on our way to FLORIDA!!

Monday July 18 we left for sunny Florida. The boys all did so well! We had to wake up at 3am to get ready to leave to the airport. So I'm sure the fact they were so tired helped, a lot.

The twins were lap riders, but thankfully there was one extra seat on the plane and Tate got it. There were 21 of us on the flight. 15 total kids ranging 16-0. 10 of those kids were 7 and under. Needless to say we went straight to the back of the plane, but all the kids were great.

The boys getting ready to take off.

Trey

Tate

Tate and Trey were so excited to fly like Buzz. As we took off they got all the kids to say "to infinity and beyond" and put their hands up in the air like they were flying. It was awesome.  Sadly there is a rule on the plane that you can only have 4 people per row. So Randy had to sit on the row across from us with one of the kids. That was the only downfall of our flight.

This was the view from my window

And here are the twinners sleeping. It made the flight quiet relaxing to have them sleep the last 2 hours.

In case you're wondering what that is on their chest, it's a leash. Yes. I am that parent now. If they wouldn't run away I wouldn't have to leash them. So I figure lost kids is worse than kids being treated like dogs.

Denver in July

We left Randy's Grandparents Monday July 11 for Denver. This portion of the trip was not quiet exciting. I worked Monday thru Saturday at the Coy's Equipped warehouse. They moved from Provo to Denver in January 2010. Seeing as how I do all the books for the company I found it weird that I had never even been there.

We stayed with Randy's sister Mandy. The kids were so excited to be with her kids all the time. Randy took the boy's out to do fun things everyday. This is where the sad part of our trip comes in. Two weeks after we arrived in Denver we were at a beach in Tampa. There we learned that Randy's phone and sea water don't mix well. So we are missing A LOT of pictures from our trip.

Being in Denver for a week gave us a chance to go eat at all of our favorite places and Randy a chance to see some friends from high school. 

However that Tuesday morning my car was hit while parked outside Mandy's house.

My poor car. It had never been in an accident. Thankfully the guy who hit us was nice and made sure we got everything taken care of in a timely manner.

I'm Back!

I took a brief sabbatical from my blog. We were gone almost the whole month of July. Missing a month made me about four months behind. So finally I feel like my life is back in enough order to blog again. Also, Trevor is now stationed in Washington and he has been bothering me for a while to keep him updated here. So, Trevor, this is for you!

Like I mentioned, we were gone for 3 1/2 weeks in July. We had a crazy summer, so I'll give some brief recaps on what has been going on since I last left off.

First on our crazy vacation we went to Pueblo, CO to visit Randy's Grandparents and his Uncle Steve and his family. We left on Friday, July 8 and stayed until Monday. We all had so much fun!

 The boys helped Grandpa Mel get zucchini's out of his garden

One of the highlights was when Grandpa took the boys around on the lawn mower.

Tate & Grandpa

Trey Trey & Grandpa

 

 

 

The boys thought they were oh so cool, because they got to "drive" Grandpa's "tractor". We also went out with Randy's Uncle Steve and Aunt Stephanie to see the sights of Pueblo. At one of their parks in the summer they have rides for little kids.

Beck acted as I expected any child to act. He was excited, smiling and dragged his cousin Stevie on all the rides with him. As seen here

Tate and Trey however were so odd. They didn't smile on any ride. They had no facial expression at all. Most of the rides had some sort of steering wheel, which they refused to touch. They just sat there motionless, like this.

Trey is actually slightly smiling in this picture, which is surprising. However, the second the ride ended the twins started screaming and crying until they were back on another ride. And there they would sit, not smiling and motionless.

We all had so much fun in Pueblo. It was so relaxing and wonderful to spend time with great people!

Summerfest

I was going through my pictures and realized I never posted the cute pics of Beck from Summerfest. It was the second weekend in June, so yes it's a little late. It was fun to get out and it was one of the first good days we had all spring. Plus who doesn't loved over priced carnival food?

In the fire truck

Sitting in the life flight helicopter.

Tate's Shoes

Tate loves to wear my shoes. I was impressed he was able to get my boots on

Buzz Table

Tate got a Buzz Lightyear table for Christmas. Tate and Trey love having snacks together on it

Yeah... my boys are cute!

Utah Pac 12 Day

Yes, Utah got an official day for becoming part of the Pac 12. Cheesy, yes. Randy and Beck went up to the festivities at the Capital and had a great time.

Beck wasn't incredibly photogenic that day. They had free balloon, ice cream and face tattoos.

Swoop

Pac 12 commissioner

I guess when your school is going from a $1 million TV deal to a $23 million TV deal it's worth celebrating! Go UTES!!

Swimming & Fireworks

Years 1, 2 and 3 of Beck's life were filled with a fear of water. Bath time sounded like we were performing water torture on the poor child. Since we will be going to Florida in a few weeks and seeing as how it's entirely too hot and humid there, we knew we would be spending a lot of time at the pool. So we took the kids out on a test run on Saturday. Thankfully my parents came along with us to wrangle all my crazy kids!

We went to the Lindon City Pool, which I love. It's such a kid friendly pool!

That is just half the pool, and I love the pirate ship slides!

Beck is feeling a little more confident this year and we were there from open until close! We couldn't get him out of the water, except to eat a few chips

Beck still doesn't like water on his face, so the lazy river that had a water fall in it was not an enjoyable activity for him. But considering last year it took my about 2 hours to get him to put his feet in the water, I think this was a great improvement!

Around 4 o'clock the twins were tuckered out

Tate and Trey don't have much fear, of anything. They loved getting splashed and had a blast going down the big slide. They got in trouble several times for going down the kiddie slides head first on their back and stomach depending on what they felt like.
We didn't get sunscreen around their eyes very well, so they have sunburned rings now and look like raccoons. It's so sad.

After a long day of swimming we went down to see the Stadium of Fire fireworks. We had a good spot on the lawn by the hospital

Yes, my children take their swords with them everywhere. Here is another awesome Beck pose

The ice cream man drove around and parked right in front of us. So after five minutes we gave in and got the kids ice cream. Beck got a spiderman and after about 2 licks he ended up on the road. We then got to listen to him cry about his ice cream through the entire firework show.

Beck was still crying in the car on the way home. He told me "I am so tired" So I replied "Close your eyes" He looked at me as if he hadn't thought of that. He was instantly asleep.

Fill up

This is what I filled up for last! I know amazing right?! I love Smith's new fuel reward program!! Although I'm also saddened by the fact that getting gas for $2.899 gets me excited.

Toy Story Birthday Party

I love throwing birthday parties for my kids! Since they are all June babies I combine their birthday funds and throw one awesome party, if I do say so myself. Back in March I was reading Design Dazzle and they had a post on Toy Story parties and using toys they already had. Seeing as how there are few Toy Story toys we don't own I figured this was a great idea.

I made the invites myself. Simple, but by the theme.

For whatever reason, this picture would not rotate!

 

This year we chose Cherry Hill Park, which I love because it's hidden away from all the busy roads.

This was the cake table

Here is a close up of their great cakes we got from Amber's Birthday Creations

They turned out fantastic and tasted great too!!

The party boxes for the kids, in an old box with toy story printables on it

The present table, note the etch-e-sketch. That was Randy's pride and joy.

We always BBQ, so on this years menu we had BBQ chicken, hot dogs, potato salad, pasta salad, berry salad, watermelon and chips. The drinks were one of my favorite things at the party

I found a website that had free printables of the pictures that are in Andy's Room on Toy Story. Here are some of them I put up

I taped them to the poles around the pavilion at the party and we had balloons tied around each pole

We also had the Buzz Lightyear pinata

Buzz was filled with a tad too much candy... so sadly this happened

We tried different ways to retie it, but sadly the kids ended up hitting him on the ground

While we were getting ready to sing Happy Birthday to the boys, Trey decided his cake was too good to wait for

After we opened presents Tate decided to get in on the cake action too

I tried to cut him a piece off. He didn't want anything to do with that

I think the party was a success and by far the best party we've had. We are grateful for all of our family and friends that were able to come and celebrate with us!

Theif

While shopping at Joanns, Trey happened to see some Buzz Lightyear fabric. An enormous meltdown occured, I let him hold the bag of fabric while we were shopping. Of course we had to give it back to the cashier as we were leaving, so the meltdown started again.

Meanwhile, Joanns makes you walk past what feels like a mile of candy to get to the cash register. So Beck is begging for every piece of candy he sees. He finally settles on the Rolo's as his candy of choice. I told him to put it back and I hurried and paid for my things and tried to get out of there as fast as possible. I don't enjoy the stares from people thinking "Can't you get your kid to be quiet?" It doesn't help that Tate and Trey were blessed with a loud boisterous voice.

We had to get some things from Babies R Us which was in the same shopping area. As we started to walk I noticed Beck had the Rolo's in his hand.

Me: Why did you take the Rolos after I told you no?
Beck: Because I want to eat them

I don't think his 3 year old mind comprehends stealing, but we had to take the walk of shame back in and hand it to the cashier.