Friends

Both boys LOVE playing with friends as often as possible, and they get to do so quite frequently! While I was at the doctors this week, they got to play with the Kurzawskis: There's Kaden, Landon, Brychan, Brenden and Kehlton.  My friend, Alicia, sent me the photo while I was gone.  They're all too cute!

This is Why...

I have been looking for a lock to go on my refrigerator.

That would be chocolate syrup drizzled ALL OVER the carpet (luckily the furniture escaped unscathed).

It took both David and I (and a carpet cleaner, and 2+ bottles of hydrogen peroxide and stain remover and a now ruined towel) scrubbing for 2 hours to get it (almost) out of the carpet.

The culprit

Ladies and Gentlemen!!!

Oh my heavens. My children seriously crack me up.  The morning of my birthday, Brychan and Kehlton had to put on a show for David and I.  We already knew that Brychan is quite the performer, but we had NO CLUE that he knew how to monologue.  Seriously.  He had this entire schpeel down and it was hilarious!  He took his time recounting his story about something that he did and he was worried Mom was going to get mad and so on and so forth, and then he officially welcomed Kehlton to the stage (in the biggest stage "voice" he could muster): "Please welcome our next singer...KEHLTON!!!!".

The headphones were a must.  I think they were more important than the microphone.

And I know I'm not supposed to post anymore "naked" photos of my children on here, but I just couldn't resist this one.  He is very serious about what he's doing (Obviously! Look at that hand on his hip...) in those super cute little tightie whities.

"What's that you say?  Encore?!?  Of course!!!"

And then just one blurry one of the squished face.  LOVE it.

I need to just keep a video recorder going at all times around our house.  I never know when something like this is going to take place; but I absolutely love it when it does!!!

My "Happy Puppy"

And what is my "happy puppy"?  That's how Kehlton says "Happy Birthday", which I heard a couple dozen times on my birthday!

As has been proven time and time again, Friday the 13th has been the best day to have a birthday!  I was totally spoiled not only for my actual birthday, but for several days afterward. 

After the crazy month that we've had (vacations, wedding, wedding reception, girls camp), I wanted a day just for me.  So, with the help of some dear friends who watched my kids for me, I was able to spend the entire day with my sister; getting manis & pedis and then an afternoon of shopping.  For ME.  For things I wanted and not needed.  Shopping just for FUN (which hasn't been done in ages).  I tried to be completely selfish and push all the guilty thoughts out of my head.  It took some work, but I did pretty good. I had SO much fun!!  And to top it off?  David got me a gift certificate for a local spa, so I get to have another day to myself soon.  Yay!

That night, Ashley stayed with the boys so David and I could go out.  We went to dinner at Dillons; which was another long awaited treat.  I love Dillions.  LOVE it.  But the last time I ate there was when David came to visit before we were even dating.  That was like 7 years ago!!  After dinner, we drove to see the new Phoenix temple site (which is coming along ever so slowly) and then to see The Avengers.

Sorry...naked baby snuck out of the house and insisted on being in all the photos

Sunday, David made me the most delicious chicken enchiladas I think we've ever had, and made me not one, but TWO birthday cakes.  Two cakes wasn't intentional, but he wasn't happy with how the first cake turned out (I could have cared less) and so he made another one.  They were both delicious!  And I love him ever so much for staying up until 1:00 or 2:00am Saturday night trying to make my birthday cake perfect.

This is my other "Happy Birthday".

Okay.  So it's not an official birthday present; the timing just worked out for me to claim it as a birthday present.  Regardless?  It's mine and I love it.  I have never had such a nice car to drive, and I feel totally spoiled. David was finally able to sell his truck (and is still mourning his loss) so that we could have a car large enough to fit our growing family.  We feel extremely blessed in the way everything happened; first of all one of David's siblings gave us a car (making us a 2 car family again for the first time in 3 years).  Then, the family that was seriously looking into purchasing David's truck had to sell their vehicle (the one in the photo above) before they could buy the truck.  So...we were able to switch vehicles with them, get a nice chunk of change in return for the difference in the value of the truck, and we avoided the hassle of car dealerships.  It was quick, easy and painless, and just kind of fell into our laps.

And last, but not least, a group of girlfriends treated me to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory last night.  There were 9 of us there, and we had a blast.  We definitely missed a couple of our friends who have moved out of state in the last few months, though!!  I am ever so grateful for each one of them and love and adore them all.  So, thank you ladies for such a fun night!  Kinda sad I didn't stop to take a photo!!

Leg 4 of our Trip: Headed Home!

We made a last minute decision to take two days coming home instead of doing it all in one. I am so glad that we did!

We had to stop at Big Rock Candy Mountain so David and I could get a Honeymoon photo. We spent a few days of our honeymoon here, and for whatever reason, never got a photo.  So here is our official "Honeymoon Photo".  :)

We also stopped at Zion National Park.  We debated about going through the park; it's kind of pricey for one car, let alone two, but we're glad we did it.  Even though we were only there for a few hours, it was well worth the money.

Brychan was just happy to be able to get out of the truck!

And Kehlton enjoyed the shuttle ride

We were only able to do one hike; the lower trail to the Emerald Pools. 

It was a fun hike, though, and we had so much fun!

Kehlton pouting because we wouldn't let him get near the cliff.  Go figure!!

The Emerald Pools.  There was a bit of a waterfall coming down, and the boys had fun walking underneath it.  We got pretty wet with each gust of wind, but it felt really good!

We also ran into a deer with her baby...

And at the end of the hike, we stopped to play in the water.  I expected that water to be fairly cold, but it wasn't at all.  We had to drag the boys out kicking and screaming.

Within about 5 minutes of getting back onto the shuttle bus, Brychan fell asleep.  He soon fell into my lap and was sprawled out all over the place.  A German couple stopped to take pictures of him; I guess a cute, little, sleeping American boy makes for good stories back home! :)

We made it to Las Vegas late Saturday night, and then drove the rest of the way home Sunday morning without any pit stops.  Well.  Without any fun pit stops.  Kehlton was sick and vomitting for the first half of the trip, so there was plenty of stopping to clean him and the truck up.  We're guessing he was just over heated and dehydrated from playing at Zions the day before; after he got plenty of fluids in him, he was doing much better!

After being gone for almost 2 weeks, it was nice to get home!!  This was such a fantastic trip; we had so much fun without any horrible issues or mishaps.  And I am dying to get back to Zions now and do a bit more hiking and exploring.  So if anybody wants to go...the Stander clan is totally game! :)

Leg 3 of our Trip: Wedding Day!!

My youngest brother, Nathan, was sealed to Megan Drake on June 22 in the Manti Temple. It was a gorgeous day; minus the wind. It was out of control!!

David and the boys

And my cute little family

(you can tell just how excited my boys were.  And that was just the start of their day...)

Nathan & Megan

Happy to be there!

And happier still

My sisters: Ashley and Missy

(This was the first time in 4+ years that I had seen Missy and her kids.  I'm so sad I only got to see them for 24 hours.  Somehow I need to convince my brother to visit with his family a little more often)

After the wedding and all the necessary photos, we headed across the street to The Manti House for the luncheon.  I'm so sad I didn't get any photos; the luncheon was beautiful!  Although...I did get a pretty funny video of Kehlton eating his cake that I'll have to take off my phone to share.

After the luncheon, we had a few hours to drive up to Herriman for the reception.  We had the wind to deal with again; making things a bit difficult.  Tablecloths wouldn't stay on the tables, dresses flying everywhere, the cake just about blew over and had to be re-arranged to prevent it from doing so...bad hair all around.  BUT.  We still had so much fun!

Well, except for maybe Kehlton.

Ashley and I

My brothers and sister

The siblings and all the spouses

I LOVE this photo!!!

Little Payton. 

She was about as happy to be there as my boys were.

Thank heavens for this trampoline!! This is where all the kids spent 99% of their time, which made life so much easier for all the moms!!

My mom with a long time friend, Laura Korth.

And getting ready to dig in!!

There are a few photos we didn't get (or that didn't turn out) that I'm pretty sad about.  There's none of my parents, none of the groomsmen, and none of just my hubby and I.  I also would have really like one with all the cousins together, but what can you do?

It was a super long day that was jam packed full.  We left our hotel at 8:15 and didn't get back until well after midnight.  Despite the few hiccups we had, it really was a fun day.  I SO love my family!!

Leg 2 of our Trip: Salt Lake City

After spending a week in Idaho, we headed down to Utah to meet up with my family before the wedding. Wednesday evening, we stayed with Ken & Angie in SLC. While I went to dinner with some girlfriends (thanks so much Amelia & Alayne!!), the boys met up with their Stander cousins again to play at the park.
One super fun thing the boys got to try?  Walking on a tight rope!!!  I guess there was a group of college students there practicing in the park, and Brychan was very adament that he wanted to try.  They were nice enough to let both Brychan and Kehlton try.  I was SO bummed I missed it!!

 Thursday morning, we went to visit Grandma Taylor and then headed to the airport to pick up Lala.  We then met all of our Davis cousins at City Creek for lunch, and then headed to This is The Place Park for an afternoon of fun.

Brock and Payton washing laundry

 

With Lala helping Brychan try his hand at scrubbing the clothes and hanging them on the line.

Riding the horses was a huge hit!

And enjoying the petting zoo with Emery, Aunt Missy and Reagan.

Brock and Missy's family have their own chicken coop at home, so their kids were pros at chasing them down to pick them up.  Kehlton loved holding them!

And Daddy and Brychan sitting in school.

We all had so much fun at the park, but were exhausted by the time the afternoon was over!  We all met back up at our hotel in Salina for a quick swim and then a good nights sleep in prep for Wedding Day!!