summer fun

In between our summer trips, in order to keep 

sane, we attempted to keep the kids busy as much as possible.

One morning it was BEAUTIFUL outside and COOL!  That does NOT happen during Texas summers.  So, we took advantage of it and headed to our new favorite park.

Boston has a SLIGHT obsession with America Ninja Warrior, so basically this park visit turned into practice facilities for him to prep for the show one day.

 We found a new trampoline park the kids love.  If you take them there for an hour, they are worn out.  It's even fun for Nolan!  Check!

 We took all the cousins to see the summer movie.  I love doing those movies although I DO NOT love going with a 10 month old.

 Of course pool days are a MUST in the summertime.

 We decided to let the kids try the whole mentos and coke explosion gig.  We learned later it was supposed to be DIET coke but hey, it still worked.

I'm sure they would have LOVED to drink all that Coke.

 Then, we followed that up with a water balloon fight. Kristin bought the new thing that fills up 30 (or 50?) water balloons at once.  It totally works although they are TINY and SUPER hard to bust...

 And since they are SO hard to break, that means you have to throw them REALLY hard to get them to bust open....which in turn creates some sad children.

Whoops!  

legoland

Boston's really good buddy from school in Houston, Jacob, came to Dallas for a little family getaway.  They invited us to tag along with them to LEGOLAND for the afternoon.  This will be our SECOND Legoland adventure (one in Kansas City and this one in Dallas).  I know they aren't like the MEGA Legolands in California and Florida but the kids don't know the difference.  

We started with the 4D movie.  Nolan didn't LOVE getting a little splashed.  Poor baby had NO idea what was going on.

 I'm always amazed what you can build with Legos (or professional Lego builders---they really have those?!?).  All the important landmarks of Dallas were built with Legos!

 We tried out all the rides and the boys favorite was probably racing the Lego cars around the track.

 They also got their turn at building and racing their cars.  This is where Kent LOVES to "help".  

 Poor Nolan.  It's no fun hanging out in the stroller while everyone else is playing.  Where possible, we tried to let him have some fun too.

 CHIMA!  I will never fully understand my boys love for that show.

 We finished with one last ride before heading to dinner.

Boston has been missing all his friends from Houston so it was very nice to be able to see a friendly face in our new town.  We welcome visitors at ALL times (and especially when our house is finished)!

swim lessons

 

 Hudson could swim on his own okay.  He wasn't confident enough for me to let him swim without his floaties unless I was near by.  He has very little fear with the water and thinks he's as big as Boston.  It makes me a tad nervous. 

So, swim lessons were in order again this summer.  This time, with a new swim coach Ms. Sally.  We were sad we weren't in Houston any longer to take from Brooke.  Ms. Sally didn't disappoint though.  After a week of swim lessons, Hudson had it DOWN and he's now a fully confident swimmer.  I still get a tad nervous because the kid can hold his breath FOREVER under water and I hope he remembers to come up for air each time.

Oh.  And the goggles are a MUST for him.  Apparently, they are HIS necessity while swimming.

 

america

Our 4th of July festivities were a little different than usual this year.  My parents decided to go to Jerusalem over 4th of July so that meant no celebration at their house this year.  Luckily, all my sisters live in Dallas now, so we could still get together but it just wasn't the same. 

We started the day with our traditional 4th of July crepes breakfast.

 This is also the day that I woke up with pink eye.  A few days prior to this, I was achy, tired and had a sore throat.  I was hoping I didn't pick up Hudson's strep.  I finally caved and went to Urgent Care to find out it was just a virus and that's what stemmed the pink eye.  After a steroid shot in the behind, I was on my way.  Lovely way to spend one of my favorite holidays.

And on a side note, pink eye will be the death of me.  Once I get it ONE time, I get it AT LEAST once more after that.  In this case, it was FOUR times.  Yes, I throw away all my eye makeups, thoroughly clean, change bedding, etc.  Regardless, this pink eye lingers EVERY time.  I HATE it.

 Since I LOOKED and FELT awful, I opted out of the photos for the day.

We went to Kari's house to grill and let the cousins play.  And of course since Nolan is a baby, his outfit was pooped on before I could even get a picture.

 Water games aren't the same as swimming in my parents pool but the kids still had a great time. They played and played until it was DARK and then they played NIGHT games. 

Oh to be a kid with no worries in the world.

 Sadly, Dallas had a no firework ban in effect so doing a fireworks show ourselves was out of the question. 

Total bummer. 

 Instead, Kent and I took the boys over to a near by firework show which would have to do for this year.  It didn't disappoint but still isn't the same as letting off your own fireworks.

 We sat on the roof of the car while Nolan slept inside and enjoyed the show for a good 25 minutes

Despite being sick and not being at my parents, we did what we could to make it a memorable holiday.  Hey, every year can't be perfect.

HAPPY 4TH!

10 months

Nolan is now 10 months!

We can't get enough of his smiles (and still are caught up on how we have a child with red hair--I'm sure there's chances that it could change still but right now, those signs are non existent).

This boy LOVES food.  LOVES, LOVES food.

His first "word" outside of momma and dada was "MO" in reference to MORE food.  If you don't act quick enough, screams quickly follow until he gets more food.

He's starting to deny anything pureed and looks forward to "the good stuff".

I can't blame him.

He's way more adventurous in his eating than any of my other boys.

 He's getting better at learning how to walk behind his push toy. 

 He slowly started to let go of furniture and get a little daring by standing on his own for just a few seconds.

And no, he's not burned...his "tan" has much more of a red tint to it (perks of being a red head I assume).  He's definitely my fair skinned child that I have to lather with sunscreen HOURLY.

The stairs are my enemy.  He's taken a few stumbles sadly when he's snuck off without me knowing.  Luckily it was only a few steps up.

Speaking of falling, this kid CONSTANTLY has bruises on his head.  I swear I watch my child but I'm not sure if he's just totally accident prone or if his big head just always gets in the way.

He started clapping his hands for us and saying "uh oh"

 This big, blue eyed boy is our favorite little ginger around.

utah from bottom to top

Our 10 day journey from the bottom to the top of Utah started in St. George.  We were having a BLUTH reunion (which is what stemmed this whole trip).  I always LOVE seeing family that we don't get to see very often.  I love my grandparents, aunts and uncles.  They crack me up and I love seeing myself in them and thoroughly enjoy hearing all their stories (Bluth's are known for their story telling--exaggerated or not).

 We stayed in an AMAZING house in St. George with a gorgeous view.  The boys had a blast from the basketball court in the backyard to the pin ball to the awesome pool!  I could have stayed there the whole vacation EASYILY!

 We celebrated Father's Day and tried to show Kent how much we LOVE him despite having lots of family stuff planned.  We really do love this guy and appreciate everything he does has a father, husband and provider!  LOVE YOU!

 One of the MAJOR pitfalls of this trip was the start of the sicknesses that got dumped on our family.  Boston was first with a strange bug where he would feel totally normal then a random fever would hit and then a few hours later would go away.  This lasted THREE days.  We tried to get him to rest but that was hard to do when everyone around him was having fun.

 On Sunday we went to my grandparent's ward which is in a RETIREMENT community in St. George aka NO KIDS!  I'm always paranoid going to their ward with my kids because you can hear a pin drop in that chapel it's so quiet.  My kids are generally pretty good but they have their moments.  I feel SUPER cautious because every peep that is made everyone turns and looks.  They are all so sweet though and LOVE seeing little kids come into their ward.  I sure do love my adorable grandparents and I'm so grateful my kids can experience them too!

 After a few fun days in St. George with family, we headed up to Provo where we stopped to see some of our FAVORITES---the Curtis family.  They moved from Houston right before us and we were thrilled to be reunited with them.  One of the days, we headed to Alpine slides.  SADLY, that's the same day Hudson woke up with a fever and a sore throat.  I sensed strep right away so Kent took him in and sure enough, strep it was!  That put a slight damper on Alpine slides.  Kent insisted that I go with Boston and Nolan while he stayed behind with Hudson.  I was SO bummed they didn't get to come along because Alpine Slides is one of my FAVORITES!

 We took the tram WAY up high and where snow was still lingering.  Boston LOVES snow and was SO happy to see snow in JUNE.  It may have been hard as a rock and totally dirty but it was SNOW to him.

And on a side note, Marcie and I almost KILLED ourselves on the side of the mountain but no worries, we survived.

We LOVE our Mo Mo!  Nolan missed her so much!

 That night we were lucky enough to see some MORE of our favorites--Brad and Halie.  My boys have been asking for MONTHS when they would get to see them again and the day finally came! 

 Next, we headed up to Bear Lake.  On the way, we stopped by my grandma's in Brigham City for lunch and a quick visit.  She always makes the BEST food and it's always fun to visit and see some of my relatives (my aunt Deann and cousin Jessica were there too)!  She is one amazing woman that I truly admire and I love that my kids got some facetime with Jim and her.  I'm blessed with some wonderful grandparents in my life for sure!

 I hadn't seen the Brigham City temple since it was finished so we drove by to take a look.  It is BEAUTIFUL!

 Hudson still wasn't feeling 100% even though he was on antibiotics.  He kept spiking a high fever.  I felt so guilty dragging him around everywhere so it was nice to get to Bear Lake so we could just relax as a family.  Instead of heading to the lake on the first day, we opted to let Hudson rest and hang out at the cabin.  Later, Hudson's fever had gone down a little so we thought we would go into town for some famous Bear Lake raspberry shakes.

We rented this fun bike which is always a KILLER to drive but always so much fun!!

 Boston kept BEGGING us to let him drive, so we let him.  He did okay...

 FINALLY Hudson's fever subsided so we were able to spend time down at the lake.  I LOVE Bear Lake.  It's beautiful and I have great memories coming here as a kid and I'm so glad my boys have been able to experience it too.

Nolan ate TONS of sand.  I forgot I hate sand with kids this age.

 You can't go up in the mountains without a little s'mores making!

Another Bear Lake visit in the books. 

I wasn't quite ready to leave to go back home.  We were tempted to head up to Yellowstone and Rexburg but sadly, our vacation had to end.  I'm pretty sure our kids were exhausted from the move and the travel.  Our journey back to Dallas seemed like a decade but we survived.  Traveling with Nolan all that way was quite the killer for everyone at times but I LOVE Utah in the summer time and I'm so glad we got to see and do as much as we did even though we had a few sickies along the way!

First vacation of the summer down.