That night we went out to Chili's for dinner and went shopping while Katie's neighbor kept an eye on all the kids (who were in bed)
Tuesday-
We mostly sat around for the day, that evening the kids ate dinner as a picnic on the balcony.
And my girls after they were in their PJs for the night.
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Aria, 'cooking' |
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I love babies with big books |
This is around the time that my kids were all in the room with me. It started out that the four 'big kids' were sharing a room, and Jovi was in with her mom and Terra was in with me (in Jovi's room).
Well Parker was totally stressed out by the fact that the girls room was pitch black, so he spent a couple nights sharing a bed with me. But it turns out that Parker is a TERRIBLE person to share a bed with. I hardly slept, He kicks and rolls and everything else.
So I moved his mattress to the foot of my bed and he was crammed half way under my bed and right up against a bunch of stuff (closet, rocking chair, dresser) but it worked and he didn't mind. Then Aria was having trouble sleeping with the Willman girls so she came in and shared a bed with me (Terra was in a crib in the same room as me all along).
Unlike Parker, Aria is awesome to share a bed with.
She sleeps like a log. If she does happen to move and roll into you, you can just push her over and she'll sleep right through it. And she is just so sweet. She loves cuddles so she would roll over and put her hand on me or grab my hand and place it on her back. It was adorable. I really enjoyed sharing a room with my three babies. And when they would wake up in the morning they would all come cuddle with me- it was really awesome.
Wednesday-
We played around inside and out in the quad.
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Captain America riding a bike |
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Aria riding
she LOVED going on bikes and scooters NONSTOP while we were there. |
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Terra Lynne |
That evening we went with the Willmans to a small party for the Wymount Community Aids at the church movie studios. It was so pretty there! Plus free dinner and the kids got to play in some sand. It was a good night.
Thursday-
Thursday morning Katie's kids were slow getting going so I went with my three kids to the dinosaur museum. It was fun to see the fossils, but I think the coolest part was the window that looked straight through into where they were working on cleaning fossils.
On the other end of the parking lot of the dinosaur museum we saw the marching band was practicing. So as we left the kids and I spent some time watching them march and play. We drove around a little, stopped and played at the playground and then spent the rest of the day just hanging out and playing with the Willmans.
Boo no pictures from our fun day :(
That evening Katie and I went to the mall and just hung out and talked while Kyle 'babysat' the sleeping kids.
Friday-
I know we had a picnic lunch out on the softball field on Friday, though I don't remember doing anything else-- we probably just sat and read books and played and went outside and played... yup that sounds about right.
Also I did get a video of the kids dancing on Friday
Dancing Cousins Video
Silly kids- I think the best part might be Minnette's laugh right at the end.
Saturday
A family that the Willmans are friends with invited all of us to go up to Payson lake and go kayaking. It was a really nice day and the drive up the mountain to the lake was GORGEOUS!!! Unfortunately it was also a little winding and twisty so Parker threw up a couple more times.
It was fun though- the kids got to play in the water and mud, go 'fishing', eat snacks on a precariously perched picnic table, and ride in the kayaks.
Aria at the Lake:
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Trying to go fishing |
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Eating lunch |
Terra at the lake:
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Muddy bum |
Parker
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He kept saying it was cold |
Parker was not feeling great after his motion sickness on his way up the mountain, and he also gets nervous around new things so he didn't want to go in the boats at the beginning, but he finally came around, and I'm glad he did- he loved going out in the kayak.
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Me with Minnette and Aria |
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About to go out with Parker and Aria |
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Going for a walk after playing by the lake. |
When we got done we tried to clean the kids off a bit, but they were a MESS! We went back to Provo and ordered pizza and ate it on a blanket in their living room since the kids were so dirty.
Then home to the Willmans, bath, and bedtime.
Sunday-
Church once again, pretty much the same story as the previous week but Aria was SO sad that they brought her into me so she joined me in Relief Society.
Monday-
In front of the fountain- and the best part of these pictures is Katie
(You're welcome for posting them publicly)
Outside the Salt Lake Temple:
Cousins:
The crane in the background is because they were beginning to put up Christmas lights...in August!
Exploring the visitors Center
In front of the Statue of Christ:
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Tiemans (minus Daddy, of course) |
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Willmans |
Then we headed across the street to the mall for lunch and some play time.
I heard the renovated City Creek mall labeled as the nicest mall in America, and at first I scoffed (based on my experience there a few years before) They were probably right, though. I haven't been to enough malls to say for sure, but City Creek has got to be one of the best.
Tuesday-
We dropped Kyle off at class and went over to the duck pond by the bell tower. We fed the ducks, the kids ran in the grass, and my kids and I climbed the waterfall.
Feeding the ducks
I think this was on the way to the duck pond-
Cute, right?
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And Parker and Minnette holding hands (this wasn't exactly unusual for the two for them) |
Kyle met up with us and we got to go onto campus and eat lunch in the Wilkinson center. Parker thought it was cool to see where daddy went to school, where daddy worked and to eat lunch where daddy might have even eaten lunch pretty often.
On the way to the Wilkinson Center we stopped at the art museum.
Wednesday-
We got up and headed out to the 'Bean Museum' where they have a bunch of stuffed preserved dead animals... it was closed though, so we drove over to the Bicentennial Park
We played there for awhile before heading over to the Creamery on 9th and having lunch. The rest of the day we just played around and Katie and I went grocery shopping after the kids were in bed.
Thursday-
We got up early again to head down to AZ. Unfortunately I was not able to sleep almost at all the night before so I was TIRED. While I don't drink soda often, I decided it was worth it to avoid falling asleep and killing us all. So I drank about a gallon of Coke that day and we made it home. We even ate yucky McDonalds so I could get more Coke and the kids could get out and play.
Again my kids were really good, until Terra got crazy about when I hit the 303 (about 20 minutes from home). Parker got sick a couple times again. Overall though it worked fine.
As a farewell to Utah we drove through temps like this for a few hours:
It was more than 50 degrees warmer when I got home.
It was a good trip and we had lots of fun- Thanks to the Willmans for letting us invade.
We enjoyed it for sure!