Keith, Natalie and Mackenzie

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Island Park

For the last 5 years, my family's made it a tradition to float the Snake River in Island Park. The first year was shortly before Keith and I got engaged.

My mom said we were obnoxious and lovey dovey on that trip.

In 2008 I went without Keith because I was pregnant and thus no pictures were taken because he's the one who remembers to do things like that. I don't think we were able to go 2009 because we were in Kentucky.

2010: Kenzie seems so much smaller last year. She didn't really care for the tube then either.

And this year Keith had to miss out again. I did feel pretty guilty enjoying such a beautiful day while he was back in Kentucky studying for boards.

David with Paisley getting ready to raft.

She was in the tube with me for about 20 minutes. Then despite her crying, my family let me drop her off in the raft where she eventually calmed down and spent some one-on-one with my mom.

The scenery was gorgeous

My little bro Caleb- check out those abs!

Kate and Taft were brave and floated on their own for awhile

We saw a moose at the end

We capped off the perfect day with buffet at Craigo's aka Pizza Pie Cafe.

Gotta love that Oreo Pizza

Idaho

I have awesome sisters who were willing to drive me to and from Idaho and hang out with me while I was there. Mackenzie was doing a little better with the trip and liked having her cousins in the house all of the time.

Kate was so sweet and held Kenzie's hand as they went down the slide together

This is monumental. Mackenzie has NEVER liked swinging and for some reason she decided she was going to join in the fun and give it another go.

Taft is getting a great sense of humor and he's such a fun kid to be around.

The kids on Sunday

Paisley is the happiest little girl! Always clapping and smiling

To beat the heat, we set up a little sprinkler pad for the kids to play in

And set up a Buzz Lightyear sprinkler

Kate wasn't crazy about Mackenzie shadowing her all of the time and Mackenzie wasn't a fan of Paisley following her around so this picture made me laugh because they really did need space.

Nighttime is so much cooler in Idaho and Utah. The kids decided to play duck, duck, goose with Rachel, Caleb and my dad.

The kids all piled onto Uncle Caleb

Party Time

Brandon and Katie set up their fun slip n' slide on their hill again this year and the older kids (not mine) had a lot of fun.

Because dad wasn't there to take Kenzie, grandma took his place, compression hose and all. What a good Grandma!

This is how Kenzie acted in between all of the partying and time she wasn't with her cousins. I don't think I've ever seen her throw so many tantrums in such a short period of time. Every day she asked me if we could go home and told me she wanted daddy. I never realized what a homebody she is. I was able to get out one night with my roommates which was a blast. Keith's parents watched her and said she was much better without me around.

Sophie and Eva had a combined Birthday party while we were there. It was princess themed and Joy did such a great job with it.

Sophie rocked while Kenzie sat. She was between laughing and screaming the whole time trying to decide if she liked it or not.

Eva and Sophie were so incredibly sweet and let Kenzie help open their presents.

Brandon and Katie bought all of the girls Princess dresses which they loved.

Wheeler Farm

After the Church museum, we grabbed lunch at the Lion House which was a little tricky with 5 kids and only 3 adults to get them through a long cafeteria line. But the food was good and gave us the energy to go onto our trip to Wheeler Farm. Despite the hot sun, the kids had a lot of fun.

Joy with her girls on the wagon ride around the farm

Grandma with Gideon and Kenz

I was shocked by how much snow was still on the mountains. Utah was suprisingly green and pretty for the middle of summer.

Utah: The first couple of days...

I anticipated the plane ride to be hard but it turns out that it was one of the easiest parts of my whole trip! Our friends let us borrow their portable DVD player which was really nice and helped occupy Kenzie on our

2 1/2 hour flight from KY to Denver. Our layover in Denver was just a couple of hours but Mackenzie sure made it seem longer! She kept me busy not listening to me, running around like a wild child, running up stairs we didn't need to go up and throwing herself on the floor. I think it was so much harder because I was 8 months pregnant, carrying 3 bags, and she's much faster than me. The flight from Denver to Provo went well and we were excited to meet Keith's sister Katie and her husband Brandon at the airport.

Poor Brandon tried so hard to get Mackenzie on his good side but she just wasn't having it with all of the new people around. The next day she let Katie blow bubbles with her outside.

Keith's family came over for dessert Sunday night and upon my request, Brandon took Mackenzie kicking and screaming away from me and held her hostage outside with the family so that I could get a bit of a break from her and so she would interact with the family. It took a little while but she finally warmed up a bit and had fun.

Grandma brought the parachute and the girls had a blast playing. Sophie and Kenzie are just 4 months apart but have very different personalities. They had a good time, though Eva and Mackenzie seemed to get along the best as the week went on.

Cousins (and a neighbor) blowing bubbles

Sophie and Kenz eating their pudding

It had been a year since I'd seen Serena. It's amazing how much babies develop and grow in that year, what a cute girl!

Keith's mom took me and Joy's family to the museum of Church history and art in downtown Salt Lake where they have a lot of beautiful paintings and artifacts. The kids had fun in these beds which were supposed to be like the bunks on the ships that came to America.