It's a Long One!

We had a great trip to Utah. It was a little crazy with all of the wedding preparations but it still went great. Saturday night we went over to Phil and Micaela's house and chatted with them until 1:00 in the morning. When we got home Gabby was still awake. It took her several nights for her to get used to sleeping in the basement with Corbin, but that's another story. On Monday we went to lunch at Hires and that night Janet took Scott and I to The Avengers. Scott was very excited. It was good. Earlier that day I bought a new swimming suit at Lime Ricki. I was so excited to discover they had a store only a few miles away from my in laws house. It makes such a difference to try swimming suits on, plus I got one on clearance so it was a win win. I still somehow managed to get lost on the way home. I am super special that way.

On Tuesday all the girls went and got pedicures and lunch. It was fun. I'm so glad Carole could get married so that I could get a pedicure. Ha. Later that day I decided to try to last minute get my girls different flower girl dresses and so the last minute hunt began. I went to the outlet malls in Park City and walked the whole thing and checked out every kid store and found NOTHING. Finally at the last store on the loop I found a yellow skirt for Piper and then went to almost every store again trying to find something to go with it. I decided to get the yellow dress at Macy's for Gabby that I had seen earlier in the day. I found adorable silver shoes for Gabby for $5 and they didn't fit. I was so sad. I actually drove all the way to Park City again in between the wedding luncheon and the reception because I was certain they had a bigger size. They didn't! Duh I should have called first. All was not lost because I was able to return the shoes and buy Gabby some silver sandals that I am certain she would like better anyway. That night we met up at Nielsens with my friend Jessica and her husband Randy. We had a fun talk with them.

On Wednesday we dropped off Corbin and Gabby at the Webbs. Bless Micaela for watching our children during the wedding ceremony and luncheon. I am quite certain I may have lost my mind having them at temple square for 6 hours. Scott's sister Carole married Gordon Hansen in the Salt Lake temple. I am so happy for them. Afterwards they had a wonderful luncheon at the Joseph Smith building. Mandy made a great video and Janet made a great slide show as well. As I said after that I booked it to Park City on my ridiculous quest while our girls took a quick nap. As soon as I got home we tried to get ready as quickly as possible but we were still late. We were supposed to be at the golf course in Orem by 5:30. We didn't get there until 6:15. Luckily everyone else was running a little late too so we still made it for pictures. I was freaking out on the way down. We were in the worst traffic and I was feeling terrible because we didn't do anything to help with the wedding and all we needed to do was be there for pictures and we weren't going to make it! Stress.  I did the same thing at my friend Jenny's wedding too. Duh, don't be late. The reception was beautiful. Scott and I just wrangled our kids the best we could for four hours. I kept trying to make sure that 1 they didn't get lost, 2 they didn't destroy anything, 3 there were no public melt downs. We did all right.

On Thursday Janet took me and the kids to the Murray city pool. That pool may have ruined all public pools for me forever. The water was warm. It was so nice. Is it just me or are swimming pools always freezing? I hate that. It doesn't matter if it's 100 degrees I still think swimming pools need to be heated. Anyway Corbin and Gabby both loved going down the water slide. The best part was that is was cold standing and waiting for your turn but as soon as you sat down in the water it was like wonderful bath water. I was so happy. After that it was back to Hires and then home again home again.

On Friday Gabby decided she wanted to use her potty chair and she did all morning long. She went potty and poops several times. It was going great until she rubbed her bum raw from going so many times. Her skin is incredibly sensitive. She wasn't too excited about it after that. I just put the diaper back on and later in the day she went a few more times. I'm still not quite ready to fully train her because it is the worst! Ha. We are going to St. George in 2 weeks and I don't want to deal with her being newly potty trained on such a long trip. So my plan for now is to let her continue to practice if she feels the need but wait and see how things are looking after our big trip. That night Scott took Corbin on a fathers and sons camp out. They had a lot of fun acting out their video games. They are both big dorks.

Scott Insert: To be specific, Corbin and I were playing Demon's Souls together after I found a hard, curved stick I could turn into an Uchigatana (an unusually long samurai sword) while Corbin used a big branch with a bunch of smaller branches poking off of it as his "spike club" (his favorite weapon from the game because it's huge and knocks even the most fearsome enemies around like rag dolls).  There was nothing going on around camp so I decided we should do something I've loved doing since I was about Corbin's age (and it turns out I still do): Smash deadwood and weeds with sticks we pretend are swords.  I used to do this for hours with my first best friend Garrett Blomquist in the empty lot next to his house that was full of delightfully large Scotch thistle weeds.  We didn't have anything quite so entertaining to smash, but there were a bunch of Russian olive trees with dead branches for us to smash.  At one point Corbin failed in his blade discipline and smacked me in the back of the leg.  I pretended to be wounded and limped along and Corbin, completely on his own and drawing from the healing mechanic of the game, picked some grass and ran to me exclaiming, "Daddy, eat this!  It will heal you!"  It was so funny and cute.  He even played dead once (pictured below) and asked me to get him some grass so he could get better.  We were having so much fun that it wasn't long before about five other kids had joined us.  We had so much fun that I actually ordered a plastic practice Samurai sword from Cold Steel for us to use on future campouts or Saturday mornings.  Maybe we'll have to make some cardboard shields to go with them like I used to when I was little.  New project!

They actually came home and finished sleeping in the tent in our back yard, at least until the sprinklers came on and they were both freezing at around 4:30am and stumbled inside for relief. Gabby, Piper and I had our own fun times at home. I kind of want to make it a big deal for us when the boys leave so that they don't feel too left out and so it is something they can look forward to as well. We went and fed the ducks at De Meyer park and then we built a fort and watched Beauty and the Beast. Of course Gabby is 2 and her attention span was not long at all. After about 10 minutes she wasn't into it anymore anyway so I just put her to bed and watched my own show.

It's Fathers day. Happy Fathers Day to my own father who I happen to think is amazing! All of my siblings look up to my dad so much. Happy Fathers day to my father in law who is the best. I couldn't ask for a better father in law. And to my wonderful husband, my children are blessed to have such a great dad who wants to be the best for them. I'm making up some yummy grub today. Kudos to anyone who read this entire post. Peace!

Carole and Gordon. So cute!

Aunt Colie and Piper

Desperate times.

Don't you love the fabric?

Dance! My kids would not. I tried to get them to and Corbin would say "I don't love dance!"

Why yes that is me barefoot. Classy!

They had a pinata. So fun. Corbin enjoying his spoils.

They had floating lanterns. Beautiful!

Kids looking at the lanterns. I love that picture of Gabby. So cute.

Sparklers to send off the bride and groom on their get away golf cart.

After we got home we had to raid the raspberry patch.

Corbin fighting the trees at the father and sons camp out.

He died!

Tuckered out.

I can't get them together. I put these pictures in a frame next to each other and gave them to Scotty. Thank you Pinterest! This was hard because I am not good a taking pictures, and Scott is home most of the time. I did it. Woo.

UPDATE: Just a funny story: I took the kids to the park Monday morning to play.  A few weeks ago we had a conversation with the kids about their bodies and why girls and boys are different, etc.  At the park Gabby started trying to take her clothes off (as she has been doing lately) saying she wanted to be naked.  I told her that it was inappropriate to be naked in public.  Corbin then chimed in with, "Yeah Gabby, because someone might touch your penis!"  I called Scott to tell him and we both had a good laugh.