Utah Trip 2013

We spent most of June in Utah with family. It had been a year since we'd been home to Utah, so it was so great to see everyone. We had babies to meet, family parties to attend, cabins to go to, friends to visit, and all sorts of other fun things on our to-do list. Mark was able to fly out with us and stay for a whole week. He hadn't spent that many days in Utah since we moved 4 years ago, so it was awesome to have him there. The kids and I stayed for another couple of weeks to get the most out of our trip. Here are some of my favorite pics...

At the airport leaving NC

Meeting our brand new neice--only 3 days old! 

Dinner out on the deck at Nana & Grandpa's

Two more babies we got to meet

Running in the sprinklers

The Hansen ladies

The golf trip crew

All the Hansen cousins at our favorite spot in Millcreek Canyon

Cousin crazies

Grant had fun with his 4 and 5 year old buddies

More fun in the canyon

We got together with some old friends from our high school days.
How has it possibly been 15 years since we graduated??

Liza and Nana filling the bird feeders

For Grandpa's Campout my parents rented this inflatable obstacle course and water slide. It was awesome for the kids and the grownups. :)

Mark and Cam after our team races down the water slide

Me with sweet Max-Boy

Watching a movie out in the pasture at Grandpa's Campout

My niece Natalie organized a play for the cousins to perform the morning after the campout.
It was the story of Ammon and King Lamoni. 

Kylie and Eliza

We got to go to the Draper Temple with my family and do a sealing session with my dad as the sealer. Very cool.

At Salt City Burger for dinner after the temple

Another shot from Salt City Burger, since Juli and Taylor missed the first picture. :) 

Hansen family pics: the girls

Hansen family pics: the boys

My favorite shot of my three kiddos from our morning at the studio

Slip-n-slide at Nana and Popsy's water party

I love this one of Jon and Mark

More water party fun

Does it get any cuter than that? This little guy kept spraying himself in the face but he loved that water bottle. 

Visiting Grandma Lambert. It's so hard that she doesn't recognize any of us anymore, but it was good to see her and sing with her and let the kids see this amazing lady who has done so much for us.

Grant and Tanner playing spy-tech behind the cushions

My mom put together a luncheon with the Cooks, our best family friends from long ago. I didn't get a picture with the whole group, but at least I got one of me and Emily and Juli and Sara.

Snowcones at Aubrey's house 

Batman meeting his baby cousin

Spiderman reading with Grandpa

Four-wheeler rides at the cabin with Popsy

Fishing with Nana and Popsy

Chillin' at the cabin in Midway

Popsy helped Kimball make a birdhouse to pass off a requirement for cub scouts since Kimball was sad about missing his scout camp back home

Sunday dinner at my Mom's

So good to have some sister time (except we missed Andrea and Tiff!) 

We got to see Lizzy and Esther and meet Baby Sam. When the Crittendons moved away from NC last summer it broke my heart, so it was so fun to see them again. 

Visiting Temple Square with Nana and Popsy. This is one of my very favorite places to visit when we're in Utah.

At the Salt Lake Temple

Liza and Baby Katelyn before the rodeo 

The Lehi Rodeo

The rodeo crew (minus a few who had already left before I could get someone to take this). Such a fun night.

With my Dad and Juli. Just like old times. 

Playing in the Snake River in Island Park

Such a beautiful place! The perfect setting for good family time. 

My poor sick Kimball. This boy was miserable for more than a week of our trip.  :(

Eliza and Trace, best buddies since they were babies 

Even though Kimball wasn't feeling well, he could get Baby Seth to smile and laugh better than anyone else.

Loving me some baby time

At Big Springs, the mouth of the Snake River 

Fishing by the cabin in Yellowstone

Nana and the kids at the cabin

 Since Kimball was sick the whole time we were in Yellowstone, we didn't even get to go into the Park. So my Mom took us to Yellowstone Bear World on our drive back to Utah. It was awesome!  

My kids and our cute cousin Cassidy who came up to the cabin with us

Tractor rides with Grandpa (Notice the awesome John Deer hats my Dad bought for the kids to use when they ride with him... yes, Grant's head is way too big for a kid-sized hat. My Dad even broke the elastic strap on the back of the hat so Grant could wear it, and it still hardly fits on his head. I love that kid.)

One of my favorite things about trips to Utah: the amazing food. Thanks to both our Nana's!

Liza got a little Rapunzel make-up kit at her birthday party so here she is putting lip gloss on Kamryn. So fun to have little girls around.

Cousin hug! 

Cousin hug #2!

Wow, that turned out to be a lot of pictures. If you took the time to look through all of them, thank you! We're so grateful our trip to Utah 2013 turned out to be a grand success. We sure loved being with our fun families.

Ready for Summer

This is the kids' last week of school. We're in full swing with field days, class parties, and recitals. Saturday was one of those crazy days where we were involved with major activities from morning till night. We started off the morning at the annual Lavender Celebration at our friend's lavender farm.

In front of the picture-perfect farm house

Liza's lavender basket I helped her make

Enjoying our lavender icecream with Tiani and Sienna

Then we headed to Duke campus for Eliza's dance recital. She had a tap number and a ballet number. Both were really cute. 

Ballet - Liza is in the back row, third one in. She looked so tiny up there

The boys got bored during some of the 28 dances, but they were good sports

Showing off her flowers and trophy

We finished off the day with a fun barbecue with some of Mark's co-workers who are moving this month. This time of year is so busy with good-byes and endings. In singing time at church yesterday I had all the kids come up who would be moving in June. I got emotional as we sang a farewell song to those 12 cute kids. We're losing too many friends.    

On a happier note, Kimball had a fun wax museum at school this morning. He had to dress as Benjamin Franklin and memorize a little speech about him. Every student had a dot in front of them, and when we tapped the dots the kids came to life and told about their character. Great project for the last week of school.

Grant wanted to join in the fun. A Ninja Turtle counts as a notable American figure, doesn't it?

Kimball's class

Only a few more days until we get to start our summer and see our far-away family. With so many good-byes lately, it will be good to have some hellos!

Who needs a slip-n-slide?

 This is what happens after it rains for several days around here...

Kimball the Superstar

Kimball just finished up a sweet soccer season where he had lots of great plays, especially as goalie.

Getting his trophy from his coach at the team pizza party

Every Thursday morning before school, Kimball has gone to jump rope practice with the Golden Skippers team at his school. They had an end-of-year program for the parents this week, and we got to see some of Kimball's skills. Awesome!

Kimball is working hard at so many things right now--school, swimming, soccer, scouts, piano. It's hard to believe he's finishing up 3rd grade already. I'm so thankful to be the mom of this superstar.

Mother's Day 2013

Home

It's raining hard outside tonight. It was a perfect 85-degree day today and then this storm rolled in and it's creating quite a ruckus out there. But I don't mind at all. I like the intensity of Southern rain storms. And my family is all here at home together--finally. After months of being in and out, Mark is finally home for good. After playing together all day, the three kids insisted on having a sleepover in the family room tonight. I hope they'll always be each other's best friends. I don't care what happens tomorrow for Mother's Day. I am feeling grateful and happy tonight.