Continuing On... Also, Independence Day!

Ohhhhhhh my goodness. I am so ready to be done with this post. I started it yesterday and then, somehow, a bunch of the pictures got deleted. So, I had to upload them again and then put all of them back in order! Agh! Blogger hates me.

But I hate it. So there.

But, anyway.... here is post #3 of our splendidly fun trip to Utah. Sometimes I wish I weren't so meticulous about my record keeping, but I know if I don't do it, I will regret it. Alright? Here we go...

Thursday June 30th

I had made plans with all of Andy's in-town sisters and cousins on his Collette side to get together at my SIL Bree's house and to just let the kids play and we could chat and catch-up. I also did a handful of haircuts. The kids all had a blast with their cousins and also, did you know you can buy a 50 piece chicken McNugget at McDonald's? Well, you can. And it will feed approximately 13-14 kids...? I think that's how many stinkers were running around.

Savanna and Daphne

Bella, Evan, Braxton, Baron

Laylah, Alauna (whose big fat finger is in the way? Oh yeah.... mine)

Ty, Jonah, Trent

Paige, Magnus

Stef, Bree, Me, Amber (Sorry Jasmyn.... we remembered to take this after you and Hannah took off!) Laylah took this (along with about 10 other ones that are hilarious.... we never really got a "good" one, haha ) so it's kind of blurry because we were all laughing and so then she kept laughing...

My mother-in-law came over after awhile and she took my kids back to her house to watch them so my mom and I could get a little more shopping time in (it seems like that's all we ever do..? I promise, I'm not a shop-a-holic. I used to be.... but I'm not anymore :). We went to several places where, darn-it, I found many more cute things. Clothes, accessories, decor for my house (did I mention that I REALLY miss Utah shopping? I did? Oh.... sorry :) After that I ran to a good friend's wedding reception really quick and then my mom and I went to Jordan River Temple to do initiatories. I love the temple. We then went and picked up the kids at my in-laws. Fun, fun day.

Friday July 1st

Thursday night my favorite Uncle Jim (my mom's brother) and his kids had driven down from Oregon to visit. They stayed with my Grandma Marge and we couldn't wait to get over there on Friday to see them. We just love them and we only get to see them about once a year in the summer. My kids truly adore their cousins (which are really my cousins.... but my kids second cousins? But yeah, you know? :)

So we went over to swim at my grandma's pool and have some funsies with our cuzzies. My uncle and cousins were fantastic and played with my kids the whole time while I lazily sat in a chair and M snoozed away next to me in a stroller.

Oh yeah, and then M woke up and smiled at me a bunch. And yes, that is a pacifier in his hand. He doesn't use one, he just likes to play with them. Such a tease.... (PS, I feel like I have about a million pictures of Magnus in a stroller or in a carseat. I also feel like he probably spent about 67% of our trip in one of the two...)

I went ahead and left my older 4 kids at the pool to have fun while I snuck off to Simply Sushi with my sissies Kaylie and Suzanne. We stuffed ourselves silly with endless, delicious, raw, fishy goodness. Plus, we laughed. A whole lot. It was my graduation gift to Kaylie (who just graduated highschool at the beginning of June-Go Kaylie!) and we were happy to have Suzanne join us.
Plus, then we had a really fun time with my camera...

And also, the guy who took this picture was totally flirting with us. I bet he thought we were triplets, because don't you think we really look alike? I do. At least, a lot more than our other sister Rachel. I think she was adopted or something.... just kidding Rach (um, kind of) And also, he doesn't know how to take pictures very well. We asked for a picture of US, not the DOOR.

After that, I went and picked up all of my kids at the pool in my mom's car, which is a 5 seater Maxima. I pretty much drove it the whole time I was visiting, only, I rarely had all of my kids with me at once. This time, I did. I drove a ridiculously long amount of time to my SIL Stefanie's house (she lives in Tooele) with my children illegally strapped in the car (go ahead, say it.... I am a terribly irresponsible parent). Laylah was in the front seat, M was in a carseat, and the other 3 were squished in, hopefully buckled up. I had anxiety all the way there thinking I was going to be pulled over, which would be quite ironic because my BIL, Travis (Stef's hubs), is a cop. My kids had been invited to spend the night, so after I dropped them off (and felt like a weight had been lifted now that I was no longer breaking the law), I drove another ridiculous amount of time (Tooele is seriously out there) and went to visit 2 of the cutest babies around!

I hadn't met my little twinner nephews, so I went to see Ryan, Sarah, Weston, and Carter. I probably waaay overstayed my welcome, but Ryan gave me ice-cream. And those 2 guys were just so cute. And also, M didn't know quite what to make of them. It was really fun to visit and chat.

M is like, GINORMOUS next to these two! They are a little under 4 months apart, but because the twins were 9 weeks early, that's not quite accurate. So, it's more like 6 months. Plus, they were about 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 pounds at birth... he kind of had an upper hand being 9 1/2 pounds at birth. It'll be really fun to see them next summer all together. I love that M already has built in buddies when we visit.Sweet babies

Saturday July 2nd

Saturday morning was super nice because I got to sleep in again. My dad told me that my Grandma Darlene had invited us out to breakfast, so me, Kaylie, and my dad (my mom was at work, busy being Super Nurse Extraordinaire) and of course, Magnus, went to breakfast at this super yummy new place down by the Sandy Mall. I can't remember the name of it...? But it was D-lish. And it was very fun.

After that, I spent the day running lots and lots of errands. I had to get some things ready for Laylah's baptism, get some clothing for a family picture we were having done, and pick-up a few odds and ends. I was supposed to pick up Andy at the airport later in the evening, but he had missed his flight (he was on standby and he was bumped because the flight was full), so instead I made the looong journey out to Travis and Stef's again to pick-up the kids. We stayed for dinner which was amazing (seriously.... best burger's I've ever had!) and the kids were cute cute, of course ;)

Take a good look at Jonah's glasses. Don't ask questions, just do it...

Pretty girls!

The kids told me all about their many adventures and it sounds like they had a grand ol'

time. Thanks for having them Stefanie!

Sunday July 3rd

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early to head to my brother Doug's ward for my newest little niece's blessing. Her name is Piper. I love it. In fact, I love it so much that I was planning on naming Magnus that if he would have been a girl. But he wasn't. So, I'm glad someone used it! It was quite entertaining, to say the least. My family took up about 4 rows and once the blessing was over, I didn't listen to the speakers at all. My brothers and I just kept giggling (we are so very rowdy when we get together, it's terrible.... especially in church) but everything was just so funny. I don't know why, it just was. But especially my brothers. I sure love those 2 guys.

I'll tell you what wasn't funny though. When after sacrement meeting was over and we were all getting ready to head over to my brother's house for brunch and all of the sudden Jonah held up his FOURTH or FIFTH (I've lost exact count) pair of glasses and said "Mom, look! My glassses broke, just like that!" Yup, just like that. Sitting on his face one minute, and the next, they just fell off, broke clean in two. Well, that was his story anyway. Whatever little dude. I'm sure it was more involved than that...

Here's me with the darling of the hour.... Piper Grace. Cutest little thing.

And a couple of meatheads.... my twin cousins (I know, they don't even look like brothers, let alone twins) and my silly boys.

Okay, now here's a fun little story. So, remember how Andy missed his flight because it was full? I had talked to him Sunday morning before the blessing and he was supposed to get in that evening. He had made it on a flight from DC to Longbeach, but when I talked to him later, it looked like he was going to be stuck in Longbeach for longer than he thought because flight loads were so full. He told me not to worry about it, that he would figure it out. So I didn't, but I didn't know when he would be coming. Well, I'm sitting in my brother's house chatting with my family when Laylah says, "What the...? There's dad!" I was like, "What?!" and I stood up and turned around and sure enough, here comes Andy walking through the front door. I was so happy to see him! It had been almost 2 weeks, and I was SO surprised! I wasn't the only one, Bear (along with all the kids) was so excited to see his daddy. It turns out that flights were so full that the probability of Andy getting here wasn't good for at least a few more days, so he just went ahead and bought a ticket. He had asked his mom to pick him up at the airport since I was at the blessing. The whole time I thought he was in California, he was really in Utah (we had been texting all morning). He totally tricked me. It was a good trick :)

Later that day we had a huge family dinner for whoever could come at my mom's house. It was so much fun. I think I've mentioned it before.... but I really really love my family.Later that evening we went to see some of our dear friends, Paul and Cheryl. Andy and Paul went to highschool together, and then Cheryl and I became fast friends when she and Paul married about a year after Andy and I. They live in Minnesota now but were visiting because they each had a sibling getting married. It had been over a year since we'd seen them. It was really fun to catch-up and see how their 4 kids had grown.

Monday July 4th!!

We had a very low-key 4th of July this year. Andy got up really early to go golfing with another highschool buddy (Blair) and I had a couple hair clients. My sister Rachel had come up late the night before because she was going to be staying to visit until we went home. The cousins had fun playing until she left (taking a couple of my kids with her-thanks Rach :) to go to a parade. I wasn't feeling very well after that and went back to bed for awhile while my remaining kids did who-knows-what. Andy was going straight to his parents after golf to help them install some can-lighting, so I was on my own. I woke around 1:00 and remembered that I had made plans to go to my grandma's for more swimming with my uncle and cousins. Me, Daph, Bear, and M got ready to go, picked up Cup O Sno and headed to the pool. I ate all of my snow-cone and then finished off Daphne's and Bear's. I miss my Utah treats! They don't even have snow-cone shacks in VA. Lame. Andy met us at the pool, and Rachel dropped of Laylah and Jonah there too. We swam for awhile (and braved the threatening clouds-it never actually rained though!) and then showered quick and headed over to Andy's parents house where we had a barbeque, visited, cousin's played (and fought) and we ended the night with a marvelous (okay, it was sub-par) fireworks show!

I have no idea what the weird circle is in most of these pictures, but Andy cleaned my phone and then it disappeared. It kind of looks like some creepy entity, no?Jo thought the parachute guy was amazing

Yay for fire!!Andy is jumping over the fire. Very smart thing to do. Especially when there are 12 little children watching. Very smart indeed.

It was a fun 4th. Happy Birthday America. I {heart} you!

Tuesday July 5th

Tuesday was kind of boring, in a good way. It's nice to have a down day amid all of the go go go. I cut Andy's, Jonah's, and Baron's hair (we were having family pictures done Friday) and then my uncle, cousin's, and brother Doug came over. He took all of the boys fishing. Jonah had an absolute blast. He caught a fish and was so excited.

I went biking with Kaylie over to her barn and we visited Luna, her horse. When we got back, I cut my twin cousin's hair, Hunter and Carson. My kids all had friend's over to play, and that night, we finally got around to going to Lenscrafters for some new glasses for Jonah ( I think this was the longest he'd gone without wearing glasses since he got them when he was 4) Since he had never broken his lenses (which are specialty and super expensive since his eyes are pretty messed up), we have always just replaced his broken frames with the same pair, over and over. That way, they can just pop the same lenses into the new frames, and for less than $50 bucks, we're outta there. Well, when he went to his yearly opthemology exam this year, they changed his prescription, so we had to get new lenses anyway. Jonah went for a whole new look and picked out some thick,hipster looking glasses that are black and green. They're pretty darn cute. There is a picture further down of them.

We had decided to have a cousin sleepover that night, so when we got back from the mall, everyone was there and ready to go. They had popcorn and watched a movie and slept on the basement floor (with the spiders... eek!) and they were all just so cute. I sure do love my nieces and nephews. Oh yeah, and my kids too :)

Daphne, Kiersta, Jack, Jonah, Laylah, Baron

Rachel is kind of mean and wouldn't let her kids sleep with their cousins (hahaha, just joking Rach :) so here is Ella and Ethan, upstairs in their room.

There was a big show going on outside. It was an amazing thunder and lightning storm. I sat and took about 100 pictures, trying to catch the lightning just so. When it lit up the sky, it was incredible. Luckily, the kids slept through it all.

Wednesday July 6th

We (my mom, Kaylie, Me and Andy and our kids, Rachel and her kids, Annette and her kid, and Jack) went to Lagoon with my Uncle Jim and his kids for the day. It was so much fun. I love Lagoon, even though it is kind of smelly. I just love roller-coasters. And cotton candy.

I spent all morning doing all of the girls' hair in twisted braids. They all looked so cute with their matchy-matchy hair!

Oh yeah, here's M in his stroller.... again...

And now he woke up.... again....

Here is me and Magnus on the carousel.... hey, at least he's not in his stroller.

Cousins are just so fun, aren't they?! What a great day. We had to say goodbye to Jim and his kids, they headed home to Oregon the next day. It was so fun to see them though, and he says he's going to come and visit ME next in VA! Woohoo!

Thursday July 7th

Thursday was so much fun. My best girl Cristan came over! I have missed her so so much and it was great to see her. Plus, we got to meet each other's newest little guy's. She had a baby in May and Miles is to-die-for-adorable. She was, of course, shocked at how giant Magnus was. Typical :) We got right down to business and beautification. She gave me, my mom, Rachel, and Laylah gel toes, and then I highlighted and cut her hair. it was nice just getting to hang-out, chat and chat some more and catch-up. I love me some Cristan time.

Later that evening, Andy's parents wanted to take our kids to Nicklemania. Andy decided to go with them because me, my mom, and Rachel were just doing some last minute shopping for family picture outfits (which happened to be the next day.... what can I say, we are procrastinators). They had so much fun, won lots of tickets, and brought home a bunch of crappy prizes, yay! My favorite ;)

Here's a good pic of Jonah's stylin' new glasses

Gotta love the vampire teeth

Friday July 8th

We had to get up super duper early to get everyone ready for family pictures. My mom decided to give us all a family picture for Christmas this year, and then we got a big group picture of everyone (my parents, all of the kids and their spouses, and grandchildren.... 24 of us in all!). They also got some with just them and the grandkids, some of the original 8 (my parents, my siblings and I).... you get the idea. So, we were all gorgeous and ready. They went surprisingly smooth. We got to see them before we left and I love how they turned out. No peeks though, they will be going out in my Christmas card this year, so you'll have to wait an agonizingly long 5 more months to see them.... I know, you care SO much ;)

Afterwards, we all grabbed lunch at Wendy's and then all of us headed to the zoo together. I'm sorry, but I think Hogle Zoo is SO lame. I totally loved it as a kid, but they have completely changed it, and I am just not into it anymore. But, my kids liked it, and we spent a good 2-3 hours there. The new dinosaurs are pretty fun.

I only got a couple pictures of the girls because they were off with cousins and we didn't meet up until right before we left.

We were supposed to head up to Bear Lake afterwards, but Andy and I decided to head up Saturday instead and go hang out with his family since we hadn't seen them very much. We put the kids to bed and he and I headed over to the Collette's. To say we had a blast would be a major understatement. It just so happened that half of his siblings were there (along with spouses, of course) and someone came up with the idea to play falshlight tag. I hadn't ever played and it was hilarious. We had so much fun, and when we were done, we sat and chatted until at least 1 AM. I don't remember.

Andy and I still had to go grocery shopping for our Bear Lake trip, so we headed to a 24 hour grocery store and we were so tired and loopy that I'm sure anyone who saw us thought we were either drunk, or crazy. Maybe both. But we just had to get some Ben and Jerry's and then go home and eat it. Yup, at 3 AM.

We ARE crazy.

Oh my. Are you tired of reading about our trip yet? Well, too bad. We still have another week to go! Bear Lake is up next. And my oh my, we had a ball...