Utah trip continued - Aquarium and more visiting!

On Monday morning we hung out at Tammy's house and the kids played.  Then we went to lunch at Crown Burger.  It was AMAZING.  I love that place.  Then we spent time running around the valley picking up outdoor (coats, bibs, boots) gear for playing in the snow from a couple of my friends from high school who had generously offered to lend it to us while we were in town.  It was fun to see them if only for a few minutes.

We spent more time with Grandma Nelson, it is wonderful seeing her and never enough time.   She spoils the kids (just like she would spoil me and my siblings when we were over there). Maxwell knows to ask for chocolate milk when we are there.  (you know, the really good stuff made with the Hershey's syrup..)  We also got to see my cousin Brandy for a short bit. 

Emmalyn cuddling with Grandma

Grandma and Uncle Terry gave Maxwell and old cell phone and so he was having a fun taking a bunch of pictures.

Not sure what's up with sticking her tongue out but it's starting to happen more often

That night Peter and I stayed up late working on a puzzle at Tammy's.  I LOVE working on puzzles but can't really do it at home with the kids.  It's been really enjoyable working on them during this vacation.

It's snowing!!!  Normally I would be happy to avoid the snow but I really want the kids to get the full snow experience on this trip so the more snow, the better!

Cleaning off the rental car in the morning.

That morning we met up with my cousin Julie at the new aquarium in Sandy.  I was so glad we were able to find some time to get together even though it was a short visit.

Emmalyn with Julie's kids Nathan and Erica

Guess my kids were too interested in the display to smile for me. 

Riding a whale with Nathan

All of Julie's kids - Nathan, Erika, Robby, and Jacob

  

Emmalyn loved watching the penguins

This aquarium was great!  So many, varied things to play on/look at.

He went VERY slow but he eventually made it!

There's that tongue out again

And more tongue...is she trying to catch flies?

seriously...this tongue thing!

Love this adorable girl.  She was great and stayed really engaged and interested.

Two cute little kiddos

The whole group!  (Max was SUPER tired so he wouldn't look for the picture.)

We went for lunch at Arctic Circle (gotta have that yummy fry sauce when in Utah!).  The kids BOTH had fun playing on the play place.  Usually Max does not like going down the slides so I was proud of him for going down!

Emmalyn, of course, was all about going down the slide.

Jumping off the stairs.  He was all kinds of brave today.  :)

Capping it off with a kids cone.  (I got a cookie butter shake that I still drool over just thinking about it.)

Full-face enjoying that cone

After Arctic Circle we had to make a stop back at Grandma Nelson's to pick up a charger for the old phone she gave Maxwell so that he could keep it charged and take more pictures.  We also had another stop to pick up more snow stuff.  I really appreciate the snow stuff and the money we are saving but running around getting it has been a bit of a hassle.

Sweet girl was wiped out.  She fell asleep in the car cuddling with the cute little purple turtle we got her (a good pair with Max's favorite stuffed animal - his green turtle.)

We went back to Tammy's and dropped off the kids and then Peter and I hit up a bunch of thrift stores looking for some snow stuff for us.  (Luckily the D.I, Savers, and Goodwill were all super close.)  Finding snow stuff is hard in Texas so much better to look in Utah.  :)

Then, we went over to Shannon's parents house for dinner and to visit.  The kids had fun playing with her niece and nephew that were also there.

Dance party!

The kids are similar in age which makes it fun.

Maxwell just loves his Shannon.  :)  (and we are excited for her engagement to Colt!)

When we got back to Tammy's there was a fresh dusting of snow on the ground.  Keep bringing it, Mother Nature!

We finished another puzzle.  :)

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.