Utah Trip 2013: part 3

It was time to move from Jake's parents to my dad and stepmom's house for a couple of days. 

The kids were able to play in the kid pool for hours and never tired of it -mix that with The Rescuers in the home theater and the ever fun toy room, and our kids didn't even mind if we were around...

We had a great visit with Camille and Brandon and their families one night and then with my siblings and their families the next. We were also able to get a nice visit in with my paternal grandparents.

Here is Paige and I relaxing on the swing. I am looking large and in charge and am sadly suddenly very aware of pregnancy picture angles...

 Emily, Andrew, Bree, Tessa, and Cole:

 We put Paige in the pool, and she just wasn't having it.

 The next day when JoJo came over!

 Yeah. They're cute.

 Paige FINALLY figured it was okay to be in the water with her daddy if Jolyn was there with hers.

 The cousins on my side:
Cole, Kaeley, Dallen, Paige, Tessa, Breanna, and Jolynn. (We were so sad to miss Breckin, who was in SD with his dad.)

Family Reunion

The McBride family reunion. 

In honor of what would have been Jake's paternal grandparent's 71st wedding anniversary, a McBride family reunion was held in Heber Canyon. It was a hot day, but we were so happy we could attend. Here we have cousins playing:

 Hannah the Nurturer being sweet with Paige.

 Marilyn's family (minus Andy's family, a few kids, and a couple spouses):

 Deanna's family:

Sharron's family:

 Stephen's family (woot!) minus Abby who was on a school choir tour:

 The cousins:

 I don't know how long it had been since I'd been to a family reunion (and from the way things are looking, the chances of anyone hosting one on my side are pretty slim). We had a good time, and I know that it meant a lot to Jake to be able to see so many members of his family.

The Beehive State

June/July trip

We arrived in Utah without much of a problem --yay! The kids are turning out to be excellent travelers, for which I am very thankful. We first stayed with the McBrides. While there, Jake and I made lunch dates with friends and left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa --strange for us. 

I met Krista and Bethany for lunch and had such a wonderful time with them. These are beautiful women who I am so fortunate to have been friends with for so long. 

 Later that same day we went to see Grandpa McCune. Paige loved his dog Bentley, but Cole wasn't as big a fan.

 Here we are with Grandpa. He was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has been doing well so far. Knowing that this would probably be the last time we would see him, we were so thankful to have a great visit. Jake was able to go back a couple of days later to visit on his own. Grandpa McCune turned 94 years old this month.
What an amazing man.

 That night we went to see Kanon and Joseph in the Lehi parade. Go jazz band! Go parades that throw candy! We spent a little bit of time at Kelly and Nate's house later having Creamies. It was a full and fun day.

In The Summertime

One evening we went to Rudy's BBQ to have dinner with our friends, the Gees. We decided to take the kids to the fountains in the shopping center nearby and had a great evening:

 Tessa and Landon right in the middle:

 Baby sister didn't want anything to do with the spraying water:

 But she had fun hanging out anyway:

 I love this swimsuit:

 The Fitzgerald girls joined us for some water fun on the trampoline one morning. The baby pool ended up on the trampoline:

 Nakey baby:

 Fun friends and games:

Cole's Swim Lessons

Cole took swim lessons for the first time this summer at our community pool. He LOVED it. He was so sad when the two weeks were over. He did really well and had no problem putting his head under water and going for whatever activity his teachers asked of him. It was a lot of fun watching him enjoy his class so much.

 Cole is a skinny kid, so the second he stepped out of the pool, his lips would turn blue. I would have to  immediately envelope him in a towel so he wouldn't start to shake. That's what happens when you have no body fat, I suppose...

The Hutch

Craigslist find:

Goodbye to the baker's rack, hello to our newest project.

And this wasn't the easiest. I don't know what kind of horrific paint the previous owner's used, but stripping it off of this thing took a lot of work.

 Good thing Jake and I had help:

 Ta da!

We were very pleased with the outcome, and best of all, Jake and I had several nights of working on this together. I sure enjoy working with him.

Tessa's Kindergarten Graduation

I was glad I put fluffy white flowers in Tessa's hair for her last day of kindergarten. It made it that much easier to pick her out of the crowd!

 She's cute.

 Blanca, Ellie, Saneen, and Tessa ...with Sarah in the back.

 Paige chillin' during the class party.

 I love this picture. You can see how Tessa's teacher felt about her from this one image. We were so grateful for a fabulous teacher like Mrs. Young.

 Natalie, Isabella, and Tessa. ...with Anaya the blonde turned around and Jayshawn with the teacher. Tessa became great friends with Isabella, who is about as sweet as a kid can get.

Afterwards, we left to get ice cream at Dairy Queen as a family before Jake had to get to work.
Congratulations, Tessa! Onward, ever onward --to first grade.