Major, Major Utah Catch up!

I've been a blog-slacker lately. We returned home from a glorious month in Utah over a week ago and ever since I've been bombarded with writing assignments and tight deadlines, so I haven't wanted to spend one extra moment on the computer. Utah this year was so much fun. My family is amazing, kind and loving and my boys adore being around all of them. It's so nice to be able to spend a good chunk of time with each other and reconnect. I'm catching up on all the pictures I didn't blog yet.

On our drive to Utah, we stopped in Provo at BYU. Yes, we were totally those geeky parents who drag their kids around campus showing them all the stuff we thought was great (hey, at least we didn't leave BYU with 3 kids). It was fun to be back and revived so many fun memories for both of us. Mike really enjoyed the new sports shrines.


Father's Day was bittersweet. Mike wasn't with us, and we were so sad, but we did get to make the day special for my dad. He is such a fantastic father and grandfather--I can't say enough good things about him. We made him a yummy breakfast and reframed and hung all his diplomas in an effort to make his office a little more hip. He loved it!

We were able to spend the evening with my Gumpy and the Cullimore side. My heritage has a long line of great patriarchs.

One of the great things we did in Utah was go to their aquarium. It's nothing amazing, but it's pretty cheap and just the right length for my little guys. All the kids really loved the whole thing. Jace was the only one brave enough to touch the sting rays and sea animals...so he had the best time of all.

One hot sunny morning we met Courtney, Laurie and Addie at the Farm at Thanksgiving point. The kids loved touching all the animals they will never own, and Jace liked the little pony ride. The hayride was a big hit too, but nothing was better than the ice cream cones after lunch...did you know they give free cones to the kids? We really had a great day.

Somehow we made time to escape to a cousins lunch at Cheesecake Factory. There was non-stop chatting. I'm so lucky to have such a fun extended family.
Girl's Night Out!!! I reconnected with lots of friends and their kids while in Utah, but didn't take any pictures except on our Accadian's night! These girls are all so fun and amazing, and all doing so well--it's fun to see your friends so happy and successful. I spent some time with my BFF Jen, but not enough. She's just the greatest and I love talking to her EVERYDAY!

One Sunday night, Grandma brought out Popsicles and took amazing pictures of the boys. Yes, any good picture is not taken by me, she's a great photographer.

All the boys loved Uncle Mitch so much. He saved me lots of times when I needed a little break. Both Mitch and Beau are fantastic Uncles...what will I do when they have their own kids???

Picture Day! We got some great family pictures by Mary Kim while we were in Utah, and I'll post some of the best, but my mom took a few of her own kandids that day that were too cute to pass up.

The Sunday before we left we had a birthday party for Gumpy. He is such an amazing man. He is in his 70s and still travels the world training humanitarian missionaries for our church, works full time and just never stops. He is such a great example to all of us.

We found a whole flock of brand new baby quail the kids couldn't get enough of.
We didn't get to spend nearly enough time with my Grandma and Grandpa Olsen because they were in San Diego while my Grandma recovered from surgery. We missed them and are glad she's on the road to recovery.
For the 4th of July we headed up to meet Mike's parents, a pregnant Jenni, Jed and Olivia in Kamas for a real, small town 4th. It started with a parade. Each float threw out candy, and of course James couldn't get enough. We ate a yummy lunch, then headed to the rodeo grounds to watch our little ones run for silver dollars, chase chickens and bunnies and Jace even rode a sheep (crying the whole time, but said it was fun a few hours later). It was nice to just hang out and relax at their place on a perfect July 4th day. We miss being around them too.

After Kamas and before fireworks we headed to my cousin Henry's 1st birthday party. They did an amazing job with it and the kids and adults had a great time playing around and being goofy.

We went to fireworks that night in Holladay. The Utah Symphony performed for a bit, then we waited and waited for the fireworks. Right at the kids were falling asleep, BOOM! Most of the little ones weren't sure if it was fun or scary, but by the end they got into the spirit of things. It certainly makes be grateful to live in a country where that isn't happening all the time. Poor little James couldn't make it until the end, he climbed in the wagon and fell asleep.

Now, I must post a few things about this cute little one you see right here. He absolutely cracked us up while we were in Utah. He found this red glove one day and started wearing it on a fairly regular basis. Most of the time it was just a glove, but once in awhile it was a cast or something else. It was on more than it was off.

Here are a few other greats:

1. While we were at lunch with Amanda and her kids, he oldest asked Jace what his baby brother's name was and he replied, "Oh, he doesn't have a name yet, we just adopted him."

2. He told a friends mom, "Actually, I have a brother and a sister who are 10 and 7, but my mom and grandma don't know about them."

3. He would frequently tell me that, "Oh mom, this is the greatest day of my whole entire life."

4. When his primary teacher tried to put a Shepherd costume on him he said, "It's okay, but don't mess up my hair."

There are so many others, but he is the funniest kid right now.