summer, please don't go away

We have had a lot of fun the past month.  And I'm sad because summer is about over.  Most of my friends have kids who start school this week.  I can even feel the cool air coming.  Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the fall.  But summer....oh, summer.  How I will miss you!

 

James took Porter to work one day, so Paige and I had a girls day.  We rode the bus to the library.  We painted our finger nails and toe nails and made cookies :)

 

Blast from the past!  My childhood friend from PA, who I haven't seen in like 10 years was in Utah on vacation and came to Logan to see me.  We had a really fun day.

(her kids, my kids, the neighbors)

 

 

AND...we took our first family vacation to California.  We of course stopped in St George to see my parents.

 Then in California, we met up with James's parents and toured the USS Iowa.

That night we went to a Dodgers game - woo woo!  The kids did awesome.

 

And we spent a whole day on the beach! (I could have spent 10)

 We went to my sister, Rachelle's.  I wish we had stayed longer there.  Paige loved Dash.  Porter and his cousins played so well.  And Rachelle and I could have made yummy food and talked for days.  We even ran on the beach - we almost got swept away.  Not even joking.

 And on the way home we stopped in Vegas for a night.  The kids LOVED IT!

AND....my dear little Paige turned two.  I honestly never thought this day would come.  I had my first two babies extremely fast and she was SUCH a hard baby.  I remember thinking we'd never make it to bedtime, let alone her 2nd birthday.  But we did.  And she is the happiest, kindest, silliest, most tender hearted little girl you will ever meet.  She can win anyone's heart over.  On our trip, every 5 minutes, a new stranger would say, "Oh my goodness, she is beautiful!" and stop to talk to her.

 Happy birthday my little lovebug.  We're so lucky to have you.

 

And that's a wrap.  Sorry for the picture overload.  Hope you enjoyed it Mom and Dad ;)



a week in Idaho

(Check out my Dad jumping!)

I went to Idaho with my kids for a week.  James joined us at the end of the week for a reunion with my Mom's siblings. Gosh I love Idaho.  I had way too much fun.  Like our family picture?  We're still missing like 20 people.

i found it!

Yes!  I found the camera.  It was in the bag of adorable clothes I bought last week for my new baby.

Anyway, so last Thursday we drove to Park City to visit one of my very good friends from high school.  She lives in South Dakota and works as a scrub nurse - yup, just like Grey's Anatomy.  She coaches a softball team and they were in Park City for the week at a softball tournament.  Her parents were there too.  It was so fun to see them!

And my very talented husband just finished a mini crib for our baby girl.  I wanted to buy a bassinet, he thought they looked cheesy so he made one.  Aren't you glad he convinced me to let him make it?  It looks amazing!

Guys...just 21 more days.  Ha...insane!

the past week or so...

We've been all over the place this last week.  Two weekends ago we celebrated two birthdays.  I was kind of worried that it would be a little overwhelming or hard or something to have two birthdays back to back.  Totally not.  It was way too much fun.  We had a full weekend of partying.

On Saturday we were all up by 7 and then out the door for a walk at 8.  We planned on walking to the little zoo around the corner.  It wasn't open yet...but in the park next to the zoo they were setting up a March of Dimes walk.  So we donated a few dollars, had a delicious breakfast and walked.  On our walk we past the fairgrounds where they were having a free dog show.  So we slipped away from the walk and watched dogs run around...hilarious.

Later that day we walked back to the zoo.

  Sunday James's parents drove up after church for a birthday party for James and Porter.  It was great!  We sang to each one of my cute boys and ate cake...lots of cake.  I made Porter's cake from scratch which he happily smashed into.  And I made James's German chocolate cake from scratch - except I'm realizing I'm horrible with presentation!  James's cake was freaking delicious but looked more like a big pile of slop :)

The blanket I made for Porter

Last week James started his summer internship with Boeing - woo woo! I know, he's awesome, right? So we've been staying in Draper. A little shout out to all of my friends close by - I'm probably going to be here for a big part of the summer, so call me!

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Hatch to continue working on the Eldridge family cabin. It is looking so good! Porter and I spent most of our weekend in our motel room or running around the grass next to the motel. But we still had a good time.

 AND...today is June 1st...I'm 24!

do you want to come too?

Last Saturday my sister Stephanie called me:

"Tiff, what are you doing next week?"

"Um, same thing I always do.  Walks, naps, playing, eating and some more eating.  Why?"

"I need a vacation.  I want to go to St. George (where my parents and brother live) for the week.  Wanna come?"

"Oh my gosh, yes!"

Sunday night I packed Porter and I up and drove to my sister's.  The next morning we drove to St. George.  Luckily the drive there with five children wasn't so bad. (the ride home was a little harder)

Every day this week we woke up, took our time getting ready, packed yummy snacks and then played at a pool or the splash park.  We came home around 3, put our babies down for naps, laid out more, ate more food, had dinner, and then did something fun each night.  We went to the arcade, the park, played by the river, and roasted marshmallows another.  We made cookies and Boston Cream pie, ate ice cream sandwiches, and had a barbecue.  I didn't want to come home...can you see why?

Anyway, it was the best week ever and my intentions to one day live in a place where it is warm the majority of the year have been renewed and INTENSIFIED!  But the trees are FINALLY budding in Logan, so I think I can handle it now.