Summer Utah Trip

The kids and I were lucky enough to have a 3 week trip to Utah over the summer. One of my best friends from St. Louis (Syleisa) and her three kids joined us the drive out (Mike had to work). 6 kids under the age of 7 and 2 LONG days of driving made for an interesting but fun experience, and it was worth it to be able to be with family.

We had a curve ball thrown at us while we were there. I was pregnant- roughly 10 1/2 weeks and ended up miscarrying a week or so after we got there. It was a HUGE disappointment, like any miscarriage but thankfully I had family support and some terrific friends who stopped by to show their love. It really was a blessing to be in Utah when it happened, Mike is in a busy time of residency, so it was so nice to have my kids entertained and be able to go through it as easily as possible. And in the end were able to make the most of the trip and still made some great memories.

These pictures aren't in chronological order, it was too much of a pain to get them on here organized. But these are the highlights of our trip.

We visited my dad's grave and had a chance to share and talk about favorite memories.....

My mom organized a FUN Scavenger hunt with treats and prizes galore......

goofy girls///

We had dinner in the mountains and the kids got filthy and had a blast......

Went to the West Jordan 4th of July parade (a HUGE bust)

Grandpa Hales took us all to Leatherby's--- a family favorite

4th of July fun and fireworks

We went to Planet Pizza(?)

All the girls (including the littles) had pedicures

Rode TRAX downtown to City Creek (SWEET face)

Papa squirting the kids (they LOVED it)

 We were also able to spend fun time with Grandpa and Grandma Taylor but I continually forgot my camera (all the above pics were given to me from Bree). 

The BIG 5

We have decided to let the kids have friend parties on their 5th,8th and 12th birthdays. It just makes things easier and more affordable! So this was Collin's first friend party.

All 3 of the kids have always loved Star Wars (I think it's in their DNA). Collin loves to play Lego Star Wars on the Wii-- so that is what he chose for his party.

My mom made these invites

We had the kids do Jedi training course so that they could be true Jedi's.  Mike was SO helpful, I think it helps to have the theme be something that he knows a lot about :)

He put together the course--- using the movie for ideas. I tried to make the basement look like the swamp where Luke received his Jedi training from Yoda

They had to climb a rope....

Jump and swing on the swing

Stack the 3 rocks....

and then do a one-handed hand stand (didn't get pictures of that)

After completing the course they were officially Jedi knights and awarded their Light-Saber 

After everyone passed their Jedi test-- they were ready to defeat the Death Star

Presents!

Pizza and playing legos

Collin's cake that Mike made. 

Seriously, if I was the one to make the cake, I would have been stressed about it for WEEKS. But not Mike. Nope, he wasn't worried in the least (unlike myself) The night before he got to work, carved it and frosted it without a hitch. The frosting came out a funky color- but it still worked-- and most important Collin LOVED it. I was impressed.

Collin is an amazing little boy. He has the most tender heart and is so thoughtful of others. We are so blessed to have him in our family.

Grandparents and a Graduation

We have been SO lucky to have had so many visitors in such a short time. We had Rochelle the beginning of April, my mom and sisters at the end of April  and Mike's parents and brother Russell at the end of May. It was so great to have family here and to have them get a little taste of what our life is like in St. Louis.

Gra,Steph and Cassie

It's always a blast spending time with my mom and sisters. They are some of my best friends, so of course we always have so much fun together. We spent time showing them around, shopping/spoiling us, surprising Samantha at school with a special lunch....we crammed a lot into 3 days!

Samantha's class was having family members come and read a story to the class each day. It was perfect timing since we had family in town! Samantha knew that I was going to come in and read, but her teacher and I kept it a secret that my mom was also going to come in and read.

After the story time we checked Samantha out and we all went to the Magic House!

It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, thing went by too quickly they left us wanting a few more days. But they did ease our disappointment by leaving us fully stocked with some household essentials and non-essentials(funstuff)- 

 Collin's Tiger Tots Graduation
Collin has LOVED going to Tiger Tots. It was a bit of an adjustment afterwards.....he still wanted to go! On his last day they did a little graduation ceremony and afterwards they had a mini Carnival full of games and treats.

Chad and Collin

Collin and his friends Ammon and Kalea

Grandpa, Grandma and Russell
It was perfect timing: the kids had just gotten out of school and they were ready for some action! That action came in the form of Grandpa, Grandma and Russell!
The first night they were in town they stayed with the kids while Mike and I were able to go to a Cardinals game with some friends. Honestly, I am NOT a baseball fan, not really my sport. BUT I do have to say that it was an amazing field-- the atmosphere was so cool. We had a blast riding the metro into downtown and just hanging out with good friends.

We had a good time staying busy by visiting Grants Farm.......

Going to the Magic House

Playing many games of "Speed" checkers and "Slow" checkers......Grandpa worked SOOOO hard on some new steps out our back door. Our old stairs were just 2 steep narrow boards-- the kids would often get hurt going up or down on them. Grandpa built (in the 90 degree plus humidity weather) us a fabulous landing and new stairs and we LOVE it!!!

Grandma helped me to put plants in our front yard which improved our yard by leaps and bounds. Our soil here is HORRIBLE so it made the whole process a bit frustrating--- but the hard work paid off!

We were yet again spoiled. We are SO blessed to have such supportive amazing parents, who sacrifice so much for us