Utah Trip

Consider yourself warned this is a long post with ALOT of pictures. (I didn't even use all of them)

Back in October Southwest Airlines had a smoking deal on airfare for certain flights on certain days to certain destinations. We took advantage that one of the destinations was Salt Lake City. The whole family was able to fly to SLC for quite cheap. We flew out on Friday January 15th. Our flight left at 6:40 am so in order to get to the airport park our car and get through security in time we left our house at 4:30 AM.

Kiddos hanging out in the terminal by our gate. Nathan is content playing with his new DSi, Natalie mostly wandered around chasing some birds in the terminal and Taylor enjoyed watching all that was going on outside.

On the flight we opted to sit Nathan and Taylor each by a window with a parent next to them to eliminate the argument on who got the window seat.

Natalie hanging out waiting for everyone else to board. It was a completely full flight both ways. On the way to SLC Natalie fell asleep right before take off and slept until right before we landed. It was awesome. One of the bonuses of flying so early. We also were able to see the sunrise from the airplane it was pretty. The flight home was a different story. Natalie fell asleep right before we landed so it was harder keeping her entertained in such a tight spot when all she wanted to do was run around. Other than that Natalie was a good little traveler. The flight home was very bumpy it was on Tuesday the 19th when all those storms were rolling in. There was once that our stomachs dropped like we were on a roller coaster. Taylor just squeled and started laughing, she thought it was a pretty cool ride.

At the rental car locations by the airport in SLC. It was a challenge getting all our stuff from baggage claim to the rental car pickup. We had 2 Large suitcases, 2 small suitcases, 2 full size car seats, 2 snowboards in 1 carrying bag and 3 backpacks. The kids really did help out as much as they could which made it doable.

We had 3 main purposes to our trip 1. Take a family vacation 2. Spend time with my brother and his family 3. Play in the snow and go snowboarding We successfully accomplished all 3 and had a really great time. BIG thank you to Steven and Christina for opening their home to us and being such great hosts.

Soon after we landed our family went to breakfast at Denny's for some grand slams. Then on to Sprinville (about an hour drive from SLC) The car we rented had all 3 kids on the same row in our car they are all separated. Let's just say after the first 5 minutes of our drive we were SOOO glad we flew instead of driving the 10+ hours to get there. Once we got to Springville we hung out with Christina and the boys for a few hours. Then all except for Steven went to a local sledding park.

Taylor on Thomas on the sled. Their first run down we accidentally sent them down the FAST run that is meant more for tubing. They went REALLY fast, the workers kept screaming at them to drag their hands to slow down but they weren't getting it. They went up on the tall bank of snow at the bottom of the hill and the worker caught them before they went over. Taylor and Thomas are both little daredevils so it didn't phase them they thought it was AWESOME. Needless to say we moved them to another part of the hill for future runs.

Nathan and Henry before one of their times down the hill. Nathan and Thomas went down the most times on the tube. I have a couple of cute videos that I may try to upload on here.
This snowman was at the sledding park. It needed a little work so Preston and Taylor rebuilt it.

On Saturday Preston and Nathan went snowboarding at Sundance Ski Resort. Nathan amazes me with his snowboarding skills. This is his 3rd or 4th time. He started right before he turned 6. He never complains when he falls just gets back up and does it again.

On Saturday morning Steven and Christina also went to Sundance with Thomas and Henry to start teaching them how to ski.

Thomas happily heading down the mountain.

Steven and Henry on the rope tow.

Henry, Steven, Thomas and Christina taking a break.

While everyone was at Sundance I stayed at the house with Baby Warner Taylor and Natalie. While Warner was taking a nap the girls and I bundled up and headed outside for a snowball fight (per Taylor's request)

As you can see the sun was in Taylor's eyes.

Natalie all bundled up.

After Steven and Christina got back from Sundance, Steven took Taylor Thomas and I on the fourwheeler. Steven with Thomas and Taylor.

Steven pulled the kids around on a sled in an empty field by their house. They had a fun time. It was cute. Taylor would just cling onto Thomas and squeal and laugh.

I evn took a few turns on the sled.

While Taylor and Thomas were getting pulled around I made this mini snowman. When I showed Taylor she happily said. "OH Thank You Mom" It lasted for a while until Steven pulled them right next to it and Thomas being the typical boy knocked it over and Taylor being the typical girl started crying. Oh the drama. Taylor helped build a little snowman family but I didn't take a picture oops.

After Preston got back with Nathan from snowboarding. Steven and Preston had a man date to jump the quad. Boys will be boys.
Preston jumping



Steven jumping

The 4 older kids playing with bendaroos Sunday morning since church didn't start until 11:00

On Sunday night we headed over to Lehi to have dinner with our friends the Farnsworth family. They just moved to Lehi last summer. They had been in Ray 1st ward for 20+ years so the whole 10 years we have been there. I was Tami's visiting teacher for years. They are a great family and have always been so kind to us. It was great to visit with them.

On Monday morning Preston and Steven and I headed to Brighton Ski Resort to do some snowboarding. I am not going to lie I was terrified of going I even had nightmares about it. I have not been in 11 years and it was only my 4th time total. But I did it and even lived to tell about it. I have a HUGE bruise on my left knee from my fall after my first time off the ski lift for the day. I can almost move like normal again a week later. I had whip lash the next day, knocked the wind out of me a few times and banged my head against the mountain a few times too. I felt like I had been hit by a semi truck after it was all said and done, probably because I ran into a mountain dozens of times. I only did 3 times down the mountain. I was exhausted and frustrated. I would fall down and my shoulders have gotten really bad so there were times that I would try and try to get up with not much success. Steven and PReston would take turns babysitting me down the mountain. Steven had to actually pull me up off the ground a few times. I stayed in the lobby for a couple hours during the middle of the day so they could get some good runs in without me slowing them down. In all honesty I would be okay with never going snowboarding again but I have a feeling I will be pressured into going again.

Christina was soo kind to take care of all 6 kids that day while we went. The kids had a lot of fun together and were sad to leave. Taylor has asked dozens of times when we are going to Utah again.

Taylor and Henry playing.

Nathan and Thomas stopping long enough to pose for a picture. They are 3 years apart but they play really well together.

The kids having a pillow fight our last night there.

We hope to go back soon. We will keep checking for cheap flights because I really do not want to make the drive if I can avoid it. Thanks again Steven and Christina for the fun weekend.

Taylor turns 4

Our little Taylor Babe turned 4 a couple weeks ago. It is hard to believe she is 4 already. I took her for her well checkup this past week. She is still the petite little thing. She weighs 30 lbs (now she moved up to the 25% which we are super excited about) She is also in the 25% for height at 39 inches. She is also finally getting an almost full head of hair. She is definitely all girl, she loves to play with barbies and babies. Taylor also loves to play pretend anything whether it be house, school,doctor, church or dress up in princess clothes.

This year Taylor was lucky enough to have 2 parties. On the Saturday before her birthday we celebrated with Preston's side of the family. This party was for Taylor's 4th and her cousin James 1st birthday. I unfortunately can't find the pictures from that party.
On her actual Birthday we had my side of the family over for a party and dinner. At Taylor's party she had a few requests. She wanted a pinata, she picked out this #4 and we were able to put in our leftover halloween and Christmas candy along with some fresh tootsie rolls (one of Taylor's favorites). I don't remember who actually broke the pinata but all the kids had fun.

Taylor also wanted to play pin the tail on the donkey, so we improvised a little. We actually played place Cinderella in the castle. My older Nephews were gracious enough to join in on the fun. We spun them A LOT so they had a much harder time reaching the target.Taylor with her presents.

Sporting the tutu that I made for her. (Yes you read correctly I really did make it for her) I think it turned out cute.

Posing with her Princess cake. (courtesy of Safeway, I don't make fancy cakes)

Also Taylor started Preschool on January 5th. Here she is saying peace out before leaving for her first day. She goes on Tuesday and Thursdays for 2 1/2 hours each day. She enjoys it but she still thinks she is gone a really long time and she misses me. She is adjusting.

New Year's Eve and our Last day of Break

So how do you celebrate New Year's Eve? Well with Preston being in the Bishopric and me in the Young Women presidency we celebrate with the youth. The Bishop opened his home so that the Bishopric could provide a safe party for the youth in our ward. Since both Preston and I needed to be there we took our kids with us (outfitted in their pajamas). The majority of the night was spent snacking and playing rock band.

We finally convinced Preston to sing a song. He picked a Beastie Boys song. Not the greatest song to sing with the youth looking on since it contained some swear words. Preston just conveniently skipped over those words.

Nathan also got his turn. He sang a Nickelback song "What I've done" from the Transformer soundtrack. He was loving the attention from the teenagers and just hanging out with all of them.

Taylor loved playing with Bishops 10 year old daughter and her friend. Natalie slept most of the time. The evening actually turned out way better with our kids with us then I expected.


On Monday January 4th (the last day of Christmas break) I took the kids to a nearby park. Nathan told me he wanted to have a fun filled day before going back to school. This park was really neat it was our first time there and the kids keep asking when we will go back.


Nathan and Taylor hamming it up on the fire truck.

Natalie looking cute while playing in the sand.

All 3 kiddos playing in the sand. It had a digging area where you can try to uncover a skeleton.

Taylor doing some climbing.

Kids enjoying some oranges from Grandma and Grandpa's backyard.

There were tons of sidewalks and areas for the kids to ride their bikes around.

Finally a Christmas recap.

Christmas Eve we went to my parents house and ate a wonderful traditional meal with Ham and the works. We then hung out. The kids always receive a gift the night before. Nathan was ECSTATIC to open a present.

They received pajamas. Nathan has a gorilla on his shirt and the girls are matching with bunnies on them that say snuggle bunnies. They are really soft.

My mom has a cool snowman collection. Most of them light up or play songs. The grandkids love them.

This was Natalie's favorite snowman. She even figured out how to turn it on and off and would dance to the music.

Christmas morning. We told Nathan that he was not to wake us up until after 6 am. He patiently waited, but quickly informed us that he woke up at 5:09 and it was really hard to wait. Preston heard Nathan and Taylor in the family room a little after 6. We had to wake Natalie up. I took this picture while Preston was getting Natalie. Taylor really had to go to the bathroom and Nathan was too excited to wait another moment to open presents.
Here are some random pictures of the kids opening presents.

I think this was Taylor's favorite gift. It is a princess MP3 player from Santa. She tells everyone that she got an Aw-Pod (Ipod) :-)

Natalie loving on her new doll that she received from her Nana.

At 9:00 that morning my parents and Sister came over to our house for brunch. Then we all hung out.

Taylor sleeping later that morning.

That evening we went and played at my parents house so that I could work on the traditional Christmas puzzle. Nathan took some time to play on his new pogo stick. As you can see he only got half dressed that day. Those are still his pajama pants because they were sooo comfortable for him and he really wanted to wear his new shirt too. I think he has worn that shirt 5 times since Christmas day.