Final Post Utah

Our second to last day we went bowling and met some family members there.  Bowling is always fun with the Cottles/Barneys.  They turn it into a party.

Briz loves bowling.  But she is way too competitive.  She gets really upset when others beat her and I have no patience for the whining.  She is such a little perfectionist, sometimes it worries me a lot.  She happens to be the worst when she is really tired (which was she was).

Wembley loved bowling, but as always wanted to be part of the action.  We were constantly chasing her around as she was getting in the way of everyone.  

Her and Kenzie thought the balls were pretty cool.  I loved watching these two play.

The next day we went on a nice bike ride, went swimming, and got ready to drive home.  We didn't stop this time on the drive, and Briz did great, but Wembley was not a big fan.  She still did pretty well, but the last few hours she was done.  I don't really blame her, having to stare at the back of the seat for 12 hours would be tough, particularly when you're as social as she is.

Briz took this picture of me while we were driving.  I am tired and we had just barely stared the drive (Maybe its because I stayed up until 1 a.m. playing games.  Duh.)

Wembley loves to pester Briz while driving.  Briz gets tired of it and complains that Wembley is scratching her, kicking her, etc.  I've tried moving their car seats apart but then Wembley gets bored and Briz can't help.  Big dilemmas.

At the end of the day they love each other a lot, and make each other giggle.  We survived the drive and made it home.  

The Fox's

I have been really spoiled this year with seeing some of my friends.  We had a girls weekend in May, and then I saw them again when I went to Utah in July (minus Bri and Sam).  And then Maggie came to visit.  She didn't come to visit me, but her in laws live close, so I get to reap the benefits.  She was nice enough to drive down to my house to see it.  We hung out at the house for a bit, and then I dragged them into downtown to visit a splash pad.  

It's an awesome splash pad, but we had an exciting experience where we witness a few homeless people getting violent.  When we first got there, they were just hanging out on the outside of the park.  But after being there about 45 minutes, we heard their dog barking really loudly.  We looked over and saw that about four or five them were jumping on top of another guy and punching him.  Before we know it one of the girls grabs a guitar and starts banging him in the head with it.  Maggie and I were sort of shocked, and not sure what to do.  Luckily our kids were over at the water and didn't see anything.  I went to call 911 but a few other moms already beat me to it, and after a few minutes (with the beat up guy passed out on a bench bleeding and all of the others were just hanging around like nothing happened), some police officers showed up.

It was an exciting adventure.  You never know what's going to happen in Portland.  I think next time Maggie comes, I will have to see if we can time it with the naked bike ride so her Portland adventures continue.

Visit with Friends

I see my friends usually when I go to Utah (although the last couple times I haven't been able to).  But I hardly get to see their kids and husbands, so we decided when we got together back in May that we would all get together.

It was so fun spending time with their families.  We laughed, made fun of our kids, and forced them to be friends.

Zeke was pretty excited to give Wembley kisses.  He first had to remove the binky, and then he went in for it.

Owen didn't seem too upset about hanging with all of the girls.  Briz was excited to see all of the Maggie and Kate's toys.  She could have played there all day.

Wembley demonstrated the proper steps to stealing a magic wand from a two year old.  Step 1.  Corner him agains the couch.

Step 2.  Begin to crawl up, using him for balance.

And Step 3.  Take said wand.

Joe and Olivia reminding Wembley that they're still much bigger.  Big enough to climb up on chairs and steal each other's french fries.

The kids had fun jumping on the trampoline.   And Maggie, once again, showed us her perfected pose for pictures.

Zeke, Wembley, and Joseph hanging out.

You can tell which of these kids mom takes pictures of them a lot.

Owen caught on and soon started imitating Brizzy's posing.

The 4th

The morning of the 4th we woke up bright and early and went to run the 10k riverton race.  A few family members ran the 5k and Briz ran the mile with Grandma Julie.  I had asked Carly to run in a 10k with me a few months back, but she was much more more prepare than I am.  She did awesome running 9 minute miles, while I ran 11 minute miles.  I was still proud of myself for running it, it was hard adjusting the altitude and I hadn't really ran much since the Epic Relay.  And I luckily had Brittany as my running partner.

After the race, we went out to eat at Ihop.

We discovered that Wembley looks like Pops, so they developed a special little bond this trip.

And Wembley loved all of the attention she got.  So many people talking to her and smiling at her, which is basically all she ever wants.

After breakfast we went home, took some naps, got all of our stuff and went over to the Westovers for a pool party.

Wembley loved corn on the cob.  One of her new favorite foods.

We then went to Seth and Whitneys, hung out for a bit, had Chinese food for dinner, because what else is more American on the 4th of July than Chinese food?  We then headed over to the Murray park to watch the fireworks.  Dad got the girls light sabers which they loved.  Briz was playing and fighting with it all night, while Wembley thought it was fun to eat it.

I was impressed with how good they were during the fireworks.  Wembley was a little unsure at first, but loved to stare and point.  

I realized I forgot to get a picture of the girls in their cute 4th of July outfits, but it was a little too late.

It was a long but great day.  I love celebrating the 4th in Utah.  People are so patriotic and there is so much fun stuff to do.

Day 1 and 2

The night we got there, we stayed up and played games.  Jacci, Brittany, and I went running at about 11 p.m.  It was too nice outside to not go running!

The next morning we woke up and drove down to Utah County to meet Carly and her kids at the pond near their house.

We brought Sophie along and she ended up being so helpful, watching the girls, playing with them, and catching fish for them.

Briz loved to attack Millie, of course. Millie wasn't extremely thrilled about it all, but was a good sport.

Wembley loved playing in the sand and playing with the sand toys.  

They saw some kids catching fish, so they were consumed with that.  

After playing in the water, we drove back down to South Jordan and met family for Cafe Rio.  

These are the many excited faces of Wembley about to experience Cafe Rio for the first time,

That afternoon, I went with Julie, Jen, and Sherron to see "Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl" while Sophie watched the girls.  Loved the movie, but it was definitely sad.

On Friday, we had a bunch of family over.  Tanner and Sierra came down.  And a little later Landon and Jen came over.  We went and played tennis in the morning, had a BBQ and then played out in the sun.

It was so fun being with family.  The girl cousins all had a blast together.  They even put on a karate show (which got a little violent).

They love Uncle Tyler and Uncle Seth.

In the afternoon we went canoeing and had splash wars.  Most of us ended up soaked.

We then headed to the pool and swam, which included some intense games of sharks n minnos and Marco Polo.  Wembley also started trying to swim.

Loved watching Kenzie take care of her little cousin.  She told me she was babysitting her.