September Trip to Utah Part One: Shannon's Wedding

We had a quick trip to Utah for our friend Shannon's wedding.  But first... a little tennis lesson...

Eating my face?

No, giving me a kiss.

Playing at Dallas Love Field Airport.  It's pretty great since being remodeled!

Now that she's old enough that she has to have her own seat, I let her have the window seat.

Max and Peter sat behind us which meant we were on man-to-man defense.

She's really into pretending to be a doctor lately

Woo - - look at those gorgeous mountains!

They didn't sleep on the plane, but they slept in the rental car once we got to SLC.

When we got to my Aunt Tammy's, Maxwell went out with Maryn to pick some tomatoes.

Maryn came with us to the store in the morning.  The kids were really excited to see her.

We dropped the kids off at the zoo with Aunt Aja during the wedding.

Shannon and her groom Colt got married in the same little chapel up at Fort Douglas that Peter and I got married in 13 years ago.  We hadn't been back since the day we were married.  They have switched the room around.  The back of the room now was the front of the room then.

We have a picture in front of these stained glass windows.  They were one of the reasons that I loved this chapel.

Pretending to ring the chapel bell that we ran 13 years ago.

It was fun to revisit so many of those memories from 13 years ago while celebrating a dear friend starting on her own journey in the same place.

The kids were having a great time at the zoo with Aja and her family so we spent a little more kid-free time enjoying some Cafe Rio and then drove up into the canyon to look at the fall colors.

Look at those colors!

I've been working to lose weight for about 5 months and I went shopping to find a dress for this wedding that I would feel good wearing.  I love it!

The kids had an amazing time with Aja and she sure spoiled them.

Maxwell and Korben got along great

Korben, Maxwell, Emmalyn, Ken, and Harleigh

Emmalyn took a few minutes to warm up (she was upset when we didn't go into the zoo with them) but then she was okay.

Cotton Candy, Ice cream, Pizza, oh my!!

They loved riding the train

Love that sweet profile and those baby fingers

Since it was a short trip where we got to see very little family, it was really nice that Aja was able to help watch the kids during the wedding so that they got some time together.

After the zoo we took the kids to the wedding reception with us

My cute family all dressed up and enjoying this fun night.

Maxwell was super happy to see Shannon

Family pic

Sibling pic

Maxwell was waiting all evening to get some time with Shannon.  It was super sweet.  We love her and are excited for her and Colt!

Utah Trip - Tubing!

I was so pumped for today!  (Aside from the hassle of getting everyone equipped to play in the snow and the super pain in the butt that is when you are looking for clothes to fit a non-size 6 body... Oh well, I made it work.)

We went up to a tubing park up by Park City with Peter's siblings and nieces and nephews.  I've never gone to a place like this so I was excited to try it and to have the kids try it too.

Clockwise from left: Korben, Payton, Jaxton, Jordan, Maxwell

The kids all hung out with me in a heated hut while the rest of the adults bought the passes.

And now the girls (and a few boys)

Jaxton, Payton, Harleigh, Emmalyn, Mariah, me, Felicia, Madison, Lola

All bundled up (poor Emmalyn could only move her fingers and her eyes).  Cute little snow kids!

Emmalyn aka Stay Puffed Marshmallow girl.  She couldn't even really sit up, just sort of lay against the chair.

Hitting the hills - - -you stand on this conveyor belt and it takes you up.  No big deal until you are trying to keep your balance, hold onto your tube, plus hold your puffed up daughter all at the same time.  It stressed me to no end.  After the first time, I let Peter take Emmalyn.  (Which left me with Maxwell which had it's own complications as I tried to help him successfully get on and stay upright on the belt.)

Maxwell and his tube

Everyone had to have their own tube, so Emmalyn went down in an adult tube because she fit better inside it than a smaller one (plus I felt it was safer in the wider base).  I didn't realize when we showed up that she would have to have her own tube and couldn't ride with Peter or I.  That made me incredibly nervous.

Video - Emmalyn going down the hill for the first time.  She wasn't sure what to think and you can see how she changes her mind a few times.  I thought for sure she'd love this since she's usually so bold and brave, but nope...not this time.

He was so happy and having a lot of fun.

Daddy's girl

Waiting in line to go up the hill.  The first couple times went really fast but after that, there were a ton of people you had to wait a long time.  That made it not so much fun for Emmalyn and Maxwell.  

Brothers and their daughters

I thought snow tubing was awesome (and I only did the little hill...that was plenty exciting)

It was a lot of fun having so many family members there.  We didn't stay together as a whole big group but there was enough of us that you frequently ran into someone.  After two times going down,  Emmalyn did not want to go anymore.  She decided it wasn't fun and was too scary for her.

At that point I took both the kids because Max was tired of waiting and starting to get cold, and Emmalyn kept saying she was poopy.  UGH!  That meant I had to trek all the way back to the car, holding my daughter who had doubled in weight thanks to all her clothes... get a diaper and wipes and trek all the way back to the bathroom.  On the way back, I grabbed our stroller so at least I didn't have to hold Emmalyn but that was tough too because the ground was snowy/slushy/icy.

Alex watched Maxwell while I took care of Emmalyn.  I think the diaper change took like 30 minutes because I had to take all the layers off and then put all the layers on.  And to top it all off - she wasn't even poopy!!!  She was totally lying because she knows that we act pretty quickly if she's poopy.  She was clearly trying to manipulate me and get out of having to go down the hill again.  Sneaky little girl.

Once Maxwell had some hot chocolate in him, he was ready to play on this mound of snow with Lola.

Sliding down on his rear

Trying it with a tube

Emmalyn was happy to just sit in the stroller and hang out.  She was so fussy that I gave her the binky.  I didn't put all of her layers back on after the diaper change so she was a little less puffy and I hoped still warm enough.

He was LOVING playing in the snow.

Nothing emphasizes how short one is better than wearing big bulky snowpants.  :)

She fell asleep (which made me confident she was warm enough - whew)

Maxwell tackling Korben.  They had fun playing together.

While I was with the younger kids, everyone else was having fun going on the big hill.

Group picture (minus Alex)...

...Oh, there he is

The area is just so beautiful!  I miss seeing these gorgeous mountains.

We all headed to McDonalds for lunch and then went our own separate ways after that.

Max and Lola buddying up

Emmalyn's cousins were so sweet with her :)

Peter and Madison

Peter, Madison, Mark, and Alex w/ Morgan in the front

Group picture with everyone this time

After we left, we headed to Sandy to go to my step-sister Katherine's grand opening of her esthetician salon.  We got to see Nana, Uncle Derek, Aunt Katherine, Aunt Marabeth, and Aunt Sharee.  We didn't get to spend much time with them because everyone was busy with the opening but I was able to help a little big and Maxwell and Emmalyn got to see Nana, which they were so excited for.

There were a ton of people there - it was crazy!

We were wiped out after our long day.  We stopped at Arctic Circle on the way back to Tammy's for another shake (I got cookie butter again because it was so yummy).