Utah Highlights Week One, One More to Go!

Okay, it is so fun to hang out in the pool! It is relaxing and keeps the kids so entertained. I also have forgotten how nice it is to have family around and have some help with the kids. Mom is so sweet to the girls and is definitely the only one who will indulge them in a nighttime hot tub swim! She is also the best at playing Barbies and kitchen. It is so foreign to me to have a break in the day where someone else is watching and playing with the kids and I can take a nap (gasp!) or read a book (Ahhhhh!). I am totally taking advantage of it!

This photo kind of got in the wrong spot, and I can't seem to move it, but this was one of the prized times we had with Shirley. They left for New York today, so we tried to spend a lot of time with them before we had to go. She is the sweetest grandma in the world!

We had so much fun driving down to Red Canyon to see my grandparents. We went to Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon for Father's Day dinner and stayed in Panguitch. The next day we spent the entire day at the store. The girls loved seeing their Great-Grandparents, and I loved seeing them too, and of course, SHOPPING! On the way home, Mom took the long way through all the tiny Utah towns and we ate at "Mom's Cafe" in a no-stoplight town where Mom used to eat when they would drive home from Provo. It was seriously so much fun!
I miss my Little D so much. D and Amelia will never lose that bond. Eric tortured the kids and D made up for it by letting them do a fabulous makeover and having a sleepover! D, Joshy and I also played cards and talked and laughed, and I was the camp-champ!


Josh was on his senior trip when we first got here, so we picked him up at the airport on Saturday and then HE READ HIS MISSION CALL. It was seriously too cool for words. He will be serving in Sacramento, CA and leaves on August 8 (other little sis's birthday). It was so fun to watch him open his call. Also as a side note, I can't believe he bought the little girls bracelets in Mexico while on his trip. That was seriously so cute. Josh and I also went out to lunch and for ice cream today and had great talks. I love his friend Abby and the girls do too, they even picked her out a necklace at the store, and came home to new Barbie clothes from Josh and Abby!


Okay, look very carefully in the "empty" red chair. Do you see it? It is a dead fish in a bag...

And here is the prized catch...."Goldie." Mikayla would not get rid of it. She carried it from the lake with Grandpa to Nana's house, where Granddad put it in a baggy with water. The next thing I know, they are planning a birthday party for him and wanting to keep it forever....gross.

And here is Grandpa! He was so fun fishing with the girls. We went up to Silver Lake and hiked and had a wonderful picnic and then went fishing. It was really the girls' first time and I can't believe Mikayla caught one!

Grandma Marsh and I walked with the girls around the entire lake. We saw a moose, a mom duck with 8 babies that she almost had separated by a bridge and SNOW! It was one of the best days I've had in a long time.

We had a wonderful lunch with Wade and Shirley (actually a couple of those)! We did lots of yard work today in the front of Nana's house today. Amelia might be the best 5-year-old-yard- girl around. We went to D and Eric's house, we drove by our old WX house, and more.

I also have to mention that Cherry Hill with the cousins was fabulous, but I don't have photos. We are also having a big cousin bash tomorrow at Nan's and then continuing in the evening here at my parents' pool.

We've had action-packed days every day, but these are just the highlights of the first week...so much more to come!