Let's get this Utah vacation started!

After a good night's rest (although not as long as I would have liked), we were ready to start having fun in Utah!

Cute kids in pajamas who snuck into the yogurt pretzels.

Emmalyn quickly got to work playing with all the toys.

That morning I went to get my hair done by my favorite Utah hairstylist, Kacie.  She is so great and it's almost a necessity to go see her when I'm in Utah.  After that, I met up with my 3 best friends from my Middle School.  A few weeks ago a conversation got started with us and we figured out we would all be in town, but only for one day and decided to get together!  I haven't seen some of these girls for nearly 20 years.  We were such great friends in middle school but then we all went to different high schools.

It was really nice to catch up with them and talk about memories.  In some ways, it felt like we hadn't changed and were still 15 but then, we talked about adult things and remembered how old we are.  :)  I hope we don't have to wait another 20 years to get back together (two still live in Utah and the third lives in the Northeast).

Brittney, Jaime, and Erin

While I was having lunch, Alex was hanging out with Peter at Tammy's house but was gone by the time I got home.

After naps, it was time to go play in the snow!  I brought the snow gear that we were still miss key things like snow boots, a warm coat for Emmalyn, snow pants, etc.  We layered up the best we could.

Checking it out...

Emmalyn went right for it

,

We tried to have a snowball fight but the snow was so dry that it wouldn't stick together at all, it just felt apart.  No snowmen today!

Emmalyn had fun playing too

Love Maxwell's face in this.  He thought it was so cool.

Max showing us some crack.  

Emmalyn took her gloves off and quickly realized what a bad idea that was.

She was so unhappy and her hands hurt so we didn't stay out much after that.

Daddy trying to warm up Emmalyn's hands...

That night we went to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory with Aja and her family.  The wait was far too long but Emmalyn looked super cute so I was entertained by the people walking by and fawning over her.

I adore this coat/hat combo.  So glad we get to use it (Remember how Maxwell was wearing a t-shirt when we were at the airport in Dallas?  Yeah, no need for a winter coat yet at home.)

Maxwell quickly warmed up to his cousins and had fun engaging with them (He wanted to sit by Madison at dinner.  Not his parents.)

The whole group

John (Morgan's boyfriend), Korben, Me, Emmalyn, Aja, Maxwell, Peter, Madison

We finally got to connect with Tammy's family when we got back home.  It was fun that we had just had them at our house 2 months ago and our kids remembered them.

Amazed at the Christmas tree

The next morning when I got up, I found these two already hanging out together.  :)  Maxwell is in heaven and happy to be back with Maryn.  

Emmalyn crawled into Snowball's cage.  Silly kiddo.  I have pics of Maxwell crawling into the same cage.

Then it was time to get going on our busy day!

We went and visited Aunt Aja and family at her house before she had to go to church.

Then it was lunch with Uncle Mark at Cafe Rio!  (I spent half of it in the car with a sleeping Emmalyn.)

Then a quick trip to Costco to get stuff for dinner.  (well, sorta quick...it was laid out so differently than ours and took a bit to navigate through)

After Costco we got a visit in with Uncle Terry and Grandma Nelson.  Emmalyn was obsessed with Gizmo and he's such a great dog that he put up with it.

Maxwell showing something to Grandma

Emmalyn and Grandma's new (and not-so-friendly) dog.  I can't remember the name.

We wrapped up one Grandma visit and headed out to another one.  We had dinner at Grandma Blank's.

This girl made me nervous.  She's all over the place and so busy...and Grandma has fragile stuff out (I wonder how in the world she has managed to keep nice things so long given how many Grandkids/Great Grandkids she's got!).  I'm sure the other kids know just not to touch but because we don't live in Utah, they aren't experts at those unspoken rules.  :)

Hanging out with Grandpa

Maxwell venturing downstairs to play.  I smiled inside to see him scooting down the stairs rather than walking down them - those stairs are steep!

Grandma, putting around the kitchen preparing the meal, as always.

Having fun with cousins (one of Kearsten's girls)

Maryn teaching Max a new game "Logs".  Best game ever.  Lie there like a log and first person to move loses.  :)

These two...just melts my heart.

Playing games.  (even Max played)

Maxwell and Maryn wrestling with Preston.  The kids had so much fun!  It is still a "pinch me" moment when I realize that now it's my kids that are running around at Grandma's.  It doesn't not feel like it's possibly been that long.

Emmalyn sleeping in the crib that is probably older than I am.  It's been in the corner of the back bedroom, providing a place to rest for easily 30 babies (probably 40) at one point or another.  

Picture of Aunt Brenda, Momma, and Megan courtesy of photographer Maxwell.

Selfie

Selfie group pic.

It was fun to get to spend time with the family.  It was just a normal night with the Blank family, like we've had for 30 years.  I miss being able to be a part of those regularly.

First Week of November

November is going to have to really step up if it's going to beat the awesomeness that was October!

Big girl sitting by herself at Costco

When Max visits me at work, I don't want to erase what he leaves behind.  :)

I am so glad we live somewhere with a short winter.  It's great to be able to play outside without jackets in November

A girl after my own heart - LOVES spaghetti

Max was excited to eat the gum he got on Halloween.  This was the first time he's ever had gum.  He did a good job of chewing for a minute or two and then spitting it out.

A pic a friend sent me from Halloween.  Emmalyn is busy looking at her neighbor friend, Michael

Good morning Mr. Selfie

Video - Maxwell is doing so great at swimming lessons.  Here's his backstroke (Remember, he's a little over 4!)

Jumping with dad  - fun for everyone

Max still move around a ton when he sleeps and doesn't just lay with his head on the pillow.  He also ends up without a blanket on.

At night when it's time for bed, usually I cuddle with him in his bed.  Well, Peter has said told Maxwell that he loves the "Little Red Caboose" Kindermusik song.  So, when Maxwell wants Peter to come into the bedroom for something (get him socks, kiss him goodnight, etc.) he will start singing "Little Red Caboose" really loudly until Peter comes in singing it.  It's fun and it's sweet to see Max want to also connect with his Dad when he's going to bed.

We went and enjoyed dinner/dessert at my old work friend and boss, Lori.  Her kids were cute with my kids and I was able to enjoy a little break.

Emmalyn quickly warmed up to Wes and even climbed up on his lap to share his cake.

Looking at pictures with Kylie

Reading books at bedtime

Look how long her hair is getting at the back!

Ugh.  Look at that big balcony on the house behind us.  It looks directly into our yard.  We are going to have to do something to get our privacy back and have decided a new tree is probably the best option.

Video - Maxwell has some pretty good (in my opinion) gun/weapons sounds.  Not sure where he learns it from...clearly his momma doesn't have those skills!  This kid is such a BOY!

We went to a local tree farm and got to ride around in a golf cart.  Max thought it was super cool.

Walking away in anger because she didn't like what we were telling her.  Oh man...this girl!

I love her in those boots!

Having fun at the park.

There is something about this picture that makes Maxwell seem so old!  It's like that body belongs to a grown boy, not my sweet 4 year old.

always a character

playing with playdough (I think for the first time at our house)

Our neighbors invited Maxwell over to have dinner and play.  He had an awesome time.

Building a lego soccer game with Mr. Chris

Emmalyn update:

She picks her nose

She gets so upset in the morning if I leave the bed once I bring her into our bed to nurse (Sorry Peter, I know you get left to deal with it)

She loves to brush her own teeth

Her drooling seems to be starting to get better

She talks in full on sentences but you can't understand her language

She loves showering, turning on the bathtub

She's talkative and funny, lots of momma momma momma momma or daddy daddy daddy daddy.

She can say more than 60 words that I can think of...she says: Water, Shower, Bow, Teeth, Toes, Eyes, Nose, Ears, Hair, Head, Mouth, Belly, Diaper, Poopy, Dress, Shoes, Pizza, Milk, Cheese, Chips, Bite, More, Bread, Bye, Hi, Love you, Look, Daddy, Momma, Max, Maxwell, Landen, Hayden, Joe, Brittany, Banana, Book, Puppy, Kitty, Flower, Thank You, Please, Down, Up, Towel, Splash, Pumpkin, Hooray, Sleep Sack, Off, Ipad, Snack, Strawberry, Applesauce, Yogurt, Step, Walk, Door, Ball, Backpack, Bread, and more every day!!!

Emmalyn is not happy to be contained whether in the car, the stroller, the high chair, your lap, or a shopping cart.  She just wants to be doing her own thing, moving on her own.
She is singing all the time and is really into Kindermusik - sang along with the song "ram sam sam" in class.
She likes the rough/adventurous stuff like being play dropped onto the couch and bouncing up and down or going down slides.
She says cheese when taking pictures
I have started giving her my phone to play with (it's locked) when in bed, and she loves to go grab the ipad.  So, the screen time has already started with her.  I wish it hadn't but it's just too hard to fight it so instead we work to limit it.
She's great with a spoon.
She asks for milk in the morning and says, "yay yay yay" when I give in and tell her I'll nurse her.
She does 2 naps still but they are not very long sometimes.


Maxwell update:
Maxwell is enjoying his once a week Spanish class at school.  Unfortunately, having both Spanish and Chinese now has caused him to struggle more to remember what he knew from Chinese and he gets confused.
He stopped saying "good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite, I'll see you in the morning light, don't let the superheros get you" when I tuck him in at night about 2 weeks ago.  I try to get him to say it and he won't anymore.  Sad...
He says he wants to marry me but then when I tell him he can't because I'm already married he says he wants to marry Aunt Julianne.  (How cute is that)...Then this morning he said that he didn't want to get married and he wanted to keep living in the house with me.