 4th of July, our ward had a flag raising ceremony, inspirational message, pancake breakfast, and bike parade to kick off the day.Conner was part of the color guard.

They did a great job.

Calissa participated in the bike parade. Conner and Parker thought they were too old.

After the ward activity, we went to see Cars 2 and ran a couple of errands. Parker went to Trever's house to watch a movie and the fireworks and the rest of us stayed home and went to bed early! We're looking forward to watching the fireworks while we're in Utah.

Grandma Maynard

My Grandma Maynard passed away on June 11th in Utah. My aunt and uncle had a memorial service for her in Utah and then we had the funeral and burial here in Concord on Monday, June 27th. As sad as we were to see her pass away, she lived a good long life and is now reunited with my Grandpa. I'm glad that my kids got to know her well, since they didn't get to meet my Grandpa because he passed away about 20 years ago.The nice thing about her funeral is that is brought all our family together for a short get-together. We usually are only all together about once a year. The kids had a great time together and it was wonderful to get to visit with everyone.

The kids all got bubble guns from Aunt Tina (and batteries from Aunt Kellie) and decided to get Grandpa as we got together for dinner on Sunday!

Grandma Karen (Chrystal's mom) asked to take a picture of all of us.

Thanks Karen! We probably wouldn't have taken one and we appreciate having it!

Here is the whole family including my Uncle Joe, Aunt Gisele and my cousin Chantel.

The Romer Family.

Mom, Dad, Jen, Drew, Kevin and BJ

Just the siblings.

I'm looking a little over-dressed!

Monday, was the funeral. It was a beautiful service. Travis conducted, BJ gave a prayer, Kevin spoke about her life, I played a piano solo (Nearer, My God, To Thee), my mom spoke about memories, the great-grandkids sang I am a Child of God and Travis spoke. My dad gave the family prayer and my Uncle Joe dedicated the grave. It was nice to see some family that we haven't seen in years. It's nice at a time of sadness to bring the family closer together.

After the burial, we went back to the church for a luncheon that the Relief Society provided. The granddaughters and great-granddaughters got to pick out a piece of jewelry from my Grandma. That will be a special item to treasure. Calissa was so excited!

My mom let me take home the beautiful flowers from the Grandchildren since I helped pick them out.

Monday, right after the burial BJ had to head back to Georgia for training. Kevin and Kellie went back to the airport about 4 PM. Chrystal and the kids took off on Tuesday morning to fly back to Arizona (which she did by herself with 4 little kids)! We're lucky that we're all getting together again the first week of August so it won't be too long until we're together again.

We miss you Grandma (and Grandpa)!