Mijatovic Weekend

We have been wanting to go to Boise and see Zeljko and Jenn's new house since spring.  Finally, we made it happen over Labor Day weekend.  Scott was in Park City enjoying a weekend that was planned around the Howard Jones concert that he's been looking forward to for months, so the rest of us went up without him, leaving Kaysville after all the ballet classes and arriving in time for pizza with the Mijatovic crew.  They took good care of us!  We talked late into the night and woke up early, managing to get 11 kids to church by 9.  We're that good!  ;)

After church, Zeljko and Jenn prepared these delicious fried burritos.  They said that nobody has ever not liked them, so when I woke up this Tuesday and realized that I was hosting Shelter that day, I made the burritos.  They're delicious!  Greasy and delicious, as the family joke goes.  It comes from an ad we saw in China that falls under the category, "Unfortunate translations."

Zeljko helped Ptolemy gather an egg from the pretty chickens.  The rabbits weren't as pretty or as friendly, but then again, Zeljko was planning on eating them, so we didn't really want them to be too adorable. ;)

Jenn is a talented artist and interior designer.  She did most of the art on this wall and arranged it all.  Her whole house is full of evidence of her talent.

Crazy group.  Sorry, Jenn!  I promise, everyone, her arm isn't that big in real life. Ha ha

I kinda loved watching the chickens. Their adorable house is right outside the big living room window.  It sounds like a lot of work to take care of them, but Zeljko and Jenn promise it's not.  The kids do it all as part of their chores.  Still, I think Zeljko and Jenn are far less lazy than I am.  I'll just admire their farm animals.

And their half-pipe.

Zachary showed us some money his grandparents brought from their mission in Uganda.

And they even have a garden bursting with yummy little child's candy tomatoes.  The kids all decided they liked tomatoes!

After lunch, Anders was in charge of putting together a family home evening lesson.  The kids did a skit.  It was cute.  We all loved having family time just to relax and talk about things.  We were going to go home Sunday evening, but we were all having too much fun.  Golda said, "But I'm just starting to relax!"  So we stayed.  The kids had hours of fun on the half pipe Sunday evening.  They would all choose a side, then slide down and crash into each other.  Tizzy had a fake injury and cried to me, "One of the cousins kicked me!"  I'm glad they consider Anders, Zachary, Tyler and Jake to be cousins.  We sure count them as family.  I'm sure everyone knows that we met Zeljko and his parents and sister in Greece in 1996, and kept in touch.  Later, when the war in Kosovo was raging, Vladimir contacted us pleading for help getting Zeljko out of Yugoslavia and into the U.S. so he would not have to die fighting in Kosovo.  By the grace of God, our friends and family donated enough money, obstacles were removed and Zeljko miraculously made it safely to the states, where he lived with us in Idaho until the University of Idaho granted him a housing scholarship.  He converted to the LDS church, met Jenn and the rest is history.  Out of that one chance meeting came so much love.  Now we have family in Serbia and in Idaho, and we love all of them very much.  Especially now that they have given us the recipe for those fried burritos.

This is the new Tizzy.  She won't leave our sides.

This was in Sublett, Idaho, on the drive up.  The kids loved feeding the animals.  I bought a bag of food for a dollar at this kitchy gas station.  If you ever drive I-84 from Northern Utah to Boise, you might as well stop here.  It's fun, and there's not a whole lot of other options!  The 5-hour drive home commenced at 5 am Monday, so we could make it home for a full day at the pool, it being the traditional Last Day.  Thanks for a fun weekend, Mijatovic family!

Houseguests from Neighboring States

We had been looking forward to Zeljko and Jenn and their four boys staying with us for Thanksgiving.  We hadn't been looking forward to Jeremy and Jenny's four girls staying with us as well...because theirs was a surprise visit!  So on Wednesday night, the Mijatovic cousins and the Neeley-Dopp cousins converged on our house.  Zeljko and Jenn had David's Pizza for everyone.  A party was born!  We were happy to Have J and J's four sweet little girls as well as the four rambunctious Mijatovic boys, with sleeping bags spread from one side of the house to the other.  Hey, if you're going to have cousins over, do it big!

Jenn MADE this representation of my favorite hymn.  It's a little piece whose lyrics were written by my great-great-great-great grandfather, Parley P. Pratt.  We immediately hung it over the back door and began enjoying it.  Thanks, Jenn.  I love it so much!

The girls wanted to make an apron for Grandma, and Jenn is a master crafter, so we made a run to the craft store.  All kinds of creativity ensued, including Scott and his veggie tray.

Scott looks like the Shrinking of Treehorn when he sits on couches.  It's a weird phenomenon.

We spent a couple of hours watching Scott put together this masterpiece for Thanksgiving.  Nobody was allowed to help.  That's OK; we needed some diversion from the 17 kids that were doing who-knows-what with scissors and sewing machines and needles and paint and video games.  It's just better not to look.

Have you ever heard Zeljko's story?  It all began in Greece where Vladimir, Zeljko's dad, invited Scott and me to their campsite to share a bowl of fruit.  That bowl of fruit, in a way, is still being passed around, and we're so much the richer for it.

Shoshone Falls

 Fall Break 2013.  Our plan was to stay home, but that usually doesn't work for us.  Ari had plans, and she was packed and ready to go to Phoenix and California with Nikki and the rest of the Dopps.  Ari's favorite cousins had moved to Phoenix, and Nikki invited Ari to go with her and the Dopp caravan to Kayla's baptism, then on to Oceanside.  Nikki, that was incredibly generous of you!  Thank you so much!  Ari couldn't wait for the big day.

Thursday morning, we didn't do our usual 2:20 am departure time because we had piano and violin at 6:45, and also, Ari wasn't scheduled to leave until afternoon.  So we got a chance to give her lots of too-tight hugs before we left her in Coco's care and got on the road at 10.

 First stop, Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho.  Even with very little water running, it was a majestic place with fun trails to wander and pose for pictures.

 And there goes Tziporah.  Next stop was Zeljko and Jenn's new house in Boise.  But first we made the mistake of stopping at Costco to eat hot dogs, one of which made a reappearance the minute we pulled into Zeljko's driveway.  But that's the next post!