3 months later...

So far this has been an amazing summer. At the very end of April our annual family pass to the Tracy Aviary and Ogden Dinosaur Park expired. Joel had the day off and we had both of the boys so we took them up there for a farewell visit. While we were there we met a family with twins and after talking for a moment found out it was their 2nd set of twins! They had 7 year old boy/girl twins and 1 year old boys. :D That is always fun.

These kids had a great time walking around and the twins got to swing on the swings. (It was their favorite thing to do at that time.) We had a Burger King picnic and took a bunch of pictures. Here are just a few.

In May, Joel and I took our first ever vacation together and went all the way to Park City! It was such a fun vacation. We started off by getting massages at the Massage Cabin where Emily works. The prices are so reasonable ($35 for an hour) that we couldn't pass it up, especially when Emily and Nicole had openings. Then Joel surprised me with a reservation at the Dakota, a resort at the Canyons. Our room was amazing! Seriously, one of the nicest rooms I'd ever stayed at. We went out for sushi at the Flying Sumo which was fabulous by Emily's recommendation! We stopped at the grocery store on the way back and picked up some hot chocolate (Stephen's peanut butter cup) and Ice cream (haagen daz java chip) and popcorn. We had the nicest little kitchenette in our room and we wanted to take advantage. And after we make a stop at the pool and hot tub we had yummy snacks.

The next morning we ate breakfast at the resort and that was delicious. The best eggs benedict I've ever had. The make their own english muffins (which tasted like pizza crust) and cure their own ham. Un-believable! After breakfast Joel let the front desk know our TV wasn't working properly and after sending someone to fix it, they decided they would just switch our rooms. Our new room was bigger than our first apartment. The kitchen was amazing! Two fireplaces, a washer and dryer, view of the pool, jetted tub, double headed shower...it was unreal.

That night we went to Cirque du Soleil's Alegria! at the E Center. An amazing show to say the least. We had excellent seats (which I found for super cheap on ksl.com). We were both blown away and I'm pretty sure it was the first time Joel didn't comment on how "he could do that". ;) That night Emily and Jennie & boys came up to Park City and we went to TenPin and danced the night away. It was a such a fun vacation. I loved every minute of it with my honey. The twins were with my step-mom and dad and the boys were with their other parents. 

In June I took the kids out to California for a final disney trip before the summer blocked us out. It was so fun. I love taking the kids there. It makes me as happy as it makes them. My mom even splurged one night and got us a hotel in Anaheim so we could do a double header at the park. I also went to San Diego and got to spend some much needed time seeing a few of my favorite people. None of whom I got pictures of but I did get to meet Gunner Von Pierce, Kim's adorable redhead baby boy. I got to spend some quality time with the Bramwells who also let us stay at their lovely home. And last but not least, the Neylan's and I got to meet their sweet baby Aubrey. Beautiful children all around. We had a great time! The day that I got back into town, I unpacked and repacked for a week in Snowbird with the Mitchell's. We swam and played lots of cards and ate delicious meals and had a great time. Again I didn't take many pictures but I did get this cute one of Isaac in a hand towel after he showered from swimming with Daddy and Landyn.

As soon as we got back from Snowbird Joel and I got ready for Trek. It was an incredible experience. Neither one of us went on trek when we were in high school so we were both very interested to go. In fact the last four wards that I have been in have participated in Trek while I was living in the ward boundaries and this is the first time that I have ever been asked to participate as well. I loved every minute of being a "ma". We had a great group of youth, two of which joined us the day before we left. (And boy were we lucky!) Everyone did an amazing job trekking and pulling/pushing the handcarts. It was an incredibly spiritual experience for everyone. The first picture is at Independence Rock in Wyoming. It was basically a message board for anyone traveling the Oregon and Mormon Trails. They told us a story of a woman whose husband had left before her to set up a home and she didn't even know if he'd survived until she got to I.R. and saw his name carved in the rock and she knew he'd at least made it that far. Unbelievable! We got to go to Martin's Cove which President Hinckley has been quoted as saying "it is the most sacred place on the Earth he has ever been to". We got to see the Sweet Water River where the 4 "Valley Boys" carried the people of the Martin Handcart company across the river all day long because they were too weak and weary to cross another river in that cold. We went to Sixth Crossing where the Willey handcart company was rescued. We went to Rock Creek where so many of the Willey handcart company were buried. All of these places were sacred. The last night we camped in Wyoming we had a HUGE dinner of  steak, and potatoes and corn and biscuits and a cherry cobbler dessert and as we left that line they handed us a tiny sack of flour and told us this was the adult ration of food for the saints in the Martin Handcart company before their rescue. I was sooo hungry and tears came to my eyes as I felt the pain they must have felt. And as a mother what I would feel not being able to feed my children. I'm so glad I got to go and I hope that one day we will be able to give our children this same experience.

Two days before I trek I went blonde. I'm having more fun and I love it. It's not Joel's favorite but I wanted to try something new. :D

Lately we have been spending everyday at the Lindon Pool. I love it. Basically I put the twins down for a nap around 11a and when they wake up we eat lunch and head to the pool. And even though I use spf 50-75 because I'm out in the sun for 1-3 hrs a day I have my very first tan. Of course my husband and Miles and Isaac all out tan me so I still look totally white.

This 4th of July we did Stadium of Fire with our good friends Ryan and Tiffany and Paige. We sat outside the stadium and watched the whole show. It was wonderful. The kids did fireworks the whole time while we sang along to Carrie Underwood, who is gorgeous by the way. Joel did announce a day or two before the show that she is the only blonde he's ever been attracted to. :D Thanks babe! I also put in my blue contacts which don't look so creepy with the blonde hair. Funny story about those contacts. When Miles saw my eyes he said he wanted blue eyes. I told him I could do it for him but I would have to touch his eye. He asked if it would hurt and I told him maybe just for a second but then it would be okay. While we were at the pool later that day he came up and asked me what color his eyes were and I said brown. His response, "ugh! I touched them so many times! I thought they would be blue by now." Then Sunday we went to church up in SLC with Joel's parents and siblings and then had a BBQ and swam. Yes I recycled my shirt cause I loved it so much.

This pretty much catches us up. Facebook has most of the rest of our happenings. We are looking forward to Grandma and Grandpa coming out to visit us from California! We are also anxious to meet our new niece/cousin in just 2 more weeks. How about the name Brielle? I saw that on fb the other day. And this week we are having fun visiting with our Grandy and Grumpy from Minnesota. We've been lucky cause Joel has been really busy with work but we are hoping to take a trip to MN to see the LaClaire family and meet little Mason (who I hear is about as big as the twins even though he's more than a year younger than them). Actually I weighed all of the kids today. Landyn 59 lbs...Miles 52 lbs...Isaac 21 lbs...Scarlett 19 lbs. Yes my 5 year olds are in the fifties and my 18 month olds are barely breaking 20 lbs.