My last vacay post of the summer. Hello Utah! Hello cooler weather. Hello family, cousins, playmates, friends! Hello late nights playing board games and talking. And goodbye to the last few breaths of summer. (Er... summer vacations, that is. Summer is still very much in full-swing down here in the desert, unfortunately.)
Here's what we did...
Here's what we did...
Parades
Dom even got a kiss from a QUEEN!
Oh look! It's Aunt Mimi!
Our best 4th of July-Family-Picture-Attempt...
Fireworks
... at Nana and Papa's house.
New Bebes
Introducing all our new little cousins... from a few days old up to 8ish months!
This is little Benjamin. He's very fresh.
And little Mateo... still pretty darn fresh.
And Olivia... so pretty.
And little Elizabeth. Check out that grin. What a cutie!
Family
...he never recovered.
Dom and Ali. They still LOVE each other... even though they hardly ever get to be together. Here, they enjoy a nice spot of tea.
Dom and Donnie... little tow-heads.
Beautiful Weather
And little Mateo... still pretty darn fresh.
And Olivia... so pretty.
And little Elizabeth. Check out that grin. What a cutie!
Family
We attempted a cousins photo.
Dame was just fine before all of us mommies started clapping and waving and shouting in order to get smiles... or even glances in our general direction.
We scared the poo out of him.
...he never recovered.
Dom and Ali. They still LOVE each other... even though they hardly ever get to be together. Here, they enjoy a nice spot of tea.
Dom and Donnie... little tow-heads.
Beautiful Weather
My little men were in heaven. They could run and play outside without
running the risk of their face melting off. How refreshing!
B-Ball
The boys had their annual ball game...
Dream Team.
Friends
I was able to spend much-needed time with my best friend and her adorable offspring. :)
Lagoon
Oh this was so much more fun than I thought it was going to be! We took the boys to Lagoon. They had the time of their lives. So.much.fun.
Dom was quite daring. He surprises me. For being so cautious about life in general... when it comes to rides and rollercoasters... completely uninhibited. Love it.
Dame was not a fan of the airplanes.
B-Ball
The boys had their annual ball game...
Dream Team.
Friends
I was able to spend much-needed time with my best friend and her adorable offspring. :)
Lagoon
Oh this was so much more fun than I thought it was going to be! We took the boys to Lagoon. They had the time of their lives. So.much.fun.
Dom was quite daring. He surprises me. For being so cautious about life in general... when it comes to rides and rollercoasters... completely uninhibited. Love it.
Dame was not a fan of the airplanes. He crashed in his stroller for a couple of hours after this one...
Dominic loved the log ride. Seriously... he kept on surprising us.
His favorite ride... I don't have a picture of. It was a fast roller coaster called BomBora. He asked to go on it over and over again. We must've hit it 6 or 7 times.
Train ride...
Idaho
Me and the boys took a day-trip to Idaho while Rich worked from home ( UVU campus) in Utah. About 10 miles out from Burley, I was pulled over in a construction zone. On our drive to Lagoon, our car alarm kept going off randomly while we were driving so we had taken out our owner's manual and brought it into the house to read up on what could be the problem.
The ground hasn't filled in yet... can still see the rectangle.
I borrowed someone else's headstone for this timer-pic... hope they didn't mind. ;)
Dom and Dame graciously emptied out the contents of their water bottles so that we could leave the vases filled to the brim.
Poppie's little men... they've got the ears to prove it.
My Roots
While I was in Burley, I met up with my Mama at my childhood home. I remember making these hand and foot impressions with my Dad like it was yesterday.
Everything is pretty delapidated and run-down now. But still pretty in a way. My Daddy built that barn with his own two hands. By himself. Our land stretched back past those trees. I had lots of room to roam as a little girl. Lots of memories in that barn. Loved to feed the horses from the hayloft with my Dad... and love to watch him shoe his horses in those stalls. Loved to eat handfulls of oats from the barrels in the tack room. Loved the smell of leather and manure. Love making forts in the hayloft. Loved hearing the rain fall on the tin roof. Thanks Daddy. :)
This is a huge white birch tree in our front yard. I've got a lot of childhood pictures taken sitting on these branches. So I did a little photoshoot with the men...
My Sweet Mama bought us lunch and ice cream before we headed back home. It was a wonderful trip. :) Love you Mom!
Dominic loved the log ride. Seriously... he kept on surprising us.
His favorite ride... I don't have a picture of. It was a fast roller coaster called BomBora. He asked to go on it over and over again. We must've hit it 6 or 7 times.
Train ride...
Idaho
Me and the boys took a day-trip to Idaho while Rich worked from home ( UVU campus) in Utah. About 10 miles out from Burley, I was pulled over in a construction zone. On our drive to Lagoon, our car alarm kept going off randomly while we were driving so we had taken out our owner's manual and brought it into the house to read up on what could be the problem.
We never put it back in the car.
My proof of insurance was tucked inside it.
The policeman saw all my flowers in the car and asked where I was going. I told him, through my tears (but only because I was really embarrassed that I'd been speeding... for some reason that is humiliating to me and makes me bawl) that I was headed to the cemetary in Burley to put flowers on my Dad's grave.
He said he was sorry, headed back to his car... and came back after a few minutes, slip in hand.
I got a big 'ole ticket for speeding in a construction zone... and another one for no proof of insurance. Nice.
I drove the the cemetary 5 miles under the speed limit the whole way and then bawled to my Dad for 10 minutes about the cop's lack of compassion... and then I cried about more obvious things too. It was good though. It added a little more closure to see his headstone. The last time I was here was the funeral. His casket wasn't even buried.
I think his headstone looks beautiful.
The ground hasn't filled in yet... can still see the rectangle.
I borrowed someone else's headstone for this timer-pic... hope they didn't mind. ;)
Dom and Dame graciously emptied out the contents of their water bottles so that we could leave the vases filled to the brim.
Poppie's little men... they've got the ears to prove it.
My Roots
While I was in Burley, I met up with my Mama at my childhood home. I remember making these hand and foot impressions with my Dad like it was yesterday.
Everything is pretty delapidated and run-down now. But still pretty in a way. My Daddy built that barn with his own two hands. By himself. Our land stretched back past those trees. I had lots of room to roam as a little girl. Lots of memories in that barn. Loved to feed the horses from the hayloft with my Dad... and love to watch him shoe his horses in those stalls. Loved to eat handfulls of oats from the barrels in the tack room. Loved the smell of leather and manure. Love making forts in the hayloft. Loved hearing the rain fall on the tin roof. Thanks Daddy. :)
This is a huge white birch tree in our front yard. I've got a lot of childhood pictures taken sitting on these branches. So I did a little photoshoot with the men...
My Sweet Mama bought us lunch and ice cream before we headed back home. It was a wonderful trip. :) Love you Mom!
