Texas!

We had such a wonderful time visiting friends and family in Texas. We flew out to attend the wedding of a close family friend and also enjoyed visiting with my cousin Jann and her family. Texas is one hot (and humid) place in August. Despite that, we had such a great time!

We flew out of SLC at 6:30 am. That meant a very early morning for all of us.

The kids did pretty well on the plane. Landon spent a lot of time watching movies and Allie pretty much read during the whole flight.


When we got to Dallas, Jann's husband Jared picked us up. We hadn't made it too far before we had a tire blow out on the freeway. Eric and Jared were troopers changing a tire in the middle of the hot Texas heat.

The kids and I remained in the air conditioned van.

Friday night was a Texas BBQ for Jon & Lori. Lori arranged for birthday cake to be the dessert in honor of Allie & Alex who share a birthday on August 9th.


Landon loved the cake and he still says "cupcake" every time we mention Lori's name. She was kind enough to give him a large second helping which really won him over!

Saturday was the wedding. Landon would not cooperate very well for pictures. This is the "best" one we got. (Lori, you'll have to share one of yours...I'm hoping someone got a better one!)

Exploring the Dallas Temple grounds...






Landon LOVED Katie Bell (my cousin's 10-year-old). He still asks for her!

We did a lot of driving while in Texas. All of the heat and the action had a sedating effect on the kiddos. They usually passed out while driving between events and Jann & Jared's home. It made for an extremely quiet car ride. Unfortunately Eric and I were so focused on not getting lost that we didn't fully enjoy it :)

On Sunday we slept in (yay! for 1 pm church). It was Allie's 9th Birthday so Jared made her favorite breakfast, french toast and she opened her present.


After church the party continued with a yummy dinner, cake, and time to play!




On Monday before we flew back to SLC we (well, Eric and the kids) took a dip in the pool.

It was a special experience for us to be able at Jon & Lori's wedding. We are excited for them and wish them nothing but the best! Thanks again to Jann, Jared, and the kids for having us in their home. They were great hosts and a lot of fun to spend the weekend with!

10 YEARS

Today is our 10th wedding anniversary. It is amazing to think of all of the things we have seen, done, and experienced together. I love you Eric!

Summer Field Trips

This summer has been busy, busy, busy...just the way we like it. It's hard to believe that school, soccer, and cooler weather are just a few short weeks away! Allie is excited to go back to school because this year her cousin Amber is finally in her class. We are lucky to have cousins who live in our ward and attend the same school. Actually being in the same class is cause for serious celebration around here.

Just like every other summer we have been busy having weekly "field trips". We enjoy the time we spend each week with cousins and occasionally friends too! These are things we have seen and done this summer:

*Fed the ducks and studied the turtles at the BYU Duck Pond
*Thanksgiving Point Children's Garden
*Bridal Veil Falls
*24th of July Float Preview Party
*Lehi Pioneer Museum
*BYU Museum of Art

Today we went to the Tracy Aviary. It was a lot of fun. We took cousin Isaac along with us for today's field trip. Isaac and Allie loved learning all about all of the different birds. They especially enjoyed the gift shop. Landon was pretty content to sit in the stroller and study the map. Another highlight of the day was the bird show. Landon and I had to excuse ourselves early when he wasn't selected to go up and help the bird trainer. He kept yelling "my bird" over and over and over until it became apparent that the only way to change his mind was a change of scenery. In the end it worked out okay because we had fun chasing peacocks around the lawn while we waited for Allie and Isaac to finish up the bird show.