Day 4- The gangs all together

 

It was so great to wake up and have the whole family together!  Now the real trip begins!  We woke up and we to do a few garage sales.  We found a few gems so it was worth getting up early after the late night airport pick up.  After a few sales Joey took a little detour at the tabernacle where the kids played in the water and cooled off!  We decided that we need to always keep towels in the car for this unplanned trips to the water fountains in St. George.  After cooling off at the tabernacle we went back home to swim!  I took Harlee and Nash to DI and we went to dinner at the Pizza Factory.  We went home to swim a little more (check out the tan on our baby!) and then tried to go to bed early since we planned a trip to the Grand Canyon in the morning!  So excited!!

Day 3 and the day Joey finally joins us

 

We decided to make today a day of no plans.  Well I take that back- we did go and play pickle ball first thing in the morning to beat the heat.  Then we seriously relaxed all day!  No one got ready and we just made our way back and forth from the pool, to video games, to tv shows, work for me, and then back to the pool.  It was a dreamy day!  And what makes it perfect is knowing that Joey will join us later tonight.  He flies in at 11:10pm.  Hopefully I can stay awake!  Looking forward to the rest of our trip with the whole family.

Day two in the SG

We are definitely missing Joey but we are still having a great time!  We spent the morning relaxing, swimming, and I tried to get some of my work done.  We decided to go to see Incredibles 2 in the afternoon.  It is so fun to have all of the kids enjoy the same movie!  It was a really cute movie!  After the movie we picked up dinner and made our way home to swim and relax the rest of the night.  I seriously could get use to this type of life!  And tonight will be my last night sleeping without my best friend.  Can't wait for him to come and enjoy the rest of the trip with us.

Let the fun begin...

We have been waiting for this day!  We are so excited to drive down to our favorite place to enjoy 10 days of relaxation and family time.  Joey will be flying down on Friday night so it was just me and the kids.  We stopped at McDonalds for a little breakfast and we were off!  We arrived in St. George around 11:30am and grabbed In and Out for lunch.  We went to the house to quickly unpack and then quickly jumped into the pool!  It was a little toasty outside and the water felt amazing!  After a few hours outside the kids relaxed while Harlee and I went grocery shopping.  We stocked the fridge so we would have plenty of options for meals and we would not need to eat out all of the time.  We feasted on a spaghetti for dinner and then we spent a little more time in the pool.  I am so looking forward to this break and can't wait to make more memories as a family!

Officially a Teacher

After church today Luke was ordained to be a teacher.  What an amazing young man Luke is.  He has such a strong testimony of the Gospel and a strong desire to do what is right.  I am still in shock that he is 14!  It feels like yesterday that we were bringing a very cranky baby home from Primary Children's Hospital- where did the time go.  What a beautiful blessing Joey gave him and what a tremendous gift Joey's priesthood is to our family.  Love these two men so much!

Spending Time with Brody

When Brody returned home from his mission he said that all he wanted to do was to golf and spend time with family.  We were super excited about the family part!  So Mindi planned a special barbeque just for our family and theirs.  It was so fun for the kids to spend time with Carson and Brody.  They have always been such fun cousins for our kids.  We also got to listen to some of Brody's mission stories which were amazing.  So grateful he is home safe and so grateful for the example he is to his younger cousins.

Father's Day lunch

Today we went to celebrate Father's Day with my Dad.  He was able to come home on June 5th which has been such a blessing.  Cory was in town and it was so fun to have him come with me.  Don, Jenna, Cory, and I took my dad to Costa Vida.  It was so nice to visit with him and catch up on life.  He has a new job with a disaster relief company.  I really hope this works out for him.

Father's Day

I cannot think of anyone more deserving of a special day than Joey!  He is truly the best man I know!  He is so fun with the kids and they all know without a doubt that he loves them.  What a blessing he is to us!  I feel so bad because three of the kids (Nash, Harlee, and Gray) all came down with the stomach flu.  He really had to put his father skills to work as he helped take care of all of them.  He told me how bad he feels for them and wishes there was more that he could do to comfort them.  Spoken like a true father of the year!  We gave him presents and the kids made him a book where they each wrote 10 things that they love about him.  We decided to put off the special dinner until tomorrow when hopefully everyone will want to enjoy it.  Thank you Joey for being such a blessing in our family.  We all hit the jackpot by getting to love and be loved by you.  Happy Father's Day!

Tag's Turn

The day had finally come and it was Tag's turn to go on his special date with Mom and Dad.  After seeing that Boondock's had Luigi's Mansion video game there was no way that we were going anywhere else.  We bought a $25 arcade card and a pass into the kids climbing area.  Tag was so excited.  He started in the kids area and won a ball in the claw game.  Then he made his way around the arcade spending all of his funds!  After he was done he played a while longer in the climbing area.  He cashed in his over 200 tickets on a blow up hammer and some candy.  We finished off the date with an icee from Maverick.  It really is so fun watching him have fun and spending time with him.  I have loved these special dates and look forward to bringin this tradition back for sure!

He's Back!

And just like that Brody is home!  He has been serving in Florida for the passed two years and was an amazing missionary.  It was so amazing to watch him hug his mom.  I could not help but think that I will be in this same position 6 years from now.  I will be waiting impatiently for Luke to come down the escalator after he finishes his mission.  I am sure that time will come before I know it!  Looking forward to catching up with Brody and hearing all about his mission.