Utah

In October my brother blessed his new baby. My dad asked me if me and my girls wanted to drive down with him for it since my mom could only go for a couple of days and would be flying down, but he wanted to go for longer (we were gone for 13 days). I of course jumped at the opportunity! We love love love going to Utah to visit family and friends. I was EXTREMELY nervous about the 11 hour car rides too and from, but turns out I didn't have anything to worry about, the girls did FANTASTIC! We tried to pack in as much friends, family and fun as we possibly could while we were there and I think we definitly suceeded. We only wish Cameron could have come with us.

 

Reading with Grandpa is a MUST whenever he's around!

I spent a couple of days at one of my closest friends, Amy, house. My girls loved playing with Tommy and they even got to paint pumpkins! It was Cassidy's first experience with paint and let's just say I practicaly had to pry her hands off the paint brush because she did not want to stop!

Evelyn wanted to hold Baby John (who is not such a baby anymore! He turned 1 while we were there.) and naturally Cassidy wanted a turn too because she LOVES babies! Haha, but I think "Baby" John is actually bigger than her :)

 

 

 And because it was just RIGHT there we made a trip to IKEA. I think it's my favorite place. We even went on a Tuesday so our kids could eat for free, they loved it and so did we. I think it was the most relaxed and stress free trip I have ever had to IKEA with kids.

The girls and I also got to visit another of my favorite people, Janet. Her and I were secretaries together at the Church Office Building and we were even pregnant together. Her oldest is just 2 months older than Evelyn and our younger two are just 2 months apart as well. Evelyn LOVES playing with Abbie! When we went to Utah in May 2011 Evelyn got to play with her so when I told her we were going to see her again this trip she said "You mean my friend Abbie with the Tinkerbell shoes?" I have no idea how she remembers these things but she was exactly right.

 

 

The first half of our trip we didn't really see my dad but one day we met up with him and some of his sisters and my grandparents and all had lunch together at The Lion House. It ws so yummy and wonderful to see my aunts and grandparents! Afterwards we walked around Temple Square and then went down the street to Memory Grove. It was such a beautiful day and we had fun enjoying the scenery and the girls got some energy out.

 

I got to visit another of my closest friends, Chelsea. She had a sweet little boy, Asher, at the end of August and he has already had to endure so much more than any person should have to go through in their lifetime. But he is a fighter and surrounded by so much love so I just know Chelsea and her little family will be ok. He was born with a cleft lip, which they were expecting, but also a congenital heart defect, which they had no idea about. So at just 2 weeks old he had heart surgery. But like I said, he's a fighter and doing great. He'll have surgery for his cleft lip in just a couple of weeks. I am so grateful I got to hold this sweet angel and visit with Chelsea. Hopefully it won't be another year before I get to see them again :)

My mom and niece Aubrey joined us for a few days. While they were there my sister-in-law took us to Gardner Village to see all the witches. Evelyn LOVED it and still talks about the witch that flew into the building.

And of course, the reason we went down, Baby Isaac. What a sweet sweet little boy and I held him every possible second I could :)

The girls kept trying to steal him from me, little stinkers! Like I said, they LOVE babies!

We seriously had SO much fun! We can't wait to go back again and have Cameron go with us.