Another trip has come and gone................

As soon as we got back to Lawrence, we pretty much had to pack our bags so Jack and I could head to Utah for a week. We were very excited, it had been a LONG summer and it felt like this was our reward for surviving Iowa. Luke was so kind to surprise us with tickets. I wanted to go home over Labor Day because my cousin was getting married and we would be able to see our family that came down from Washington.

We arrived Thursday morning and as you can see I was an awful picture taker. My parents picked us up from the airport and all Jack could talk about was going to Grandpa's house to see his fishes (he had just built a waterfall and pond and put fishies in it). So we headed down to grandpa's house. Jack then spent the rest of the day at Summer's playing with Avery while the lovely Bree did my hair. It was much needed and appreciated! Thursday we headed over to the Peterson's as soon as they were off work, and spent the rest of the night with them.

Friday we waited until some family came down from Washington and then we all headed down to Cedar City for my cousins wedding. It was so nice to be able to go to a family event and not be in Kansas missing out on all the parties! My mom, me and Jack drove down and then shared a room with Katie and my Aunt Shelli and cousin Mandy. We attended the wedding dinner that night which was lovely.

Saturday we spent the day at my cousin's house who lives in Cedar City (Matt & Tammy). The kids had a good time running and some of us even got to play Ticket to Ride. I had a good time beating everyone :) That night was the wedding. It was a lovely ceremony and they had a beautiful garden reception at the bride's parents restaurant.

This is us sitting around eating all the good food.

My mom and her sisters (minus 1) and grandma Cole

They had a candy bar which Jack loved!

He made me laugh when he dumped out his bag and seperated his candy into groups. He is just like his dad.

Saturday night we drove home late after the reception.

Sunday morning Jack And Grandpa ate breakfast out by the fishies and then had a blast watering the flowers together. As you can see the flowers didn't get much water.

Chasing Grandpa.

Sunday after church, the family that was still in Utah came over and we spent the rest of the night with them.

My Grandma Cole was pretty much the reason we came to Utah. We hadn't seen her since before we moved to Kansas and it was a much needed visit! It was so good to see her! We can't wait till we get to make the trek to Washington next summer!

Monday, Labor Day, we got to spend the entire day with the Peterson's. The whole family got up and headed to the zoo in the morning. We spent all day walking around and looking at all the animals. (click to enlarge, there are alot of pictures) We had a really fun time. They had a baby giraffe that was darling. Jack loved going to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa & Bree & Brad and still talks about it all the time. After the zoo Jack talked Grandpa into going to his favorite restaurant, Red Lobster! Seriously he loves that place. It was all you can eat shrimp and Jack ate about 20 shrimp. I wish I would ave taken my camera in because Jack was so stuffed by the end it looked like he was going to hurl. He loves to pretend he is a shark and have the shrimp swim in the water and then bight the heads off.

It was so nice to be able to have everyone off work and be able to spend the whole day with them! Thanks for the great day!

Tuesday we got up and headed to the park with Summer and Avs. We packed lunches and had a good time feeding the ducks. No matter how long Jack and Avery are apart they quickly become best friends when they are reunited. I love that they never forget about each other!

Tuesday night was my Grandpa Shippen's 83rd birthday. So we had a family party at Chuck-a-rama and then we headed to the Owl's game.

My Grandpa's new hobby its to go to all the Owl's baseball games. Jack had so much fun and even got to meet the Owl, he was so excited!

Wednesday we must have just spent the day hanging out. Jack found Ethan's old Jedi costume, he thought he was pretty cool. Oh yea, I forgot that Wednesday I was able to get together with some old high school friends and have luch with them and their kids. I brought my camera and then forgot to take a picture. Oops, but we had a great time, thanks Kelli for having us over!

Thursday we went up to the aquarium with Summer, Ally and Avs. We usually take a trip up there when we go home. It is perfect size for Jack and Avs and they both love fishes and sharks! It was hilarious to force them to touch the sting rays. The sting rays were so funny they kept coming up on the edge and splashing us.

A little Halloween preview:

Thursday night we went over to Luke's and spent the evening with them. Jack saw a Halloween catalog in Kansas and saw a Buzz Lightyear costume and was so certain that he is going to Buzz for Halloween. He would tell our family all the time that "I be Buzz". So Grandma Jill was so kind to buy him his costume while we were there. we had to try it out while we were there since our families wouldn't see him on Halloween. He is pretty cool in his costume and has so much fun in it. He had fun with grandma and grandpa flying around and chasing the dog in his costume. It was pretty funny. Then we were able to go to dinner. So fun.

Friday my mom got off work early and we went up to a man made pond up in Herriman. They have a nice little beach. The kids had fun splahing around, burying Ethan, and Jack had fun eating sand. Seriously he ate about 10 handfuls. I don't know what his deal was but he put a handful of sand into his mouth and then because we laughed he thought he was funny and kept doing it. The funny thing is that he was acting like he just loved to eat it. he would put his head back and just drop the sand into his mouth. He is such a nerd, but so entertaining.

I also got to help my mom can peaches. It was fun to learn the canning process. And I think our peaches turned out beautiful! One of my favorite parts of our trip was taking advantage of my parents beautiful backyard and garden! We ate peaches every morning (acutally all day long) and tomatoes and cucumbers and whatever else we could pick. It was so nice to have a garden, I can't wait till we can grow our own garden one day. My lovely mother also made me 2 fresh peach pies while I was there, it was pure heaven and it is always something I miss when I am in Kansas in the late Summer!

Saturday we got up and headed over to Ethan's football game, another reason we had to go to Utah! I was so excited to go see him play. He is quite the little football player! He made 2 touchdowns and the most amazing tackle and they even won their game. I was a proud aunt!

I love watching Ethan with Jack, he truly treats him like a little brother and adores him. He was so sweet at the game. Even though he was in full pads and with all of his friends he still gave Jack all the attention. Before his game he came and kneeled by Jack and had a little chat. I loved that he got down on Jack's level. Jack thinks he is pretty much the coolest boy ever, and now when he sees any football player (even on tv) he gets so excited and thinks he is watching E play football!
I love these pictures! The football shirt Jack is wearing was actually Ethan's when he was 2.

More cousin time:

playing in Grandpa's back yard.

Eating home grown watermelon out of Grandpa's garden!

Saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Shippen.

Saying goodbye!

We had such a wonderful time with our families. We are already excited to head back there for Christmas. When we left Monday morning Avery was truly heartbroken and just sobbed. It was so sad. I am so grateful for our families and that Jack has cousins that he is so close to! Jack talks about our families all the time and can't wait till we get to go up up again and see them! We love y'all!

9/3/09-9/14/09