Utah Trip

We spent 2 1/2 weeks in Utah at the beginning of May taking care of my sister's 5 kids while she was out of the country with her husband's MBA program. It was quite adventure. We ran from soccer games, piano practices, baseball games, dance classes, tutoring, play practices, choir practices, and lacrosse games. Grant loved having his cousins around to dote over him. Linc wasn't used to all the attention but loved having the kids giggle at him when he didn't something funny.

Here are a few pictures of our adventures.


SNOW!!! Yes it snowed the first weekend we were there. The girls got Grant all bundled up to go play in in before it all melted.


Hanging out at the soccer games!!


Playing outside on the neighbors trampoline because I guess ours wasn't good enough.


Helping Jacob fold the laundry.



More soccer games.


Cousin time!!!




Sharing Beds. OH, how fun until somebody gets kicked in the face.

Pictures require PATIENCE

Well I think I am getting back in the swing of things after being gone for so long. The kids and I were gone for almost 3 weeks. We spent the first few days of our trip in Mesa (for work) and then flew to Utah for 2 1/2 weeks. We came back on Saturday, May 14 only to turn around and go back to Mesa on Wednesday, May 18 for another two days of work (why am I still working).

We took a ton of picture while we were in Utah and I will post some soon (when I get a free hour or two). However, while we were up in Utah I had one of my friends take pictures of Linc. Thanks to Julie's patience the pictures turned out great.

Linc was a complete an utter terror during pictures. He couldn't and wouldn't leave my side. Our first attempt was complete failure. So Julie was so kind to try one more time a few hours later after he had a nap. Linc woke up from his nap happy and was giggling and talking in the car as I drove to the location. However, as soon as we got out of the car he was clinging to me. We tried to bribe him with a sucker but he wouldn't even taste the sucker and would just cry when I tried to get him to eat it. On our last spot I thought I would just sit with him on my lap and see if he would crawl off. Eventually he did and then he finally tasted the sucker and of course couldn't get enough of it. We had maybe 10 min of him not crying and not on my lap.

Take a look here to see a preview of the pictures.

Julie is amazing!!! (If you know her then you know why but if you don't then all you have to know if that she has 3 three year olds. Yep, THREE.) She is also an amazing photographer and of course basketball player! (Julie, did we have photography together in High School? I know a lot of people that took the class but I couldn't remember if you were in my class or not. Of course that was before digital.)

HaPPy BiRthDaY to YOU

Happy Birthday to my little Lincoln. We love him SOOO much. He is a joy and brings so much happiness into our home even when he shows his stubborn side.



We had a party for Lincoln today. We started the party with the Cottonwood Easter Egg hunt. Marilee came with her kids and so did Dan and Susanne with their kids. Grant loved having the extra kids to hang out with.

Lincoln didn't really care about getting the eggs or the candy. He just want to sit and smile for me.



Mike gave the twins and Grant their instructions on how to get the eggs and candy.



Grant did great at first and ran to get his candy and eggs. When it was time for the parents to help I was telling him to run and run go get the candy and the eggs. I think he didn't know where I was so he ended up crying.



We had lunch at our house after (thanks for every body's help). We did Panini sandwiches with salads. The kids loved making up their own creations.



Then came the fun part with cake and ice cream. I made Lincoln a monkey cake. We decided on a monkey cake several weeks ago when I was looking for cake ideas. Lincoln has a little monkey that he has had since birth that he uses when he sucks is thumb. So that is why we chose the monkey cake. I thought it turned out great. Thanks to here for the cake idea, here for the frosting (this is my friend's blog and it was AMAZING frosting - Thanks Lisa), and here for the fondant (I used this for the mouth since I am not very good at frosting cakes).



Lincoln LOVED the cake and eating it.



Present and more presents.



The cousins even got to help open some of the gifts.

Hiking with the BOYS

Yesterday morning we decided to get out of the house and go for a hike. It was such a beautiful morning. (Yep, we carried Grant about half the hike. On the way back I carried Grant on my shoulders for awhile and then I took Linc and Mike got to take Grant. We were both exhausted by the time we got back up the hill.) We finally got our new computer (we were slow at ordering it). We finally were able to install Photoshop and Lighroom and I am loving the options in Lightroom (thanks Spenc). Here are a few photos that I messed with this morning.

Cousin Time

Last week we had a sweet little visitor named Kaden. Lauren got to take a work trip to Hawaii and Travis got to tag along. It was a great vacation for them and Grant got a playmate for a whole week.

The boys loved playing together. We had frequent sword fights which they loved even though the sword fight would end with one boy in tears.

The boys got to decorate Easter eggs which was a huge hit. They LOVED there eggs.











We had pizza for dinner one night and the boys got to make their own. However, they didn't want to put the stuff on their pizza's they just wanted to eat the pepperoni and olives.




The boys loved going to church together and of course they weren't very quite but they sure looked cute all dressed up.