Utah: Splash Pad & Aunt Jami's Bday

Grumple got his splash pad all set up before we arrived so that we could enjoy the outdoors in the heat of summer.  The splash pad was seriously the highlight of our vacation.  We were out there as often as the girls could convince a grown up to supervise them.  The concrete was surrounded by these white rocks that became colorful when they get wet!  In the evening the water glows with rainbow colored LED lights embedded in the ground.  And to control the splash pad there was an app for that!  Endless water patterns and options. 

The girls loved helping Grumple work on the yard and splash pad.  Jake helped my dad build the waterfall feature on the side of the splash pad.  I found a scrap of paper where Jake used Bernoulli's equation to calculate the flow rate.  I love that it had a bunch of hearts punched out of the edges!  The older girls were digging in the mud.  The bottom left picture: I walked in the bathroom and found this scene.  My family had melted!!

Splash pad fun:

In preparation for Jami's birthday we decorated her car.  My nieces were still spending the night so they helped me blow up all the balloons and bedazzle it.  Another year of fabulous!

When Scarlett was making a card for Jami she said "I'm putting these temple stickers all over her card- because I know she loves the temple.  She has a temple picture on her phone."

When we got together for her family birthday party we sang happy birthday to her.  Skye started crying.  I thought it was a fluke... but for the next few weeks every time someone sang "Happy Birthday" she would cry!  haha!  Silly girl.  We used paper cups to protect the girl's hand from the sparklers.  I was impressed at how brave they all were.  We stood outside and held them while we all sang along with "Firework" by Katy Perry. 

Jami had a bday party with her friends one night.  She had it at my dad's office (where she works too).  The girls and I went over that day to decorate a little and help set up.  My mom had the idea to make a photo booth.  A. took these pictures of the littles.  So funny!  

Happy birthday Jami Jac Joy!

Utah: Baby Juniper

While we were in Utah we got to meet the very tiny and so adorable baby Juniper.  We were all pretty smitten with this little squishy angel.  Since we were visiting for 6 weeks, we got to see her change a lot during that time.  She doubled her life while we were there!  Look at how much she changed just in the top left two pictures!

Everyone wanted to hold her.  Even Skye enjoyed playing with her.  I think it was a bit confusing for Skye to have a baby smaller than her.  But she thought it was convenient that the baby always had a binky around.  I think she put (or tried to put) Juniper's binky in her mouth more than she ever tried her own binkies!  haha!  The picture in the top right corner is Lili, Juniper and me.  We all 3 have the same birthday: May 27!!!  Birthday buddies!!!

I just love these videos of Juniper and Skye.  In the one on the left, Skye says "Hi Juniper" (it's hard to hear cause Juniper was trying to let us all know that she was tired).  And the video on the right Jami caught Skye tickling Juniper's toes.  At the beginning Skye says "Are you video?"

      

Hailey and I had fun one afternoon playing dress up with baby Juni in my mom's room.  I took these 6 week old photos of her.  She was so cooperative!  So many smiles!!!

The day before we flew back to MI we got to go to Juniper's baby blessing.  It was a fun family-filled afternoon.  James and Hailey did a great job hosting everyone.  Juni was so smiley when I was holding her at church - look at that gummy grin!!!  I love the "JUNIPER" donuts, very James and Hailey (Jaimley?).  And I found a sign that Scarlett made - complete with straws to stake into the ground.   (PS - sorry that there's a lens flare over your face Hailey - you must be a ray of sunshine!)

Needless to say, we are glad that James is going to law school at Indiana University so they are only 5 hours away from us now!!!  

Utah: Fun with Friends & Family

While in Utah we got to visit with a lot of family and friends.  (some of these visits were while Jake was back in Michigan working, that's why he's not in them).

I took my girls to see Great-Grandma Seaver.  She had fun dressups and the cutest little CTR mood-rings for the girls.  

We met the Seaver clan to visit Grandpa's grave.  My Uncle Orland and Aunt Meredith made their headstone as a placeholder next to Sarah's grave.  Uncle Orland put his favorite scripture, which is also my favorite scripture (and birthday).

About a year and a half ago, through a string of random events my parents wound up with a new college girl living in their home.  Though we didn't know her at the time, she's been a wonderful addition to our family!  She is a pioneer in her family, attending church as a teenager on her own.  And recently Lili left on her spanish-speaking mission to Washington DC South.  You can see her mission blog here.  My girls loved hanging out with her and learning Spanish.  The twirls called her "Yiyi".  She is a shortie, a MVHS Cheerleader, super organized, and her birthday is May 27.  She's the latino Jenni hahaha!!!!!

We got to play with Jenn Seaver and her boys.  For a few years we both were Jennifer Seaver.  Then she had 4 boys and I had 4 girls!  We both have a deep passion for crafting and unnaturally colored hair!  Oh how I wish we lived closer together!  She is too much fun!

Another person I would have in my dream-neighborhood: Krista Peery.  She's one of those friends that I can joke around with super easy.  We pick up right where we left off.  It's crazy how many kids we've added to our little families since her summer in Michigan.  Scarlett was just a little older than Skye during that time.  

Lori Lee came by to hold baby Juni.  We also got to spend time with new friends from the neighborhood.  

Fun with the Anderson's and Lees!  Kim and Jamie have the coolest backyard!

One of the Detroit Sister missionaries, Sister Jones, lives in Logan now.  She was in Orem for the day so we met up for ice cream and fun!

We got a wedding invite to Caleb Wade's reception.  If you don't remember, the Wades were some of our great friends from Connecticut.  I realized that they were having an open house at Wheeler Farm while we were in Utah.  Jake and I got to go and catch up with a bunch of old friends!  So fun!!!!  

Sometimes I get sad at all the great friends and wonderful family that we don't live close by.  I try to focus on the fact that there are so many people spread across the United States that we love and who (hopefully) love us.  We do our best to keep those relationships strong, and when we are able, we enjoy spending time with them.  We loved seeing all these folks and look forward to catching up with all those we missed next summer!

Utah: Two Peas in a Pod Baby Shower

Paul and Vickie's grandchildren are mostly girls.  When I had Skye there were 13 grandkids but only 2 of those were boys.  When Carolyn told us that she was expecting identical twin girls, Christy realized that the odds of having ID twin girls in our family was the same as having a boy!  haha!  

I still cannot believe that Carolyn had ID twin girls!  So so crazy!  What are the odds?!?!  Jake and I looked at some numbers and we calculate that it is ~0.0009%!!!!  I'm just glad someone else can use all the matching twin girl clothes I have clogging up our basement!

While we were in Utah the Glauser women planned a baby shower for Carolyn.  I found this really cute peas in a pod art pack on Etsy that I used to make an invite:

Several of my nieces helped with the decorations.  Amy made the cupcakes (look at those cute little edible peas!!!)   Gwen put together the pea pod balloons.  My SILs made the DELICIOUS food!  And look at that amazing watermelon baby carriage that my mother in law made!!!  I also thought that the pea pods on the table were such a great little touch from my MIL.  I was excited when I found Doublemint gum to hand out!

Carolyn looking way too amazing for being prego with twins!

Matt's family drove down from Ogden to join in the fun.  My father in law watched the little girls in the basement during the shower.  They came up at the end for food and fun.  

We played a twin trivia game.  3 teams, each with a whiteboard.  I would ask the question and then we would see who got it right.  I hate bridal showers where they keep points and only some people get a little gift.  So we just played for fun.  The last question they each got a bag of letters and they had to unscramble Carolyn's secret baby names!  

A few weeks after we left these little beauties arrived!!!!  Carolyn and Matt wanted a simple baby announcement without pink or black... so this is what I came up with.  They are so sweet and I love their little snuggly pictures.  My fave is the middle picture where they are together.  So tender!  Welcome to the world Hattie Blake and Tille Sue!!!

Utah: New Hair Do's

So I got this crazy idea to go platinum blond over the summer.  I didn't feel comfortable doing that much bleach by myself, so I made a hair appointment with one of my friends from jr high/high school.  I follow him on social media and I like watching all hair creations.  He has a crazy style so I knew he would get my vision.  He also posts a lot of photos about beardscaping.  I told James he should come with me so Mitch could help him clean up his chin sweater.

From Caveman to Winter Soldier.  From Veronica to Betty.

James's hair is so long! He let me braid it before we got it cut. The bottom left picture is where the girls wanted to kiss my brown hair and say goodbye to it. Middle picture: Mitch shaping James's beard. Right side: sitting under the heater and processing. While I was processing Mitch started on the next client's hair. She told me she overheard me talking to Mitch that I was in Detroit. She asked if I knew her cousin who lives there. Her cousin's name is Ashley Furness!!!! WHAT THE WHAT!?!?! Not only do I know her cousin, but she's in my Michigan Framily! So we took a picture together with our foils to text to her!  Ashley texted back "worlds colliding!"  haha!

Jake was in Michigan working when I underwent my hair transformation. I sent him a few options from Pinterest and had him pick my new 'do. It had a lot of purple at the ends. I really liked it but the purple faded in just a few weeks.

The day after I got my hair done I was getting ready to go out. Scarlett asked me "mom will you be embarrassed from your hair? Cause some people might think it's funny." hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you think it's funny Scarlett?  hahahahaha!!!!!!!!

When I decided to bleach my hair, I knew that it would fry it. I thought even if it damaged it I would be fine. It's super short after all. Well after bleaching my hair was sizzled! When hair is truly bleached it takes the core out of the hair. When it was wet it looks like nasty ramen noodle kinky curls. It took like 2 hours to air dry cause the hair didn't want to let go of the moisture. It was really brittle and when I blow dryed it there was little blond confetti hairs that fell over the sink. I honestly spent like a week regretting my decision. I finally rescued it... mostly. It took a lot of pricy new hair products, reading a ton about what to do, and overnight hair masks. I'm not sure that blondes really have more fun, all I can really say it that bottle blondes pay more in hair products. Speaking of, these are my new hair finds that I'm a big fan of right now:

• #BlondeMoment - Purple Shampoo for Blonde Hair - I love how much color it deposits. I really does a great job of eliminating the brassy/yellow tinge to blond hair. It even gives the platinum tips of my hair a purple tinge (if I'm using it every day). 
• It's a 10 Miracle Deep Conditioner Plus Keratin - This stuff is amazing! Bleach strips out the protein from you hair. This help builds it back up. My ends would air dry crispy. But after using this every day they air dry much softer. 
• SheaMoisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen & Grow Leave-In Conditioner - My girls especially like this one. Everyone should use a leave-in conditioner in their hair after towel-drying it. This is very hydrating as also de-tangles. They just love how easy it is to brush and how soft it is the next day. It kind of leaves a residue. So don't use a ton, and focus it on the ends, not the roots, so it doesn't look too greasy. 
• Redken Extreme Anti Snap Leave-In Treatment - After blonde confetti hair I found this product. I use it before drying my hair to help keep the strands in one piece while they dry. It works really well. 
• Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Anti-Frizz Serum - I like using this on dry hair before I backcomb and hairspray my style. Less is more with this product too. Start with like a fourth of what you think you need and focus it on the dry ends, then slowly work your fingers through the rest of your hair. It does such a great job of helping the dry hair looks shiny and soft, plus it keeps down the fly-aways. But trust me, start with a tiny bit. You can always add more after the first pass. Too much of this and your hair will look stringy and greasy.

I think that Skye likes my new hair....

James started doing this weird laugh when the twirls touched his beard. It was hilarious!!! They were laughing at him, but they were also a little scared!

Utah: Cousin Camp

When Christy and Mary had small kids they would get the cousins together each summer for a week long "Cousin Camp" extravaganza.  I was thankful that Mary suggested that we pull together a Cousin Camp week for the younger kids who never got to experience it the first round!  Our schedules all aligned for one fun afternoon of adventures.  

We started with a pizza lunch at a park in Provo.  There was a little duck pond so we took our pizza crusts and fed the hungry little birds.  Mary brought "nature scavenger hunt" cards.  It was so cute to see the girls so excited to check off the items they found.

Afterward we used squirt guns filled with water colors to spray paper to make art.  Then we used straws to blow lots of cute little bubbles.

We went back to my parent's house (Party Bus) to bake bead jewelry for little charm bracelets.  While they were in the oven we headed out to play on the new splash pad (more about that later).  It was a fun filled afternoon!  I'm a big fan of "Cousin Camp!"

A. and M. stayed to hang out with us for a few days.  It was so fun to get to know them better.  A. was such a big help to me!  I think she enjoyed being the big sister.  I was grateful for her help.

We had lots of fun with the Bodens.  We even went to M.'s end of year concert.  My girls really love their cousins.  Sometimes it makes me sad to think that we are so far away.  But I try to focus on the time we do have with them and take lots of pictures to remind the girls all the fun we had.  

Utah: 4th of July & Glauser Family Portrait

We woke up at the crack of dawn to celebrate our Nation's Independence at Provo's Hot Air Balloon Festival.  We met Jenn and her boys there too.  It was so funny to watch her 4 boys versus our 4 girls!  My girls were sitting quietly talking about the designs of the balloons while her boys were wrestling and hiding under their blanket.  haha!  Not that my girls are always quiet, but in that moment they were ... and it was hilarious! 

Scarlett told us her new joke: "Why was 6 afraid of 7?  Cause 7-8-9!"  haha!  Classic.  Well after Scarlett said that, Siena told us this joke: "Why was 0 afraid of 10?  Cause 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10!"  hahaha!  Oh my!  So creative!  Well Jaide wanted in on that action, so she said: "Why was 4 afraid of 5?  Cause.....   Cause.........  I don't know!!!!"  hahahahaha!  

Skye enjoyed all the colors and the floating balloons.  She was clapping and pointing at all her favorites.  She is so yummy!  But man, she was tired.  Look at the picture in the bottom left, Skye rubs and pinches her neck when she's tired.

We had a BBQ for the 4th of July in Draper with the Glauser clan.  It was 90deg and H-O-T!  Before our dinner we had a little photoshoot.  My mom and James came up to take the pictures and I did the editing.  Funny thing is that this photo is already outdated, Carolyn's twins are here and Kassidy is getting married next week.  I guess that's the tricky thing with a large family - it's always growing!

This the before and after the edits.  I did my normal photo editing, plus a BUNCH of other fun stuff.  My hand was so cramped after working on it!  I added trees and grass to the background, desaturated the green of the nature (so it didn't take away from the colors of the clothes), added Kassidy, took away McClaine's hand, switched 4 kid heads, etc.  The only things I'm not 100% happy with are Kassidy and Jaide.  It's easy to swap heads when you use pictures taken at the same time.  But both of their heads were taken from pictures at different locations.  I watched a TON of tutorials and used all the tricks I could find to get them to match, but it never looked just right.  I even changed the reflection of colors on the side of Heber's face now that Kassidy was there and not his dad's bright blue shirt.  It was a learning experience and the best I could do.  The picture of Jaide was later that same day but in a different location when her mood was much more cheerful.  

After the picture our girls changed into their swimsuits and enjoyed Grandma's Pool.  Uncle Nate flew his cool new drone!  On our way home we saw a bunch of aerial fireworks.  We even stopped in a parking lot so our girls could watch some.  Then when we got to Orem we were able to watch a bunch of fireworks from their backyard.  It was such a busy and fun 4th of July!

Utah: Father's Day & Family Outings

The second day we were in Utah was Father's Day.  I had Jami sneak around town for me before we arrived so Jake had some surprises waiting for him.  Donuts and specialty treats from our friend Michelle's bakery in Orem, The Vanilla Bean.  Kandy put together an awesome dinner for our Dad (we just rode on her coattails).  Skye was not a huge fan of the famous banana creamies.  I think this trip was the first time Skye really got to crawl on grass.  She's not a fan of that either!  haha!  But she really likes her newfound freedom - crawling everywhere!  And no holiday would be complete without Jake and Grumple having a front yard rainbow ribbon dance party!  (Also I kinda miss the Party Bus!  It was a pain to park, but I loved having all those extra seats!)

Jake and I had headaches for the first few days we were in Utah.  That dang elevation!  So what did we decide to do?  Get higher up in the mountain, of course!  My mom watched baby Skye while we we took the older girls up Rock Canyon.  It wasn't til we were unloading from the car that I realized the girls were dressed perfectly for a nature hike: skirts, jewelry, and sweet looking shades!  They were pretty cute on our hike.  They kept getting excited at all the "mountain babies" (aka boulders!  haha).  But the best part was there were butterflies everywhere!!  I don't know what was going on, but they were flying down the canyon towards us.  We probably saw over 100 butterflies!!!!!  It was a fun morning.

Another day we took the girls to Liberty Park in Provo.  (It was during Skye's nap again, so she was home with Grammy).  We started with feeding the ducks.  The ducks are crazy!  They are so used the humans that they come right up to you.  But we were really amazed with the tiny birds.  They would look at Jake and watch his hands, knowing what he was doing, then they would leap into the air just in time to catch the piece of bread before it arced towards the ground!

Check out this video of the bird bread catching skills!

They have awesome giant swings and a cool maze field.  We hit up Krispy Kreme on the way home.  We got there just in time to see a new batch hit the cooking oil.  Jake and I were discussing the machinery (of course).  There was one other lady sitting at a table, she came up to us and said something like "I'm sorry I was eavesdropping.  I heard you guys asking questions about the machines.  I am actually from the Krispy Kreme Corporate Office.  I can answer your questions if you'd like."  Then she did!  She knew so much about the machinery!  It was an awesome conversation - we learned so much!  Then we got to taste the final product!  You can't say that after you tour a car factory!  

A fun outing for all.  Well.... all but Skye.  Poor baby Skye.  She got to have a lot of fun on this trip - so don't feel too bad for her.

Utah: Dirtbiking & Grumple Broken!

It only becomes an official Utah trip after Jake has a chance to go dirtbiking.  This time I decided to hop back on the trail.  I haven't been on a dirtbike since Scarlett was a baby, so it took some getting use to.  But all the pink clothes definitely made me feel like a Power Ranger!  Ayeyaiyai!!!

It also becomes an official Utah trip with some sort of major injury or illness.  This year's award went to my dad.  He and Jake went out to Cherry Creek.  Grumple found this cool hill that he wanted to try.  Right before the top his front wheel hit a large rock and bucked him backward off the bike, down the hill, and onto his shoulder.  Jake stood at the bottom of the hill and watched him tumble down.  Dad sat up and immediately knew something was wrong with his shoulder.  He told Jake to go get his bike.  The hill was so steep that Jake had to get on the bike and ride it down.  After they were down the hill, Jake took Dad's helmet off and he drank some water and assessed the damage.  Dad said he could ride the 7 miles through the desert to the main road.  Jake helped him up on his bike, put his helmet back on and started the motor.  Then Dad drove with his arm straight down by his side.  Once they got to the main road, Dad said he could make it the last 7 miles on a dirt road to the truck.  Once they got to the truck Jake helped Dad get his boots off and into the car.  Their plan was to stop at the first emergency place, but my dad said he had enough adrenaline left to make it to Orem.  So they called my mom and she was ready to go to the ER when they arrived.  I don't think any of us knew exactly how bad it would be.

Before the nurses could cut off his jersey my dad had my mom shimmy it off his bad arm.  Way to save the KTM!  

After painful x-rays and testing, the found out that his clavicle was broken.  Not just broken... but totally snapped in half and sitting on top of itself!  OH MY GOODNESS!!!  Then the orthopedic surgeon sent my dad home!  Since this happened on a Thursday night and he doesn't do surgery til Tuesday... my dad had to wait the whole weekend with a floating broken bone!!  OUCH!!!

That weekend was stake conference and my dad was supposed to speak.  We all tried to talk him out of it, but he would not be swayed.  Broken or not, he had a message he needed to share and he knew that's where he needed to be.  He had written most of the talk earlier that week but needed to finish it up.  Unfortunately he couldn't move his arm to type.  So he sat on the couch with ice packs while I helped him organize the rest of his thoughts on the computer.  While we were working I heard a big "pop."  I thought the ice pack had made the sound but by the ghost white look on my dad's face, I could tell - it was his bone shifting on the other one that I heard.  OW!! and EW!!

The topic he chose to speak on was "Ask and ye shall receive... exactly what you're looking for."  I had the chance to go listen to his talk in conference that Sunday morning.  Jake stayed home with the girls and got them ready before we took them to Draper for church that afternoon.  So I got to sit and listen without any littles.  It was very peaceful.  And he did a wonderful job - even with his gimp arm.

Before and after his surgery.  The arrows show where the bone is supposed to connect.  Look at that plate and all those screws!  YIKES!  Bionic shoulder!

All the girls were so careful with Grumple.  One morning Siena followed Grumple upstairs.  I didn't think anything of it, but they came back down and he told me how she just followed him into his bedroom and helped him get his basketball shorts off the chair and helped him put them on.  How sweet!  They just rose to the occasion to help their Grumple.

Here's a little video Jake made to reenact Grumple's gnarly crash.

Utah: Dino Museum & Grand Glausers

Our flight to Utah went pretty smooth!  We are turning a new leaf in our lives where we can actually start doing family adventures AND enjoying them! 

We got to join the Grand Glausers for church one Sunday.  Scarlett even won musical chairs in primary!

Having fun in Draper.  Chocolate cake: the fastest way to win their love.

Skye just LOVED this money puppet.  She was being soooo cute:

We went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity.  Our Ann Arbor Hands On Museum pass gives us free passes into many museums nationwide, including this one.  It even got the Grand Glausers in free too!  (If you look close, I'm wearing my dino bone jewelry for this special day).

The girls had so much fun.  But my favorite part was the girls trying the photo booth together, giggling behind the curtain!

A lovely afternoon at the Timpanogos Temple!