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!

Last week of June 2016

Lots of photos to finish out the month.  This is mainly a photo dumb.

Love her in this sea green color

Happy to be dropped off at school

Big smile

Sweet smile

Curls and lashes

Those curls!  It's crazy when I look back just a couple months and see how they've grown.

This is how she goes to sleep.  Hands in prayer pose and her turtle by her forehead.

She is still sleeping in a sleep sack.

Bedtime reading with dad

Having a "picnic" at Brittany's house

Maxwell enjoyed a splash day at school.  I hung out at watched them have fun before I went to work.  (I ended up going to work a little wet thanks to all the splashing.)

Maxwell and his buddies - Preston, Joshua, and Dylan

He had a great time speeding down the slide into the pool at the bottom.

He loves Ms. Cynthia

The whole class

Even teachers get to have a little fun

Three amigos - Maxwell, Preston, and Joshua

Look at my garden!!! :)  The plant on the right is my cucumbers.  I'm getting what looks like the start of cucumbers but then they never grow beyond that.  I googled it an apparently they aren't being pollinated, so I've learn how to cross pollinate my cucumbers.  I take the stamens/pollen from the male flower and rub it on the stamens from the female flower (forgive me if my terminology is wrong).  Hopefully this will work and I'll get some cucumbers!

The pepper plant is growing but no sign of any peppers

I have both regular and roma tomatoes growing.  It's so exciting!

Those sweet curls turn into craziness in the morning

I adore the back of this dress

Excited to get in and play his soccer game

Such a girl - talking on her phone with her purse in hand

Pretty girl in a pretty dress.  I love that sweet profile with the chubby cheeks and the baby fingers.

We had Peter's cousin, Brian, who just moved to TX over for dinner with his wife and daughter.  She's a little less than a year younger than Emmalyn.  It was cute watching Emmalyn engage with her.

I painted Emmaln's toes for the first time and now we have matching toes!

Maxwell got to have his thumb painted blue and was so excited about it!

Silly yes but both of those toothbrushes are her brother's.  Ew.

At a neighbor's birthday party.  Emmalyn had a great time pretending with all the toys.

This register was the biggest hit for both kids.  We had to make them take turns.

Giving me my change

Maxwell was playing with some toys that were stuck to the wall with super strong magnets and he yanked one off with such force that when it released, he ended up hitting himself in the head with it.  It swelled up super fast and looked awful.  He was a trooper though and didn't get upset.

I painted his other thumb with white/red so his thumbs were like the American flag for the upcoming 4th of July.

Video - Maxwell was really so excited about having his thumbs painted.

I stopped with the kids and got Subway that we enjoyed as a picnic outside.

Video - We went swimming next door and Emmalyn decided she wanted to jump off the rock like her brother.  This girl has no fear.

To show you how much Maxwell has done in preschool this year.  The pile on the left is all the work he brought home last year compared to the pile on the right which is the all the work from this school year.

Fun in the pool with cousins.

Cute picture of my siblings in their uniforms.

Sigh...owning a house can be so much work sometimes.  Our fence needs to be re-stained.  So we had Jared next door pressure wash it and then we are going to stain it ourselves.  It's so expensive to have someone else do it all.

Maxwell's progress in swimming lessons.

We went to "popsicles in the park" with a bunch of the other kids going to Kindergarten at our school as a way for them to start getting to know each other.

Maxwell's friend from pre-school, Luckshya, lives in the Elem school boundaries so he was there (but it sounds like his parents are going to put him in a charter school. :( )

Another hot summer day, another popsicle 

Smiley girl cuddling with me in the morning (hands still in the prayer pose)

She decided she didn't want to smile for me anymore.