A Quick Bit of St. George

My oh my. You ready for this? Alright, you asked for it. Round 2...

Sunday June 26th
I went out of town twice while I was out of town. The first time was to St. George where my parents and grandmother co-own a home. I hadn't ever stayed there seeing as how they bought it last year at the end of my last vacation to Utah. So, we went to spend a few days in the HEAT. We drove down after church and my sister Rachel came up from Vegas. It was a full, happy house.We had a quick drive down. Daphne insisted I take pictures of her, modeling in the landscaping.

Monday June27th

We went to bed before Rachel arrived and the next morning, bright and early, it was COUSIN REUNION! M didn't like us so much, trying to force him and Liam together...
But it was just so funny

I went on a hot and dry 4 mile run. I took some photos along my merry way. This thing above was in someone's yard. Looks like some sort of torture device...?

Pretty ponies

I could smell this tree from 1/2 mile away. Heavenly...

Sometimes the desert is pretty. Most of the time.... it looks yucky

After I got back, the kids were all playing at the playground down the street. We called them to come home and Baron was a straggler. He started his usual pouting and crying and cute Ella ran back and took his hand in hers...

And then he was happy again.

And these two had even warmed up to each other:

So, later that day we decided to check out the new rec center. The pool was amazing. It was enormous and full of fun stuff to do. I barely saw my kids the whole time we were there. I had to beg them to let me take pictures.

I can't even describe how much I love my sissies. We were missing Suzannie, wish she could have come!

And my cute mama relaxin'

Love me some Squish
So does Kaylie.... look at that boy's belly!

Laylah disappeared as soon as we got there. She was off making friends, and generally just being the little fish that she is.

Later that night, after we had gotten lots of exausted kids to bed, us 4 girls headed out to Tuacahn while my dad and grandma stayed home with the kiddos. We saw The Little Mermaid and it was fantastic!

What do you think? Do we look like sisters? Because I think we couldn't look more different!

Tuesday June 28th

The next morning, bright and early, Bear woke up crying that he felt sick and he wanted a piece of cheese. I was so so tired, I got him some and he went and laid back down. Later I went to check on him and found this:
I checked on him a bit later and the cheese was gone. About 1/2 hour after that, I saw the cheese again.... in Bear's throw-up. Gross. Poor kid was dehydrated from spending all day in the heat the day before. We had plans to go boating that day, so my mom and grandma volunteered to stay home with him, as well as the 2 babies, so we could have a fun time.

These kids had some sweet moves

We got some tubing action in

Daphne had to go alone because she is "big"

Beautiful Quail Hollow Reservoir

After our fun day of boating, my mom, Rachel and I went to the St. George Temple to do initiatories, while Kaylie stayed home with our kids. I can't describe the feelings I had there that evening. I hadn't been to the temple since the previous September, and it felt just like heaven being back. It was simply wonderful.

Afterwards we had to go get blizzards at Dairy Queen.

SO. Yummy.

That night I colored Rachel's hair and we stayed up waaaay toooo laaaate, along with Kaylie and chat chat chatted the night away. We did pedicures and massages, and told our deepest darkest secrets. Really, we did. It was fun. I love my sisters.

Wednesday June 29th

We had a busy morning cleaning the house and washing linens and packing up to go back to Salt Lake. My sweet Grandma Darlene took us to lunch at In 'N' Out Burger and afterward we went shopping at the outlets. It was a nightmare, of course, because we had 8 little kids with us. So we headed over to the movie theater and took the kids to Kung Foo Panda 2. They loved it. We finished cleaning and packing and headed home. We had to say goodbye to Rachel for a few days until she came up to Salt Lake a few days later. It was a fun, quick trip.

This kid threw a royal tantrum on the way home (it was his 3rd of the day, at least). He's known for his "fits"... I texted this picture to Andy and he laughed at me. Only 2 more years until Bear is 5.... it has to get better by then, right...? RIGHT...??

My dad and I had so much fun talking all the way home. I love listening to his stories. It stormed most of the way home and by the end we had a double rainbow. Lovely. Too bad all 3 of my youngest kids were crying in the backseat, so I couldn't really enjoy it. They were so tired from our fun-filled trip and all of the kids just crashed that night and slept in until 9 the next morning (seriously, a rarity. My kids never sleep in). It was a great trip. Love me some St. George!

Don't Let The Hormones Get You Down

Look at my baby. He is really big for his age, as most of you well know. I can never get enough of him. Sometimes I avoid putting him down for a nap because I just want to cuddle and play with him for awhile longer.

I had a little bit of a melt-down last night. All of my kids were in bed, Andy was at Young Men's, and I was doing the dishes. I was thinking about my kids and pregnancy, labor, childbirth, and breast-feeding. How I would never do these things again.... it was a little surreal. And the last one because last night, for the first time, my baby had refused me. He refused to nurse last night before bed, and instead he wanted to get down on the floor and crawl (yup, the kid is crawling, even with all of the discouragement I gave him!) around his room and play with toys. I sat and watched him for awhile, gave him an encouraging smile when he glanced my way, and finally scooped him up, kissed him and squeezed him, and laid his wiggly body in his crib.

After thinking about his display of independancy, while scrubbing away at my frypan, I couldn't keep the tears from leaking out of my eyes. I realize it was late at night (please tell me I'm not the only one who gets emotional and/or loopy come 8 or 9 o'clock...) and I always seem to act irrationally come evening time, but it just really hit me. My days of baby are pretty much over. How did it fly by so fast? Next Monday my youngest child will be 9 months old. Three-fourths of the way to one year. He's crawling, and soon he'll be walking, and then... running. It made me very weepy.

How I wish I could have frozen him at 3 days old, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or now. "Stop growing little boy! Just stop it!" I would like to yell. It's just been different for me with my last. Although I would probably have 2 or 3 more if I was able, I know it's not meant to be. And although our family feels complete, it still makes me a little sad. Especially if I give myself a chance to really think about it. I have continued nursing Magnus for a longer time than my others. It makes him seem like more of a baby to me. And it's funny how something I used to not enjoy so much (from the time I had my first couple of kids) is now something I have come to love and look forward to. I really understand what people mean now when they say they love to breastfeed. Andy has asked me a couple times when he thinks I'll start weaning M and I tell him I'm just not ready to yet and then I make a lame joke about how we won't even have to buy formula this time around. Awesome, yeah? It will definitely be a first, that's for sure.

I was going to write this post last night and then I realized it would be completely out-of-control-dramatic (maybe it still is...? :). So I waited until the light of day. But I wanted to get my thoughts down, and remember my feelings for my itty-bitty babies and how I'll miss those snuggly days. I'm looking forward to the new, but I will definitely miss those up-to-my-elbows-in-diapers-and-spit-up baby days.

And We're Off...!!

Alrighty! Finally onto our trip to UTAH! I mentioned it before, but we really fit A WHOLE LOT into this trip. Honestly, this will probably be real boring for anyone other than family who might be reading. And there are LOTS of pictures. I'm going to record it like I would in a journal. Just a head's up. Here we go...

Tuesday June 21st

We left bright and early (after I was up all night packing because, you know, I'm a procrastinator like that) to catch our flight. We were flying on stand-by, courtesy of my aunt who works for Jetblue. So very nice of her. She even flew on the red-eye and met us at the airport so she could fly back with us, should I need any help. Like I said, SO nice of her :)

Excited kiddos

We were late for our flight and rush rush rushing. We were on the train that goes through Dulles airport with only about 20 minutes until our flight was supposed to take-off.

That train is fast! And we made it onto our flight. I met up with my aunt just as they called us up as we were walking into the terminal. We got onto the flight and had the entire back row to ourselves. The kids were terrific and we were on our way! My dad and grandma picked us up from the ariport and that night we had take-out from Italian Village.

Best. Pizza. Ever. MmHmm.

Later that night all of my siblings and their families came by. It was so great to see everyone, love on my neices and nephews, laugh, and also meet my new darling neice Piper. My kids were, simply put, in heaven. It was so much fun to be happy and be home.

Wednesday June 22nd

The next day we met up with Laylah's BFF (and my SIL Annette who baby-sits her) at my grandma's pool. We swam and swam. These two girls were in heaven. They were adorable, laughing and squealing like they'd never been apart.

I was being lazy with my camera and didn't take any other pictures of anyone else the rest of the day. Later that night I headed over to my in-laws for dinner and to see everyone there. It was great to see everybody, and once again, love on all of my grown-up neices and nephews. Why do kids have to grow? I don't like it I tell ya...


Thursday June 23rd

This day was a work day for me. I did several client's hair, as well as some family. Before all that though, I enjoyed the gorgeous view in my parents amazing backyard. We would lounge on the deck while the kids would play, and I would snap photos. I have yet to visit a placce that beats summer mornings in Utah. Fabulous.

This kid was just happy as can be.... after a couple of days. The first few days we were there, he would cry at anyone who smiled at him, spoke to him, or anyone who simply glanced his way. He was very shy before our Utah trip.... I think he has overcome that. By the end, he was as friendly as they come, grinning and snuggling with anyone who would pick up the big lug.

I dropped Jonah off at a friend's house and when I got on the freeway to drive home, the mountains suddenly struck me with their majesty. I have often found myself longing for the mountains since moving to VA. I love the beauty of all the trees and greenery, but there really is nothing like the mountains of Utah. And yes, I took this while driving, and yes, a cop pulled up next to me right afterwards. I seriously thought he was going to pull me over..... he didn't :)

That night we celebrated my daddy's 60th birthday! Can I just say, my dad rocks?! Well, he does. I sure do love him :) We had some fabulous cake from the Lion House bakery (chocolate cream-if you haven't tried it, put it on your to-do list) but his real celebration was a couple weeks later. Oh, and yes, those are a box of my nursing pads on the edge of the picture. Awesome.

Friday June 24th

Friday was kind of a down day. My mom went and picked up a slip 'n slide and my SIL Annette came over with my niece Kiersta and the kids she baby-sits, Javis and Kajia (remember? Laylah's BFF? :) and the kids had a blast playing in the backyard for hours. Laylah also had a chance to go out to the barn with my sister, Auntie Kaylie, and ride Luna. She was so ecstatic to ride again.

After some quick showers, Grandma Collette (Andy's mom) came and picked up the kids (minus M) for a sleepover at her house. They had some big plans for a camp-out that night... fun stuff.

That gave my mom and I a chance to go and shop our little hearts out up at the Park City outlets. Magnus was the best little shopper and I felt spoiled rotten getting to spend some time with my mom. She is my hero. I sure love that lady. We found so many cute things. Of course, we ran to grab a quick bite at Cafe Rio. My taste buds thought they had died and gone to heaven. It was fabulous. I had to text Andy the following picture to make him jealous:

He totally was.

My mom and I had such a fun night. Did I mention I really love her a lot? Oh yeah.... well, I do :)

Saturday June 25th

I got to sleep in because the kids were gone. It was marvelous. After a liesurely morning, my mom and I decided to head to Gardner Village for some more shopping and a quick lunch at the Neighborhood Bakery. More yumminess, and more fabulous shopping. I found several cute things for my house. We headed to the Collette's at 12:30 because we were meeting everyone (people from Andy's family, and people from mine) there so we could head over to the movie Cars 2. Magnus stayed with Grandma Collette for a nap. The kids liked the movie, I didn't. It was fun anyway. At least the popcorn was good :)

Later that day the kids threw their swimsuits back on and played in the yard again. I got some more fun shots while relaxing on the deck.

Uh-oh... here comes Bear with the hose!

Aaaaand, there's Daphne

Sweet little Magnus was out after an afternoon nursing session

That evening my brother Nate had invited us to come and watch the fireworks from the Taylorsville Dayz celebration. We love Taylorsville Dayz and they do put on a great show. Nate and Annette even brought us treats!

All of those cute little kiddos. M stayed home with Grandma Claudia to go to bed.

Love love love these guys (PS... after 3 years of trying, lovely Annette is pregnant with baby #2!! We are so thrilled!!)

Sooo, I really do not have a great camera. Plus, I'm a terrible photographer. Every time I would try to catch some awesome fireworks explosion shot, I would miss it.... it got really annoying! Here's the best I got...

Awesome, huh?

It was a super fun night.

Alright, well.... there's the end of week #1. Next up, week #2! I know, I know.... you just can hardly wait! You're on the edge of your seats! Well, I'm going to bed. You'll just have to wait :)