Our Trip to Spanish Fork

Every summer I grew up spending a couple weeks on my mom's parents farm in Spanish Fork, UT. I told Sam early on this summer that I wanted to somehow get the boys up to the farm for Pioneer Day and Spanish Fork Fiesta Days. I think my mom was happy to know that I had such fond memories of those vacations that she told my dad that they should take me and the boys up for a week. I think she would've stayed even longer if the boys and I could have handled being away from Sam for so long but there was no way that was even possible. My parents stayed at the farm in Leland and the boys and I stayed with my cousin Karalee in Payson. I appreciate all the driving that my parents and cousin did driving us back and forth.

Monday as soon as we got to Karalee's we made plans to go to Santaquin to the Family Tree Restaurant where we ate their gigantic yummy scones and honeybutter. Then we went back to the house and hung out for the rest of the night which was perfect after our long drive.

Tuesday the Porter and Carter played with Karalee's kids and we decided to go to the dollar movie in Provo and say Monsters vs. Aliens. Then we met up with my parents and Aunt Jolene on the farm and decided to go to the Pizza Factory to celebrate Russell's (Karalee's husband) birthday. Thanks Russell for picking the Pizza Factory because it was so yummy!

Wedenesday my parents planned to take us to Provo to meet up with the Smith's but when we got up there Joanna called and told me that Grace had a fever. We ended up just hanging out at BYU. We went to the museum there on campus which the boys loved, we played games at the Wilkinson Center, and we had lunch at the Creamery. We also drove by the Provo Temple and pointed out all the missionaries that were walking between there and the MTC. Then I had the boys take a picture in front of the MTC cause I thought Sam might like that since he is always talking about them being future missionaries.

Then we headed back to the farm for a little rest before going out to see the stock parade and to have a picnic and then we were off to the rodeo.

Aaron and Michael joined us for the rodeo.

Don't tell anyone but I think Michael thought it was pretty fun!

We took a picture of ourselves while waiting for the rodeo to start.

Katelyn and Samantha sat next to us and loved helping me keep the boys entertained.

Carter really took to Samantha -- it was so cute to see him with her.

My cousin's wife, Wendy, did such a great job trying to keep Porter awake for the last and most exciting part of the night--

the Bull Riding.

You can tell by the look on Porter and Carter's faces that they ABSOLUTELY loved it!

Thursday we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. It was beautiful and I couldn't help but get a little choked up when I got to be with Porter and Carter in the sealing room. What a great experience, I only wish Sam could've been there to share it with us.

Porter, Carter and Logan waiting patiently to go inside.

Friday we were so excited to celebrate Pioneer Day, well atleast I was.

We got to see the parade down Main Street in Spanish Fork.

I got the boys snowcones to eat while they watched.

Then we took the boys over to the carnival to ride rides.

Carter and Katelynn on the boats...don't you love Carter's pageant wave?

We finally made it over to visit the Smith's. The kids played together so well and it gave Joanna and I plenty of time to catch up. We miss them so much.

Aaron and Michael picked us up and we went back to the farm to finish off the Pioneer Day festivities. The boys got to feed the cows some hay.

I love this picture of the boys. They had so much fun together on our trip.

With the look on his face, you'd think he got bit by one of those cows or something.

I think Porter could have spent the whole entire time feeding those cows and would have been perfectly content.

We had a great dinner at my cousin Reid's house there on the farm and then drove over to Salem to watch the fireworks!

The next morning we were up and on the road by seven and Porter and Carter were so good the whole, except for Carter kicking Michael's seat...sorry about that Michael.

The only thing that would've made our trip any better was if Sam had been able to go with us. Next time there is no way we will go without him.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the whole trip...it was just the way I had hoped it would be and I know that they boys loved it.

Thanks Karalee and Russell for letting us stay with you guys, we miss you and your family.

A Visit With Abby and the Boys

A few weeks ago we made our way out to the OC to spend a couple days with my niece Abby and her boys. Although we were only with them for like a day and a half we were able to do lots of fun stuff. We started out by going to the Irvine Spectrum and let the kids play in the fountains. They loved it.

Abby had these little sand toys and the boys would put them over the fountains and they had so much fun watching them shoot up.

Carter loves playing in any form of water so this was right up his alley!

My great-nephew Ryder loved that Abby sat him down in the middle of all this. He was so funny cause he would try to make sure he was sitting right where a stream of water would shoot up.

I loved this picture of Porter--he had such a great time.

Me and Abby had fun watching the boys.

We went to Golden Spoon after all the water fun and had ice cream cones.

The next day we went swimming together at Jodi's pool and then we headed out to the OC Fair.

Porter and Carter were so excited to see all the animals and especially loved the baby piggies.

We watched them milk the cows and I decided that would be a great breast pump for my baby registry...I'm totally kidding of course.

The boys rode one ride that they got free with our admission tickets and you would have thought it was the ride of their lives.

Thanks Abby for such a great time.

We loved having the chance to spend some time with you and the boys.

4th of July!!!

I love the 4th of July!! Last year we were in Temecula so this year

we went to Grandma Sherri's to celebrate.

Carter taking a break from the pool.

Porter hitting anyone up to play ping pong with him.

Porter and Carter with Grandma Sherri.

The boys played lots of ping pong and took a dip in the pool with their little cousin Memphis.

They played croquet for their first time ever and this is Carter just before getting hit in the head with a mallet by Porter!

Since fireworks are legal in Lakewood it is such a different experience than what I grew up with and I think that for the first time this year I really enjoyed Sam's idea of 4th of July.

(Probably because the boys loved it soooo much!) They LOVED these gigantic sparklers!

Carter watching Sam set off fireworks in the street.

Justin, Brandi, Porter and Carter enjoying the show!

Me and Sam!

Sam with Amber and Laurel.

The Family--I love that Porter and Carter aren't looking at the camera because huge fireworks went off nearby in the sky and so they were a little distracted!!

We had a blast!!! (No pun intended.)

Snake Charmers

So at Sam's office complex they sent around letter to all the offices letting people know that as they are walking on the premises, to watch out for snakes that might be close by. Sam, being the kid at heart that he is, decided that this letter was his personal invitation to start catching snakes!! He caught a few, but finally worked it out to catch one, put it in a pillow case, and bring it home for the boys to play with. Have I mentioned yet that I HATE SNAKES??!!!??!!?!!

So he decided to empty the snake into the boys little pool that we got for them. Porter and Carter had so much fun following that thing around in circles. One of the best parts was when it peed in the pool which I now need to make sure is completely sanitized before the boys ever use it again!!!! DID I MENTION THAT I HATE SNAKES??!!!??!!??!!

That snake kept trying to climb out of the little pool over and over again and I think he was just getting more and more frustrated everytime he tried. Sam wanted to make sure that I got plenty of pictures of the darn thing! I HATE SNAKES!!!!!!!

Luckily, Sam decided that the snake really wasn't having as much fun as he, Porter and Carter were and thought it would be best to let him go. This was my MOST favorite part of the snake encounter and I was soooo happy to see it go. Needless to say, I SO HATE SNAKES!!!!!

Chloe's 7th Birthday!!

Chloe invited us to go with her and her family to the free summer movies. We were supposed to see Hotel for Dogs but we weren't able to get in so we ended up going to see Kit Kitteridge and absolutely loved it!!! I hope Chloe had a fun time cause I know that we did!!!

Swimming with the Skidmores

One of the funnest days we have had so far this summer was going Jaida's grandma's house for a nice cool swim. The boys had so much fun in the pool and it made for a very relaxing day for me. Chantel even took some prego bathing suit pics of me--can you guess why they aren't on here?? Yep, that's right--they were AWFUL and DELETED quicker than you can say

"Fat lady in a swim suit!!!"

A Day at Knott's Berry Farm

Father's Day weekend we had plans to go out to Bellflower to spend the night at Aunt Amber's and so I decided to take the boys to Knott's on our way.

We had a blast in the few hours that we were there and made sure to hit all the boys favorite rides, except for the log ride cause I told them it probably wasn't a good idea for me to go on it with the baby being so big and all. They understood, but were a little disappointed so we got some cotton candy to fill the void. Porter and Carter haven't stopped talking about that cotton candy since!!

Our First Summer Trip to the Beach

In June we made our first trip to the beach we Deana, Leslie and Briar. Carter was really very concerned about the trip and kept telling me that he didn't want to "get dead" while we were there. Can you see the concern on his face??

So this is where he spent most of his time...right by our feet, nice and far from the water, playing in the sand practically the whole entire time.

On the other hand, Porter, spent most of his time down by the water and had a blast. It took most of the day to convince Carter that he could go down in the water without "getting dead" and when we finally got him down to the water he loved it and didn't want to leave.