The grandest sort of day.

Today marks the 11th anniversary that Darin and I tied the knot. I mailed him a little gift back to the Republic of Korea, I hope it brightens his day when it arrives. He had flowers delivered to my new residence here at the Wiley House in Provo. I thought of him throughout my day as a tourist in Provo.

To start the day off right, Rachel and I arranged for an early morning hike up to the "Y". Liz, now of the Bay Area, and I tried hiking it once in college. Believe it or not, we got lost and never found the "Y", if I'm remembering correctly. I figured 15 years later it was time to try that again. Rachel knew exactly how to find the "Y", and I declared it my anniversary present to myself to reach that peak. It was a beautiful morning. I would have invited Darin to come with me were he in town.



Now that we live at the Wiley House, there are seven children residing under one roof. Some people call that a proper sized family, we call that a full house. With a long Saturday ahead of us, we needed to find ways to entertain the children. First stop:



Provo's proud Farmer's Market. It was hot, but the Cub Scout fundraiser snow cones were delicious. And after seeing the cute Farmer's Market bag, and declaring to my sister Sarah that I wanted one, she told me all I had to do was find a sign in beautiful downtown Provo, photograph myself with the sign, and post it to my blog. Then a Provo Farmer's Market bag can be mine for free! I hope she's not lying to me. There's hardly anything I won't do for a free bag.




As if the Farmer's Market wasn't fun enough, we ventured over to the BYU Botany duck pond to feed the fat ducks, and try a bit of letter boxing. Unfortunately, the box was missing. But a good old fashion treasure hunt with seven kids is always a great idea. Especially if the alternate ending location is the BYU bookstore candy counter. (To my Earnest SILs, I may or may not now have in my possession one pound of chocolate covered cinnamon gummie bears...)






After frolicking sufficiently about the spectacular BYU campus, and instilling ever so subtly a burning desire in the children to later attend BYU(do you know how cheap the tuition is?!), if the appropriately high GPA is achieved and dedication to the Gospel is exemplified, it was time to move on. I think after our fun in the Carl Eyring science building (and of course the candy counter), the burning desire was ignited and straight A's are the new rhetoric for all school aged boys under my care!



An anniversary dinner at California Pizza Kitchen at 4pm was perfectly planned. Followed up with a little princess dress trying on for the little ladies. And some late evening water slide riding for the big boys. We had all seven children of the Wiley House mostly sound asleep by 8:30pm.







Now if that isn't the grandest sort of a day, I really don't know what is. Happy Anniversary Darin. 11 years is something to celebrate. You keep it fun for all of us. Thanks for letting us spend our summer in America!! Short of being together in San Diego, it is the next best way to celebrate the triumph of it all.