Utah Vacation!

We got back this week from our Utah trip... it was a fun and crazy time! Our first couple of days in Utah were spent in Provo. I love Provo! It was fun to be back. Ben and Hailey were nice enough to let us stay at their house... thanks guys! The first night we were there Hailey got a babysitter so we could all go to dinner at Pizzeria 712... YUM!! It was such a tasty place, and fun to be out with Ben and Hailey! We never get to do that! Luke loved playing with Mila, Ethan, Lucy, and Lane. He chased them all over the house the whole time we were there. Then, Hailey's birthday was on Sunday! Chef Ben prepared a big tasty birthday dinner and we had cake and ice cream. Other highlights of our stay in Provo included going through Lane and Lucy's baby clothes! Hailey let me raid her baby girl stuff... our little one is going to have so many cute things to wear now! So nice not to have to buy everything. Seriously, we came home with SO many baby clothes. Fun! Also, I took advantage of the cool Provo mornings to do some running... some of the big hills in the area kicked my trash! I was pretty sore after since I'm used to TX flatness. Kind of hard to find a hill close to our house...
Some pics of our stay in Provo...
Pizzeria 712... Mmmmmm. Luke and Ethan

Happy Birthday Hailey!

I took off on Monday to meet my friend Ashley and her 2 cute little girls while Jake and Ben went golfing. Ash and I have best buds since we were in nursery together... like 2 years old! It was fun to meet baby Evvah... her newest family addition! Luke and Presley played together and had fun. We ate lunch at Paradise Cafe... I guess it's pretty new to Utah although it's been in AZ for quite a while now. I love Paradise.

Presley and Luke

Later on, we met up with Jake's old mission companion Levi, Stephanie (his wife) and their baby Claire. We hung out at the park and I got a second dose of Paradise Bakery for dinner... good times.

After our time in Provo, we went up to Ogden and stayed at Grandma Nan and Grandpa Arnie's house. I'm pretty sure I have the coolest grandparents ever. Both sets of my grandparents. They are so much fun to hang out with, and I just love being at their houses. We went to dinner at The Greenery with my Aunt Heidi and her cute family for my cousin's high school graduation. It was good to see my cousins and everyone I hadn't seen for so long. Other highlights of being in Ogden...

*Went with grandma and grandpa on a Frontrunner train ride to Salt Lake. Luke loved it! He had so much fun looking out the windows and watching everything pass by. We ate at CPK once in Salt Lake. Fun little trip!

*We met my good friend Bahar and her cute brother Xan at La Ferrovia. We didn't get to chat very long, but it was fun to catch up a bit! If you haven't eaten at La Ferrovia, you should go next time you're in Ogden. It's one of my favorite places... the best Italian ever! So fun to see you Bahar!!!

*Went to the Treehouse Museum with Aunt Heidi, Grandma Nan, and my cute cousin Jackie. The Treehouse has lots of fun stuff for kids to do! Yummy Costa Vida lunch after!

*Had a fun family dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house

*Ate lots of Grandma's waffles... they're the best.

*Played Grandma in Rummy 500... she killed me. Played some Mancala... I beat her ;)

...Can't visit Grandma Nan without having some great games!

* Luke had a great time playing with Grandpa and Gabby outside! (Gabby is my grandparent's dog.)
The Frontrunner...

Treehouse Museum...

Grandma, Heidi, Jackie, and I had some fun playing school at the schoolhouse in the museum...

Grandma and me... not a great picture,.. but at least we got a picture!

Luke playing trains with Jake at the Treehouse...

Grandpa, Luke, and Gabby...

After our stay in Ogden, we headed up to Eden and stayed at Wolf Creek for Jake's family reunion. Over 100 people ended up coming. Fun turnout! It was great hanging out with everyone.

Here's a big Smith family pic...

Smith ladies...

Such a fun place and gorgeous place to stay! ... views from Wolf Creek...

Luke bonked his head a million times on our trip in the same place... here's a shot of his enormous bruised forhead :) ....

some of the guys...

Cute kids...

Jenni and I cooked about every cow that ever lived for dinner this night... so many people to feed!

Jake was fascinated by this messed up tomato...
Cousins playing duck duck goose!... well, making an attempt anyway..

Fun times at the park.... Smith acrobats fixing swings... haha

Luke didn't want to get off this horse...

Cute Mr. Logan

Caden, Luke, and Austin... Bath time!

Sunday we went up to Beaver Dam. We went to church then had a big family lunch there and a little program on the hill...

Boys having fun with their "swords!" Luke thinks he's one of the big kids... calls the cousins his age babies... haha

Mila very into her book...

After church/lunch everyone went up to the cemetery to see where some ancestors are buried... did some grave rubbings and hung out...
Ethan and Luke chilling by someones grave...

Jake...

Luke wrestling with Caden! .... ya, probably not the most cemetery-appropriate activity... ;)

Jake, some of his brothers, and his dad went for a hike after the cemetery stop... Mt. Baldy... or Baldy Peak... something like that ;) The train passed by while they were hiking...

Josh... um... listening for a train??

We had a fun time with all the Smiths at the reunion!

After the Smith reunion we were off to Grandma Fran and Grandpa John's House.

*Got to hang out with more grandparents!

*Uncle Eldon and Melanie and kids came up to visit.

*Ate way too much food...

*Luke had a blast running around outside, smashing bugs with grandpa John's fly swatter (I'm really considering getting him a fly swatter for his b-day now... he loved it!), checking out grandpa's tools, watching Eldon mow the grass, and swinging.

*Jake watched some bad Spurs games

* I got to hang out with my Aunt Carol... so fun to see her!

Luke with my cousin Ashley... they had fun together!

Zonked out in the swing...

Smashing bugs...

Grandma Fran, Luke, Me, Grandpa John...

Oh my... what a long post! After leaving Grandma Fran and Grandpa John's house we were off to the airport and in for a long day coming back to TX! Such a fun trip! Luke was great on the planes... horrible while waiting in the airports. We had a layover in Las Vegas on the way back... nightmare! haha. He just wanted to run around like a crazy guy there. I'm sure it was great entertainment for onlookers watching me and Jake take turns chasing him around the airport. Anyway, I'm glad we were able to see so many people we hadn't seen in so long. Hopefully we'll get to do everything again next summer!

4 Tag

I haven't posted in a while, so it's time to catch up! I was tagged a while ago so here this goes...

4- Tagged by Mandee!

4 jobs I've had
*Gap Sales Associate
*Baker at BYU Creamery on 9th
*CNA at Courtyard at Jamestown Assisted Living
*Preschool teacher

4 movies I can watch over and over
*Dumb and Dumber
*Pride and Prejudice
*What About Bob
*Napoleon Dynamite (my hubbie thinks I'm a dork because I still think it's funny...)

4 places I've lived
* Ogden, UT
* Columbus, MS
* Mesa, AZ
* San Antonio, TX

4 Shows I HAVE to watch
OK, so I'm not a big TV person and don't really have shows I HAVE to watch... so here are some that I like to watch on occasion!
* 24
* Ellen
* The Bachelor
* The Office

4 foods I can eat anytime
* sour patch kids
* ice cream!
* pretty much any fruit... love it!
* pasta

4 places I have vacationed
* West Yellowstone... my fav!
* San Diego, CA
* Mexico
* Washington DC

4 places I'd rather be right now
* Laying by the pool in Arizona
* At the cabin (West Yellowstone)
* Shopping with my mom
* Jogging on a mountain trail in Utah

I tag... whoever hasn't done this yet! :)

SuRpRisE!!

Jake and Aaron turned 28 on Tuesday! It was a pretty low key day... the boys finished off the school year... Woo hoo! 4th years now! After school we had dinner at Fuddruckers and cake at Aaron and Kristen's house. Then, last night Kristen and I threw the boys a surprise birthday party! A day after their real B-Day since more people could come then. It was fun! Ashley and Dave were nice enough to let us use their house for the party, and Lorna and a friend babysat like 15 kids so all the adults could be child free for a few hours! What troopers. About 20 of our friends came, so it was a great turnout! We had a BBQ dinner and pie... and Aaron led us in a hot game of werewolf. Great practice for the Smith reunion coming up next week! (Watch out Smiths! We're ready... Haha.) It was tricky getting everything together without the guys catching on... especially since Jake was home pretty much the whole day of the party. If it had been held at one of our houses, I don't think we could have pulled it off. Anyhow, it was a fun night! Thanks to everyone that helped. I need to get some pictures from Kristen... she got the pic of the boys walking into the house and the big "Surprise!" but here are a few I took...

Blowing out their candles...

Werewolf!
Aaron... pro moderator

Mandee... defend yourself! haha...

Christi, Aaron, and Matt...

Joe, Kip, and Jake

Michelle, Kris, Joe, and Lyssa...

Happy Birthday boys! I hope 28 is a good year for both of ya! Love you Jake!

Dishwasher...

Usually Luke eats with us at the dining room table, but when I know he'll make a huge mess, we make him eat in his high chair. The other night we had pizza for dinner and his tray was all gross and saucy when he finished... I really hate cleaning the thing off, (although I guess it's easier then cleaning red sauce off the rug under the table) so I asked him jokingly if he would wash his tray. He got super excited about it and really wanted to, so I let him go for it. I didn't think to get the camera until he'd been working on it for quite a while and everything was pretty much clean... wish I had a "before" shot of his messy tray! He did a good job... squeaky clean tray... along with our pizza cutter holder thing and a few other dishes that were in the sink. Here's what I caught of our little dishwasher...
Concentrating on the job...
He loves standing on chairs to look at stuff... ok, ya probably not that safe, but...

Happy and doing a good job...

Done with the mess for a while now... figuring out that playing in the water is more fun

Dumping it all over the kitchen tile is even more fun...

Wow... squirting it out of the faucet is even more fun!...

Look dad, mom let me make a huge wet mess...

Next time I'll stop him after the food gunk is cleaned off of the tray! I was mopping water off the counter top and floor for a while after he finished! He was just having too much fun to stop him. Haha.. If you don't mind a really wet kitchen, I'll drop him off at your house and he'll clean your nasty dishes for you. :)

Things my little man says...

I love listening to Luke learning to talk. Here are some cutie things he has said lately...

*So, I was cleaning the house in my pjs the other morning and my shirt (ya, it's probably time I retire it until i'm done being prego) had hiked up while vacuuming. Anyhow, my belly was showing a little bit. Luke was across the room and had this really concerned look on his face. He walked over and yelled "Mama, wha happened!?... O Oh!" and pulled my shirt down. Nice. Even he notices that my belly is getting big now. Whenever he sees my belly he's asking "wha happened?"

*I was talking on the phone a while ago and he was eating pickles... he loves them. He came over and put his hands out to me for more pickles and ended up touching my clothes... I said something like eew, Luke, you made me smell like pickles! He just smelled his little hands and got this really big smile on his face and said "MMmmmm!! Mells like pickles! Yum!"

*He loves taking bubble baths lately.... loves it the most when the water in the tub isn't very full yet so he can stand up easily. He called me into the bathroom and said "Mama... more bubbles!" ... showing me that he can stand up and pee in the water... ya buddy, you are making a few more bubbles... sick.

*We have had to make quite a few trips to target and walmart lately... he loves looking at the toys. When we get in the car he' s always asking "a go see buzz toy? an woody toy? an bikes? an bwocks?"... apparently they are his favs in the toy section. Haha. Jake went into his room to check on him the other night and apparently he dreams about toys. Haha. He was talking in his sleep... "wow,.. toys... ya, toys..." he was going on and on talking out loud in his sleep about toys. So cute.

*Another big topic of conversation with him is about the car wash. We had just gotten out of HEB a couple of days ago and he saw the car wash across the parking lot. I didn't know he remembered going there before, but he told us he wanted to "go cawash." I guess he had forgotten that he really is afraid of them. The whole time he was crying and saying "loud water! cary!! (his version of scary) "A go home NOW!!!" Must have been pretty traumatic for our little guy because he keeps bringing up the "cary cawash"...

Tax return, I love you!

Here's our sexy camera we picked up yesterday. I've been wanting to get into photography more, and thanks to this I can! Woo Hoo! It's a Nikon DX40... a basic digital SLR. I'm that excited our pictures will be much better from now on! Yay. Happy Mothers Day, Fathers Day, and Happy Birthdays to us.