Vacation - Too short, lots of fun

So we are back in MA and are so sad that our time in Utah went so quickly. I need to write down everything we did so I don't forget, but our Internet is not working yet so I can't add pictures (I'm blogging on my break from work). Once we get things working, I'll add some our our fav. pics.

Friday 6/20 - Recover from our arrival to st. George at 3:00 am (thanks Amber and mom for picking us up in Vegas). First thing in the am, Chelsea headed over to the Castros, Mason & Brianna headed to the Gentry's, I went shopping for some new clothes. That night we hung out at the old neighborhood (see Shelley's blog from 6/23 for the cutest pics that I didn't get because I was outside visiting with other neighbors). It was so good to visit with Shelley and Lindsey. Brianna slept over with Brooke and Mason with Camden. Because Chelsea was also away, it was just me and Cord that night.

Saturday 6/21 - Traditional birthday lunch date with Sherri & Angela. This has been a great tradition for years and I always look forward to having time to catch up with my longest childhood friends. I just have to figure out how to get back for the october b-day! We went to Cafe Rio because I have been craving it for 6 months. Then we went to "25 Main" to try their famous cupcakes. Chelsea got to hang out at the mall for her long awaited shopping trip. She had been saving all her babysitting money so she could buy whatever she wanted. She got some cute things and had fun. That night we had a family BBQ at my parents house. My Alldredge grandparents came as well as Mike's parents. Even though it was hot outside, we all enjoyed being together.

Sunday 6/22 - Attend Church at our old Ivins ward. We got to reconnect with many friends. That night we got to visit at Aunt Tammy's house and see our McKelleb cousins. Afterward we headed back to my parents house to learn our new favorite game called "Scum". We love playing games around the kitchen table with cousins. It's just not the same with the kids and I in Mass.

Monday 6/23 - I went to lunch with several friends from work (see Brenda's blog on 7/1 for pics. Brenda I need you to e-mail them to me). We went to Samari 21 and were very entertained. I got in trouble by the cook for talking. It was fun to hold and see the cute babies they brought with them and to catch up. I stopped into the ICU afterwards to see those who couldn't make it. It felt like coming home to step into the old unit. Just 2 more years and I'll be back - save a position for me!! Chelsea caught the movie Kungfu Panda with her friends. That night we went to Dave & Susie's house to swim in their pool and catch up. We just love being with their family! Afterwards we had to get back to pack for our journey in the morning.

Tuesday 6/24 - We were up and ready to head to Bear Lake for our family reunion by 6:00 am. We had a 9+ hour drive ahead of us and Cord had been up screaming for about 2 hours monday night. I got us up there with a constant drip of mountain dew!! We met up with my Aunt Terri's family and grandma Mathews at a cabin they rented about 30 min from Bear Lake. Even though I was so tired that night, after we put the kids to bed the adults stayed up and played with the Wii. It was really a lot of fun. I got a kick out of watching Eric break a sweat playing tennis.

Wed. 6/25 - It took me several hours to realize that it was actually the 25th which meant that I was now 36 years old! Birthdays are not really a big deal for me anymore. But we spent the day hanging out on the beach at Bear Lake. All the kids loved splashing in the cool water. I just followed Cord around while he explored. He loved throwing the mud around. The down side of the day included all of us getting sunburned, despite lots of sunscreen. That night a chocolate cake that said "happy birthday Jalyn - 36" magically appeared (thanks to the Mortensens!) It really was a great b-day. Mason and Brianna even picked some wild flowers for me.

Thurs 6/26 - We were all too sunburned and miserable to go back to the beach, so we decided to go cave exploring in the Minnetonka Cave. It was totally amazing and the kids loved it! It contained 880 stairs round trip and I carried Cord (with his 28 lbs of cuteness and crankiness) the whole time. The next day my rt arm was extremely sore. After the adventure, we headed to a local diner for some famous homemade fries and raspberry shakes. Then those who weren't totally exhausted yet hit some of the local gift shops. Any spare time during the reunion was spent riding 4 wheelers, playing card games or the wii, or just sitting around visiting with cousins that we only see about once a year and love being with!

Friday 6/27 - We rented the coolest bikes and went for a leisure bike ride. OK, it was a lot of work actually but it was fun. Mason was on a "banana bike", Brianna and Kennedy peddled side by side with Rebecka in the front seat. Chelsea, myself, Amber, and Grandma peddled a 4 seater with Cord and Caleb in the front seat. I can't even explain it so you'll have to wait for the pictures. We celebrated our victory with snow cones. Then we headed back to the beach because great grandma had rented a boat. We enjoyed our last visits and the kids had a boat ride. Then we headed back to Lehi for the evening. We took a short stop in Logan so I could show the kids where I went to school and lived during my college year away from home. We had to stop for Aggie ice cream too. That night we hung out with the Kay family and Brianna had a sleepover with McKenna Davies.

Saturday 6/28 - We just took it easy with the Kay family while Shari and I did hair. I love to tell Shari just to do whatever she wants and it always turns out cute. Chelsea got a few red highlights in her sandy blond hair while Karly (shari's daughter) got blond highlights in her red hair. We took the kids swimming at their community pool that afternoon. Then we headed over to the Davies family to visit. Even though we only get to see them once a year, we always pick up right where we left off. It's fun to see how their kids are growing and the neat things they are doing! We left for st. george and pulled in around 1:30 am. I don't think we got to bed at a decent hour at all during our vacation. We just had too much to do.

Sunday 6/29 - Chelsea went to church with her friend Taylor A. and we went back to our Ivins ward. That evening we went to visit with my alldredge grandparents, but our visit was cut short when Mason started throwing up on their floor. That night we tucked in and watched the movie "Spiderwick" with popcorn and sprite. Mason just got sprite because he kept throwing up. Chelsea slept over at Taylor's house.

Monday 6/30 - While Mason was recovering on the couch, and Brianna was swimming with cousins, I snuck away to visit with Brenda for a couple hours. I always love just sitting and chatting with her and really miss our scrappin sessions. Brianna then went to her friend Sasha's house for a sleepover. I was supposed to work at DRMC, but they didn't need me. So we went to the temple for family home evening with Amber's family. It's been awhile since I had been there and enjoyed with I could see. Cord didn't cooperate too much so we wandered. We then ended the evening at Amber's backyard enjoying ice cream cones and good company.

Tuesday 7/1 - The cousins hit the st. george spash pad in the morning and then we went to see "wall E" that afternoon. We then enjoyed dinner and a show put on by Brianna, Kennedy, Rebecka, Christian, and Mason. They preformed "thriller" for us which was so amazing. We ended the night with fireworks and rootbeer floats in front of my parents house.

Wed 7/2 - I can't believe it's already over and I wonder why I'm so exhausted - sigh! Just typing it all up makes me tired and if you are still reading you are probably board. But I want to make sure I remember all the fun things we did. We spent the morning running errands and saying final goodbyes to family and friends. By 4:00 we were headed back to MA on the shuttle. We brought my neice, kennedy home with us for more fun. My parents are flying out here next week. It takes about 12 hours to get home including drive time and layovers. I was really proud of how the kids traveled - except Cord. He gets really tired of that carseat after a couple of hours. The flight from Denver to Hartford had a lot of kids, so I didn't feel as bad when he screamed because he was taking turns with other kids.

Mike had the lovely task of moving us to our new house while we were gone. He did an amazing job getting all of our junk over. Now I have the task of going through and organizing things.

Thanks for all the fun and the memories. We hope to be able to do it again next summer!!!