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!

Utah: Week Two

Sorry for the delay in blogging AGAIN.  We had some super awesome unexpected visitors this week so we were partying hard instead of blogging :)  Let's see if I can still remember what went on in Utah....

This is the first time I got sick on this trip (yes, there was ANOTHER time if you can believe it!). So I was down pretty much all day Sunday and Monday. Luckily Richard was still able to go with his family to the cabin all day Monday, riding four-wheelers, playing games, and just having fun playing with his family. 

Wednesday was July 4th and we started off the day early by decorating our stroller and letting the kids walk/ride in our little neighborhood parade.  Kaylee had a BLAST waving her flag and saying hi to all the people watching. 

We ended at the big neighborhood breakfast where they did a small program and I was able to see a bunch of my old ward members that I haven't seen for a very long time.  It was really fun to see everyone again!

We didn't do much else until about 4:30 when the rest of the family came over.  My mom had some super fun games planned and then we had a BBQ and ended the night with doing fireworks in the driveway. I thought this was a really cute picture of Kaylee conspiring with her cousins.

 

I can't even tell you how freaked out I was to have Kaylee hold a sparkler but Richard insisted she get the experience.  Let's just say I had my eyes turned away from them for the entire time and if it had gone on much longer I might have had a mini heart attack!

Thursday was Richard's 10 year high school reunion, which he was in charge of. Note to self- don't let any of my kids marry the class president!  It was a lot of work, especially trying to plan everything from Ohio.  But he had a lot of help and somehow they all pulled it off.  I was dreading going but I ended up having a lot of fun.  Probably because Richard has the best high school friends ever and they are awesome about talking to me too. We slept in Provo that night and the next night which was good because we saw more of Richard's family but also horrible because Kaylee was not sleeping.  She went to bed at 11 or 12 three nights in a row without taking a nap and as you can imagine was a complete ray of sunshine (not). But we still managed to have a lot of fun.  Friday we went to Seven Peaks.

Kaylee was even brave enough to go down one of the big slides with me, although I forgot to cover her face at the end and she got water straight up her nose.  Needless to say, she didn't want to ride with me again :)

Saturday we took family pictures which went about as well as it should with 31 people, most of which are under 11. 

After we made it through the craziness of pictures we had a BBQ/swimming party. Mostly the girls chatted and the boys swam and played with the kids, which was just fine by me!

We were lucky that Richard's sister, Laura, made the trip up from St George to see us and be there for the family parties. Now she just needs to come a little further and visit us in Ohio, right??  ;) We headed back up to Salt Lake after the party and luckily both kids passed out on the way home. We gave them one slightly relaxing day on Sunday and then started up all the family fun again!

Utah: Week One

These posts are all going to be VERY long because we packed in so many fun things! Our trip started off kind of slow. Which was actually good because it allowed the girls to adjust to the time change and I got all of my "errands" done with my mom.  And by errands I mean finding ways to spend lots of birthday money :)  And we walked down to my old elementary school to let Kaylee play on the playground a time or two. 

Two days after we arrived we headed up Salt Lake to check out the new City Creek center.  I thought everything was so beautiful and we really enjoyed walking around.  

Then we found the splash pad and big water fountain and we couldn't get Kaylee away from it. 

We finally gave up and just let her run through the water in her clothes.  

I haven't seen her THAT happy in a long time. And then Richard decided to join her in HIS clothes and both of them were having a blast.  

It was amazing to watch.  Nothing better than seeing a daddy and daughter enjoying each other, especially when it's MY daughter with her daddy. While there, we were also able to see the statues my uncle did at City Creek.  

He is amazing and I feel so cool that I know the guy who did this and a bunch of other amazing things around Salt Lake (like the mural on top of the Conference Center). That night we had dinner with my brother's family. Although you could hardly call it dinner.  It was more like stuffing ourselves with multiple courses of desserts. Ha ha.  First we had a waffle bar, with every kind of topping you can imagine from normal things like syrup and peanut butter to crazy things like jelly beans. It was fantastic!  And then for "dessert" we had bacon sundaes and chocolate covered bacon because they know how much Richard loves bacon. The bacon sundaes were nasty but I actually kind of liked the chocolate bacon. I wish I had taken pictures of it all. Wednesday we spent the day in Provo, just visiting everyone and catching up. Thursday we headed down to Taylorsville Dayzz to let Kaylee go on some of the rides.  Once again, I forgot my camera but she had a blast. She was so funny- she would be completely stone-faced and not crack a smile the whole time she was on the ride but as soon as she got off she would tell us how much fun she had and that she wanted to go again. The only exception was when she shared a little car with another girl.  She is such a social butterfly and they had a lot of fun together giggling and honking the horn. She loves being around people! Friday we were able to attend the temple TOGETHER, which rarely happens anymore. And Saturday we had dinner with our good friends and watched the Taylorsville Dayzz fireworks, which are the best fireworks in Utah in my opinion. Unfortunately that night I got pretty sick and missed my niece's blessing the next day which I was pretty bummed about.  Even though this first week we had a lot of down time, we still were able to go a lot of places and see just about everyone.  And in that down time, Kaylee had plenty of time to spend with Grandma and Grandpa. 

Helping Grandpa do the dishes

 Mowing the lawn with Grandma

 

And reading books to Grandma (and her dolls)

 

And now we're on to week two where the craziness REALLY begins!!

And we're back!

Phew- what a whirlwind month it has been.  TONS of fun packed into one month makes the time fly!  We are both super sad and really happy to be back home. I have a LOT of posts to catch up on but while I'm working on that I wanted to show off McKenna's new skills. In the month we were gone she learned to wave, clap, pull herself up to a sitting position and crawl/scoot. She also had four teeth pop through all at the SAME TIME right before we left.  As you can imagine, we didn't get much sleep that night :) I can't believe how much she learned- what a big girl!  And now I am terrified to leave her anywhere because she loves to pick up all of the little things Kaylee leaves around.  Oh the joys of having two kids!  But I love watching this adorable little wiggle-bum scoot across the floor.  She couldn't be any cuter!!!!

Oh the Excitement!

It's finally here- we are going home for ONE WHOLE MONTH starting tomorrow!  I can barely contain my excitement. One entire month of family and fun, what could be better? Get ready Utah, because HERE WE COME!!!!!