Our trip to Utah

So every year we usually go to Utah for Thanksgiving as a family...meaning, Jim actually comes with us. Well, seeing as I will be ready to burst with this baby around that time, we decided to move our trip up to July.
The trip was really fun, except for the fact that Jim got a load of work that had to be finished by a deadline, so he literally worked most of the days we were there. Not quite the family trip I planned when I was alone at the pool with two kids and all of my siblings, and Jim was working in his mom's house in Orem, but oh well. At least all those billed hours paid for our trip!

My kids had a ball, even though we didn't do too much while there. The heat combined with my pregnancy just zapped my will to live! :) But we played with cousins, spent time with my parents, went to a family reunion, swam, did fireworks on the 24th of July (Utah holiday), and went to a bounce house place. I also went to my ten-year high school reunion, which turned out to be a lot more fun that I had anticipated. Here are few highlights of our trip....

Here is Kate and two of her cousins playing dress up and having a slumber party on my mom's floor. She loves seeing her Utah cousins.




And Ezra hanging out with my Dad and perfecting his sewing skills with my mom.



My kids also loved playing "Wild Club" in grandma's tent. The game is exactly what the name suggests. :)

Here is a picture from my reunion of me and my friends Gina and Melissa. We were all on the drill team together and we had some great times, thinking we were hot stuff. The reunion was actually a lot of fun--itwas great to see my friends and take a trip down memory lane! (and speaking of high school, maybe it's time to cut my hair!)

Jim's mom ended up leaving to come down here actually, but we did have fun hanging out at her house the day before she left.
Here is Ez and Jim playing with Grandma's toys. Ezra was trying to lay just like Jim.
Grandma Vicki tried, but was unsuccessful at teaching Kate how to play Chinese Checkers. :)
And Ez at CPK for dinner, devouring the spinach dip. The boy loves to dip, to Jim's complete dismay!


My sister Celia and I also took our kids to a place called Jumpin'Jacks which was filled with big bounce houses and slides. It was fun and the kids wore themselves out. But perhaps someone should tell my daughter that her "crazy eyes" aren't doing her pictures any justice.


Then we did some ghetto fireworks on my Dad's driveway. My brothers morphed back into teenagers who love playing with fire and put on quite an extravaganza. Stadium of Fire had nothing on our driveway spectacular! Who doesn't love sparklers and Whistling Pete's?
Me and Ez, waiting for the show to start.
Here is Ezra with his cousin Christian. Ez loves men/boys...so Christian was one of his favorites, without even having to try.:)
Here is only part of the gang taking in the show.

Kate timidly holding a sparkler.
Ezra holding his finger on a jar of frozen jam from my mom's garage freezer after burning his finger on a sparkler.
And Kate, who's enthusiasm in this photo clearly demonstrates why kids don't need much more than a few noisy fireworks on the driveway to be completly entertained.
We also got to meet my brother Spencer's new little baby Andrew. Ezra was very into the baby, so I got a little preview of what things might be like around here come December!
After ten days, we were finally ready to come home only to have our flight cancelled. I would have cried if Jim hadn't been flying with me. But our kids were great...they watched a movie on the floor in the airport, and then we told Ezra to get in his stroller and take a nap, and he actually did it!! But it was still a long day after spending 7 hours in the airport, plus an hour and a half flight!


We had a great trip, but of course are glad to be home. And our summer is basically over now because Kate starts preschool again tomorrow morning! I am looking forward to her having some stimulation again, but I'm not looking forward to having to wake up at 7:40 every morning, dragging to get us all ready, and rushing out the door. But like it or not, our summer is definitely winding down!