Back to School

After finding out that a professional tree trimmer would charge $2349999 to trim the back & front yard trees, Cody decided to take on this huge task with his ever so helpful children in tow.

This project lasted for several days. 

Up next, ripping out a huge tree in the front 

yard which is growing into the side of our home.

Good luck darling!

When we got back from Utah it was time for Reese to start eating food.

She has happily gobbled up everything except for broccoli.

Here she is enjoying fresh cooked beets, her Daddy's favorite vegetable!

 

One of our summer projects was creating this huge water sensory bag. The girls were so excited as we taped and taped and taped 

some more to create the big bag out of plastic sheeting. 

Then we filled up the bag with water and added green food coloring.

 Unfortunately I accidentally bought the "thin" sheeting, so the fun didn't last long before the bag popped, but it was sure tons of fun while it lasted.

Avery and Brinley started school last Tuesday. 

Aspen was crushed to have to wait until Thursday to begin preschool.

Avery has the same teacher as Brinley did in 1st grade, who is wonderful, 

and Brinley really loves her new teacher!

Aspen has the same preschool teacher that Avery had. 

She goes to school from 8:45 to 11:15am and has loved her first 

few experiences at her new school.

Every preschool morning I pick up my friend's two kiddos and take them to school with Aspen, before dropping off the big girls at their school and then heading to the gym. 

My friend picks up Aspen after preschool and brings her home. Carpooling is a godsend!

We are off to a great year of school!

Utah Trip Weeks 3 & 4

Our third week stared off with family reunion #3.

The Lundberg family gathering took place at a rented home in Park City.

Before meeting up with the family we were able to spend time with our friends.

Those who attended our wedding will recognize Vic, who was our best man.

Vic and I became friends in LA before I met Cody. He has been such a special person in our lives. I still remember when we first heard about his new love Molly. 

We have kept in touch throughout the years and they now have a beautiful family 

with children Lucy, Peter and brand new baby Zoe!
Zoe was just a few weeks old when we met her.

It was wonderful to reunite and spend some time with this amazing family.

The reunion in Park City provided a much needed time of relaxation.

The girls spent some time playing basketball, dancing and watching movies, however, for the majority of our three days at the cabin they swam in the hot tub.

Maddison is just younger than Avery and it was so fun for the girls to play 

with their cousin closest to them in age. They also had fun with cousins Luke (2) and Cooper (2).

One afternoon Nana presented the children with Super Hero capes she had individualized for them. Then we watched the movie The Incredibles. 

The girls are still enjoying those fun capes Nana!

 

On the first night Aunt Robyn and Nana planned a fun birthday celebration 

for all the kids since we would not be together during birthdays.

We enjoyed birthday cake, a pinata and gifts from Tim and Robyn.

Although Cody enjoyed early morning jogs in the mountains and I loved practicing yoga in such a beautiful atmosphere, spending time with our family members whom we hadn't seen in a very long time was the best part of our time in Park City.

Later in the week we met up for dinner in SLC at the new City Creek Mall.
It was rather enjoyable being able to mingle without children,
well except for Reese who is unable to interrupt conversation.

Top left : LP, Robyn, Nana, Poppy, Leah, Reese, Cody.

Bottom left: Kelli, Brenna, Staci

Throughout the remainder of the week we packed every block of time with more to do:

*Another trip to Seven Peaks

*A sleepover at the Youngs

*A sleepover with Olivia and Grace Woolley.

*I visited my high school friend Stephanie in her home...

she lives just down the street from my mom.

*Many moments of utter exhaustion, like when Aspen would fall asleep 20 seconds after we got into the car, or when she threw an awesome tantrum at a restaurant or when she 

peed on the floor at Grandmas because she was mad that she did not get to wear my lipstick.

 

*A delicious birthday dinner for me and Avery at Grandma Ginger's.

* A rodeo in Spanish Fork that the girls thought was pretty much amazing.

Finally it was time to pack up, once again, but this time for our trek back home!

On the way back we stayed overnight in St. Louis with our dear friends the Elmores. 

Spending time with Amy made me remember how much I miss her guts!

She created this little picture collage above of our time together. 

After a fun movie night and the next day spent swimming at the pool, our girls did not want to leave...and neither did I, but alas it was time to get home. 

Our final stop before we left the city landed us at the top of the St. Louis Arch.

The kids were already tired after a day of swimming, but we wanted to make Avery's actual birthday special. Against our better parenting judgement skills, we decided to go.

Who knew it would be packed and the little stop would take hours.

The kids wandered around the museum with Dad while I nursed.

Finally, after standing in one line and then another and finally another, 

we boarded the tiny HOT lift to get to the top. 

Hopefully the children will remember how neat it was looking out those tiny windows!

After waiting in a few more lines to get the heck outta there, the girls were crying, 

insisting they couldn't walk and certain that they would 

starve to death if we did not find food fast.

We ended up dragging the children through the streets to the nearest available place to get food and ended up at The Spaghetti Factory. 

We acted as if this was a very much planned special birthday 

dinner out for Avery, which sort of worked. 

As soon as we got our food Brinley spilled a bowl of dressing on her shorts and Dad had to run all the way back to the car for a new change of clothes. On the way back to the car Aspen did a face plant on the cement and, in typical Aspen fashion, cried as if her leg had been cut off. 

 After we made it back to the car and buckled the kids in, Dad ran over Reese's binki. She was screaming due to hunger but we started to head out of the city because we were going to pull over in just a few exits for gas and nursing time, however, we found ourselves stuck in stand still traffic at 9:40pm due to construction. 

Since the car wasn't moving I took the babe out and nursed her sitting on the floor of the van.

At 4:30 am we rolled into our very own garage and got the kids down by 5am! 

We made it, we survived, I even think we thrived all things considered.

A big thanks to Grandma who hosted us for a L O N G time at her home 

and to everyone else who made special efforts to spend time with our family!

Utah Trip Week 2

On Sunday we attended my Aunt Athelia and Uncle Ken's homecoming at church. 

They just finished serving as mission presidents in Russia for three years. 

After sacrament meeting we joined family and friends for dinner at their home. 

The next morning we loaded up and drove for 2.5 hours up to a 

ranch high in the mountains for the Woolley Family Reunion.

125 family members were in attendance and family traveled from places like 

Greece, Switzerland and China to attend!

(taken last week during a trip to London)

Arian and Jill were so sad to have to miss this event. Living in Oxford with small children and attending graduate school makes a weekend in the Utah mountains a bit complicated, however, they have been quite the busy travelers! 

Since they moved to England on Dec. 21st they have spent time touring England, Scotland, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, Germany and Sweden!  

In addition to the family travel time, Arian also recently spent three weeks in China with his classmates, then Malaysia and San Fransisco.

There were many activities at the reunion including boating, horseback riding, swimming, mountain biking, hiking and for me, early morning yoga on the deck
overlooking an amazing mountain view.

The outdoor activities were in addition to mini classes, lectures, skit night, family history slideshow, etc... Because Reese needs a fair amount of nap time every day, either Cody or I was destined to stay in the cabin, so it was great that there 

was so much going on both inside and outside.

 Brinley and Grace became dear friends during the reunion. During our last week in Utah Brinley and Avery were invited to sleep-over with the Woolley girls at their home in South Jordan. This was a VERY special treat since we only do sleepovers with family members, and because we don't live near any sleepovers have not been an option.

(Austin & Brinley)

It was so fun to watch my girls cling onto my younger cousins as playmates. 

Growing up I was always the designated baby holder in the family. Everyone knew that whomever had the youngest baby would be duty free because I would want to care for that baby during any given family gathering. 

I especially recall holding Jan and Richard's kids and here they are 

entertaining my girls in the pool.

(Roger & Avery)

(Jen & Aspen)

Aspen grew exceptionally fond of Austin and his new wife Jen and spent time with them whenever possible.

It's hard to see this schedule clearly, but Kelty participated in the planning committee and part of her responsibilities were to coordinate the schedule. She created a three-page masterpiece with all of the details for the reunion included. Each person was presented with a copy upon arrival and a very large poster-size print was displayed in a main gathering area.

I included a very few amount of pictures take during this reunion, however post-reunion responsibilities include Duane creating a video utilizing pictures and video taken from a number of family photographers. May the force be with you Duane, seriously!

On Wednesday evening we were back at Grandma Ginger's and busy unpacking and doing laundry to get ready for reunion #2 of the week which started the very next morning. 

In the morning we made our way to Seven Peaks to meet up with the Young side of our family for a fun day in the sun! The girls had an absolute blast. 

Brinley wanted to ride the fastest and highest slides and Avery did too, but she was too short for some of them which was so sad sad sad for her, still there was much to enjoy for all ages.

 The children were not the only ones who enjoyed the slides!

That night we drove up to Sandy for dinner. Aspen and Avery were having a complete meltdown after the long day at Seven Peaks 

and so they stayed at home with Grandma Ginger. 

That day was Brinley's birthday!

After dinner we sang to her and she was presented with a birthday dessert.

 (Grandpa Young, Uncle Tim, Daddy)

On day two we met at Kneaders for breakfast and then went to Trafalga for activities. 

My priority was getting Reese to sleep and keeping her that way. 

It was fun to stroll around watching everyone enjoy various activities.

Brinley and Avery had fun rock climbing. 

Other activities included bumper boats, go karts, kiddie rides and laser tag. 

After Trafalga we headed back to Provo to drop the big girls off with Grandma Ginger and headed back up to Sandy for dinner out with just adults. 

Of course Reese was our sweet little tag-along.

 (Grandpa, Cassie, Christie, Sarah & Darren)

On day #3 we went bowling and to the movies. It was a fun and busy few days! 

It was great to spend time with the Young family and reconnect!

Utah Trip Week 1

Oh how cathartic it was to participate in the Provo Freedom Festival!

I grew up attending this festival every 4th of July. It's jam packed with incredible hand-made crafts, performances by local talent, delicious local food and carnival like attractions. 

A portion of Center Street in downtown is closed off for several days to accommodate the festivities. 

The girls were in  

seventh heaven enjoying an abundance of exciting activities.

Being the fearless little creatures they are, all three girls choose to flip forward and backward each time they rocketed high up into the air on these individual trampolines. Aspen struggled to build enough momentum to flip her little body all the way over, but she sure gave it her best repeated effort.

Boy Cody and I would love to have these type of 

energy exhausting and noise reducing activities available in our backyard!

One day Kelty took us all to the barn she rides at for a horse riding trip to remember!

We visited several of the horses including a brand new baby horse  

that the girls were able to pet. 

During the barn tour Kelty demonstrated some vaulting exercises on a pretend horse that is used for teaching purposes.

Kelty even had a horse lay down for the girls to pet.

A lesson about horse care was an added bonus and the children

helped clean shoes and brush the horses hair.

Kelty was ever so patient and let each of the girls have a very LONG turn riding.

Even Kelty's little two-year old, Rella, took a turn riding!

The parade was awesome, which is to be expected since it's only the best darn 4th of July parade in the nation! I suppose that is why the streets where packed with people beginning mid-day the day before the parade. 

Saving seats is a BIG DEAL and nothing short of stress inducing in my opinion.

The Provo Police task force makes it a priority to ensure that no one saves seats on the Center Street portion of the parade route until 4am on the day of the parade. In happy valley this just may qualify as one of their greatest duties in any given calender year.

Kelty and Cody were up early to attend to the duty of saving seats for our family.

 (Reese and Grandma Young)

This year the Young family joined us for their inaugural exposure to this great tradition.

The floats are elaborate, balloons are huge, bands are perfectly practiced and
outfitted and the patriotic spirit is abundant!

Enjoying this parade with my girls by my side was definitely a trip highlight!

Other noteworthy outings during week one included:

Going out to dinner with Aunt Mel at Arian's restaurant, Cafe Fresh. After dinner we headed back to her home to visit while the children choked, I mean loved, her cat to death.

One morning Bonnie (Bonsie to us) took Kelty, Mom and me out to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe and then came back to Grandma Ginger's house to spend some time with the children.

She presented us with the most WONDERFUL book that I would highly recommend, see HERE. I can't wait to read more of Dr. Fuhrman's books!

A trip to Utah would not be complete without a visit to my old stomping, or rather skiing ground, Sundance Resort. In elementary school the district took kiddos skiing every Thursday. After a couple hours of school work in the morning we boarded the buses and drove a quick 20 minutes up to Sundance for a group ski lesson
and after that a couple hours of solo ski time.

Sundance suckers were on the weekly ski check-list growing up,
so anytime we visit we have just got to get them!

As we were departing after our peaceful and scenic ride on the ski lift we ran into the cast of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers who were all
dressed up for a photo shoot.
They were gracious to chat with the girls and let us snap a picture.

Mom was able to secure VIP tickets to the final dress rehearsal and later on in our trip she and I attended with little Reese in tow while Cody and the big girls enjoyed a
 sleepover at Grandma and Grandma Young's house.

To wrap up week one we hired two babysitters who stayed at home with our three big girls and cousin Rella to allow the adults a child-free evening out. After dinner at my favorite local Mexican restaurant, Los Hermanos, we strolled along Center Street and took a picture in front of the courthouse where both Cody and I and Kelty and Duane held our wedding receptions!