4th of July

We spent part of the day for the 4th of July in Utah. We went to the neighborhood breakfast and to our surprise there were balloon animals! The kids were really excited, and they went back for seconds and thirds of the animals. Breakfast was delicious, as always.

We put in a movie for the kids to watch while we packed up the car, and they snuggled up with Grandma and Grandpa. We sure do love them!

Saying goodbye is always hard to do.  Thanks for letting us stay with you! We love you Utah family!

family time

The kids always have the BEST time in Utah. Each of them have a cousin (or several) right around their same age. Paislee is just a couple months older than Lullaby and they were as thick as thieves. 

Sully and Kinslee are close in age too, but they battled while they tried to play with the same things. Stinkers.

Matix, as always found a BIG boy cousin, Aidan, to play with. Aidan is the most patient and sweet boy, and tolerated a LOT from my kids while we were there.

We watched several "shows" from Baylee and Taylee, which reminded me of my own childhood.

Aunt Steph is always a blast. Hawken, in particular, couldn't get enough of her.

The adults sat around playing with Snapchat filters and laughing so hard. This family of ours is pretty fun. :)

duck duck goose

This summer, Solace decided that his favorite game was for SURE Duck, Duck, Goose. We must have played a million rounds of it at his request. Thankfully there were so many willing participants to join him!

friends

We met up with Paul's friend Thayne from the mission. He and his family live in Utah, pretty close to where Paul's Grandparents live. We went to a park and played all morning.

Sully was very interested in holding Zy's hand, but she could care less. It was cute watching him follow her around. :)

And only 1 pic of Paul and Thayne with their girlies. They were talking most of the time and I was following the kids around at the park.  It was nice for them to be able to chat and catch up.

cousins!

We went with Steph and crew for free lunch at Mason's school. The boys had a great time reconnecting. Mason and Hawken are just a month apart in age. They were having a big eye contest. :) Silly boys.

Then we went to a splash pad and playground. The playground was one of the newer ones with strange things to climb and play on. The splash pad was HUGE and the kids had the best time.

Steph set up a blanket for an impromptu picnic. It was so good catching up with her! Steph is such a fun person.

Then out for ice-cream snow cones. It was a strange idea to put ice cream with snow cones, but SO yummy. We loved it. Thanks Steph!

Then back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for some firework poppers. This Utah family is always a blast to be around.

fun

Games with Grandma is a must. 

Only at Grandma's house are there an endless supply of cousins, ice cream and cookies. :)

Grandma and Grandpa Berg!

We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Berg in Sandy. It was a short visit, but nice to be able to see them, and several more people from Paul's family. The first thing the kids wanted to do was walk down the street to the farm and feed the horses carrots, like we had done a million times before. Such a fun familiar activity.

pics from the road

We stopped in Little America along the way for ice cream, and Sully rode a dinosaur. He would have stayed there all day if we let him. So funny.

Abbajay family!

Seeing the Abbajays is always a treat. They are so good to us. This was a quick stop, but we packed a lot in. The kids are always so excited to see Avia and Izzy. Richard was away on work, but called to say hi while we were there. 

We got a tour of all the new renovations in the backyard. It's seriously magazine worthy. Jill has such a green thumb, it's gorgeous back there. Paul fell in love with these chairs made out of wine barrels. Very cool, right?

Matix and Sully played with Maddox and Sampson (the dogs) forEVER.

Hawken and Lullaby got a lesson in gardening and got to pick some carrots (and taste them!).

After a while, the video games came out, and everyone was entranced.

While all the big kids were busy, Sully got some special time with Avia. They made cookies together. So sweet.

At some point, Paul passed out and took a little nap on the couch.

Jill got all the kids bracelets, and they were so excited.

Izzy looked like this for the majority of time we were there, dripping in babies. They love her so much.

Eventually, we had to say our goodbyes so we could get on the road to Sandy, Utah. Thanks for the lovely visit, and lunch, and gifts.

We had to take a picture with Lincoln's tree. We love you Abbajays! And miss you already!