Friday, July 29, 2011

A Fun Week Means a lot of Pictures

Juls and I decided to brave a long road trip to Utah. Our husbands couldn't come. My parents had a full car with nieces, nephews and Chad, so we drove Julie's car (with Ada and Luke in the back). Was it a long drive? Yes! Were there times we wondered what the "H" we were doing? Yes! Did our kids tease, yell and touch each other? You betcha! But, overall it really was a fun week. Looking past the long car rides, late nights, multiple meltdowns, I would say it was a pleasant trip. Steve and Lisa were so kind to host a nice dinner for us. Lisa had just returned from Ohio that morning, but who doesn't want to add 10 more bodies to their home of 5?? They did, of course! My brother Steve is a great Dad and always getting down in the dirt to play with the kids. I think they were trying to build a fire in this one!


Who doesn't love to clean up a kid and their ice cream mess??



Nothing like melted ice cream all over the hands, face and dress






Silly faces! Ada was more interested in her ice cream then humoring us with a silly face








Uncle Chad and all of the nieces and nephews (minus two...and a half). He is the best Uncle









Temple Square. What a fun experience to take these crazy kids to such a special place. I am kicking myself right now, remembering that we didn't take them to see the Christ Statue (Christus?). They did love running around and touching as much water as possible.







Awww...at one time or another all of us were roommies (Kathy and Cam never were actual roommates, just at heart). I love these girls. We really have been through so much together. On a side note, hopefully Kathy has baby girl #2 soon! I hate those last days of waiting!!











Sisters, sisters! Missed you Jenna and Amy!!

I told Lisa to stand in the middle, but she wouldn't cooperate.









Absolutely love that these kids are holding hands. Ada can't get enough of the hand holding. Melts my heart when she actually wants to hold mine!!















I guess I should actually get in a picture with Ada.













The day was hot and the kids needed to get wet, so what better place to get wet then the Reflection Pond??














Ada and her new besty, MaryKate. These girls are going to be best friends one day!



















There is a really cute Museum at Temple Square and it has an area that is great for kids. This particular place, the kids could dress up as little Mexican Dancers and they displayed a "How to Dance" video. It was really cute. Ada surprisingly did not dance, she just watched the lady on the screen
















Lehi Pool. What an awesome place. We made the mistake of going a couple hrs early (swim lessons were still in session) so we got to go to my most favorite place to eat while we waited....KNEADERS! It was so good and I stuffed my face. Too bad it was so chaotic with all of the kids and I couldn't indulge as much as I wanted to. Anyway, once we ate, we headed back to the pool. It is indoor/outdoor and it has a lazy river, splash zone, waterslide, water equipment, etc. Ada loved it and only wanted to have Clark or Grandpa hold her. She sobbed when I had her come with me.






Notice how she is crying in this picture? It is because I am holding her and not her older cousin!









Idaho. I have not been since 2008. Juls stayed with her inlaws and I got to stay with my cousin, Anna! We had a girls night out to Olive Garden and stayed way past closing. We laughed so hard at times I almost peed my pants. It felt so good to be with these girls.







These are Anna's little girls. They spent that morning outside in the cold, cold kiddie pool, so we warmed them up in the tub. They three of them had great times together!










Every year my aunt Paula hosts a family party ( I think it is during the 24th of July, but I could be wrong). What I remember from those days are homemade root beer, playing games with the cousins and great food. This year did not disappoint. Ada had a blast running around in their big back yard and I had a great time visiting with family






















The Lovell Reunion. I have posted about this here.

Such a fun place that I don't get to go as often as I would like. It's a big ranch house with so many fun things to do. Ada and Saige enjoyed getting to know each other better.











My brother Steve got all of his kids to go down the massive slides and even got them standing up (while holding them a little) while going down the water slide. That includes his almost 2 year old daughter. Ada decided that she was too scared to go down the waterslide. I think if I would have been the one taking her, she would have done it, but Steve was too much for her to handle. Love ya Steve!






















Steve with the girlies. Oh and Ada is wet because she was hanging out at the bottom of the slide in the pool area.



















I finally convinced Ada to go down the 55foot slide with me. After the long walk up the steps (remember I am prego, so I was tired. The only way I was going to go back down was by sliding), she started whimpering at the top of the slide. I told her that it would be just fine and she said, "Not too bad, not too bad," In a very shaky voice. We sat on a damp towel so that made us go pretty slow. I was happy we didn't have to hit the ground running at the bottom because I wasn't sure how the extra weight in my arms (Ada) and belly would handle it.



















The car ride home was VERY long. Juls and I were ready to pull our hair out and start swearing after a couple of hours. Once we hit Wells, NV, we had had about enough. We got them some suckers and that kept the two kiddos quiet for a bit. What really got the spark back for us is when Ada started talking about the Suckers. Mind you, she has a really hard time with the "S" sound and it sounds more like "F" sounds. So every time she talked about wanting more suckers or Lukies suckers, we broke down giggling. Immature I know, but it helped break up the monotony of driving. We got home around 8 last Sunday. We had a great time but it felt so good to get back. Loved seeing some of my very closest friends and family! Hopefully we will see you again soon!






































































5 comments:

Amy Lovell said...

I'm bummed we missed out on all of the fun. Blast darn work/school getting in the way.

Emily said...

That looks like such a fun trip! I want to hang out with you guys, you're so much fun.

JonandLo said...

missed you by 2 weeks..sniff sniff

J Fo said...

Looks like a fun (exhausting) trip! Sorry we couldn't make it up there to see you guys. We are trying to get Benicia in a few weeks though. :) We may plan a day in Sacramento, too.

Jen said...

SO much fun!!!! You went to the Lehi pool and didn't TELL me? LOL We are seven minutes away. I know this because I know when exactly we need to leave for swim class there =D. Loved seeing you guys!