More Utah trip

Ok, so it has been forever since we got back from our Utah trip, but here’s some more pictures and the rest of what we did. We spent a few days at Grammy’s house in Delta. They have lots of land and live near a reservoir. We went down to play in the water twice while we were there. Also my Grandpa loves tractors. This is Kaitlyn with my dad on one of grandpa’s tractors at the house.



We had a nice time just hanging out, and I got to relax a lot. That was really nice. Here’s some pictures of the girls with my family.
My sister Jessica and Emily



My brother Jace helping Kaitlyn climb the ceiling



Emily sleeping



Dad and Emily



My sister Julia and Emily



My grandpa Hale, as I said LOVES tractors. He actually collects them. So when we visit we always go down to the workshop. It’s his grown up toy land. He’s got lots of fun things to look at. Here are some pictures of us there.

Jessica and Kaitlyn in the middle of the trains and tiny town



Kaitlyn on a tractor



Cody (Julia’s husband) Jessica and Kaitlyn on a tractor



Watching the trains go by



While we were in Delta I got to have a lot of down time witch I needed. The boys (my bothers) and Uncle Cody, Aunt Julia, and the girls (my 2 youngest sisters), and all the grandparents and great grammy were more than happy to watch and play with my girls. I even got to go watch a movie with Julia and Cody. We saw Ratatouie, and then came home and had ice cream with everyone. And just before we left Kaitlyn found a marker, what fun!



From there we left and went back to American Fork to Aunt Michelle’s house to get ready for the Family Reunion.

Moe Dow C Ah

That was the phrase Kaitlyn said most of the ride home. Only with an almost 2 year old can a family trip to the bank become an adventure. We had to drive to Dodgeville to clear up some “flatulent” charges (not really, that was just for you Dad!), which is an hour drive there and back. Not much happened on the ride there, but we just barely left town when Ryan and I heard a car door open. We looked back and Kaitlyn had gotten her arms loose from the car seat and had leaned forward and opened the back door! We were driving on a highway at the time. Talk about scary, so we pulled over and shut and locked the door. I was trying not to laugh as Ryan told Kaitlyn it’s not funny. I can’t believe the things that girl comes up with. Well, we live in Wisconsin now, so cows are everywhere! When we pulled over to close the door Kaitlyn noticed a cow and pointed and said “C Ah” which means something like “see it? Ya!” So I thought, oh this is great, we can learn the words Cow and Moo. So I told her, cow, cows say moo. She said cow right away. The rest of the way home we played where’s the cow. I kept saying look moo cow, because she wasn’t saying moo yet. Then she started calling all the cows Moe (moo) Dow (cow). Ryan and I thought that was pretty cute. So she would wait with her pointers ready and her mouth in the M shape, ready and waiting to see Moe the Dow. As soon as one was spoted Moe Dow C Ah! C, C, Moe, MOE!! That was the funniest hour ride home ever. So cute.

Unfortunately Kaitlyn has been up to some not so cute things recently. Last week was pretty rough for her and me. I borrowed the book Eclipse from the library. I was the first one to check it out (yay me!) Kaitlyn was playing in the bath, and wanted to get out so I cleaned her up and gave her the option to stay in the tub while I put Emily in, or get out then. She loves having Em in the tub too, so she got back in the tub. Ususally that’s fine. But this particular day about two seconds after I got Emily in the tub Kaitlyn climbed out and ran out of the room. I decided that was going to have to be fine, I couldn’t do anything about it at the moment, cause I had to keep a hold of Emily, when all of a sudden her comes Kaitlyn again but with a toy that can’t come in the tub. So I’m trying to keep Emily safe in the water with one hand and trying to stop Kaitlyn with the other. Finally I get the toy thrown out of the bathroom and the door shut, with Kaitlyn in the bathroom (all one handed) and I think all is well. So I turn my attention to Emily, poor girl, and all of a sudden I see something flying past me into the tub. Eclipse, brand new, now soaking wet. Boy was I mad! I had already had it before she threw the book in the tub. Ryan happened to be home so I screamed for him to come! It took me a while to calm down, I couldn’t even talk to Ryan for about a half hour, I was so mad and upset. The most upsetting part was poor Emily in the tub, with not enough of my attention. I was terrified the whole time that she was going to slip out of my hands. I have a huge fear of babies and water. If it wasn’t neglectful and babies didn’t start to stink after a while, I probably wouldn’t bath a baby more than once a month (don’t worry I bath her WAY more that that!) just because it’s always so nerve racking for me. So once I got the book all dried it was pretty obvious I was going to have to buy a new one. I took it to the library to tell them and see what they wanted me to do. So I took it in and showed the guy at the desk and we decided I should just go get a new one. So later that day we were at Walmart and I picked up the book. When I went back a different guy was at the desk, but when he saw the old book, he goes oh you’re the one who dropped it in the tub. So, yes, I’m already That lady. I was so worried about moving to a new SMALL town and becoming That lady. Oh well too late now.
Earlier in the week we had another fun day. I heard Kaitlyn waking up from her nap, so I quickly got Emily and everything together because I wanted to take the girls to the library (to go pick up Eclipse). I noticed it was taking a while for Kaitlyn to really get up, and I thought that was kinda weird. So finally she came to the door and knocked (that’s how I now when I can come in and get her, if you go before that your in BIG trouble!) so I went in to get her. Well I had a nice surprise waiting for me! Kaitlyn had taken her diaper off sometime during the nap time and peed on her bed. Not too far out of the ordinary, but then I noticed she went to the bathroom too. On the floor! So gross! This is the reason why we had children and not animals. I don’t do poop on the floor. So gross. So Ryan, who was in the tub at the time, got Emily (luckily) and laughed the entire time I was cleaning it up. It did sound pretty funny. I was saying
Ewww! GROSS! No! This is soo Gross! We don’t poop on the floor!
and things like that, over and over while Kaitlyn would coppy me and say
EWWWW, EWWW, No, EWWWW, EWWWW.
Oh the joys of being a mother.

Another Kaitlyn story from last week (it was a rough week). I went to Piggly Wiggly to grab a few things, just really quick. So, even though Ryan was home, I brought Kaitlyn with me. I thought she would like to get out of the house for a little bit. Well we went to the store and she was great, until I checked out. Just as I was paying she got away from me and ran out to the display at the front of the store. I wasn’t too worried because I could see her. So I finished paying and am almost to her when she dumpes a bag of grapes on the floor, all over the floor. So we cleaned them up and walked back around to buy the grapes. They were 4 dollars! I couldn’t believe it. That was twice in one week that I had to buy something because of Kaitlyn, so I was not happy about it. Oh well. At least this week has gone much better. I promise!

July 9-13

Monday and Tuesday July 9-10
I have to say I was really nervous about Monday and Tuesday. I was going to Ryan’s grandma’s house, and I’d never been there before, so I didn’t know what to expect. But I didn’t need to worry. The girls had a great time, and so did I. Marsha, Ryan’s mom, is just like Grandma Fox, so I felt at home right away. I loved how much she reminded me of my mother in law. We just hung out most of the day and then that night I think all the Fox’s in the area came over and had dinner and talked. It was so much fun. I got to meet a few of Ryan’s cousins, and see some aunts and uncles again. Kaitlyn had so much fun and was hamming it up for everyone. I love how confident she is, and that she can be herself anywhere. I hope she doesn’t grow out of that. That night I heard trains going by, and I realized that Ryan’s grandma lives right by a railroad. I LOVE that. My grandma lives by a railroad too, so it just made me smile and think of my grandma. I think it’s great that both Ryan and I grew up with trains by grandma’s house. So I’m totally bummed because I forgot to take pictures the entire time I was at Ryan’s grandmas, so I don’t have any pictures of Ryan’s family. Tuesday afternoon we went to lunch with Grandma, Aunt Laurel, her son Dillon, and Aunt Debbi who came during her lunch break. It was so much fun. Ryan’s family is great; I couldn’t have been blessed with better in-laws. After that Jules and Cody came to pick us up and we went back to Aunt Michele’s where my family had stayed. Then we drove up to Logan. I LOVE Logan! I was born there, and I went to school there for a year and loved it. I stayed with my aunt before school started and I visited her almost every weekend while I was at Utah State, so I have a lot of great memories with these cousins and Logan. So I was very excited to go back for a little bit. I have a cousin that is only a month younger than me, Adam. It was so fun to see him again, I hadn’t seen him since before his mission and he’s been back a while. He is very talented in music and loves to play the guitar. So a couple of times there were mini concerts in his room. Kaitlyn loved rocking out to his music. All the kids would get together and listen to Adam play and Kaitlyn would start dancing and soon everyone else was too. It was so cute and very fun! I wanted to get a picture of everyone dancing, but when Kaitlyn would see me she’d either stop dancing or run to me, either way it was hard to get a pic. of everyone, so here’s one of Adam playing:



Wednesday- Friday July 11-13
So any Harry Potter fans would remember July 11th was when HP 5 the movie was released. My family and I ware all fans so, Wednesday morning we went to see the movie. Aunt Sherri watched not only my 2 girls, but also my 2 youngest sisters! Thank you so much! We come and invade the house and then have you baby sit too. Luckily the girls were good for her and she loved getting to spend time with them. I loved the movie, and I can’t wait to buy it when it comes out. It was such a fast paced movie that I’ll need to see it a few more times. The only thing I didn’t like was that Cho was the one blamed for telling on the DA instead of her friend. I like Cho’s character, and hate that she was the snitch in the movie. But really it was a great movie. Of course a lot was left out of the movie, but it was a huge book. There’s no way they could have done the whole thing in only 2 hours. I heard someone say they’d have to do a whole TV series to include everything. I think it’s a great idea, I’d watch the show. But I doubt they’d actually do one. Anyway, after the movie we came back and hung out until Aunt Diane and her family showed up. They live in Idaho, so it was fun to have them come down to visit is while we were in Logan. Well, if you know Aunt Diane then you won’t be surprised at our next activity, shopping of course! Actually we went shopping quite a lot in Logan, it was a blast. I had some birthday money (YES!) so I could actually shop. It was so much fun! I love shopping in Utah, I think there is just so much more there, because there’s such a high demand for modest clothes. We found a Down East Basics that had a ton of clearance clothes, so I got LOTS of cute new shirts, and some new under shirts. I love the ones with lace at the bottom, so cute. So the next day we went swimming at the Logan aquatic center. Kaitlyn loved it. They had a huge wadding pool that we could swim in. Mom watched Emily so I could be in the water with Kaitlyn. Then Uncle Jace and Adam each took Kaitlyn down the huge slide. She LOVED it! I tried the first time and got half way up the stairs and chickened out. I was worried I’d drop her on the way down or something. So after a while I decided to go down by myself to see what it was like. It was so much fun, so I took Kaitlyn up and we went down together! I was so proud of myself. And I didn’t even drop her at the end either. Yay me, super mom. So I was feeling like a daredevil and decided to jump off the high dive! I did it, more than once and Kaitlyn even got to see her cool mom be brave. Aunt Sherri got some cool pictures and videos. We all had a great time at the pool, and then came home for pizza. Then Mom, Aunt Sherri, and I went out shopping again, without the kids. That was fun too. The next day we got packed up to leave, but before we left Aunt Sherri taught us how to make jewelry. That was a lot of fun. I made a necklace to go with a beautiful bracelet and earrings Lindsay made for me before we left Iowa. After we finished we drove down to Salt Lake area to spend time with my Uncle Anthony and his family. They have a really cool fish tank that Kaitlyn loved. She loves fish and spent a good amount of time checking out the tank.



We all got together for dinner. This was an eventful night. First, Uncle Anthony burned his foot on a piece of coal that fell out of the grill. After that we finished eating and hanging out. I tried to put Kaitlyn to bed, but ended up taking a nap myself. A little after I got up my cousin left to drop off some friends at their houses. The rest of us just stayed up and talked. Well it kept getting later and later, and I was getting nervous. Then my other cousin and his girlfriend started to worry. Finally, we got a phone call, Dallin had been hit by a drunk driver. So Jace and my Uncle and cousins went to go pick him up. Luckily he was not hurt. He was running on adrenaline still. He had just dropped off the last friend so he was the only one in the car when he was hit. That was kinda scary. So we were up really late checking on him, and I don’t think my mom ever did go to sleep. She was picking up Dad the next day and was too excited to sleep. Isn’t that cute? I love that my parents are still so in love, and couldn’t wait to see each other again. So Saturday morning we drove to SLC to pick up dad from the airport. It was so good to see him, and the girls were excited to have Grandpa there. After that we drove to Delta to see my Grammy.

July 5-8

The next morning we were up bright and early to catch our flight. That was really hard to leave Ryan. But at least I was going somewhere fun. Well the flight was about 2 hours, but let me tell you that was a very eventful two hours! Kaitlyn was really tired and ready for her morning nap, but of coarse she wouldn’t just sit there to fall asleep so I had to fight with her the whole time. Between all the fit throwing and her insistence on kicking the chair in front of me, I’m sure everyone just thought she was adorable. Then Emily started having a hard time. What now? There’s only 2 seats. So I took Emily out of her chair to hold both of them and try to calm her down. Well I instantly found the problem. A HUGE blowout. That was entertaining. Luckily there was a really nice flight attendant that let me use the galley (where they prepare the food) and helped keep Kaitlyn there while I cleaned up Emily. I didn’t have a change of clothes on me so we got to have naked baby time on the airplane. We got settled back in to our seats and I was feeding Emily and she had another messy diaper! Luckily I felt her going so I knew what was up this time. I couldn’t believe that she was full again. So this time Kaitlyn had settled down (sort of) in Emily’s car seat so I changed Emily on my lap. Let’s just say I was so glad when we finally touched down!
My Aunt Michelle came to pick us up and we spent that day and most of the next day with her and her family. She has 5 children, 4 girls and one boy, Ashley, Madison, Brianna, Brooklyn, and Adam. The kids were so much fun. Kaitlyn loved following them around and playing with them. Brianna especially took to Kaitlyn. It was really cute. The two youngest are almost twins, just a couple of months apart, and they both kept calling Kaitlyn and Emily- the baby. So they’d ask a question like where’s the baby? And I’d have to say witch one? Adam was really cute with Emily. Both of them really liked to take care of and hold her, but Adam was the one that was the most interested in it. I think all the cousins were but since they were the youngest, they were up with us before the rest of the house was. Anyway here’s a really cute picture of my cousin Adam holding Emily:

That whole day and into the evening was really hot and all the cousins and even my uncle were playing with the water outside; water balloons, water fights, the hose, buckets. Pretty much anything they could find. Kaitlyn LOVED it! She loves to play in the water. At the end of the day she was soaked and so proud of herself. Her favorite was the hose and a close second was the water balloons. She loved trying to fill this wheelbarrow with water, and trying to drink from the hose.


Aunt Michelle lives in American Fork, so she was kind of in the center of all the action. Kaitlyn, Emily, and I stopped at her house a few times, along with my Mom, Dad and brother Andrew (at separate times), my sister Julia and her husband Cody, my brothers Jace and Kurtis, and my sisters Jessica and Tiara. When my family comes to visit, they come to visit. We invade! I’m so glad that we have such wonderful family to take us in and entertain us while we visit Utah.
So the second day in Utah I was at my Aunts house and my family caught up with us. It was so fun to see everyone again. Especially Julia and Cody because they weren’t able to come up for Emily’s blessing and Ryan’s graduation like everyone else was. She has a bunch of really cute pictures on her blog HERE.
So this was the 6th of July and 7th my cousin in Provo was getting married. We went up there that afternoon. My Aunt got us all a hotel for the next 3 days. That was really nice of her. Kaitlyn loved swimming at the pool and playing with Uncle Cody. Julia and Cody are so baby hungry they couldn’t put the girls down. It was so cute. It was also really good for Kaitlyn because she was missing her daddy. Unfortunately I didn’t get ANY pictures of this weekend. I’m so mad at myself, but I was pretty stressed trying to travel with 2 babies and no husband. My cousin Kayla looked SO beautiful. I loved seeing her so happy. She really deserves to be happy and have such a wonderful eternal companion. On Friday night we had a bacheloret party (g rated of course). It was so much fun. We just got all the girls together and talked and played games and Kayla opened a few gifts. It was really a lot of fun. My cousin Lalani thought of a really fun game. The theme for the evening was Mexico because that’s where Kayla’s honeymoon was, so we pretended we went to the horse races. We all had names we picked for our horses and we competed and bet on each other with beans. It was really a lot of fun. The next day was the wedding. Since we (the girls and I, and my siblings) couldn’t go to the wedding (she had a really small sealing room) we stayed at the hotel and went swimming, and then Jules and I got to go shopping. Unfortunately we had about an hour tops to shop so it was over way to soon! That evening we went to Kayla’s reception. It was really cool. Not the traditional church gym, it was in a park and we had a bar-b-que. The food was great and it was fun to see more cousins and watch Kayla with her new husband. At the end of the evening one of my uncles who’s a science teacher got out miniature cannons he made and they shot them off with marshmallows. It was REALLY cool. They really shot like cannonballs; you couldn’t stand in front of them because it was dangerous. After that we shot off some fireworks. Kaitlyn really thought they were cool. I think those were her first, if not they were the first that she knew what was going on. My cousin Lalani, is just 6 months older than me and when we were little we used to tell everyone we were twins. Well we were both pregnant at the same time and she had a little girl only a week after I had Emily. It was so fun to see how much they look alike! I wish I had a picture, but I had left my camera at the hotel. On Sunday we stayed in Provo again and just enjoyed relaxing and playing with cousins. Kayla and her new husband came over and opened presents and played a few games with us.

INTERNET!!!!

Yea, so we finally have internet. The last time I posted I was at the library and ran out of time before I could put the rest of the pictures in. So if you go to my last post I added 4 more pictures and the rest of the day's info.
We got new phones along with the internet today. So if you want my new number e-mail me or leave a message here and I'll get it to you.

Our new house and July 4

I’ve been in Utah for the past couple of weeks and then I came home in time for Ryan to leave to go and take the bar exam. It has been one CRAZY month, course when is life not crazy. Before I left I didn’t get to post what our new house looks like. So here’s a little tour of our cool house. (We’re just renting, but I love this house)
This is our front yard (we have no back yard) that Kaitlyn likes to play in.

We even have trees! This is my brother-in-law Shawn when we first got here.

My mother-in-law and Shawn both came to help us move. I don’t think we could have done it with out their help! Thanks Mom and Shawn, we love you!
The house we live in is very old. It’s one of those houses’s that has slowly been added on to, so consequently there are 4 front doors. 3 of them belong to us and the 4th is the door to go up stairs where another renter lives. Anyway if you come in right next to the garage (yes we have a garage, wahoo!) you enter into the study.


Behind the study is a work room for Ryan’s tools and projects. Next is our dinning room and kitchen. They left us this beautiful china hutch too. My favorite thing about this house is the wood work. It is so beautiful.


This is our play room and behind it is our living room. The only thing I don’t like is the horrible pink walls and drapes.


There are 2 bedrooms, one for the girls and one for me and Ryan. So until I meet some friends I can at least enjoy being in our first home.
Right across the street is the town’s grocery store. A Piggly Wiggly. Actually it’s called Dicks Piggly Wiggly and the locals call it Dicks. I think Piggly Wiggly is more fun to say. So I’m a nerd, but I was so excited about my first Piggly Wiggly buy, a gallon of milk, that I took a picture. I think it’s cute, so here’s our Piggly Wiggly Milk.

We really got blessed on the location of our house. Not only is the Piggly Wiggly across the street but Ryan’s work is 2-3 blocks away and the Library is 2 blocks away and the new playground by the elementary is maybe 5 blocks away. The week I was here before leaving to Utah I think I only drove once. It’s wonderful to be so close to everything. I’ve been really enjoying all the exercise.

Now for my awesome trip to Utah. It was so much fun, but it was sad because Ryan couldn’t come. We were leaving so he could concentrate on studying for the Bar. For those who don’t know my birthday was on July 3. I turned 23. Ryan was so sweet, he took the girls and let me sleep in along with a bunch of other things for my birthday. But I mostly count the next day as the celebration. The girls and I were flying to Utah on the 5th out of Minnesota, but our flight was at 8:30 in the morning, so we went up a day early so we could be there on time. I convinced Ryan that since we already had a hotel we should spend the whole day there. I had so much fun!!! The twin cities are pretty cool. We will have to go back when we have more time to explore. So on the 4th (HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!) we drove to Minnesota (4 hours) and when we got there we went to the Minnesota Zoo and to the Mall of America. When we first got to Minnesota we were starving so we just pulled off the highway and stopped at a McDonalds. They had the coolest things there. I saw one on Rachel Ray once but it was cool to see in person. It’s like a snack machine except for DVD’s, so cool. You put in your credit card and then you choose your DVD and it’s only a dollar a day and then you return it to any one of these machines anywhere. So if you left from Dallas and flew to SLC you could check a movie out at DFW and return it in SLC. I saw some at the airport the next day. But I thought it was cool that you could do that at McDonalds’ too. I really wanted to take a picture but I felt like I would have looked too much like a hillbilly so I didn’t. I should have because it was pretty cool.

So first off was the Zoo. I have to admit that at first I was not impressed. But I was proved wrong, we had an excellent time! I loved watching Kaitlyn look at the animals. Once she got the hang of what we were doing she was hilarious. She had her pointers waiting for the next animal. It was adorable. She defiantly got her daddy’s enthusiasm for nature.


By far the coolest part of the zoo was the Dolphin show. I had never been to one before so I was so excited to see it. We got there early so we had good seats. It was so much fun! I loved watching the dolphins. What amazing animals. Kaitlyn LOVED the show too, it was almost as much fun to watch her watch the show. She has really good eyes, she saw them as soon as they came out and was very excited. She pointed and giggled and ooed and awed at all the right places. Adorable. Afterwards we wanted to let her get right up by the tank and look closer but she would not! Dolphins apparently are really cool from the stands but way too scary up close! I think she gets that from me. I don’t like to get too close to most animals (but I wasn’t scared there).

We also got to see them feed the sharks, but that wasn’t as cool. They just dropped food into the aquarium. Apparently the morning feeding is the cool one, a scuba diver gets in and talks to you too. Emily was great. This is how she was most of the time.

Just kicked back and relaxed. I got really worried about her while we were outside. It was really hot and she was just dying in her car seat. Luckily I had some ice packs with me (for her milk) and I put those on her too cool her down. She liked that.
Afterwards we went and checked into our hotel. Ryan got a great one it was really close to the airport and the Mall of America. So we rested for a little while and then off to shopping it was. I had a great time. The mall has 4 stories, a amusement park in the center, and an aquarium on the bottom floor. Plus all the stores you can think of. My Aunt Diane would be in heaven here, well most women would be. One of these years we’ll have to have the girls’ weekend there. We mostly just walked around and looked at all the stores. Kaitlyn loved all the bright lights and cool rides at the amusement park. She really wanted to go on the rides! She’s such an adventuresome girl, no fear. I love it. This is a really cool store/restaurant called the Rainforest Café.

The inside is all green and leafy with lots of cool things to look at. You feel like your walking into a real rainforest. There was also an alligator that looked real. It was pretty cool. This is in the LEGO store. They had lots of different displays all made of legos, it was pretty neat.

By the time we got to the hotel we were pretty beat. That was a fun and exciting day. We were getting ready to sleep and I kept hearing these banging noises and I asked Ryan, what is that? - It was all the fireworks. We tried to see them out of our window, but we couldn’t. That was ok though because we were so tired. What a 4th, we had a great time.

Update

Well, this is Ryan posting this blog. Christi has been in Utah for the past week and a half and hasn't been able to post because of it. I have been studying for the Wisconsin Bar Exam and am absolutely sick of it. I take it next week and will be glad when it is over. Christi is having a good time in Utah visiting with both of our families. Everyone loves the girls and Kaitlyn is just hamming it up with anyone who will give her attention. Of course, Emily is enjoying herself because she is always being held. Christi and I miss each other and it will be good to see her again when she gets back on Sunday. As for Wisconsin, I love it. We are in a quite small town and absent the boardome from Christi and the girls not being here it is a great place to live. I even joined the city band and have participated in a concert. I play the drums. I also really enjoy my law firm. Everyone here is really grounded, doesn't complain and all possess good old Midwestern values. It will be a great place to raise our family. Well that's about it for now.