Summer Days...

So to begin our summer adventure, we drove 5 hours to Vegas and stayed the night at my Aunt's. Lauren and Dean swam with the kids and of course I didn't take any pictures. It was fun to hang out and visit. Thanks Wagner's for letting us come!!

We then traveled the next 11 hours to Emmett, Idaho to Dean's grandparents farm. It is a great place to relax, visit and play games (which we did a lot of!!) Lauren loved being outside-even with the mosquitoes. It was a lot hotter than expected, but we still had fun. Lauren loves being with family especially Grandma and Grandpa Haws and her new "Grandma" Aunt Marge. (I kept telling Lauren that she was AUNT Marge, but she kept calling her Grandma). She also liked playing with Cousin Lexy in her swimming pool.

Swimming in Lexy's pool at the farm.


Swinging with Daddy.

Us with Grandma and Grandpa Haws

We then proceed south to Utah. We took a break in Salt Lake at the Searles' where Lauren learned to play with "kitty" as well as Kitty's toys. It kinda creeped me out when I really thought about my daughter playing with cat toys, but she was happy, so I just let her play (Christmas shopping this year will be at PetCo for cat toys!). We were also able to have dinner with Dean's mission buddies Andrew and Curtis and their families; which is always fun!

Again we hopped in the car and headed south to Richfield to spend the 4th. All the Aunts, Uncles and Cousins were able to be there (except 3 cousins) so that was fun to have everyone together. We are up to 51/2 great grand babies now. It was cooler in Richfield, but I spent more time disciplining Lauren for beating up on Ryan than anything. She was ruthless with him. Then finally I think he couldn't take it anymore so he bit her on the stomach, bad enough to draw blood! Of course Ryan got in trouble, but sadly Lauren deserved it. Not only did she try to hit him in the head with a large rock, but she was caught pushing, hitting, throwing dirt at, stealing toys from and countless other things and that was just the first day there. Hopefully Ryan will start fighting back (or is it...hopefully Lauren will stop beating him up??)! We took the kids to the parade and the park for the activities they had there then had a BBQ at the Knight's house for "The Longest Fireworks Show EVER," (We didn't think it was ever going to end. We finally just packed up the kids and left because they were so tired!)


Lauren loved the jumper, Ryan just sat there and cried!


At the parade.

Watching fireworks with Aunt Becky


Riding the 4-Wheeler with U.B.


Playing "nicely" with Ryan.


All the Great-Grand Babies



After a nice visit we decided to just head home a couple days early. We were all exhausted and 2 full weeks was just too long for a 2 year old to be "off schedule"--or maybe it was too long for her parents to be "off schedule." Either way, we headed home with my parents and Bradley and his family. We stopped in St. George for breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Chadwick, then raced home. All in all, it was a good trip, we loved seeing everyone, and taking a break from life, but in the end, there is no place like home!