Family Reunion

 We spent our last big vacation for the year on a trip to Idaho and Utah to visit family and friends. We went to Idaho first.Unfortunately they were having a heat wave so our plans kind of got kinked a bit we ended up spending a lot of time indoors instead of some of the other fun things we had planned, my pregnant body and over a hundred degrees in heat were just not jiving but we made the best of it. We started off by seeing one of my dearest friends, we went to a bounce house and dinner and checked out the indoor play area at chick'fil'a a bonus to yummy food. We also hit some of our favorite restaurants on the way like the pickle barrel. We left Melinda's house and headed to the farm to see Doug's grandma and bonus some of his aunts and uncles. It was a quick visit as it was extremely hot there, YIKES, Doug did take the time to mow grandma's yard and of course give the kids a ride on the tiny tractor, which they thought was great.

 We went to see the cows, all of which were dying in the heat too, most of them were lying down wishing their lives away I am sure...

 Grandma and the kids. You know those stories you here of the people saying things were so hard when they grew up they had to walk five miles to school in the snow up hill, etc, well our kids will be telling a different funny story. Grandma doesn't really have toys at her house, we had taken some with us, but hadn't gotten them out yet, when she decided to show the kids a fun toy to play with, it was a moon rock from craters of the moon an attraction not far from her home, she showed the kids and got them rolling it and playing with it with each other for the majority of the time we were there, their tell will be, when we were little we played with a rock from the moon for hours...LOL I can hear it now. It was so nice to see Grandma though and visit the farm and family there.

 Our next stop was Utah. We of course had the Maddox on our way in, YUM, I had been waiting months to have their yummy rolls and bread. So good. Doug's brother was kind enough to host us for almost a week. We stopped in and saw my Aunt Vicky and Uncle Dee which was nice, and we made a stop to the quilted bear which is a necessary thing for me whenever we are there. Our first full day in Utah we took Aubrey a niece to Cherry Hill a campground/ water park it was so FUN! Addy had a goal she was working on, she had to sleep in her own bed for 30 consecutive nights, she finished her goal and her reward was to go to a water park, and that she could take one friend of her choice with us. She blind sided me when she said she wanted to take her cousin Aubrey and that she would wait for her reward until the summer, she had to wait almost three months, such a trooper. I love how thoughtful she is. The next day the festivities began. We had all kinds of fun with the family, it was Doug's side and we don't see them all that often. The above picture are the cousins closest in age to our kiddos, minus Sam who hadn't arrived yet. The kids had so much fun with their cousins, they cried and cried about the cousins and us all going home.

 A boy and a Dog, this is cousin Bruce with as Jimmy calls him Cousin Copper the dog, we have almost an identical picture of jimmy loving the dog a year ago. Such a good dog, and a sweet boy

 More water fun, we made it to a splash pad and to another water park while we were there, although I didn't really get many pictures of people in their bathing suits. The kids were rather worn out by now, I was surprised my water babies were content sitting on the sidelines. Ah Vacation, one never knows what to expect. Both water parks had plenty to offer though.

 Doug was in charge of the fireworks for the fourth, he did a great job, all my pictures were a bit fuzzy from the glow sticks and night I must have forgotten to switch my camera to night setting. I think the highlight of the day was the marshmallow guns though, hilariously funny. Wish I had pictures of that.

Our Niece Ashley who does not like to cook, she took a cooking class last year for her major, and these are the accessories to the class apparently one cooks better with very large knives and a white hat. We were making sandwiches for the tea party (I use that term loosely as we don't actually drink tea) No crust for us.

Sweet 16, Bryn had her birthday while we were there, the day of the tea party which worked out perfect for me I convinced my kiddos it was a birthday party for Bryn and they were a lot more accommodating about being left behind from the shoot out where the older boys were having gun shooting competitions. Kay put a ton of time and effort into a Favorite things tea party, complete with making every family their own adorable tea set, so cute. Everyone was to bring a list of ten of their favorite things and one to share, it was a fun party. Addy worked quite hard on her item she took, she made cousin bags filled with goodies for all the cousins that were at the party as cousins truly are one of her favorite things. Jim took hot chocolate and Little smokies, that kid has the funniest quirks, I took good toilet paper, I am not all that keen on things most of my favorites are people but I do like good quality toilet paper.

The yummy yummy food, I need to get some recipes don't look to close as it is quite possible one will see similar items should you come to a party at my house. LOL

Bounce House, Doug's sister randomly scored a bounce house for the week from a friend that runs a company he had a spare and she was kind enough to let the kids over to bounce, it was hot, but fun

We were all so tired from lack of naps and going to bed so late and waking up for the kids early, there were a couple nights Addy did cousin sleep overs with the girls but towards the end of our stay we had to have her stay in our room so we could get her some sleep. The cousins do papers at 4 in the morning the kids thought that was a great time to wake up and roam while everyone else was sleeping or out delivering papers, we also tried to let them stay up a bit later okay like 3 hours later then normal so they could play with the cousins, We were all so tired from all the fun and festivities, this is how we found Addy our last morning there, not even on her mattress and not caring. It was nice to see everyone, but it is also nice to be home and back to life as we know it or at least working on it...hahahaha