Utah vacation

We took a two week trip to Utah at the beginning of June.  The original plan was for me and the kids to go so Paul could stay here and study.  But then Paul decided he could study just as well in Utah and he didn't want to spend our anniversary and father's day alone so he came along.  He still studied like crazy (he left every morning just after 7 and didn't come home until 9:30 or 10 but at least I could see him at night.  The kids and I spent a lot of time with friends and family and enjoyed the cool weather!  The first weekend there we had an amazing lightening/rain storm, I love summer storms and love the smell! 

Some of the highlights:

*playing on the swing set

*watching world cup soccer games

*attending Mari's birthday party

*jumping on the trampoline

*Leila being a really good girl

*meeting Dozer

*playing at Mari's house

*going swimming at white towers

*getting family pictures

*Leila playing every single game NeNe owns

*going to the temple

*finally getting to see Nana and Pop get a new driveway

*going to midway

*getting to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary without the kids

*going to stake family fun day

*Leila playing at Logan's house

*going to Crescent 7th wards birthday party

*getting a massage

*playing hide and seek

*going to see Toy Story 3 with Nene, Heather and Mari

*watching a World Cup Soccer game with the Phillips, Sloans and Petersons

*going out to lunch with Kara, Mia and June

*meeting my girlfriends and their kids at the park

Some not so fun things:

*Leila getting the stomach flu twice

*Greydon getting the stomach flu

*Me getting the stomach flu

*Greydon not sleeping great at night

*my parents driveway being torn up almost the whole trip

*our car needed some maintenence and it ended up costing a bunch

*not getting to go boating

Greydon playing at Nana and Pops

Poor little guy was sick almost the whole trip, when we first got there he had a bunch a respiratory trouble and then had the stomach flu and fever.  He also started having a lot of separation anxiety, he only wanted me to hold him and cried if he saw me leave the room.  I'm surprised we were even able to leave him for the night while Paul and I celebrated our anniversary.  Paul's mom took him for the night, she didn't say he was horrible but did say he missed his mom and dad.  But it sure was nice to have an evening to ourselves.  We went out to dinner at Tucanos and then went and stayed in Midway that night.  My parents kept Leila for the night, so thank you mom and dad and Connie for taking our kids for us.

Leila loved playing hide and seek, and hid under my parents couch every single time.  Leila was seriously such a good girl while we were there usually she is pretty naughty when we are in Utah but she was so good!

Greydon loved the Jumper Roo, his little feet were constantly moving when we put him in it.  I think the first morning we put him in it he stayed for almost an hour.

Leila was constantly wanting to help my mom in the yard, so she was given the job to pick up any rocks she could find and put them in the bucket

Enjoying time with Uncle Marcus

Watching out the window while Nana worked in the yard, because my parents were getting a new driveway and patio there were constantly construction workers in their yard so a lot of the time I couldn't let them go play outside because it was too dangerous

Making a book mark and Stake Family Fun Day

Leila enjoyed shooting off rockets, blowing giant bubbles  and playing with balloons at her Grandma's ward pary

We went to Mari's 5th birthday party and had a blast.  They had a huge water balloon fight but I only got this one picture before my camera battery died

Waiting for Toy Story 3 to start.  Leila was happy and content with her bucket of popcorn and drink.  Leila has been talking for several weeks about Toy Story 3 (becasue she heard Ryder talking about it and then saw the previews).  So we decided to go see it with Nene, Heather and Mari.  Well the morning that we had decided to go Leila told me she didn't want to go anymore.  I started questioning her and our conversation went like this

Leila: "I'm scared"

Me: "Why?"

Leila: "Is Zerg going to be int he movie?"

Me: "No"

Leila: "I'm still scared"

Me: why?

Leila: "I don't want the lights to be off"

Me: "you can hold my cell phone with the light on"

Leila: "I'm still scared"

Me: "Why?"

Leila: "I might fall off my seat"

Me: "you won't fall off your seat"

Leila: "ok I want to see the movie now"

She seriously is such a worry wart and gets so nervous over everything.  We loved the movie it was so good, I actually would love to see it again

April and Kaylee, Leslie and Josie, Me, Leila and Greydon, Ashley, James and Nathan, and Ashley and Camryn

Ashley and I have been friends since I moved into the neighborhood when I was 10 and then the rest of the us all became friends in junior high so it was so much fun getting together with all of our kids.  We played at the park and talked a lot!

Family Reunion

The first Saturday we were in Utah was the our Christensen Family Reunion (my dad's side of the family).

It was held and my Aunt Karen's house in Sandy, they have a huge yard and more then enough room for all of us to fit comfortably and we lucked out with great weather.  Leila loved playing on their swing set and was thrilled to have Pop pushing her on the swings forever.  There are a total of 29 grandchildren and the majority of them are married with children (I am one of the younger cousins), and then I think they counted around 50 great-granchildren.  Not everyone was there but it definetly was a big group.  My mom put together a whole bunch of Minute to Win It games, Leila and I tried to stack golf balls (without much luck) and then Leila tried to shake ping pong balls out of a box that was attached to her bum.  There were a bunch of other games but those were the only ones the Leila and I participated in.

Logan and Greydon

Leila and I trying to stack golf balls, we first tried on the table but the table was crooked so we moved to the grass but we still couldn't do it

Trying to shake the balls out, she was jumping up and down until she realized people were watching her and then she got real shy and just stood there

Leila was playing volleyball with the kids but after a few minutes she got nailed in the head with the ball and she was done

An ice cream bar quickly helped her forget about the pain of being hit in the head

I think the favorite thing of the night was the search for the coins in the sawdust.  They let the kids under 4 go first so Leila jumped right in and started searching and after a little bit they let the older kids go but Leila didn't stop, she searched until the very end and ended up with $4.51

The Drive

My plan to wear the kids out worked perfectly.  They were both asleep before we left Las Vegas.  The drive was going along great until right before we got to Mesquite and there was an accident and the freeway was shut down.  So we were stuck on the road for about an hour, luckily Leila stayed asleep and I was able to feed Greydon and give him some time out of his carseat.  The rest of the drive went great, the kids slept the rest of the way and Paul and I were able to enjoy a book on CD (ok more I enjoyed it and Paul tolerated it).

Sorry photos are not great they came from my phone

This is while we were stuck on the freeway, Paul put his head phone on Greydon and turned on some music.  Greydon was loving it, I was surprised he didn't even try to pull them off

Park x's 2

On the day we were leaving for Utah we went to the park twice (I wanted my kids to be nice and worn out so they would sleep the entire drive).  In the morning we met Leila's friend from dance class Jocey at the park and then around 3 pm we met Ryder and Paisley at the park.  I don't know how we survived the park that day it was sooo hot, I think around 105 degrees. 

Jocey and Leila

Paisley, Leila and Ryder

Ryder found a lady bug and the girls became obsessed with it.  They all wanted their own but couldn't find anymore so they passed around the one Ryder had found

I love Paisley's expression in this picture!

Showers

My kids love the shower even more than baths most of the time.  When Leila was little I was working and so most of the time I would quickly throw her in the shower with me when I was getting ready to go to work, she loved it and as she got bigger if she heard the shower start she would immediately crawl for the bathroom and then beg to get in. She is pretty much the same way now, anytime I take a shower she wants one too.  Now that we have Greydon its just easier to all get in and he seems to love the shower too!

Boot Camp Tough

Kristine, Rylee, Me, Valene, Allyson, Jenny

The last month I did Boot Camp Las Vegas with several of my girlfriends from the ward.  Kristine had let us know about a coupon that would get us 20 sessions within 30 days for $25.  I figured why not, if I hate it its only $25.  The first day was a cardio day and I assumed I was in decent shape, I had just run a 1/2 marathon but man was I in for a surprise.  About 40 minutes into the workout I was puking in the garbage can.  We pulled tires across the field, did about a million lunges, push-ups and sit-ups, ran our guts out and many other torturous excercises but in the end I loved it and miss not being able to go any more ( its so darn expensive at the regulare price).  On our last day we ran/hiked a giant mountain.  Hiking the mountain made me realize why Jeff (the torturer) made us do so many bear crawls and crab walks, he was just preparing us for the mountain.  After the hike we went and got breakfast and to say goodbye to Valene who was moving to Florida (I am so sad she is gone, she was the best visiting teacher and always kept us laughing and positive while at boot camp).  I really loved boot camp and hope to be able to do it again!

June

We had a very mild May this year most and most days were below average temperatures.  It was so pleasant and we enjoyed a lot of time outside.  Well June hit and it got really hot really fast. I'm not sure if we are going to survive a full summer here.  One of the few activities we can do when were are hitting 100+ temperatures is going to the pool.  Luckily my kids love the water!

Standing

About a month ago Greydon decided he wants to stand (all the time).  He can pull himself up to something and gets to about his knees before he needs me to help him get to his feet.  He thinks this is about the greatest thing in the world, he gets so excited! He starts laughing and breathing hard and hitting whatever he is standing againt and then if I tell him he is a big guy it about sends him over the edge, he is just pure excitement.  He loves being able to see whats going on all around him!  I can't belive how big he is getting and the new things he is learning each day

Memorial Weekend

We had a great memorial weekend. On Saturday Paul went and studied all morning while Leila and I cleaned out under our stairs, I think I ended up maiking a bigger mess but in the end we got it all cleaned up and cleared out a bunch of things. For lunch we headed out to Boulder City for the Best Damn BBQ Competition. We got the most delicious ribs and pulled pork sandwiches, it was sooo good! Paul went and studied some more and then we went to see Iron Man 2 that night. Our great friends the Hadlocks were so nice and let us bring are sleeping children over while we went and saw the movie. On Monday me and the kids went to the rec center to play in the activity pool, it was a lot of fun until Leila decided she was done swimming and became a grouchy little girl. That night we went over to the Reynder's house for an ice cream bar, I think Leila ended up eating about three bowls of ice cream and 4 brownie's

Leila at the Boulder City BBQ

I forgot to get pictures of us at the pool until Leila had already decided she was done swimming, this is her being grumpy

Play dates

We enjoy having friends over to play. Leila still struggles to share toys and we are constantly working on it, so we like to have friends over so she can practice her sharing skills. Some days she does so well and can play for hours with a friend and not have one fight and other days it a constant battle. One day she will finally get it but I sure hope that day comes soon because some days I'm not quite sure what to do with her.

Greydon and Jaren playing together.  We did a swap with the Dekkers last week, on Wednesday Paul and I went to the temple and they watched our kids and then on Thursday they went and we watched their boys.

All four kids together, its kind of funny because Leila and Brig are hugging the wrong brother and I don't even think they noticed they had their arm around the wrong kid

Leila and Paisley painting, they had so much fun with the paint and I think I ended up with paint on the walls and all over the bathroom but it was ok because it kep these busy busy girls occupied