Utah Visit

We had a long and wonderful visit to Utah--3 weeks!  Pretty much the first week of that was spent in Jackson Hole with my family.  After that, we spent some time with Cameron's family.  Unfortunately Cameron had to work from home the days we were there, but we still had a great time!  After that, Cameron left for a work conference in Malaysia and a man trip with friends in Bangkok, while I hung back in Utah for a week and half with my family.  We had such a great time!  It was so fun to spend so much time with loved ones.

Our first full day in Utah was my mom's birthday, so we made her a cake to celebrate.  We also got to attend my cousin Kip's mission farewell, which was wonderful of course.  And it was so great to see so much family!

We had such a great time with Greg and Kathy!  Andy was in heaven the entire time.  He always knew Grandpa Greg would take him outside, and he took full advantage of that.  They knew Andy likes to throw rocks, so they had an entire bucket full of rocks for Andy to throw.  Our first day, Kathy and I headed to the Discovery Children's Museum at the Gateway, where Andy had a fantastic time.  His favorite (again) was the ball area.

We had a really fun Baker family get together that night, but we were all having too much fun to get any pictures!

Tuesday, Greg, Kathy, and I took Andy to a really fun park in Pleasant Grove.  Afterward, we went to lunch with Cam and a really good Grilled Cheese place in American Fork and got cupcakes at Cravings--amazing.  We drove up to Tarahumara in Midway for dinner and then stopped to throw rocks at the river in the canyon on the way home.

Wednesday, Kathy and I took Andy to the Highland splash pad, which Andy loved.  Coolest splash pad ever.  And I ran into a good friend I hadn't seen since elementary school!  It was great to see you Heather! Kathy and Greg watched Andy during the afternoon so I could head out for a sisters lunch with Sara and Rachel at Zupas.  Yum.  Sara and I went shopping after, and had a blast of course.  And I was reminded of just how easy it is to shop without a two-year-old! I didn't miss pushing that stroller at all.  :) That night, we met up with the Jensen clan at Thanksgiving Point for ice cream and a farm visit.  Andy had a blast seeing his cousins! I'm kicking myself for not getting a group shot with everyone.

Our last day with Greg and Kathy, we went to Provo Beach Resort to ride the carousel.  Andy was a bit of a pill that day, but we still had a great time.  He especially loved the toddler bowling, even though he didn't quite get the concept!

After we dropped Cameron off at the airport, Andy and I headed to my parents' house for a week and a half of partying.  Though I spent most of the time in a sleep deprived stupor, thanks to Andy's discovery of how climb out of the pack 'n play, we had a blast!  We went to the splash pad lots.  We went to Seven Peaks twice.  Andy absolutely loved this.  His favorite was going down the slide with Aunt Abby, whom he adores.  We got delicious ice cream cones and Nielsen's at Pace's, Bountiful favorites.  We took a "hike" up by the temple.  My mom and I did a temple session together, which was wonderful.  We did a couple shopping trips, of course...the Nordstrom sale was happening, after all.  We ate delicious food: my favorite was The Mandarin take-out.  We had a barbecue with Paul and Christy's family.  I converted my family to watching HGTV.  I visited with my Messick grandparents while Andy dismantled their house.  Sara and Rachel both came up from Provo a lot; it was so great to spend time with them!  A few pictures of all the fun:

Andy watching cars with Grandpa.

Check out Andy's face: absolute bliss!

First time I've ever let him eat a cone by himself.  He loved every minute of it.

He surprised me by loving the splash pads we visited!  He'd not been a fan earlier this summer. 

Sprinkled between all of this were some great visits with friends.  Of course, we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to see, but we sure loved catching up with those we were able to see!  We had Cafe Rio with Dimitriy and Monique.  It was so good to see them!  Andrea and Addy came to visit Andy and I at my parents' house.  We met up with Bonnie and her darling kids at the splash pad.  We visited Marsha and her two adorable kids in Provo.  I got to have dinner with my great friend Whitney.  I got to meet up with Emily for Indian food.  I got to have a quick hello with my beloved piano teacher, Dr. Peery-Fox and introduce her to Andy.  I even ran into my great friend Amy at Target! It was so wonderful to see such good friends!  Sadly, I only got a couple pictures of these friend visits.

Two of Bonnie's cute kids!

Andy and Ben.  These two would be best buds if we lived closer!  Ben kept wanting to hold Andy's hand.  It was basically the cutest thing ever.

So good to see Marsha!

Thank you a million times both to my parents and Greg and Kathy for their generosity in hosting us and in making sure we had such a great time.  We love you and wish we lived closer!

Jackson Hole

The first week of July, we took possibly the best trip ever to Jackson Hole with my family.  It was so. much. fun.  I don't think it could have gone any better!  We haven't spent much time together as an entire family for quite some time, now that we live in Texas and Christine and Ben live in Ohio.  In fact, I think the last time we really spent time together was the last time we went to Jackson Hole, which was two years ago.  And that visit we had a six-week old, so it wasn't quite the same!  Anyway--we had such a great time.  I enjoyed every minute of it.  My parents rented a beautiful condo in Teton Village and we stayed monday thru saturday.  Prepare for picture overload.

We went to Jenny Lake, took a boat ride, and did a little hike. Andy loved it and did great! In fact, Andy enjoyed pretty much every minute of the whole trip.  He was in heaven having so many people around giving him attention and doing so many fun, new things.  Plus, there were lots of rocks to throw, pretty much heaven for him.  There's nothing more fun than watching your kid have fun.

Andy loved the boat ride!

Look closely: I have cute mom style going on.

Sam and Aunt Sara

We played wiffle ball three times in local parks.  A definite family favorite.  It was especially fun since my team killed the other team every time.  (Have I mentioned I like to win? It's almost as fun as watching how mad Rachel gets when she loses an athletic event.)

Cameron was almost as good as me.

We went river rafting!  This is seriously one of my favorite things in the world to do.  To my great surprise, both my doctor and the rafting company were fine with me doing it while pregnant!  I loved every minute of it. I had to sit in the middle of the boat to minimize falling out risk, but it was still a blast!  Many thanks to Christine for generously watching Andy so I could go.

We went to the 4th of July parade in Jackson, which was super fun with a kid!  He loved every minute of it.  He even thought the pooper scoopers were thrilling.  He especially loved waving his flag and catching (and eating) candy.

Rachel and Sara loved these mountain men.

Andy loves Aunt Sara! (Even though he calls her Rachel a lot.)

My parents went on amazing bike rides every morning.  Have I mentioned that I have the fittest 55-year-olds in the world as my parents?  They're both training for the Lotoja, so they'll be back in Jackson in September. I tease them for being too into biking, but I'm proud of them.  Cameron, Ben, and Rachel went on a ride one afternoon too.

We went to see the Bar J Wranglers!  Major family favorite here.  The food was delicious and the entertainment was hilarious as usual.

Andy was too busy eating his scone to smile.

Cousin hat picture!

Ben, Sam, & Christine: cute little family!

We did some swimming, and Andy got increasingly brave in the water.  He loves to dunk himself, jump around, and open his eyes underwater.

We did some wandering around Jackson.  The ice cream place is our favorite.  We had dinner with some other family that happened to be in town at the same time--so fun to see Laura and her family and Diane and Dave!

We spent lots of time hanging out around the condo, eating ridiculous amounts of snacks and treats.  I'm kicking myself that I didn't take a picture of all the food we had there.  It was insane.  We chatted lots and played mafia one night, which was hilarious.  We ate most of our meals around the condo, which was great.  Many thanks to my mom for planning so many great meals.

Andy and baby Sam (as Andy calls him) spent lots of time playing in the mornings while everyone else slept.  It was so sweet to see these two bond.  Andy loves Sam.  He still talks about him, and thinks all babies are "baby Sam."  It made me less nervous about how Andy will react to the new little one come October.

Andy did this completely unprompted our last morning there.  Cutest thing ever.

And a final group shot.  Mom and dad, thank you so much for generously providing such a wonderful week for us to spend together!

Bay Area Trip

Cameron grew up about 45 minutes north of San Francisco, and it had been too long since we'd last visited--3 years!  Cam's parents were generous enough to send the three of us there to meet up with them for a fantastic vacation.  We had a blast!

The spent the first few days staying at the Berkeley Marina, which was beautiful.  Andy loved seeing all the boats everywhere.  Our first full day there was Andy's birthday.  Cameron worked remotely most of the day, but we had fun exploring the area.  We went to breakfast with Greg, Andy visited the park with Greg and Kathy, and we had a birthday lunch with Great-Grandma Liz at the hotel.  After nap time, Cameron joined us and we headed into the city for an amazing seafood dinner at Sotto Mare.  We wandered around Chinatown afterward.  Such a fun day! 

Greg and Kathy brought so many darling birthday presents for Andy!  His favorite were these foam puzzles.

Throwing rocks: Andy's favorite pastime.

This was the way he smiled for pictures the whole weekend. 

Birthday m&ms from Grandma Liz.  Andy loved them!

He loved when they sang him happy birthday!

Chinatown walk!

Friday, we met up with Brendan, had breakfast, and walked down the Berkeley Pier.  We headed into the city later to meet Cam's Aunt, Uncle, Cousins, etc. for some traditional San Francisco sights.  We got Clam Chowder, wandered down to Ghirardelli Square and got ice cream (where they literally messed up half of our orders), saw the sea lions, and got sun burns thanks to the unusually beautiful weather.  I can't believe we don't have more pictures of the day.  We had so much fun!  That night, Cam and I met up with some of his high school friends and had a great time catching up.  

Watching a crab walk around.

There's that smile again!

Saturday and sunday were spent with extended family.  It ended up being a family reunion for Greg's side of the family because Cam's cousin Iain had his mission farewell.  It was so great to see everyone!  Literally everyone (except for cousin Sydney) was there.  We went to Grandma Liz's house up in Sebastopol on saturday and then headed into Sacramento to hang out with Dave, Kelly, Iain, and Wyatt.  We swam in their beautiful pool, enjoyed a barbecue, and played kickball.  Sunday we went to Iain's farewell and had more family time at Dave and Kelly's.  Andy absolutely loved having other little kids around and enjoyed every minute of it.  We drove down to meet Kathy's sister Karen and her husband Gary for dinner in the evening.  We also took a little tour of a few homes Cam lived in growing up.  It was fun to see pieces of his childhood.  We had such a great time seeing everyone!  I can't believe I don't have more group shots.  I need to steal some from someone.  (Kelly?!) Anyway, it was a fantastic trip!  Thanks so much Greg and Kathy!

And again. 

And again!  Our little watermelon addict. Most unflattering picture ever of Andy.  I'm sure we'll use this one against him someday.