Unexpected Visitors of the Best Kind

One of the best parts about my sister living only 3 hours away from us? Last minute trips!  I literally called her Saturday night to see if we could work something out and she was here Sunday night. Love it!  Hopefully there will be many many more trips just like it.  Besides just giving each other some company and dealing with crazy kiddos we hit a few of our favorite spots:

the pet store

 the Bunny Fountains (AKA the best splash pad I've been to so far)

the waterfall

And an indoor playground on the one day the weather wasn't cooperating

I'm not going to lie, most of the time one of the kids looked like this

but overall they had a lot of cousin fun 

and most importantly Holly and I had good sister time.  The greatest surprise for me?  Madeline doesn't warm up to people very easily and for some reason she LOVED me. She would often come crying to me instead of her mom.  Love my adorable little niece!!  Now I just need to find a last minute week to drop in on them! Love having family within driving distance again- WAHOO!!!

Park Pics

One thing Ohio has plenty of is parks!  And we love taking advantage of them when it's not so hot. Normally I don't get great pictures at the park but we got some really good ones the last time we went so I had to share them.  

And Kenna laughing is the best.  You can get her laughing at just about anything, but she was really really excited and happy here, which was SO MUCH FUN! She had already been laughing at this same thing for 10 mins or so when we finally started filming so she was almost laughed out but still gave us a pretty good video!

I love park time with my girls!

Overtaken

When we moved in, our back patio was full of weeds and I figured it would probably stay that way for the duration of our stay since I am not really into gardening (or bugs) and know nothing about flowers, plants, weeds, gardens, etc. But that was when our weeds were still relatively small.  I actually screamed (maybe shrieked is more the right word?) when I opened my blinds the day we got home from Utah and saw how much they had grown.

I was used to our weeds being small-ish but they grew from both sides of the patio to form an actual arch of weeds! (Although the arch fell before I got a picture of it) It was a pretty scary sight so Richard and Kaylee decided to risk their lives and take on the green monster.  

After a long, hot fight, they finally came out on top.  

Look at those muscles!

And the back patio has never looked better.

Although, sadly it probably won't ever look any better than this for the reasons mentioned above :) Oh well, at least we sleep better at night knowing the green monster was put to rest!

Ohio State Fair

We decided to check out the Ohio State Fair this year but we definitely picked the wrong day to go- it was SO hot and humid.  I was dying.  I don't like being hot any time but I especially hate the humidity!  I was a little sad that they didn't have much for kids but we did find a few fun things to do.  We made a few crafts

 

 took a bunch of pictures in front of random things we saw

(this sculpture is made out of all butter! It was amazing)

and visited the petting zoo, in which Kaylee was too scared to actually pet most of the animals.  The pictures look red because we were inside a red tent. 

They had some really cool animals at this petting zoo including a zebra, although that was one of the few animals you couldn't pet. (Does that make sense to anyone??)

We also watched a piglet race, which was adorable.  Why are baby pigs so cute?  I don't get it either, but they are. And we walked around looking at a lot of really boring cows, horses, and sheep because that is what Kaylee wanted to do the most.

I love this picture.  If only she could r e a c h a little bit further!

It was pretty fun (except for the heat of course) but I think next year we'll look for a little more kid friendly way to spend our money.  As we were leaving we saw a few booths that were giving away free pulled pork and ribs for a cook-off they were having. So we filled up on red meat for lunch and left with our bellies full.  Can't ask for more than that! :)

Baby Waterfall

 We found a new favorite spot to visit in Columbus. To find this place you head down a long flight of stairs,

wind around the wooden walkway,

and walk through beautiful trees, rocks, and over the river

to get to a little waterfall which falls into a little pond where you can see teeny tiny fish swimming around. 

 Even though you are next to a main road, once you get on the walkway you can't hear a sound. It is completely enclosed by trees and is so peaceful.  It is kind of a random find and not anything super exciting to write home about but it is just an awesome place to go when you need to get out of the house and not spend any money.  We will definitely be back!  We were very happy to find this little haven where we can go to be in nature in the middle of the city :)

Utah: Week Four (and 1/2)

Alright-hopefully this is my last super long (boring) post for a while :) Our last week in Utah we tried to cram in everything we could and see everyone one last time. Monday we had lunch with a friend and dinner/ FHE with some other friends. Tuesday we went to Seven Peaks with my sister and her family, where I just realized I did not take ONE picture.  It was a blast though- I haven't been on any water slides in a long time because we usually just have to hang out at the kiddie pool.  Wednesday we headed up to Provo so we could hike Bridal Veil Falls with Richard's mom. It is so beautiful up there! 

The water was FREEZING cold but Kaylee didn't seem to mind and wanted to just wade in the water all day long. After we forced her to get out, we headed to American Fork to go to a splash pad with my sister's family. 

Thursday we went to the Aquarium in Sandy.  

Kaylee loves fish but I wasn't a huge fan of the Aquarium.  I think once you've watched one thing swimming around, everything else is pretty much the same thing!  I'd rather head to the zoo but Kaylee had a blast so that's all that matters.  That night we had girls night out and went to dinner at Zupa's, played a few games, and put together a fun package to mail to my only sister who couldn't be there.  Unfortunately that night I got sick for the second time on this trip and this time I was throwing up half the night. Not a fun way to spend your vacation!  So once again I was down all day Friday but Richard was able to go down to Provo to watch a baseball game and have boys night with his brothers. He stayed the night and then I met him in Provo the next day to spend one more day with his family.  We got ice cream (well, they did. I was still super queasy) with his Dad and fed the duckies. 

And then that night we had a big family BBQ. The next Monday I was STILL not feeling super great (and McKenna didn't sleep much) so I stayed home while Richard took Kaylee to the Tracy Aviary to meet some of his family there. 

That night we went to The Dark Knight Rises with my brother, brother-in-law and brother's brother-in-law.  Ha ha ha.  It was pretty fun to go to a guy movie with a bunch of guys! And the movie was AMAZING so that helped. Tuesday we planned to have a picnic in the park with my sister but we got rained out so instead we had a picnic in the garage while the kids played in the rain. Tuesday night we had a final BBQ with my family. We made pioneer butter in honor of the 24th, ate some delicious food, and said goodbye to everyone.  

Wednesday morning we headed back to Ohio after a very fun, exhausting month.  

It was very bittersweet to leave.  I was really excited to get back home and get back into our routine but it was so fun to be with family and always have something fun to do and someone to do it with!  We will never have another break that long so we definitely took advantage of our time off and did just about everything we wanted to do in Utah.  Thanks for making our trip so fun everyone!

Utah: Week Three

Monday we continued the fun with Laura (and some of the other family members) by going to Trafalga in Lehi. My Mom was awesome enough to get us the Pass of all Passes for the month we were here (thanks again Mom!). Kaylee had a blast on all the rides but I think she was still tired from our busy weekend and Kenna wouldn't sleep at Trafalga so we didn't stay too long. However we did get to go on just about everything and Kaylee loved it all.

That afternoon we also had a fun mess to clean up when I tried locking Kaylee in her room in an attempt to get her to take a nap and she paid me back by spreading her poop all over.  

That's what I get for thinking I'm in charge!

The next day we headed up to Hogle Zoo. While it definitely doesn't measure up to the Columbus Zoo we still had a blast. And at least Hogle Zoo has Kaylee's favorite animal- the giraffes, which is one of the few animals that Columbus doesn't have.  Of course. 

I also loved the new polar bear area and we got a really good show when the polar bear decided to jump in and out of the water several times right in front of us.  It was really cute.

Thursday my sister and I splurged and got pedicures. 

Then that night we headed to the beach they built in Pleasant Grove. It was so weird to be in Utah and be able to play in the sand!  

"Stick 'em up Daddy!"

The water is pretty cold but other than that we loved it. Even Kenna got to dip her toes in for a few minutes. 

Friday we made our annual trip to Liberty Park with my Grandma. They have made that such a fun park for kids and we always have to drag them away from the water.

That night it started raining and the four of us headed out to dance in the rain. I love watching the rain and playing in it with my two girls is even better. We danced,

pretended we were airplanes,

and played games like Red Light Green Light (which consists of Kaylee mostly yelling at us to stop.  Ha ha).  Little moments like these are the best part of having a family!!! 

Saturday morning we went to Bountiful so my sister-in-law could take our pictures at her uncle's incredibly nice house. I will do another post with those pictures when I get the edited ones back.

Saturday night we surprised my Dad with a cowboy themed 60th birthday party. My awesome sister came up with the idea to make a movie of us quoting 60 Dad-isms that we have heard from him over and over again throughout our life. It was really fun to make and even more fun to watch. Holly did an amazing job on her first ever video. We also had a chuck wagon dinner,

a shoot out with nerf guns

a hula hoop contest, and listened to a recording of my late Grandpa DuVall reading cowboy poetry. My sister had also decorated the basement with a jail and saloon made out of cardboard boxes, tumbleweeds, barb wire, and wanted posters with my Dad's pictures of them from all different times of his life. Every poster was different and super creative.  Why am I the only sister that didn't get those creative genes?? It was a great party and I hope my Dad had as much fun as we did.  Happy Birthday Dad!