SLC Day 13

We woke up this morning ready to head outside again. We ate a yummy breakfast of pancakes, and then loaded everyone up in the car, along with some friends and family of Alia. We went past Snowbird, up a mountain named Alta, to the Secret Lake trail. Actually, we never made it to the trail. While driving up the mountain, the road was closed about 2 miles ahead of the trail for snow (even though there was no snow on the road as we were walking later...), and then another mile up the trail to Secret Lake. So, everyone decided that we could walk up the rest of the way... We made it about 3/4 of the way before one of Alia's younger cousins fell and twisted his knee. Then he felt lightheaded because he hadn't been drinking water. Then some policemen drove by, and called the ambulance to check him out. As we were waiting for the paramedics, our kids got to play in some snow on the side of the road. We were able to pass out snacks and more water to recharge all of our batteries from carrying the kids in backpacks, etc. The kids really were toast by the time we got to this point, so we decided to turn around and head back to the car. It really was a good hike and workout, and I hope that the kids had fun, too. The scenery was beautiful as always, and well worth the burnt calories.

After naps, we are heading out to Alia's Aunt Rhoda's house for dinner (enchiladas, I think). So that will be fun!

SLC Day 12

Yesterday was a great morning for us to kind of sit back and relax a bit. We enjoyed some breakfast, and just took our time getting dressed. Then we decided that we'd like to go to Trolley Square (kind of like a little mall area) and take the kids (& me!) to the saltwater taffy store. I LOVE saltwater taffy, and it is really good here. It was a fun trip, but there was hardly anyone there. I guess that is why the security guards decided to keep an eye on us, because there was a security guard who kept watching us to do something wrong. Nick actually had to go and fill out a form to take pictures of Aiden while inside the building, and Joy was asked not to take Aiden up and down the escalator. I guess that's why not too many people were there......

Then, again, we just came home and enjoyed the rest of the day together at the house. The kids have so much fun playing outside up here. It's going to be such a shock on so many levels when we go back home! But we will do our best to get them setup so that they can still do some of the things they were doing up here.

After the kids were asleep last night, the 4 of us and Joy walked over to Five Guys (a great burger and fry place), and then to Wing Nutz to pick up food, and then back home. We enjoyed some yummy wings and fries while we watched The Kings Speech on demand. It was such a good movie, and a good time being together.

SLC Day 11

On Friday morning, we all woke up early to head out to Heber, Utah, so that we could ride the Heber Creeper (a train). It was a 3 hour train ride that went from 11-2, but we had to leave around 9:30 to get there and buy tickets. While we were on the train, the kids were having a blast. After we had been on the train for about 20 minutes or so, the train stopped at an old train station. We all jumped out of our seats as we heard a shotgun go off right next to our window! We looked, and someone dressed as a train robber was getting onto our train! They did a great job of running through the train and asking passengers where the money box was, etc. The kids thought it was really neat. Evan kept saying, "But they are nice train robbers..."

After we got back to the original station at 2pm, we pulled out some lunch that we had brought in the car, and let the kids run around in a sprinkler that was setup there. When we got back home, and after kids napped, we all just played in the water table and backyard some more before bedtime. Another great day in Utah!

SLC Day 10

Thursday morning, we woke up and decided to take the kids up to Snowbird (a ski resort) to ride the tram and see the mountain and snow up there. Of course, it took us forever to get ready, so it was lunch time by the time we had all the kids fed and everything together. So we went to eat lunch at one of Bud's cousins' restaraunts named Philly's. It was really yummy.

We saw Bud's cousin while we were there, and she took Alia and I to her Day Spa to get a henna tatoo on our legs. It was a lot of fun, and neat to see all of the different businesses that they own.

Then we all headed up to Snowbird. We all had a blast riding the tram up the mountain, even if it did make me feel sick when the tram would move over the rollers and sway... It was so beautiful once we got to the top! You could see over the entire valley, and the mountains in the distance were just amazing to see. It was also neat to take our kids back to the place that we visited the last time we were in Salt Lake, before we had kids. Now we have "before and after" pictures, since that was 6 years ago. Aubrie loved playing in the snow, as that was her first time to see it. Evan wasn't quite sure about it because he kept slipping, but he liked throwing snowballs at people.

After the tram, we decided to let the kids (Evan & Aiden) jump on the bungee trampoline, and they had so much fun! I wasn't sure if Evan would really do it once he got all hooked up, but he had so much fun! He looked like such a big boy! He kept hanging from the bungee and asking, "Why am I jumping?" After that was finished, and as we were headed back to the car, Alia saw a moose with her little baby! It was so neat to see!

SLC Day 9

Oh. My. Goodness. I haven't written down what we've done since last Tuesday! Yikes! I'm glad that we have all taken pictures so that I can see what we did and when, or I'd never remember everything. Isn't that sad?

On Wednesday, we woke up and headed over to the Aquarium. It was so much fun! It was such a neat little aquarium, with great ideas and exhibits for all of the animals. It was also helpful that the workers were positioned throughout the building to answer questions and explain things about all of the animals. I felt like I learned a lot on this trip. The building was also very family friendly, which was really nice for all of our kids.

After the Aquarium, we all went back and let the kids nap and play at the house. Then Bud & Joy were so sweet and offered to babysit all of the kiddos (Miles included, Alia's cousin's baby), while we went out to eat at the Red Iguana. It is a cute little mexican food place that has been featured on the Food Network. It was sooo packed when we got there; we were glad that we had a reservation! The food was so good. It was a different flair on mexican food, with really interesting combinations of flavors in their food. Nick ordered a jalapeno margarita, while Chris had a cucumber margarita. They were both super yummy! They are also famous for their mole (pronounced mol-ae), and had all different kinds to choose from. It was fun to go out on the town without the kids and have a really great meal.

It was such a fun day!

SLC Day 8

This morning, Alia invited her friend Chelsea and her son Caleb over for a play date with all of the kiddos. He and Aubrie are only 4 days apart, so they were cute together. Caleb was really shy, though, and played mostly to himself. Although, our kids seemed to have dynamite running through their veins this morning, as they were running all over the house as soon as they woke up. I think that all of our traveling is finally catching up to them...

We played outside a lot with the kids this morning, while the boys helped Bud unload more of his garage. Then for lunch (a late lunch around 2:30), we decided to go to the family restaurant, O'Falafel. It was so delicious! It is always fun trying new foods. I was proud of Evan, as well, because he tried a lot of the foods that were brought out, and loved them! Ansley was super cute, too, because we could really tell that she loved going to the restaurant. Chris got embarrassed because Aubrie pooped and some peepee got on his pants, but that seemed to be the only casualty to the afternoon.

We were thinking about going to the aquarium after naps, but then we ended up babysitting Carolyn (Alia's cousin) and Josh's son, Miles (5 months old). So we basically just played outside some more! What am I going to do when we get back to Houston, and my kids want to be outside every minute of the day??!! We're going to have to get some sort of shade going so that we can be outside for more than 5 minutes at a time. I know that Evan is going to have Ansley withdrawals when we get back to Texas, too. They have really seemed to bond since we've been here, and seem to be the best of friends. It will give us another reason to come back to Utah more often; to see Ansley.

(pics later).

SLC Day 7

Today we woke up with intentions of going to the aquarium, but by the time we were all ready to go, the kids were already starting to get tired. Plus, it was such a nice and overcast morning, that we decided to head over to a place called Gardner Village. It is somewhat like Old Town Spring, but supposedly had a nice little petting zoo for the kids. When we got there, however, we learned that the petting zoo had been shut down by PITA (or whatever organization it is called). So we just walked around instead.

First, we went to the bakery and bought the kiddos a cookie. They were yummy, and everyone got to pick their favorite kind of cookie, so it was super fun. Then we just walked around to a few different shops (the girls girls going into purse and quilt shops, while the boys decided to head in a non-girly direction). There were so really cute little shops, and we enjoyed the time together. There was a cute kiddie toy/book shop that we saw, and looked at some really cute things in it. There was a fun toy that looked like a bear that you put a tennis ball into it, and then shoot it out at something. Aubrie didn't like that at all! She started screaming because it scared her! So then the owner put a fun little ball with glowing lights, and it helped calm her down... So we bought one for each kid. :) We ended the trip by going to the little pond in the town to feed the 3 ducks. They were kind of boring ducks, as they would have rather eat algae than our bread, but the kids had fun.

Then we took Aiden and Aubrie back to the house to sleep, while the rest of us went to Crown Burger. Chris has been dreaming of this place since the last time we were here in 2005! They had the coolest drink dispenser that we've ever seen, and of course the burgers were just as good as we remembered. Aubrie woke up after only a bit, so we didn't hang out too long before going back to get her.

After that, we took the kids up for a family friendly hike to Doughnut Falls. It was so much fun! Aubrie looked so cute in the backpack that Karim let us borrow, and Evan did great by walking most of the way up the trail, and halfway back down. Once we got there, we couldn't go all the way up to the top, but the kids liked getting to touch the really cold water and look at the beautiful scenery. By the time we got back the kids were basically toast. So we fed them dinner, and then hit the sack by about 8:45. Such a fun day!

(again, pictures once I download them).

SLC Day 6

Today, we woke up and had a great breakfast together. We have so much food leftover from the rest of the week, that we ate leftovers all day long; bran muffins, granola, potatoes, veggies, yogurt, etc. Then the "grandparents" offered to watch the kids while the 4 of us went to church. We went to Joy's church, K2, which was amazing. When we came home, the kids had been playing all morning and having a blast! Then we put Aubrie & Aiden down for a nap, while Evan and Ansley kept on playing. We finally had to put Evan down for a nap at around 3:30 because he was bouncing off the walls. He ended up sleeping until 5:30 before Chris went in to wake him up! Then we ate again, took a 2 mile walk around the neighborhood with the kiddos, made root beer floats, gave the kids a bath, and had them in bed by 9:45 (yes, PM) or so. Then the grown-ups stayed up playing scrabble and eating s'mores dip (ok, Alia, Chris and I ate the dip... along with giant smarties, chester's hot fries, and cotton candy...)...

(I'll ad pictures the next time I download them).

SLC Day 5

Yesterday was a very easy-going day. We woke up, and basically just played all day long! Bud & Joy were hosting a dinner for their Care Group, and we had a yummy baked potato bar for dinner. After dinner when the kids were all asleep, Chris, Nick, Alia, & I went over to Alia's cousin's house (Caroline) to hang out, eat s'mores, and have a little cerveza. It was such a fun night of talking, joking, and telling fun stories.

That is basically all we did today!

SLC Day 4

Today the kids slept in a bit. Aubrie didn't wake up until 8:17, and Evan would have slept longer if Aiden and Aubrie hadn't jumped on him to wake him up! Then we all got our stuff together and headed up to Mill Creek Canyon to eat breakfast on the mountain. Evan has been wanting to go on and "inside" a "green" mountain ever since we got here. So, he was pretty excited on the trip over there! It was freezing when we got up there, so we had all of the kids wrapped up in towels to help keep them warm. But it was so wonderful eating bagels from Einstein Bros and drinking hot coffee on the mountain! Then we all took of and went walking around to see the beautiful scenery. The kids loved looking at the waterfalls coming down out of the mountain. On our way out, we drove up to the top of the mountain, and it was just gorgeous.

When we came back, Aubrie went down for a nap (easily, I might add, yeah!), and we started getting ready for Aiden's party. Then the kids played outside again all afternoon. The kids just love being outside here! They have played with the water table for hours every day since we've been here. We MUST try to get something going in our backyard when we get home so that the kids can play outside more often.

Aiden's party went really well! It was a great gathering of people, and the kids had a blast playing in the bubble machine and with sidewalk chalk. Aubrie was walking nonstop all over the party, and Evan had a blast playing with Ansley and eating cake. Can't believe that Aiden is two years old already! He is talking up a storm and repeating anything that he hears. Such a sweetheart.


After the party, Chris and I went on a date to see the final Harry Potter movie. It was a great movie, and it is always nice to get some alone time with Chris. (Love you, honey!).

SLC, Day 3

Oh my, I didn't write anything down last night, and I already hope that I can remember everything!

The morning started early for everyone; Evan woke at 7am, and Aubrie at 6:40am. So we went up for breakfast where everyone else was already up, too. After breakfast, the boys started helping Bud clean out his garage, and took several loads of stuff to be donated over several hours. The grown ups and kids stayed in the back yard for for a long while. The kids played in the water table, and we even had the best picnic outside. Aubrie was being a little pill (love you, princess, when you read this one day, but you were!), and it took her a while to fall asleep. I was kind of stressed out after listening to her cry so hard that she almost choked herself for almost 20 minutes. So, it was very nice to finally get her to sleep and to enjoy some time outside in the beautiful weather.

After the boys got back, Alia and I ran some errands for Aiden's birthday party. I can't believe that he is already 2 years old! He's such a fun, sweet little boy!

Later in the afternoon, we ate some amazing taco salad that Joy made. She found the recipe on AllRecipes.com, which is amazing. Then we made our way to the Gateway Mall area, where we listened to a country music group, and the kids played in a really cool water fountain. It was so much fun watching the kids dance to the music and run around together! I'm so glad and thankful that we were given this opportunity to be here and see everyone together.

We were all pretty tired by this point, and were all happy to head home and hit the sack. Aubrie was back to her sweet self last night, and was all cuddles and kisses when we put her down for bed. Evan blew me kisses as I went up the stairs. I love moments like those, it sure does make being a mommy much easier!

(pictures coming later after they are downloaded).