Family Reunion

Last weekend my whole family came to visit us in St. George for our annual family reunion. Addie was so excited that ALL of her cousins were coming to her house to play and that she could visit them in a hotel. The theme was medieval and the first night we met at a park to decorate shields and have a sword fight. Addie loved fighting all of her cousins.On Friday we went to Sand Hollow Resevoir to enjoy sand, water, good food, and some boating. Addie was a bit afraid of the boat after riding on the tube with Andrew. I was totally bummed not to get to ride on the tube, but enjoyed a few boat rides. We had fun playing in the sand and Andrew even volunteered to be buried in the sand by the kids.

On Saturday my Dad set up a challenge of sorts where each family went around St. George with clues and had to find answers to questions about the history of St. George. We had a good time and learned a lot. We had a picnic in the park for lunch. After swimming and some naps we met up for the kids to do a treasure hunt and search for the Holy Grail. They had a visit from King Arthur, which Addie was unsure of, but she did enjoy her treasure at the end. We had a very fun time and we were all sad when it ended, but are glad that everyone could make it.

SLC Trip

A couple of weekends ago Addie and I went took a spur of the moment trip to SLC to visit family. We had so much fun and loved seeing everyone, even though it rained almost the whole time! Addie loves to be with her cousins and constantly asks where they are and what they are doing so it was good to spend time with them.

On Saturday Addie went to Kangaroo Zoo with two of her cousins, Tess and Kate. They were so nice to play in all the bounce houses and go down the really steep fast slides with her. Addie had the time of her life and wasn't afraid to try anything.

On Sunday we had a family dinner at my sister's house. Addie loved jumping on the trampoline and running around the yard with her cousins.

On Monday we played inside a lot, because of the rain. Addie was so tuckered out by the end of the day she fell asleep while watching a movie with her cousins.

An Adventure

We took Karma's (Andrew's sister) boys camping on Friday night to Zion's National Park. Addie was so excited all day and kept asking when we would go camping. Then once we were camping she kept asking when we were going camping, it was pretty funny. The weather said there was a 20 percent chance of rain and usually that means it's not going to rain here. I was dead wrong. As soon as we arrived to our campsite it started to thunder. We hurried and starting setting up the tents. We didn't get very far before it starting raining and it didn't let up for a few hours. We were able to get the boys' tent up with only minor leakage. Our tent got a little wet inside but we managed to dry it off with a towel. No one had a jacket or rain gear except an umbrella. We ended up buying Addie a sweatshirt, luckily I threw in a pair of pants for her at the last minute. After the rain stopped we enjoyed a fire to warm and dry ourselves and some s'mores.

On Saturday we hung out around our campsite for a bit and threw all the wet, muddy stuff in garbage bags to clean up at home. Addie was so excited to ride the "bus" or shuttle so we headed off to ride the bus to a short hike. We ended up at the river walk where we all had fun skipping rocks into the river. We then went back and had a picnic before heading home to clean up the dirty mess. Addie was especially tuckered out by all the fun she had camping.

Cookie Fiasco

The other day I had an urge to make chocolate chip cookies, I'm not sure why since it only makes our house hotter to turn on the oven, but whatever. I enlisted Addie's help and she had fun helping me dump the ingredients into the bowl. We mixed all the liquid and sugar items together without incident. We then added the flour and that's where it all went downhill. Addie wanted to start the mixer and so I let her, but I had forgotten to raise the bowl and flour went flying. I quickly stopped the mixer and raised the bowl thinking we were fine. Addie turned on the mixer again, but to speed 10! We were not fine, flour went flying again and it was everywhere. It sprayed all over Addie and she was so distraught wondering what had happened and why she had flour on her face and arms. She kept saying "sorry mama", but I had to tell her it wasn't her fault and she said "not my fault?" in a very surprised voice. We finally finished making the cookies and they turned out pretty good and Addie enjoyed taking a bath after to remove all the flour.

Birthday Fun

This past week was my birthday and Andrew surprised me with an overnight trip to Las Vegas. After I got home from work on Monday he said pack your bags we are going to Vegas baby. Addie was so excited to go to the hotel, it's her favorite part. She loves to play on the bed and talk on the phone. We went to Raising Caine's for dinner, such good chicken fingers and fries. Then we went swimming and just hung out in the hotel room and watched Addie run laps until 11:00 pm.On my actual birthday we woke up and went to 7-11 for a Slurpee run, yum. Then we went swimming again before we had to check-out. We did not want to leave, but Cheesecake Factory was calling our names for lunch which is where we headed next before driving home. Addie wasn't super excited to be there, she was ready for a nap. Once we got home we had some yummy cake and ice cream with our friends. After Andrew surprised me again and took me to see "Wolverine", it was so good. I had such a fun birthday and am grateful for Andrew and all his wonderful planning skills!

Grandma J. Visits

Last week Andrew's Mom came to visit for a few days. Addie enjoyed spending time with her Grandma and Grandma's dog, Diva. We went to the splash park one night and Addie had fun running through the water with Grandma. We also did some shopping and went out to lunch one day, but we didn't take any pictures. It was fun to have Grandma J. visit!

Park Time

Last weekend we went over to the playground area at an elementary school with Addie's friends, Morgan and Marly. Addie had so much fun going down the slide and swinging on the swings. At the end of the night Addie did not want to go home, luckily Andrew was able to entice her with a ride home on his back on his bike, it was pretty funny.