Rach's Utah visit

OK! The girls are down, dinner is cookin, laundry is done so maybe I can get at least one post up. My sissy Rachel came up in July. She only had half of her kids but it sure sounded like an army load in the basement each night. We kept ourselves busy busy busy. Which isn't anything new for either of us but it sure was nice having my sis and her chillins to be busy with. 

We went up the canyon to picnic

We hiked the 'Y'

We rolled out of bed so early that morning to hike. When we got up to the Y the sun wasn't even over the mountain yet. We waited and watched it rise over top. Rachel's kids were a hoot to listen to... little complaining from Taylor, Lots of complaining from Paige, and zero complaining from Easton! He even fell and bled quite a bit. He's all boy, I assure you that!

We went bowling 

It was the littles first time...they had a ball. Ashton got 3 strikes. LOL she really did. It took the ball a century to get to the pins but she'd roll it straight down the center. It scared her the first time we all cheered as we were so surprised but after that she'd cheer for herself before the ball even got to the pins.

We went to 7 Peaks

and went on walks

We went to the park in the evenings

We went to the movies

This was taken before it started. I was giddy. It was my idea to see 'Inception' and I've been counting down the days until I could stare at Mr. Dicaprio's dreamy face for 3 whole hours. Or twenty minutes...son of a B! I FELL ASLEEP! I couldn't help it. I tried so flipping hard to stay awake. I even held my eyelids open which obviously didn't last long. I woke up in Shane's lap drooling as the whole theater literally jumped out of their seats screaming different things at the end. Rachel couldn't find her purse and the guy next to her was white knuckled clutching onto it. It was so funny! I must go back and see this again, for the first time. Don't you dare judge me Toni... I was tired; I couldn't help it!

This was the morning Aunt Rachel and the kids had to leave.

EXCEPT FOR TAYLOR!...

Taylor got to stay a few more days and help me with the girls. She was such a good helper and the twins laughed their heads off with her. Tay would crawl on all fours at lightning speed chasing the littles down the hall. They were all rolling with laughter. It was too dang cute!

My other niece, Hallie, got to sleepover one of the nights with Taylor. They watched movies in the basement and ate snacks until midnight.  Hallie cuddled right up next to Tay. It surprised me how much those two got along.

We got Mani's and Pedi's and of course Jamba Juice which Taylor discovered was a new fav.  

On our way to the airport I took Tay to Gateway to do some school shopping. I bought her jeans, a dress and cardigan for church, the cutest silver church shoes, underwear, earings, purse, shirts and leggings. We had fun running from store to store trying to get in as much shopping as we could before her flight left. This is us eating at Panda Express, requested by Taylor, on her last day. 

We miss you Tay Tay and want you to come back next summer! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed having you stay with me. Thank you for letting me crawl in bed with you in the middle of the night. You are such a special niece of mine but I also found out this summer that we've become friends too. It gets me teary eyed (and makes me feel old) at how grown up you are! I remember hysterically laughing as I fed you banana ice cream on your couch in New Orleans. You weren't even a year old. Now, just last month, we shared ice cream again, on my couch here in Utah, only this time you were telling me about boys and school while we BOTH laughed hysterically. I'm glad you can tell me anything, I really loved all our talks!  

*****

While we were in Pebble...

my parents came up to watch the girls. The poor things didn't have any fun at all! My mom said they cried and cried....  

and stood outside calling for us... just waiting for us to return.

NOT!!!!!

The girls couldn't have had more fun! They got constant attention 24/7 and I know my mom and dad catered to their EVERY little tiny need.. and then some! Once we landed in Utah we couldn't get home fast enough. We ran through the door and they screamed and ran around then they looked over to make sure my mom didn't leave the room. Ten minutes later we were wondering why we were so anxious to come home. The girls were happy as happy can be while we were gone! Moral of the story?-- learn to let go and enjoy myself a little more on our next getaway