Summer Vacation Part 1

Really not sure how I am going to cram all we did in the last six weeks into one post, but here we go:

The day after Noah got out of school, the kids and I got on a plane headed to Utah.  We spent a few days at my parents’ home in Park City before packing up my awesome white rental minivan and heading for California.  My mom, THANKFULLY, was able to accompany us and, man, was she a huge help!  I have to say that the kids did very well, especially Max.  We stopped in Mesquite, NV, at one of my favorite hotels, the Casablanca.  We got there in time for the kids to burn off some energy at the pool.

The next morning we got back in the minivan (which we joked was the “party bus”).  One of the many features I liked about was the fact that she had a DVD player, which is priceless when traveling with kids.  We made a pit stop ay Peggy Sue’s Diner, something I have honestly wanted to do for 20 years.  Let me tell you, it exceeded my expectations.  If you’re ever in Yermo, CA, take the advice from the countless billboards and stop in!

When planning our summer, I had two family events to schedule into our first five weeks.  The first was the 80^th birthday party for Mike’s Grandma Sandy.  I say “Mike’s grandma,” but she feels like a true grandma to me, too.  She is one of the most amazing people I know -- such loving and giving woman.  Her party was so much fun, and I was thrilled that we were able to get so many great photos.  The second family event was a family reunion on my mom’s side, but more on that later.

We packed A LOT into our 10 days in Orange County: a trip to the beach, a birthday party for Amelia (she’s FOUR!!), Grandpa Ray and Noah attending a car show; we were lucky to see so many wonderful friends!  Last by not least, we spent three days at Disneyland (separated by a day of “rest” in between – ha!).

Mike’s work travel schedule somewhat lined up with ours, so he was able to drive on the return trip to Utah with me and the kids as far as Las Vegas.  We stayed at Caesar’s Palace for two nights, which was fun but not quite the same when you have you’re three little kids.  I cannot tell you how many sideways looks I got from Noah…let’s just say it’s an interesting crowd.

We spent the next two weeks back at my parents’ house.  The kids always love it because they get so much “cousin time” with Kai and Aria, and I love it because I get my “hiking in the mountains” fix.  It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful the mountains are.  Mike and I cashed in some of his Hilton points and stayed at the Waldorf Astoria at The Canyons for our 7^th anniversary.  We went to Main Street for drinks, shopping and dinner; it was such a cool experience to visit Main Street as a tourist.  If you’ve never been to Park City in the summer, I highly recommend it!
 

We grabbed a drink at High West Disterally

My sister-in-law is amazing at face painting!

Amelia and Kai getting married, Noah officiated.

Noah, the magician, sawed Kai into two!

The trip ended with the Parker family reunion.  I think the last one was in 2009, so it was great to catch up with my family.  What made it even more special was getting to see the land my parents recently bought outside of Evanston, WY.  I had no idea it would be so beautiful, and I completely understand why my parents fell in love with it! 

The cabin of the owner my parents bought their land from.

Noah and Kai in their boating adventure.

The kids all loved the HUGE fireworks you can buy in WY.

We went tubing on the river on my dads land, it was definitely one of my favorite parts of the reunion!

Noah and my dad floating down the river.

My wonderful grandparents, Gary and Dorothy Parker.

Great grandparents with all their grand kids.

Nana and Papa with all their grand kids.

Easter Fun

I can't believe I'm just now getting around to blogging about our Easter weekend or that there is only a week of school left.  Time is slipping through my fingers!

We probably had our most fun Easter ever, at least that's what my kids would tell you.  Why, you ask?  We had a giant egg hunt with the other families on our cul-de-sac, which was tons of fun, and then we headed to the Gaylord Hotel for brunch.  To top it off, Grandma Nancy was in town, which always makes things even better!

Brunch at the Gaylord was really neat; it's a beautiful hotel, and it was fun to walk around and explore.  If you've never been to one, I highly recommend checking it out, especially around the holidays (http://www.marriott.com/gaylord-hotels/travel.mi).  We all ate way too much -- I don't think any of us wanted to look at food the rest of the day.  Noah literally had four plates surrounding him at all times . . . he was in heaven!

Amelia finished her first year of preschool.  It was such a wonderful year, and I am so thankful for her teachers and all the staff there.  They made a HUGE scrapbook for each kid that had lots of pictures of them throughout the year and a bunch of their artwork and projects.  I cannot imagine how long it must have taken to put together.  I will truly always treasure it.

Amelia and her "bestie" Clara.

Max is changing faster than seems possible.  He's now running around like a little maniac trying to keep up with Amelia and Noah.  His favorite things are talking on the phone (he thinks the phone is called "Dada"), dancing and singing, playing with the big kids outside, looking through his books, and making people laugh.  The kid is seriously the king of making funny faces and not just nice ones -- he has a pretty mean scowl.  He says "thank you" whenever you hand him something and "there you go" whenever he hands someone else something.

Pool party with are awesome neighbors!

Noah has his last week of the 3rd grade this coming week.  I'm not sure how to process that he will be turning 10 in a few months.  I think I say this in every blog post, but he really is an amazing big brother.  He will play with Max and Amelia for hours on end and help me out whenever I need him.  He's really into making crafts; his favorite things to make currently are duct tape wallets, paper airplanes made out of tooth picks and marshmallows, and cool designs out of perler beads (think melted plastic that, when melted, turns into a design or object).

Max's first time in the see-saw.

Elsa and Hanz.

He had his first guitar recital a few weeks ago, and I was so impressed with how well he played but almost as much by how calm, cool and collected he was.  Playing in front of a big room full of people didn't seem to faze him; I, on the other hand, would have been sick to my stomach!

My personal training has started to take off, which is why I'm blogging less frequently.  However, I have promised myself to try and do better (since I love looking back at my old posts and seeing our kids grow up).

Mike and I did find time to go to a music festival to see some of my favorite bands.

Catching Up

Every week seems to go faster than the one before.  This spring has been by far my busiest ever, with three kids . . . between Noah playing flag football, having guitar lessons and going too Boy Scouts; as well as Amelia participating in soccer, dance and swim lessons.  To add to the busy-ness, I recently started some personal training with clients again; anyone that has a one-year-old know that’s a full-time job in itself. It’s been around two months since my last post and I know there is way too much to try and cover, so I will hit the highlights.

Noah and his friend, Ben, built this awesome theme park out of K'nex.

During spring break I had planned on taking the kids to Florida for the week to visit Mike.  As bad as this sounds, I never got around to booking the flight.  When I looked a week before I planned to leave, the prices were outrageous.  It worked out for the best, since I feel like the kids and I made the best of staying at home and lounging around.  It was so nice to not set the alarm for 6:30am every day.  When school started the next week, Noah and I were both wondering, “Is it summer yet?”

Believe it or not, he was actually happy.

My workout buddy!

Practicing some pretty awesome dance moves.

Our family REALLY loves to dance!

Max is FULLY walking.  In fact, if he’s not down on the ground walking around, he lets you know just how mad he is.  He has also really been expanding his vocabulary -- some of his new phrases include: thank you, welcome, baby, big boy, "Let It Go" (singing a song from Frozen), ball, book, uh-oh, more, no, yes, Max, guitar and dance.  If he’s hungry, he goes to where I keep his food in the pantry, grabs a jar of baby food, brings it to me, and then goes to his chair and waits for me to put him in.

 

 

My mom visited for a few days and it worked out perfectly that Jason stopped by to stay the night on his way to and from Oklahoma.  It was really fun and made me realize how much I really miss living by family.  Max was especially smitten with Jason; he constantly wanted to be held by him and would keep leaning over to smile at him.  It was great to play cards with my mom, even if she kicked my butt.

 

My mom was able to go to "Grandparents Day" at Amelia's preschool.

 

My mom watched the kids so we could go on a double date with some good friends.

We are currently working on some house projects, both inside and out and will post some pictures in the next blog.  It’s been a lot of work, but it feels good to invest in our home and make it feel more like “ours”!