Weeds and Blueberries

 We came back to some bad and some good.  Turns out when you go out of town for three weeks, the weeds don't stop growing.  Our yard was an overgrown mess when we came back.  What a nice welcome home sight...

 So, I spent the next week pulling weeds for hours and hours

 

 Luckily, I had this cutie to help me.  And I was glad to have at least one pretty thing in my yard.  My dream home has either a gardener or a yard small enough to weed in 20 minutes!

 In between weeding sessions, I spent my days with fresh blueberries!

Made pies

 muffins

 pancakes, berry gratin, other berry desserts, and ate them fresh by the handfuls.  Now that was good!

 The kids enjoyed picking as much as I did!

Final Utah Days

We enjoyed a beautiful walk around Silver Lake at Brighton

 Emmy always taking pictures!

 The boys being AWESOME

 The tired beautiful girls

 Eating donuts on the last night

 And painting Mimi's tree stump

 This moment was one of my favorites, love and friendship between my sister and my son.  It's one I'll never forget.

 My cute little painter

 And then, just like that, our trip was over.  And we drove away while I watched the sunrise.

So many other things happened.  I just can't begin to capture it all.  But it was a good trip.  Really long.  But not long enough.  Hard but also very easy and nice.  Kind of everything.  The way Utah always is for me.

The Bad and the Good

Oliver just loved Bapa's magic tricks

 And just when things were really getting fun, Ethan got sick.  Then I puked.  And then Oliver puked.  Then Cooper.  One day after another.  And it went through my parents and almost all the cousins and grown-ups too.  Madeline miraculously didn't get sick.  But just about everyone else did.  The weird thing was that it was a very short bug.  Lasting less than a day.  So we somehow managed to do just about everything we had planned anyway.  Horrible, but it could have been much worse.  And we still had fun despite it all.

 Sunday cousin buddies

 Recovering Cooper

 Being silly

 Fun at Seven Peaks!

 Sam and Todd took the older kids to Getout Games.  It was Ethan's favorite part of the summer.

 Lehi Fun Center (these three girls are so cute!) I think it's funny that we never had a pass of all passes when we lived in Utah, but this year we finally bought one.  It was totally worth it!

 Cooper and Ryder

Oliver LOVED this plane ride!

Lucas and Ethan

Our Trip to Utah!

Well, what can I say?!?!  Our trip to Utah this summer was full of ups and downs but I just absolutely loved it.  Being there just feels so comfortable and familiar.  And being with family and friends was just what I needed.

The drive to Utah was nothing short of a blessing.  A miracle really.  It was our first attempt to make the 15 hour drive in one day.  Raelynn flew up for my birthday just to drive me and the kids down and it was amazing how well it went.  Everyone was happy the whole day!  Everything just worked out really well.  We hardly stopped at all and ended up getting there in 14 hours!  I was stunned.  I was completely surprised.  And completely grateful.  It seriously hadn't even seemed like a long day at all.  Not even hard really.  I can't say with confidence that that will ever happen again, but it sure was lovely.  My favorite part was singing with Raelynn.  And the jelly bean sucking contests. 

 Our first day in Utah, I had the privilege of going to see Laura and Dave be sealed in the temple.  Live sealings are my favorite thing to witness.  I can think of nothing I actually enjoy more.  It was a beautiful evening.  And I enjoyed spending it with my dad who came with me to Brigham City.

 Our girls outing was another highlight.  I went on a shopping spree with my birthday money and had a grand time.  Shopping with these ladies is the best!!!

 Poptart buddies

 FRIENDS!!  These friends couldn't get enough of each other.  Oh man, it hurts to not have such wonderful friends next door anymore.

 Sunday Morning with Mimi

 One adventure while in Utah was our trip to The Fairy Garden.  It's far into the woods in Kamas, Utah.  Quite a drive, but worth it!  It was a strange magical place filled with little fairy houses and painted rocks.  The kids loved it.

 my fairy:

 What his shirt says!

 I realize now that in my pictures you can't actually tell how cool this place was.  I guess you'd have to go and see it for yourself to know.

 Cooper loved painting whatever rocks he wanted too and was very happy with his work.  :)

 The girls made these darling fairy rocks girls.  They are both so creative.  I love seeing them together.