Quick Trip

Last weekend Becky and Weston blessed their new little boy Holland. Ryan and I had been planning on making a quick trip for the blessing before Ryan lost his job. After the job loss he didn't feel like it would be possible financially to make the trip. I really wanted to go for a few reasons 1. I felt like it was really important to support Becky and Weston. 2. I knew that Ryan would feel bad for a long time if he didn't go. and 3. Who wants to miss out on holding fun new little babies?! I was pretty resigned to the fact that we wouldn't be going when out of the blue Ryan said, LETS GO!! This was Friday morning, and I thought GREAT, only one problem. I was throwing one of the ladies I VT a baby shower on Saturday morning. We would have to leave after the shower meaning we would have to drive late into the night. Oh well, you do what you gotta do, right?! Well when Ryan got home from taking the kids to school he said the car was acting funny. He quickly took it over to our mechanic and found out that our transmission is starting to go out. GREAT!! Now we couldn't go again. We had gotten every one's hopes up, we told Becky and Weston we were coming, we told the kids we were going, and now we had to let them down. I knew there was going to be a lot of crying and fit throwing. Well Ryan called Becky and told her the sad news. I think she was pretty sad because she called back a little later and told Ryan that they would like to rent us a car so we could come. After a little talking we decided to take them up on their offer and we were ready to hit the road again.
We left our house about 12:45 pm on Saturday and got to Weston and Becky's about 1:15 am. I'm glad Ryan is such a great driver. The kids did pretty good considering they had to sit in the car for 12 hours. We stopped in St. George about 7:30, got the kids ice cream, and let them play in the McDonalds play area for about an hour to wear them out. -- Yes, I let my kids play in a McDonalds play area. I'm sure that I will have to have counseling at some point to help me come to grips with that one. For those of you who don't know, I have a bit of a McDonalds phobia. I did draw the line the next day when Ryan tried to put some of the kids in the same clothes they had worn when they played there. I told him I had to wash them before they could be worn again.-- When we got back in the car they crashed for the rest of the trip. It was pretty nice. I was very grateful that Weston and Becky's church didn't start until 2:30pm. If we didn't have kids we would have been able to sleep in. LOL!!
We did a quick hair job on Becky and got everyone ready. Weston gave Holland a wonderful blessing. The family dinner after was a lot of fun too. It was good to see Ryan's aunts Kathy and Caroline. We hadn't seen them for many years. It is always fun to get together with the Fullers. They are a wonderful family!! My kids love playing with Tamera's kids. I am a little surprised that the clubhouse is still standing after our kids got done with it. They had a lot of fun. I am so grateful we got to be there. We already miss so many things being so far away.
The kids LOVE Holland!! There was more than one fight over who's turn it was to hold him. Carley was especially attached to him. She would cry and get very upset if you tried to take him from her, and if someone else was holding him she was begging for him. Riley was really excited to have another boy cousin.

On Monday morning we left Weston and Becky's mid morning after a wonderful breakfast, --Ryan still raves about it Becky!!-- and headed out to Mountain Home to surprise Brittany. Everyone but her knew we were coming. I like surprises and thought this would be a fun one to pull off. When we got to the Mountain Home turn off I called Brittany and asked her what she was up to. She said she was playing with Tasha and the boys, Tanner and Jackson, (Tasha had gone up to "visit" Brittany so she could be there when we got there, and to give Brittany a reason to get herself and the baby ready). I hid a chuckle and said, "I want to come play." --I knew she wouldn't think anything of it and would play along because we play this game often.-- Brittany, without skipping a beat or suspecting anything, said, "Okay come on over." Again trying really hard not to laugh, I said, "Okay, I'll be there in a minute." She said she would call me when Tasha and the boys left and we got off the phone. I was really excited. When I closed the car door Brittany heard it and started complaining about more people coming to see her and the baby. --She doesn't like a lot of people around her new little one, and who can blame her.-- She looked out the window, looked back at Tasha, who I imagine is about to burst by this time, and said, "You have got to be freaking kidding me!!" She burst out the door and said, "You have got to be kidding me!! What are you doing here?!!" I looked hurt and said, "You said I could come over." It was great!!! I had a lot of fun with it. It was a lot of fun to see them too.
Tessa is SO tiny, and has SO much hair. She has as much hair as Carley does and Carley has been working on hers for almost two years now. Tanner and Jackson have grown a ton. Especially Jackson. All the kids had fun playing. True to form Sydney and Tanner enjoyed their love hate relationship. One minute they are playing great, the next they are fighting and hitting. Maybe someday they will just play nicely. Riley and Hailey had a LOT of fun being able to run outside and play. They don't get to do that here. They hardly fought at all. They would go outside, be gone for hours, and play nicely together. It was great. I hope someday they can have that at their own house. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of them outside because I spent all my time holding Tessa. My Mom made a birthday cake for Ryan so they could share in the celebration of his birthday. It was YUMMY!! That night after all the kids were in bed we stayed up WAY too late playing cards. It was a lot of fun. No one really wanted to go to bed, but we all knew we would be in a lot of trouble if we didn't. We hit the sack about 2:00am and thanks to our kids were back up and moving somewhere between 5-7:30. I'm glad my kids are a little older so I got to sleep in until 7:30. After we raided my Mom's pantry and paid a visit to Grandpa and Grandma Lindsay we hit the road again.
It was good to be able to see everyone even if it was only for a day. It was well worth the time and money we spent on it. We would do it again in a second. Either we will get a job or we won't, we may run out of money at some point, but we will never run out of the memories we made on a quick trip to Utah. Thanks everyone for your help and support!!

July--It's a blast!!

It has been one crazy month. It started with Weston and Becky -Ryan's sister and her husband- visiting for the Fourth of July. We tried to spend a lot of time visiting with them. Which included going to the beach three times and having them over for dinner one night. We even went to the beach on the Fourth of July. Yes we are crazy!! It actually turned out okay though. Hailey and Sydney made a cute new little friend, Ryan and Riley got to work on their surfing skills, and Carley and I got to hang out. That night we went to see the fireworks at Aviara golf course. It was a great show, and location. The kids had a blast rolling down the hills, playing in the sand pits, and collecting golf balls while we waited for the fireworks to start. Once the fireworks started it was a different story. Both Sydney and Carley were scared to death. I got Carley to calm down, but Sydney cried through the entire show. --Sorry to everyone around us!!--
We said our goodbye's to Weston and Becky and started getting ready for our trip to Utah. We had not been planning one because of gas prices. However our apartment needed to be tented for termites, so we made a deal with the owners. Instead of putting us up in a hotel, paying for our food, and gas for three days they gave us gas money to drive to Utah. I think it was a great deal for both of us. It made for a quite crazy week getting ready to go. We not only had to pack for the trip, but pack up our entire house. This includes food inside fridges and freezers. It was crazy and a lot of work. I would never have been able to do it without help from my friends The Travis', The Linvilles and The Scotts. -Thanks so much guys!!-
With our entire house completely bagged up and packed away we headed for Utah. Monday and Tuesday we left Carley home with Grandma and took the three older kids on rafting trip down The Green River. We had a lot of fun. Sydney was a little nervous at first and would cry when rapids came. Hailey, trying to help here sister feel better, renamed the rapids "mad Carley's" to make them a little friendlier. It was a very cute attempt to make her sister feel better, but didn't work. Finally Ryan took her and she calmed right down. She just needed her Daddy. When we got into camp Sydney decided the trip wasn't so bad after all. She loved playing and rolling in the dirt. Hailey and Riley were having a great time too. Riley caught his first fish, which we took home and ate-yum-, winning a bet he had made with his dad on who would catch the first fish. The next day Sydney decided the river really wasn't that bad and fell asleep for the last hour and a half. A lot of fun was had by all.
On Thursday we impatiently waited for news from the hospital on when Kenny and Tasha's new baby would enter the world. He finally made it about 5:13. We all rushed over to greet our newest family member. He was so CUTE!! The kids got to see him through the window as Kenny, the proud daddy, held him up. Jackson was very cooperative and looked back at his new cousins wide eyed and alert. After the hospital we went bowling and had a blast.
The next day we shed tears and said good bye, -It was really hard to leave that that adorable new little baby.- and headed out to visit with Weston, Becky, Michael, and Rebecca (Michael's girlfriend). p.s. Michael--Way to go, she is beautiful and sweet!! We met them at Deer Creek and went boating and wakeboarding. It was a lot of fun. The next day everyone went swimming, well Carley and I stayed home so Carley could get a greatly needed nap, and played with Weston's underwater camera . After the swimming party, we had a wonderful lunch and celebrated a belated birthday for Michael. It was a lot of fun. After that there was nothing left to do but drive home.
We made it home Sunday afternoon to our house waiting for us to unpack it and to find that the gas had been turned off. It was beyond frustrating to find out that we had no way to cook dinner or give the exhausted babies a warm bath. It had been turned off for safety during the tenting of our apartment. Not the best end to a great vacation.
We got the gas turned back on on Monday and spent the rest of the week trying to get everything unpacked. I am hoping August will present a calm entrance back into the school year, but with the soccer season warming up and two weeks of swimming lessons around the corner it doesn't look to promising. It's okay, we love every minute of it.