Patrick Joined the Party!

The last week of our stay, Patrick flew in to join the fun!  The first thing we did was take the boys to Lagoon.  :)  We didn't pack a camera, since we were all riding, so I only have a couple pictures from Patrick's phone.  But we had SUCH a good time!  Both boys were tall enough to ride anything they wanted. We managed to get them on a couple of roller coasters!  Although it was really funny to watch the ride employees measure my 4 year old... and then measure him again after asking his age.  hahaha.  

We wore ourselves out, rode everything we wanted (some twice), and got wet!  :)  Patrick and I also learned that getting old sucks, and rides that spin are not fun... they are obnoxious!  Those were also the same rides the boys would have ridden over and over again!  :)  We're excited to take them again!

Patrick and I also got to go to the temple... together... for the first time in years!  It was tremendous!  I love him SO much!  And I'm so grateful for the eternal blessings of the temple!  And if I had to be stuck with someone forever... I'm super glad it's him!  ;)  

We also had family pictures x 2.  (That was Patrick's favorite part of the week, he LOVES getting his picture taken! HA!)  
The Swain Family:
  (Will have to be inserted later, I don't have them yet!) 
The Salisbury Family:

The week ended with a "1st Anniversary of Her 29th Birthday" party for my sister that I chose, Angie!  :)  It was a giant party of 2... we are so awesome we are all the party we can handle need.  Hahaha.  We went all "high school" and ate ourselves sick, watched a chick flick and stayed up til nearly dawn - sleepover style! Without any kids! (What?!)  It was absolutely wonderful to be able to spend her big day/night with her!  We have been friends since 5th grade.  She is my thick and thin person!  My cry it out and keep my secrets person!  We have always been this perfect balance of opposites. She doesn't just know my history, she lived it! And I really can't even imagine who or where I would be if I hadn't had her all these years!  Love her so much!  
(I should totally scan in some awesomely embarrassing pictures from the past!  :)  Yep, it's on my list!)  

We also got to see some old friends and neighbors - the Chapman clan!  We love and miss them so much!  Such a wonderful family! :)  The trip ended with a final farewell party with as many of our family and friends as we could get! It was a fun night and it made saying goodbye a little easier!  

...And then we were off... back to real life and the heat and getting ready for school!  Our trips to Utah are full of so many great memories, I am so glad we got to have such a fun and full stay this year!  We are so blessed!  

UT Part 4

I probably should have started with a warning:  This is going to be a lot of "Parts"!  ;)  We were in UT for 3 weeks.  So I'm just trying to get it all in!  Bare with me! :)

Week 2 was just as busy!  We got to go to Hoggle Zoo with Pops, Kenny, Jenny and her kids and Alex tagged along too.  :)  It was HOT!  I live in southern AZ... I know hot!  It was (soaking in sweat, dragging our feet, contemplating laying down and dying) HOT!  But we all survived and had a good time regardless!  :)  They have changed the zoo a lot since the last time I was there, it is pretty impressive.  

 Everyone except Harrison.

The polar bear enclosure was reminiscent of Sea World.  And it was at the top of our favorites list.  Plus, Mr. Bear was super photogenic!  :)

 She really makes herself comfortable!  :) 

Later in the week we had a field trip with Grama Salisbury, Cameron, Sammy and Erica to SLC.  Our destination was the Hansen Planetarium.  We got to ride the train... 

 That would be 'pain' on Harrison's face! Hahaha.  

I love places like this.  Entertaining and educational... and air conditioned.  :) 

 And just for fun, here are a few from the Dinosaur Park.

Holy crap... these posts are long!  But at least they are full of really cute kids!  :)

UT Part 3

When I said it was busy, I wasn't exaggerating!  We also made a trip to the Dinosaur Park.  Got to have some fun play dates with friends. Did some swimming. I even had an afternoon of recovery and pampering with my mom and then a fun night out with a friend! :) We didn't waste a second! :)    

On Friday I got an invite from some AZ friends (The Weech Family) to join them on their family vacation (also in UT) for some river rafting!  I totally jumped at the chance. They are such great friends and so much fun! We tamed the wild Weber River. ;)  

I really didn't think it would be too rough, but I was pleasantly surprised. With not 1, but 3 waterfalls!  And my seat for the ride... was right there on the front! Which didn't seem bad until we hit said waterfalls. ;) It was a blast!

And of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Utah if there wasn't some horseback riding!  :)  Horses = Happy Boys! They will take any chance they can get to ride.  And the Greens never let us down!  (This could be one of my favorite pictures ever!)

 She loves her some Uncle Kenny!

 Jackson, riding all by himself!  :)

She LOVED that horse!

 Harrison, riding all by himself!  :) 

And this was all just our first week!  :)

UT Part 2

The 4th of July!  Oooo, it's my favorite!  And Utahans just know how to do it right! :)  We like it so much we started celebrating on the 3rd, with our Salisbury peeps. We ate and did fireworks. ...And yes, Harrison is wearing heavy duty ear muffs to do sparklers!  He wasn't taking any chances!  Hahaha.

These cousins couldn't get enough of each other!  :)  (Side Note: Both my boys have serious problems with loud noise!  Clarification: loud noises they are not responsible for!)

On the 4th we had a very full day.  It started at the Layton Parade with both our families.

Reagan figured out very shortly after arriving in Utah that she pretty much had every person she met eating out of the palm of her hand!  hahaha.  She could get just about anyone to do whatever she wanted! :)  It made her easy to find though, all I had to do was look for a crowd! 

Then we got some rest before we went back for the fireworks with our Swain family! (This picture cracks me up! There must not have been anyone paying attention to her!)

Love me these little people!

The whole group!  ...And Jackson's eye. Haha. He's behind Heather's head.  :) The fireworks were awesome!  And the perfect end to a great couple of days!

July in Utah! Part 1.

We were really luck this year to get to spend extra time with lots of people we love!  My awesome brother Cameron flew all the way to AZ, just to turn around 3 hours later and drive the kids and I 15 hours back to Utah.  (If that's not love, I don't know what is?!)  We left Patrick to fend for himself for 2 weeks, before he would fly up and join us for our 3rd week.  (He tried really hard to act sad that we were leaving him home alone! hahaha.)

We had lots of things we wanted to do.  And we got to do pretty much all of them!  :)  We had BBQ's and parties almost every night the first week!  We got to see the Conder Family.  The Facers. The Salisburys.  The Swains.  And then MORE Salisburys! ;) It was outstanding! There were quite a few faces that we hadn't seen in years!  And... I didn't take any pictures.  Yup, I'm awesome like that! ...We were just having too much fun! :)  And it really was FUN.  We are really grateful to everyone who made the effort and traveled to see us!  We are so glad you did!!    

In between all the partying at night... we got to do some other fun things too!  I really wanted to take the kids to Temple Square.  The boys had only been there once, at Christmas time at night, and they were pretty little when we went.  So it was high on our list.  Just me and my kiddos.  :)

I miss having a temple near by.  ...I also really regret not appreciating it more when I had it.  But there was a certain magic about them not having seen it like this before.  Not passing it or seeing it all the time.  They were very much in awe of it!  ....And if Reagan didn't hate the sunshine so much, people around us probably would have been able to feel that way too!  hahaha.

As I was taking these pictures of them in front to the pool, I couldn't help but think about how crazy it was that I stood there just 9 years ago with their dad.  Big smiles and big dreams!  Thinking life was so good!  ...Not having any idea just how good it would get!  :)