road trip

(warning:  long, scrapbook post!)

my sister lives in colorado and her son is leaving on a mission to korea.  i wanted to be there when he spoke in sacrament meeting, but since we had soccer camp saturday morning, sadie was at youth conference until around noon on saturday, and dave had to work a 24 hour shift starting monday morning, i was a little discouraged as to how to get there.  dave got home friday night and we pieced it together to make it work.  dave had to go to work saturday morning and so i loaded up, then when the boys and sadie got home, we hopped in the car and drove.  we got to my sisters around 10:30pm.  it wasn't too bad of a drive.  dave and i were happy to sit by each other for nine hours, sadie was happy to sleep and the boys enjoyed playing the nintendo ds which has been lost for the last month.  i put it in a "safe" place and never could remember where it was.  too safe!  infact, when we pulled up my sister's house, after nine hours of driving, they wanted to stay in the car and finish their battle.

sunday we were able to go to church and have dinner, then dave had to fly home.  the kids and i stayed and drove home part way tuesday and finished the drive on wednesday.  it was a fun, spur of the moment, vacation.  it felt good to go on a road trip and i was so happy we were able to see derek before he leaves for two years.  

(vivian and kai all ready for church) 

 cousins 

(max, kai, julia, abe)

(jeremy, toby, derek)

 susanne and my dad were there.  they flew home sunday night with dave.

 i am so grateful for my sisters.  it was fun to be with them.

 monday--we watched cousins' tennis matches/lessons and we went school clothes shopping.  we had the best worker at jcrew.  she kept my boys trying on all kinds of things and they were having a great time.  especially max!  i just couldn't pass up this suit....he could wear it to school, right???   he loved it!  

 tuesday morning, before heading out, we stopped at the denver temple.

 we made it to our hotel and relaxed.  we ordered pizza, swam and watched the olympics.

 abe and kai enjoyed swimming just like the olympic swimmers.

 vivian was an awesome traveler.  she slept through all the noise and the olympics. 

max was my helper when we stopped to stock up on treats for the ride home.

 kai must have been hungry because this stem was all that was left of his apple:)

 max wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up and we drove through a place called dinosaur, colorado!  does anyone else think it's funny that it says the dinosaur speed limit is 25?

 we found a warm rock for max---in memory of our drives from flagstaff:)

vivian loved the going away beanie baby gifts from the cousins.  she also discovered her voice on this trip and i swear she would sing with sadie.  the cutest little noise in the world!  

i am so glad we took this trip.  i am grateful for my husband who knew i wanted to go and helped make it happen.  i thought numerous times what a lucky girl i am.  i love my kids and think being a mom is pretty amazing.   i am also really grateful for my family.  it was fun to spend time with my sister.  the kids love these cousins and really had a fun time with them.  i hope my kids felt something about missions and how important they are and that their desire to be a missionary was strengthened....plus, i just really love road trips!

missed it!

i put vivian under her little jungle gym so i could order uniforms for kai's soccer team before their upcoming tournament.  she started making some fussy noises and i turned around to find her on her stomach!!!

she rolled over....

and i missed it!!!!

aloha camp

the byu hawaii men's head soccer coach came to heber and did a soccer camp.  it was for ages seven and older.  max dressed in his gear in hopes that they would let him attend.  when we registered they said they didn't take five year olds and max's face melted.  he was so sad.  the registrar said, "if you think he can do it, i won't turn him away."    i assured her that he would be able to keep up, so they let him in.  even though he is so little, he worked so hard.  he ran, i mean sprinted, to and from water breaks:)

 abe said it was a good camp-- educational and fun.   kai, abe and max ended up in the same group.  the best part for me was watching how much they care about each other.   a few boys from abe's soccer team were at the camp, but when it came to picking partners, abe went right over to max.  when it came time for world cup, abe and kai chose to be partners.  they worried about max, so the next day they asked if they all three could be partners and they dominated!  they even won the boys on abe's soccer team.  it was worth every penny watching them give each other high fives and walking off the field together.  one time, when they scored, kai bent over and pretended to shine abe's shoes:)  they loved it--and each other.

midway madness

max--getting ready for the 

1st annual 

'midway madness'

we decided to create a family tradition with dave's family and pioneer day seemed like the perfect fit for such an occasion.   not everyone could make it, but i'm sure once they realize how much fun we had, they will have it on their calendars months in advance.  we had a sleepover monday night so we could be up bright and early for mountain biking.  there are so many awesome trails that are practically in our backyard.  i was a little scared since i can count on one hand how many times i have ever been mountain biking.   i did not want people to have to wait for me.  whatever, they had to wait and it was still so fun!!!  i was proud of myself for doing it despite my fears.  

gourmet chef, heather, fixed an awesome lunch and then everyone lounged while the babies napped (hee, hee--all you happy nappers!).  we swam most of the afternoon.  vivian even sported her new swimming suit and almost liked the pool.  we headed to cafe galleria for dinner and sat outside, eating amazing pizza and enjoying the summer night.  we ended the day at the railroad tracks, watching fireworks over the lake.  it was fun being together and i hope we can make it something the cousins can look forward to every year.  thanks heather, evan, holly and tim for making it happen. 

next year's additions: plein air painting competition, yoga, hopefully a fire pit of some sort, and don't forget the pie and beer (root beer, of course!)

goats

today, i dropped my boys off at a primary activity 

and i saw this goat in someone's front yard.  

it made me so happy.

(abe said he would never forget the goat in the backyard of our rental.
the one that would always say, "a-a-a-a-b-e".  we miss that little guy!)

sleepy

3rd date post mish

summer fun picks:  

me- art museum

max-liberty park

dave- real salt lake game

we decided to make it a day.  it started with us re-enacting our 3rd date after dave's mission.  it was the first time he held my hand after the mish, so it's ingrained in my mind forever.  we went to the kimball art center in park city, then ate at this little deli.  a little different this time around because we were trying to maneuver a stroller and keep track of ten little hands, which made it so we forgot to even hold hands.  it was fun thinking way back to when it was just the two of us and about what we have created.  i thoroughly enjoyed taking our kids on our 3rd date.

sixteen years ago, dave ordered a reuben for himself and a gyro for me, because i had never had one.  so instead of my normal, boring turkey, he expanded my horizon.  he is still good at that. 

the featured artist was an athlete turned artist.  it was called fast/color.  i thought it might be interesting to see how he expressed his love for sports through art. 

liberty park was not part of our original date...just this year's summer fun.  the boys loved making boats and racing them.  sadie and i enjoyed talking and people watching.  i always wonder people's story because everyone has one.

dave got real tickets last minute.  in fact, he met some guy in a black bmw behind crown burger to buy the tickets.  a little sketchy, but they were legit and it ended up being a beautiful night.  we were on the very top row.  max sat down and said, "i'm a little scared, but it's a great view."  and it was!  they even won!

after the game, we went down on the field and watched the amazing fireworks.  the best i've seen in a long time.  vivian, wide awake and happy, watched the whole show.  of course, the boys found a empty water bottle to use as a soccer ball and had a little game before we headed home.

i can't remember the last time we just played together all day.  it was fantastic.