Summer Vacation!

This summer we had big plans!  We had planned to drive up to Canada for the first time, now that all 4 of our kids would cost to fly!  We haven't flown home since Owen turned two, so adding two additional passengers upped the price point for us quite a bit!  And there's so many of us that we'd need our own vehicle once we were there anyway, so this made the most sense!  BUT.. I was pretty nervous for the drive!  I had a huge stash of work books and travel games/activities saved up over the last 6 months!  And we have two tvs that we can plug in for movies too!  But once we got going, we ran into a snag before we even left the city!  The cord I'd bought to replace the broken one to connect the two tvs... well it was the wrong cord!  So we only had one screen... and to help everyone's viewing pleasure, we tried to hang it in the middle... it was an interesting fix!

Then we got on our way!  This little lady didn't know how long she'd be in her seat!  She did AMAZING though!  That first day especially, she was an angel!  We woke up Sunday morning, went to an 8AM sacrament, then came home and got ready to go!  We were on the road by 10:30 I think, so a bit later than planned, but ready to go!  We were driving to Jeremy's Aunts house in Sandy, UT.  We drove straight through with only quick bathroom trips!  And for the most part, everyone was champs!

I have to put a plug in for Jeremy's Aunt Susan and Uncle Dave in Utah too.. The kids are still asking me when we can go back and visit them!  It was basically a late night arrival, early morning leave situation, and we didn't expect them to do anything except let us crash, but it was amazing!  Their basement had skee ball, pin ball, fooseball, and ping pong!  And the kids were wiggly!  So they stayed up late and played until we shut it down.  Then in the morning we went to their ward's 4th of July breakfast (which was across the street!) where we met up with some of their kids (Jeremy's cousins) and their kids, and had a great time catching up!  Then we went back to their house to pack up and leave, but ended up hanging out for a couple of hours playing with their quad, and in their incredible backyard with all of the family!  It was so wonderful and they were so great to let us tag along with some of their plans for the day!  We are very grateful still!  

Can you see the joy on Owen's face?!

For once Owen's in charge!

4th of July hair

They had a big dog, and a big puppy, and the kids couldn't get enough!

Family picture in our matching shirts!

After we left we had a bit of time to kill before driving to Bear Lake, so we checked out the new Mall in downtown Salt Lake.  It was really fun to walk around and there was lots to see!  We ate lunch at the awesome food court too where there's a big play area for kids!

That's the temple in the background!

Tried to do the star in Sadie's hair.. but it's not quite long enough!

Mall play area

Sadie looked so angelic as she slept in the car!

Then we made the 3 hour drive to Bear Lake for a family reunion for a few days!  It was so beautiful there!

We stayed in an awesome house *almost* big enough to fit our whole group of well over 100 family members!  The kids had so much fun exploring and experiencing some freedom!  They made lots of new cousin friends and it made me so happy to be there with lots of my family who I don't get to see too often!  So many were able to come and it was amazing!  I grew up with very close relationships to quite a bit of my cousins and so it's hard to maintain those relationships from so far away!

Getting to see these guys was pretty awesome too!  So cute!

There were arts and crafts for the kids

There were fireworks for the 4th of July... until we got shut down and threatened with a fine!  But it was awesome right up till then!

One day we had lots of races and games at the park, and that was fun to see!  

Another day was lake day, and the kids had hours of fun digging in the sand and playing in the water and boats.

Owen is so funny in this pic!  He is seriously such a goofball every time the camera is out!

The last night at the reunion we had a talent show/program as a tribute to Grandma Peterson who is having her 90 birthday in a few weeks now.  It was very funny and touching and beautiful!  I loved it the most!

After the reunion, Jeremy caught a ride back to Utah with some of my relatives, then my parents and I set out to drive back up to their house in Canada.  They took the boys in their car, and I had the girls and we caravanned up!  We got up at 4:30 since it was over 13 hours of driving and we obviously made some stops too!  I was most nervous for this part of the trip, but it went well too.  It was the first time I've driven that long with me as the driver!  But my mom came in my car and took a turn driving so that was a huge help!  And.. we made it!!!  So happy!  And Jeremy made it home also so good day all around!

We promptly took control of the entire basement and settled in to our 3 weeks in Canada!!

Brenna and I came out of getting dressed and we were exactly opposite!  We both thought it was so funny so we took some pics!

The kids had lots of baths in Canada which they loved!  We almost always shower at home but now they're asking for baths all the time because they had so much fun!  Sadie is so good in the bath too!  She would lay back and float and not be at all concerned!

These are my goofballs... and I seriously love this picture of them!  They thought it was so fun to have their towels wrapped around them!

These two are in heaven with strawberries for breakfast!

Grandma's dress up bin is always something the kids look forward to!  They dug in right away!

"muscles"

The kids discovered that they are pretty good at hula hooping... but maybe not quite as good as grandma!

So the first week we were there the weather was cooler and rainy, and PERFECT!!  It made it tough to do some of the outdoor things we had planned, but such a nice change, and we loved putting pants and sweaters on!  We decided to brave the forecast one day and head to the zoo even though it was calling for rain!  It was a good choice because it started raining on our drive home, perfect timing!  The cousins wore their matching Canada shirts also, which was cute! 

In hindsight the wagon was a mistake, but Sadie liked riding in it!

The hippo was quite active which made me happy!  Favorite zoo animal!

We got to go to the McKenzie Ward's annual stampede lake party again, which we've hit a few times over the years.  There was a ward member there who is a professional face painter!  And she did all the kids for free!  She did an amazing job, and the girls looked so pretty!  Brenna was a cat and Sadie got some quick flowers!

Brenna was very VERY sad that she had to shower that night and wash it off, so we took a lot of pictures to document it! 

Our anniversary was on the 14th and it was our 10 year anniversary!  We had planned to try and get away on a cruise or something just the two of us, but after Disneyland and our Canada trip we put that on hold for now, and we actually were not together at all for our anniversary :(.  But Jeremy was a sweetheart and sent some roses!  I was very surprised and it was so sweet!

This is the "forest" out in front of my parents house.  The kids thought it was so fun to hide in there!

Sadie tries to jump in bed with whoever she can at bedtime to avoid getting in the crib!  It makes for some cute cuddle time for her siblings and her!

Sadie did up the buckles on Joni's car seat anytime it was out!  Here she is trying to buckle a baby up!

Owen's turn!

Another thing on our list was Calaway Park which we hit up the next week when it was very nice weather!  The kids couldn't get enough of the rides and we had so much fun!  

After the weather warmed up, we spent a few days at the McKenzie Lake, which was like a dream come true!  The first day we went we thought we'd go for like two hours then come home for naps... it was like 4 hours before the kids even came over to ask me for food!  They were SO happy catching minnows in the shallow water, playing in the sand, on the park, and rolling down the hill.  We ended up staying for over 6 hours and it was glorious!  Until the end when Owen got his leg stuck in the bars on the playground, and we could. not. get it out!  Finally right before the lake rescuers got to us to help, a nice lady suggested liquid sunscreen as a lubricant and we finally got it out!  It was sad to see him so scared/in pain!  Maybe he learned not to climb, but I doubt it!

Joni was so happy!

We also got to go to Lethbridge for a few days and spend some time with my Grandma Peterson, and hit up a Smith family reunion!  Also we were fortunate enough to attend a bridal shower for my sweet cousin Alex, and spend some time with my Bennett cousins who I love to pieces!  

Staying at my Grandma's house was so nice, and we had cousins too so everyone was happy!  Sadie was in heaven any time she could get her hands on Joni... but it didn't usually last long before intervention was necessary!  haha

We watched some of the movies I used to always watch at Grandma's house, and had another bath in her infamous Jacuzzi tub that we all love to bath in! 

more races!  I love it!

Jeremy got here the Saturday of the reunion, so we were reunited and that was very nice!

Also I have to add in, since there's no photo, that I won the race for 18-30 year old girls!  haha nobody was more surprised than me, but I had my sister on my tail so I had some extra motivation!  And I refused a rematch incase it was a fluke!  Haha sorry Jess!  Maybe next time!
The reunion was awesome with lunch and races at the park, some time at the splash pad, then dinner and a program at the church.  Just wonderful!  And a nice bonus is that my cousin Kristen made it at the last minute and I didn't think I'd get to see her, so that was extra special! I loved catching up with all my cousins who were there!

We also had the whole family over to celebrate Sadie's birthday the Sunday before we left, and it makes me so happy to be with them!  We of coarse were missing Karli, it's not all the time that we get to all be together, but I take what I can get!

Sadie loved Paisley so much!  She asked to hold her.... haha 

All the Smith cousins!  For a couple more months!

Brenna's in heaven!

Grandma and Grandpa got Sadie this doll which is so cute and she is still carrying all around!

We took one day that last week to go to Drumheller as a family.  We hiked around in the hoodoos a bit, then crossed the suspension bridge (yikes!!) and then the dinosaur museum!  

world's largest dinosaur!

  I had more dinosaur museum pictures, but I guess they didn't load on!  Anyway, it was fun, but Sadie was very tired and grumpy and it made it a bit more stressful that we would have liked!  But we had a lot of fun with the whole day and tired them out for the drive home!

 I guess all the pictures are on Jeremy's phone from the last night, but the last night we were there my dad got home from work early (which I really appreciated since I know it's a crazy time for him at work) and Devin and Whitney came and Jessica, and we all went to the lake again.  We had a bbq dinner and let the kids play.  Jeremy had taken them fishing before and they went again that night and actually caught 5 fish!  They were only allowed to keep three, but they took them home, got em all ready and brought them back so that we could eat them!  Sorta neat!  The adults stayed up late playing games and hanging out one last night!

We started our drive Friday morning, and we just wanted to get to Pocatello Idaho.  It was a long day, but we made it!  And I was so SOO happy to get to stay with and catch up with a dear friend of mine who I still miss all the time!  Evelyn and her family moved into our ward in Glendale and we were fast friends.  She is one of those people who right away felt like we were meant to be friends and we are soul sisters!  haha, but really, it was incredible to catch up.  I am so grateful they let us stay even on such a crazy weekend!  Their daughter was getting baptized bright and early the next day but we crashed at their house and stayed up late catching up.  It wasn't long enough, but I'm grateful for anything!  Thanks again Evelyn, and I miss you!!!

These girls were toddlers when they moved away from us, now here they are all grown up!  Cute girls!

We were also very lucky to make a small detour to have lunch at a park with one of Jeremy's closest high school friends!  We haven't seen him since our wedding 10 years ago, and I had never met his wife.  They have 5 kids and I'm sure we could be fun friends if we lived closer!

Mason had a little mishap on the merry-go-round at the park and flew off and scraped his face on the rocks.  It didn't really hurt him that bad, and he couldn't see the blood so he didn't cry, but it scabbed up pretty mad over the next few days and everyone was asking him what happened to his face!  I told him to make up a crazy story but he just told the truth!

We got back in the car around 3PM with a long way to go still!  We were hoping to make it to Vegas, which was still 8 hrs away!  We ended up getting there, and then we couldn't find a single hotel that had ANY rooms!  It was seriously insane.  We called 50 places or something and nobody had a spot!  We didn't know what to do because it was so late already!!  We ended up deciding to drive to Kingman, another 1.5-2 hrs and then get a hotel.  The craziest thing was when we got close I started calling and the whole stinkin town was SOLD OUT of hotels!  Some softball tournament!  We couldn't drive any further since it was already 1 AM and we were struggling, and we found the only hotel in the town with a room and it was because it was also the most expensive!  It was a hard pill to swallow, but we paid, and we slept!  The only redeeming factor is that it was a very nice hotel, and the breakfast in the morning was very good!

We got up and drove the 2.5 hrs home!  The kids were extra whiny this day even though it was the shortest drive.. but I finally convinced Brenna to do a puzzle and after she cried and cried because she didn't know where to start, she was a rockstar at it and finished!

And we made it home at 12:30, and we went to our ward at 2!  Then we went straight to bed!!

We had such an amazing trip!  We did so many other things too, we saw finding Dory and the Secret Life of Pets with the kids, and we had a girls night and saw Central Intelligence and we got to see Devin and Whitney's new house which we are so excited for them!  It's so beautiful and so are they and we got to have an adult game night at their place one night while mom babysat too which was awesome!  We had a girls lunch and Jeremy I had a date night too.  We got to see Jessica almost every single day and watch the kids become close and we had a few Bachelor nights too.  I'm probably missing some things, but it was very hard for me to leave this time.  I would love to live near all my siblings and have our kids play and get to hang out all the time!  Being near my parents would be wonderful, and fun too...And sometimes going back to real life is hard!  But of coarse now that we're back and schedules are getting organized life is good.  But I do miss everyone!  Can't wait till next time we get to see each other!