Holy Moly! It's already the end of June!

How did that happen? It's not quite the end, but almost! There's only a week left! Sheesh... time flies.

We just got back from our trip to UT on last Saturday. We had a lot of fun and I'm so grateful we got to see all the people and family we did. We got to see my parents, my brother John and his wife Clau and their 3 kids, we got to see my other brother Greg and his wife Samantha and their three girls (and Rosie and Larry), my sister Shauna and Randi, Trish and Bobbie (two sisters I used to work with in Orem), Andrea, Travis and some of the Green family, Emily, Marin, Kate and Ryan Webb, the Christensen's (minus their dude)... it was awesome!
The flight in wasn't great. We were both super apprehensive of how Ben would do since it had been a year since we'd flown with him last. He fussed for about 45 mins and then crashed. He probably would've kept sleeping but I moved him too much I think and it woke him up. He was happy/content for about an hour and then started freaking out again. Then right at the end... as our plane was descending and I couldn't get up because of the seatbelt light being on- he pooped. And it STUNK. I felt so horrible for submitting our sitting neighbors to this. BUT, he was quiet from then on. It was just a long day of traveling. We flew in to Vegas, had to get our luggage then a rental car and then get lunch and THEN drive another hour and a half to St. George. But once we got there it was awesome. We had a really good visit with my parents and John, Clau and the kids came over to hang out with us too. I couldn't believe how big they've all gotten. Especially JC... he is so tall!!! It's very strange to think I am an Aunt of a 16 year old sometimes.
That night we swam with the kids and then in the morning we went to Church with my parents and then had a nice restful Sabbath with a little play in the park and then a BBQ with the family. Ben got hot playing at the park so we put some little swimmers on and let him sit with the sprinkler on the back porch.
Monday we went to Zion's National Park. I tell you what- that is SUCH a BEAUTIFUL place. My brother John and Ryan rode motorcycles up there while I drove a car and my parents, and Clau. We went through the tunnel and up to the East enterance and then had a picnic in a nice little area. Ben had fun playing with the rocks, he was sick of being cooped up in the car. It was so nice though, it was a perfect day and we had a lovely time with each other. I have to say though, one of the best parts was the twist ice cream cone we got there. Oh man that thing was good. YUM. After Zion's we ate dinner and sang a little Happy Birthday (early) to Ryan with some cake, then we went swimming again. We didn't get Ben in to bed until pretty late and I think he was overtired and possibly had water in his ears because he woke up in the middle of the night not a happy camper. We gave him some love, Tylenol and a snack and he was ready to go back to sleep. We woke up the next morning around the same time I wanted to be on the way up to Utah Valley but that was okay. We got up there around 4:30pm and went straight to Greg's house. We spent some time with them and went out to eat. I'm going to just put this tid bit in for our sake, because we all thought it was humorous... but remember that one time? "SIR!" "THANK YOU!" "Sorry everyone!!!". It's okay if you have NO idea what I'm talking about, but some of us do!
We stayed at Andrea's house for our visit up that way, and so we got to see her and Travis that night. Wednesday we went to breakfast with Bobbie and Trish and had yummy French Toast and Buttermilk Syrup at Magleby's. YUM. And then Ryan, Ben and I went to SLC to see Shauna and Randi. The weather was kind of stinky that day, it was a little chilly and it was sprinkling on us pretty much the whole time- which kind of stunk, but it could've been worse and it was so fun to spend tiem with them. We went to the Gateway Shopping Mall and temple square. Shauna had never been to the top of the J.S. Memorial building so we went up there and she thought that was pretty cool. It's a beautiful view from up there! On the way back from SLC we stopped and hung out with Greg and the girls again for a little while. Greg's middle girl had a loose tooth, and right before we left he was throwing her up in the air in the foyer and when she came down (this is what I recall...) she hit her mouth on Greg's chin and the tooth popped right out! It freaked her out a little until we all assured her that's a good and quick way to get it out and most importantly now the tooth fairy would visit! She was good after that! Greg got a little cut on his chin and I got to be a part of the moment and snapped a cute little picture with a somewhat bloody mouth! That night we went and got MEXICAN FOOD! I'm sorry, but I haven't yet found a genuinely good Mexican food restaurant here in Atlanta yet. But out West, they know how to do it- so we went to Joe Vera's and The Webb's, Emily Hatch, Marin Bryce, Travis and Andrea all came. It was fun! We started to try and watch a movie that night... but I was pooped and kept falling asleep.
Thursday was Ryan's 28th birthday!!! We went for a drive up the Alpine Loop starting on the American Fork side. Travis rode with us and we followed behing Ryan and Kate. We stopped at Tibble Fork and Ryan and Ben fed the little ground hogs chips and took some pictures. After we drove the loop we met up with Andrea at South Fork park in Provo Canyon and had pizza. We had a moose run through the park right near us and it kind of freaked us out a little! The Cottonwood Trees were doing their "Cotton-thing" while we were there, and it looked like snow. Me and that stuff don't go together very well, I'm kind of allergic to it. However, it was a lovely day- perfect weather again, beautiful scenery, good friends, and good to be in the mountains again. I wish we could've made it to the Uintas, but there was still snow up there and it was a no-go. Oh well, maybe next year? We had cake at Andrea's that night for Ryan and watched Bolt. Friday we woke up and drove back down to my parent's to say hello and goodbye, luckily John and 2 of the 3 kids came to see us too- because we had left our check book at my parent's house earlier in the week and when we got to their house, NONE of us could find it. Nick was our helper, he went through everything and couldn't find it either. We'd all kind of given up and were taking a "brownie break" when the kids decided they needed a can of Rootbeer, and low and behold- Nick found the check book in the rootbeer box. Why or HOW it was there? We'll never know, prayers answered I guess!!!
We left for Vegas again that night and checked in to our room at the Hilton and then took the Monorail to The Forum Shops to meet up with Nichole and Chris Christensen for dinner. Chris was the Elder that spent the most time teaching Ryan. He unfortunately went home before Ryan got baptized, but Ryan never felt more comfortable with any of the Elder's that taught him than he did with Chris. Chris means a lot to Ryan and we were both excited to hear that we could meet up with him and his CUTE/AWESOME wife and meet her! I felt like I already knew her because we blog stalk each other! :) We had also heard so much about her while he was still here on his mission, so it was exciting to meet the girl he got to get home to! We had a lot of fun that night, dinner was good- but my Monkey was tired and didn't feel much like eating. But he was very good in his stroller and enjoyed watching the water show at the Bellagio with us. We didn't get the poor kid in to bed until 11pm though. We had a really fun time. I have to say though- I really don't like Vegas. Too busy, hot, dirty, smokey, nasty people passing out nasty naked lady pamphlets... just not my kind of place. BUT it was a heck of a lot cheaper to fly in to that airport than it was to the SLC airport. And again, it gave us the opportunity to meet up with the Christensen's which have now moved to Northern Arizona (my old stompin' grounds) and may not have had the chance to meet them otherwise! Ben was a CHAMP on the plane ride home. Didn't cry ONCE. Slept for most of the time, ate when he woke up, and played and sat nicely the rest. He was so ready to be home. And so was I. It was so fun, but I missed our bed and having him on a schedule and in familiar places, etc. We had a wonderful trip though, it was one of the best trips we've had! I've got like over 500 pictures... so I might just do a slide show with a few of them.
This week has been crazy and busy and I'm actually quite exhausted still from all those nights we stayed up so late. Luckily we have a four day week next week! Peace out y'all.