the last of August

 found Jake sleeping like this one night - love that bum in the air

The kids and I drove to Utah a week before John had to be in Idaho for his rotation.  He was finishing up his first rotation here and also flew to North Carolina to take Step 2 boards.  Quick story about that - I got a picture from John with him wearing the oxygen mask on the airplane and it said emergency landing.  At first I thought it was a joke but saw all the other passengers wearing theirs too.  He didn't answer when I called, but thankfully called me back soon.  He said the plane suddenly lost pressure, the oxygen masks popped down, and they had to make a turn to the nearest airport and land - kinda scary.  They had to wait in the New Orleans airport for a few hours while they got a new plane.

Anyway, we stayed with the Bowen's the first couple days we were there.  My kids LOVE their cousins and I hardly saw Brooklyn and Jake.  I love how they just play, play, play.  We took them to Nickelmania on Saturday and they thought that was so cool.  Mike and Mandy came too and we went to Hire's after for dinner.

Brooklyn turning in her tickets

Jake and Sam

tired kids after church

Remmy's first pigtails

This girl is a hoot!  As much as she drives me crazy sometimes, I absolutely love her!

Hailey and Remmy

most afternoons looked like this - playing so hard

John gave Brooklyn and Jake a father's blessing before he left for Idaho and before they started preschool.  I didn't get a picture of Jake though.  

He even gave Remmy a quick one :)

It was a tearful goodbye - mostly for John and I.  He is doing a 3 month rotation in Idaho, living with his brother Joe and his family.  We are so grateful for them and letting John live there.  He loves the rotation and gets a home cooked meal every night by our gourmet chef Lisa.  He's not going to want to come home to my boring cooking!  We are one month in, two to go.  So far so good.  The weekdays go by fast because of the kids activities and preschool.  Sundays are the hardest - mostly church with Remmy.  But overall I can't complain!

Jake loves Jack and Jack is a good sport to wrestle and play with him.

Brooklyn idolizes Hannah.  She wants to be and do everything that Hannah does.  I love that these two are so close.

random messy picture of Remmy

St George weekend

The first weekend in August we went to St George to celebrate John's dad's birthday - he turned 70.  Marc didn't know we were coming and it was fun to surprise him when we got there.  All of John's siblings, spouses, and kids were there - it was a quick mini family reunion and really fun.  We weren't sure if we'd be able to go because of John's schedule, but we left Friday late afternoon, came home Sunday after church.  It was a quick trip, but definitely worth it!

First a few randoms..

I've had fun trying new hair-do's on Brooklyn and she loves it too.

my kids and Tayvri in the tub - I watched her while her parents went to the temple.

The grossest spider I ever saw!  And it was right outside my front door on the light.  My friend Alison was the one who discovered it.  I sent this picture to John and said you have something to kill when you get home!  When he came home for lunch it was still there (thankfully) and he killed it.  I got it on video.  It was so nasty.  It was a pregnant one and so much juice came out when John smashed it - still gives me the shakes thinking about it.

We got to St George late Friday night, around 10.  We stayed in a condo with Shari, Joe, and Heather's families.  My kids are always in heaven with all their cousins.  Saturday morning we went to the St George children's museum.  It was awesome AND free.

Brooklyn's new smile - eek!  Where do they learn these weird smiles from?  I always tell her, "No, pretty smile."  It doesn't always work.

After the museum we went to the Sand Dunes.  John's brothers rented 4-wheeler type things (I don't know what they're called), plus his dad owns one.  I stayed with the little kids at the lake while everyone else went riding.  My kids had so much fun and played for hours.  I forgot swimming suits because I didn't realize there was a lake.  So we striped them down to undies and a diaper and they didn't mind. 

cute cousins - Jake, Connor, and Brooklyn

Everyone came back a few hours later and then John took the kids and I on a ride.  We got stopped by a patrol woman at first who made us turn around and go get car seats - kind of lame - but eventually we got back out and had a fun ride!  Jake got to sit in front with his dad and Brooklyn and I in the back (Remmy stayed at the lake with family).