Utah week 1

Dave is on Night Shift this month.  We both felt that 80 hours a week of straight nights and two small children in a small apartment with 100+ degree weather would not be good for any of us, especially Dave when he needs to get some sleep!
  So my mother, very generously, brought the kids and I to Utah to stay where she could help me, we could play, enjoy some nicer weather and best of all be with family.  If only Dave were here!!  We have been here a little over two weeks and we have already seen and done SO much I thought I should probably start blogging about what we have been up to a week at a time so I don't forget anything!

The Flight to Utah:

Without trying to sound too conceited (though when people start a sentence that way they inevitably are going to!) I consider myself to be a really well traveled mom.  I have taken James on nearly 20 plane rides and many car trips most of which have been on my own.  We have even traveled a bit with Madeline.  But I have never been on an airplane alone with both kids.  Needless to say I was nervous, really nervous.  I think I played out every possible problem we could have had in my head, over and over.  However, all my worrying turned out to be a HUGE waste of energy.  The kids were perfect! PHEW!  Maddie slept most of the flight, and didn't vomit once (that alone is a miracle)!  James just sat nicely in his own little seat watching shows and snacking away.  Many people commented on how great they were. 

 

 Maddie making this almost too easy and

James anxiously awaiting his turn to go on a plane!

Our first day in Utah my sister-in-law Cami came to Bountiful to see us and have our kids play together.  We took them all to Mike and Grandpa's "farm" where they picked lost of yummy fruits and veggies.  Cami (my brother Dallin's wife) has a son just 5 1/2 months older than James and a baby just 5 months older than Maddie.  It is so fun having the cousins play together! 

 Little Davey and James digging away!

 

 Hyrum and Maddie Crawling around together at Grandpa and Lady's house.

A couple of days later my sister-in-law Mariah (Justin's wife) suggested we take the kids to the Dinosaur park in Ogden Canyon.  It was super fun, the boys especially LOVED it!  She also had kids really close in age to James and Maddie.  Max is just over 9 months older than James and Wyatt is about the same distance from Maddie.

 Cute little buddies holding hands through the park

 Caveman James

  Maddie seemed to enjoy it too!

And Handsome Cousin Wyatt is always happy!

The next night I got to go out with this sweet woman:

Jess and I have been friends for YEARS.  I am truly blessed to have such a dear friend.  We have always had so much fun together.  It was so great reminiscing and catching up!

On Thursday my dad took the kids and I to their very first University of Utah Football game!  I grew up going to football games all the time with my Dad.  I have so many happy memories cheering on

our Utes.  It was so fun bringing my kids to the game!

They did really well, better than I anticipated, though by this point in the game (the end of the third quarter) James was more interested in playing with Maddie and she was more interested in nursing (they do not have mother's lounges at football stadiums, weird...).  So when the rain came we headed home.  It was a lot of fun!

In the meantime this little one figured out she could do this:

 Yes this is my crazy 6 1/2 month old standing ALL BY HERSELF!  I am hoping she will hold off on the walking thing for a couple more months....

Long before we came to Utah and the first week we were here my siblings, dad and I had all been plotting a surprise party for this pretty lady:

 Fifty never looked so good!!

I told her we were going to go take 6 month photos of Madeline to get her to the park where all our family (sans dave :( ) and some of mom's closest friends were waiting to surprise her.  Despite some sprinkles, strong winds and cool weather it turned out great!  She was very surprised!

 My siblings and I did 50 gifts for 50 years.  Our final gift was 50 random acts of kindness/service that we all preformed in honor of mom. There were LOTS of tears so I think she liked it. 

 Mom with her cute dad (89!) and her two brothers.

 Our family.  

We just love our sweet mom!  I am so grateful for such WONDERFUL brothers and sisters that helped me make this happen. 

Along with surprises, gifts, family, friends and food the party also had lots of CUTE babies!

 Like this one

 and this one

And my personal favorite!

That is week one of our trip to Utah.  LOTS more to come!