The Rest of Summer- Almost

We made it home from our long journey and the next day we decided we needed to try and recreate our Sodalicious experience.  

We came home and Tommy got to try out solids for the first time. He caught on pretty quickly. We've been having fun watching the faces he makes as he tries new fruits and vegetables. He turned 7 months while we were on Vacation and I'm sad to say I didn't get to do the 7 month photo shoot. He learned to roll over both ways finally  right at about this time.  He could also do baby push ups and push himself backward. I kept finding him crying out because his legs were stuck under the couch. Note to self: need more everyday Thomas pictures!

The weekend after we were home Doug and I escaped all the children and went to the Neon Trees concert. We know the base player. It was fun to see him perform when we had just been in Provo eating Pizza with him a couple of weeks before.

They really put on a great show.

And then Max became a Teenager. This was birthday morning with 13 donuts for breakfast.  We have 2 teenagers now. No big deal. :)

 He had a very low key birthday since it was on a Sunday. He got a sweet bike, and a basketball hoop for his room. We invited the Tsarks over for hamburgers for dinner and he had an Oreo ice cream pie for dessert. I know I took pictures but I just can't find them.

Max is awesome. He and his friend have been "modding" nerf guns all summer long. They look up ideas on youtube for how to make them shoot farther, more accurately, and load more efficiently. They have also been re painting them and morphing them into looking totally different.


We did go to our local beaches a bit this summer when we were in town. Every time we've gone this year they have been so calm with hardly any waves.

And we always stopped for Dells freze on the way home. It's tradition. Even if we have to scrounge in the car for every coin we can find, they only take cash. This particular day we were paying with a handful of coins and the guy in front of us heard us counting and figuring out what we could get so he threw a couple of dollars our way as he left.  :)  Which led to Luke discovering that his favorite dip flavor is cotton candy.

A day at the rock climbing gym.

Mostly the best part of summer is that you can lounge in your pjs if you want to.

This photo about sums it up too.

And lots of this...

Then there was the day Mike and Sher and the Gang came to play. We had so so much fun with them we figure we need to do this again.

We took them to bathtub reef  and there were all of these sea slugs floating around that day. Mer's holding a baby on here

Wavey was in heaven collecting shells

The day ended when this crazy storm rolled in. By the time we got off the beach the wind was pelting our legs with sand.

We took them fishing one night too. fun!

And swam a lot.

I hope they do come back next summer because we had a great time.

They even came along to everyone's basketball game and helped us cheer them on.

Luke also lost his 2nd front tooth sometime around then. He twisted it right out of his mouth. I love this toothless grin. The summer basket ball season was a huge hit with everyone except Mer.

I think she came around though and decided to try a little. Her team won the championship and made 2 shots in her last game.

Max was totally fun to watch and gave it his all. Mostly playing point guard this season, he really improved. Love this pic of him.

Oh and then Doug and Max got the opportunity to take a quick trip down to the keys for lobster mini season. They brought back 14 Florida lobsters.

You might be able to see more photos on Doug's instagram accout. CLICK HERE

The next week we took a trip to the keys for some camping in the HEAT. I'll continue with that adventure soon. This post is a bit long. :0

Road Trip Part 3- Georgia

We made it to Georgia just in time to celebrate Uncle Mike's Birthday. We feasted on Pizza and some amazing treats.

 Make a wish! We also had a ton of fun swimming with them in their neighborhood pool.  The kids were jumping and diving off the diving board with the Go Pro. I'll have to track some of those photos down somehow.

The next day was the 4th of July and we went on a beautiful hike to Amicalola Falls somewhere in the mountains.

 It was so pretty, I love hiking. Even Stella came along with us. 

 We had to walk up A LOT of stairs.  I was having flashbacks of our trip to Red Rocks.

 This was a fun day. A Funny but not so funny memory was when Luke got stung by a bee while we were at the top of the Falls.  He was eating his sandwich at the time he got stung and Stella seized the opportunity to gobble it right up. :)

 That night we celebrated with Fireworks and Klondike bars and Family.

 A perfect celebration.

We were weary from constant travel and anxious to be home so we left the next morning. Well we tried to. We came out to drive to church before heading home and discovered our tire was flat. Thankfully there was a nearby Sam's club open and we fixed it quickly and drove home that day.  Thankfully that was the only car issue we had on our 8 days of driving that trip. As you can tell we had an amazing time on our Epic road trip.  Will we do it again? I'm not sure. Thomas did really well on the trip and really only had a hard time if we were still in the car when it was time for him to go to sleep for the night. All in all we had so much fun and were thankful to be able to visit so much family and especially thankful for their hospitality.

Road Trip Part 2 - Utah

The day after Doug came to Boulder we got in the car and drove to Utah.  No trip across Wyoming is complete without a stop at Little America for their $1 ice cream cones. 

The kids were super excited to meet up with their cousins and Grandma Bev's

 We took a trip to the Hill Air Force Base amazing airplane museum. I didn't take too many pictures but there were literally hundreds of airplanes to see.

 It was hot!! I think it hit over 100 that day. I was glad most of it was inside

 Even though it was amazing, it was a bit exhausting. I think we were taking food votes here or maybe voting for who was ready to go.

The next day we went to downtown Salt Lake City to Temple Square. We  made it there just in time to see Meet the Mormons. That show is full of incredible stories. There are so many amazing people in this world.

The kids were troopers and posed outside for a few pictures. Man was it HOT!

This little guy was a champ! He is just such a good good baby.

 We stopped for some food and shopping at the mall.

 On Sunday we got to go to church with Grandma and meet some of her friends. And later we drove to see Grandpa Jim's grave.

We took an hour that evening to go visit Jer's family since they live about 20 minutes from Grandma. It was fun cause we just saw them in Colorado the week before.

The next day we headed down to Provo to visit a few yummy food joints and BYU campus. First stop Waffle Love.

Totally YUM!

We stopped by BYU to pick up some BYU t-shirts and look around campus. We walked around the bottom of the HFAC and took a break playing around in the practice rooms while Thomas nursed.

 We met up with Doug's friend Emily and Brandon (from Neon Trees) for lunch at this yummy place called SLAB pizza. IT was delish and totally fun.  We also stopped by our old house to show the kids. Memories. We brought home our first 2 babies here.

Then back on campus for a stop at the Museum of Art and the Monte L. Bean life Science Museum.

Oh and probably the most mind blowing place we visited was Sodalicious. The have mixed drink sodas. We stopped by twice to try them again we liked it so much.

 We were mesmerized by the amazing animals at the Bean museum. I liked all the action poses. This place is almost better than the zoo.

 We also just happened to run into our friends from home. This guy is our bishop in our ward but we knew him when we were at school.

Before we headed back to grandma's we met up with my cousin Brian and his cute family. It was so fun to see them even if it was only just for a few minutes.

 And Back to Grandmas for one last night.

 The next day we drove to Denver and met up with Doug's cousins Cristen, Mark and Olivia.

 It just so happened to be Mark's birthday. He was so sweet to let us crash his birthday and celebrate with him.

The next day we drove all the way to St. Louis.  This time we took some time to visit the arch.

 We didn't quite have enough time to ride to the top but it was pretty spectacular to see up close.

 And I had no idea the Mississippi River was so huge... and muddy. It was real high and the sidewalks along it were flooded so it was all blocked off while we were there.

 Then it was back in the car to drive to Georgia.  We stopped at Hancock's of Paducah for just a few minutes to make a bathroom stop and so I could take in the amazing volumes of fabric they have there.

It was a beautiful drive.

Next stop, Georgia.