Summer catch up

In an attempt to get back to weekly blogging, I decided to do a quick summer recap.  These pics are in no particular order :)

We spent many evenings outside walking/riding bikes.

 This princess helped me pick a lot of raspberries and tomatoes

 We went to a cute Curious George exhibit in Kansas City.  

Avery loves watching "George" on TV, and she loved it. 

 Avery started Preschool!  She was so excited.  

The best part was having her first day on her birthday!

She is in the afternoon Tues/Thurs class and loves it!

Since we celebrated the kids birthdays in Utah, we didn't do anything big on their actual birthdays.  But we did celebrate again!  Spoiled!  Great Grandma/Grandpa Griffiths even sent her two dollars!  She was so excited.  I took her to the dollar store and let her pick out what ever she wanted.  She picked a wand and fairy wings. 

We got her a glow pet and "Tangled" barbie.  She told me months before her birthday that she wanted a glow pet (thanks to those stupid commercials)!  She chose the seal...because it was pink and purple.  Still sleeps with it every night.

 Beckett had his first birthday four days after Avery.  His favorite present by far is this truck that Grandma/Grandpa Brown gave him.  We gave him a bunch of cars...after realizing that there wasn't a single manly toy in our house!

 Beckett did lots of teething.  Pretty sure he is the worlds worst teether.  There were weeks of  constant crying and little sleep.  Not excited for the next round.

 Avery decided to dress up dad while he was eating dinner one night.  I couldn't stop laughing.  I'm surprised he let her do it.  Such a good dad  :)

 Avery had another cardiology visit.  Same old, same old.  

Her heart is great as always!

 We went bowling.  Avery loves it.  Pretty sure all kids love bowling! Except Beckett.  He cried the entire time.  The sound of the ball hitting the pins really freaked him out!

 I started babysitting a friends little girl a few days a week.  

She is five months younger than Beckett.  This was Beckett's first encounter with her and he wasn't having it!  He cried every time she touched him! Poor girl, she just wanted to play.  I couldn't stop laughing.  I'm so mean.  I have realized he is a very sensitive boy.  I think having her around has been good for him.

We had a great Summer, I miss it already. Hope yours was great too!

Utah Trip part 2

 The boys in Rands family decided to take the older kids and go fishing one day.  I'm told that Avery loved it!  They didn't catch many fish, but as you can see, the kids love the one they did catch!

While the boys were fishing, us girls went shopping with the babies!  I think it was the first time us three sister-in-laws spent time together, it was fun!

We spent a day with Rands family at Seven Peaks Water Park. This is the only picture I took!  The little ones spent the majority of the time sleeping!  Avery loved the wave pool.  We took her on a few slides- the first time she was scared, but she loved it the second time!

 We planned a birthday get together with Rands family after the water park.  We had more yummy food, cake, and cupcakes.  Beckett wouldn't leave Grandpa Brown alone.  He seriously loves him!

 I didn't get any pictures of Beckett opening his present...but Avery was in heaven when she saw the crown headbands!  She wears them EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  Sometimes at the same time!

We of course made sure to eat all of our favorite foods that we can't get in Missouri.

*We made several trips to get shaved ice!

*A 5 lb bag of cinnamon bears was a must!

 * Had to buy some granny bread!  I'm not a white bread girl, but I LOVE this bread!  I was in heaven when I saw all of it stacked like this!  haha.

*And lets not forget the beloved Taco Amigo! Rand doesn't understand my obsession with this fast food joint, but I seriously love it! Probably just because I grew up with it.
*We were obsessed with this Ice Cream shop.  I think there is  a similar one somewhat close to us in Missouri.  These self- serve ice cream shops with fun flavors are brilliant!

We also went out to dinner with my parents and siblings one evening to the Red Iguana.  Wish I had taken a picture!  It was even more amazing than I remember!  No one in my family had been there, and we all loved it!  It is hands down our favorite restaurant in Utah.

We visited with my parents one last time in PG before heading out.  I love this mountain!

We loaded back up again... broke out the DVD player right away and hit the open road!

  beautiful mountains

 The kids did even better traveling this time!  Slept the majority of it!

The worst part about any vacation is unpacking!  I always dread putting everything away and the doing all the laundry!!!

We had such a fun time!  We have awesome families!  Seriously.  We love you all and wish we could have had more time to visit!  Until next time...

Utah trip part 1

 We decided to make a last minute trip to Utah at the end of August.  I'm so glad we decided to go, it was so much fun!  

We left Missouri at 3:00 pm and drove straight through the night.  I was worried about how the kids would do, but they did pretty good.  They could have been better, but I can't complain :)  

 It was a beautiful day to take a long drive

We only had one fiasco involving an exploding pepsi bottle, that set us back a few minutes (don't ask)... 17 hours later, we arrived at Rand's parents at 8:00 am. It was fun to watch the sun rise over the mountains

  We had lunch with Rand's family that afternoon and then headed over to my family get together/birthday dinner.  I had to make a quick stop at a store before, and then our car wouldn't start!  Awesome...we ended up making it to dinner late because we had to buy a new battery.  

Dinner was awesome, and it was so fun catching up with my family.  We decided to celebrate Avery and Beckett's birthdays while we were all together too.  We actually have several august birthdays in my family. My mom got a big cake for the adults to share and the cutest little individual cakes for my kids. I put cute hats on them and we sang happy birthday.  It was totally funny because my kids were still so tired from traveling (all night), that they were both not into it.  Beckett wouldn't touch his cake and Avery was really quiet...they were both really whiny the entire evening :)

I was able to work out once with my sisters and my niece!  Wish I had been able to join them more that week.

 We used the track and stadium stairs at my high school.  Totally kicked my booty, in a good way!  It was fun to see my high school again...it has changed a lot since I graduated.

 We hung out at Rands grandparents house and visited with more family.  Avery and Parker were so cute watching Monsters Inc. together!

We said hi to Rands horse Blaze

 The kids loved playing with Lucky

 We spent a day at a fun pond with my Sister Bree and her girls.
Beckett has never experienced sand, so it was really funny to watch him play with it!

 I think Avery's favorite part was building a sandcastle.

I was able to visit with some of my best friends growing up.  These girls are so much fun!

It was fun to catch up and let our kids run wild. 

 We also were able to meet our friends the Reeves for lunch.  Their boys had brought tons of tiny super hero's to play with while we waited.  Brilliant idea because our service was terrible!  It was actually funny! We waited an hour before our sever even knew we hadn't been helped!  And then every time she said she would get something, she forgot.  Every time!  Ha Ha.  Good thing we were all in a good mood and didn't have any major plans that afternoon :)

 Rand and I had to drive past our old apartment in Orem.  We lived there for two years right after we got married.  We really liked living there.

To be continued...