Coronado!

Every 3 years we have a tradition of getting together for a reunion with my friends from BYU. I met these girls when I lived in the dorms my freshman year. Jaime was my roommate and long time best friend that I grew up with in Georgia, Liz and Mindy were our next door dorm neighbors, Kristin and Andi lived in a room down the hall, and Chelsea was Kristin's best friend from California and Hilary was her roommate. Some of us lived together the next year in the Avenues (232!!) and we've managed to keep in touch over the years. Our husbands all get along great and love hanging out together, so as a result, they won't let us have a trip without them being invited too. This year Jaime, Jon, Andi, Mark, Chelsea, Grant, and Hilary weren't able to make it. :(

Liz was kind enough to invite us again to her parent's beach house in Coronado (a little island right off of San Diego). If you've never been to Coronado, you must go. It is one of my favorite places in the world. It's small and quaint, with the most beautiful homes and amazing beaches. And there's a military base on the island, so you get to see all sorts of cool planes and helicopters fly over.

The weather was actually pretty cool while we were there, so we didn't get to spend any time laying out at the beach. We stayed in our pajamas til noon every day just talking and laughing. The boys and Ashley went surfing one afternoon, while the rest of us spent the day at the Hotel Del Coronado's pool. We made dinner together one night and went out to eat at a delicious Thai place the next night, and to downtown San Diego to eat another night. We also took a bike ride on Gilbert's beach cruisers. We spent our nights eating, laughing, playing funny games, making s'mores, and telling scary stories (thanks to Liz!).

The boys were first in line for dinner


We ended up sitting at a boys table and girls table, because the girls didn't want to talk work and business the whole time and the boys didn't want to talk about having babies and girl stuff the whole time.



We celebrated 3 birthdays while there


Hanging at the Del's hot tub


Kristin and Craig


Ashley and Todd


Mindy and Jeff


Liz and Mike (our hosts)


Karisa and McKay


Me and Adam


Making s'mores and talking around the campfire


Playing a really funny game (don't ask...)


Getting ready for our bike ride


Adam, Jeff, and Craig in front of the house, ready for our bike ride


Hanging on the beach with Mindy and Kristin (it was freezing that day)

7th birthday

I somehow forgot to blog for Ethan's 7th birthday, so here's a few pictures. We had an Angry Birds themed party. I had tons of cute decorations that I made, but didn't really get any pictures.
Here are some of Ethan's favorites for his 7th birthday:
Favorite foods: smoothies, Cafe Rio beans, tortillas, and ranch, pizza, chicken rollups
Favorite friends: his brother is his very best friend, but he also loves to play with Cohen and Layton, and he also loves playing with his cousin Nicholas
Favorite toys: Wii, blocks to build angry birds houses with, Legos
Favorite things to do: ride his bike, go to the park, go to his grandparents houses
Favorite subject in school: math
What I love most about Ethan: Ethan has the most sweet, tender heart. He LOVES me more than any kid has ever loved their mom. He is always telling me how great, wonderful, pretty, cute, funny, amazing I am (what a self esteem boost, eh?). He is really smart and memorizing and learning just come easily to him. And don't get me started about how amazing he is with numbers. Crazy.







I took this picture of the sunset on the night of his birthday, it was beautiful, and I love the city we live in.

Picnic in the Canyon

There's nothing better to do in Utah than spend a day in the mountains. I always forget how much I love it til I get there and then I wonder why I'm not there every day!
We went to Provo Canyon with my family a couple weeks ago. We had a picnic and then hiked around with the kids. Adam and Ryan got invited to join in a football game with some Mexican family; at first they said no but these guys were persistant! They played and ended up having a lot of fun.

Here's my family, minus Kristin who was there but had to leave early, and minus Eric and Lara who are in Colorado. Kylee was DONE with pictures.


Brothers


Kylee was laughing as we dropped leaves on her


T-ball


The happy couple


Our little family


She kept sneaking away from the picnic table to go to the Provo River to throw leaves and rocks in the water. The water is pretty fast moving and high this year, and Ethan has fallen in the past 2 times that we've come to this park, so she was making me a little nervous.


The leaves are changing


Climbing a tree. Sorry for all the pictures of her, I'm kind of obsessed with her.


The Big Game

Bubbles

When Ethan is off at school and I have just my 2 youngest at home, I'm reminded of how easy life with 2 kids was. I'm sure that's true every time you add another kid. We can go places easier, play without fighting, get ready quickly, etc. (Don't get me wrong, I miss my sweet Ethan while he's at school!) Today when Austin got home from preschool, we spent about an hour outside just blowing bubbles, riding bikes, etc. Austin could blow bubbles for hours and be perfectly happy. And Kylee is content to chase all the bubbles Austin blows.

Thanksgiving Point

I took Austin and Kylee (Ethan was already back to school) to Thanksgiving Point a couple weeks ago with a few of our friends. We went to the Petting Zoo and rode the ponies, saw all the animals, and went for a wagon ride. Kylee LOVES animals right now, especially cows, so she was absolutely in heaven at the petting zoo. When we stood in front of the cow pen, she paced back and forth and stared at that cow so hard, and kept saying loudly, "Moo!!! The cow!" She even turned to complete strangers and would get their attention and say, "See the cow???" It was so much fun to watch her there. Then we headed to the Dinosaur Museum and Austin got to see the t-rex that he's been asking to go see for months.

Lemonade for Sale

Our neighborhood was having a big neighborhood-wide garage sale a few weeks ago, so the boys decided they wanted to open a lemonade stand in hopes of making a little cash. Since they didn't tell me they wanted to do this til the day of, there wasn't much planning put into it, but it turned out fine and they had so much fun. I was so worried no one would stop and buy anything from them because there were 3 or 4 other lemonade stands in the neighborhood, but luckily we had a few customers. Grandma Karon even drove all the way out to Lehi from Mapleton.

Caught red-handed!

First Day of School

Ethan started 2nd grade this year and Austin started his second year of preschool. Ethan loves his new teacher and already has made a few new friends. Austin goes to a preschool 3 houses down the street from us with a bunch of his friends. I, for one, LOVE the convenience of being able to walk to school.