Anna's turn to fly

I love having this one on one time with each kid. I love watching them see the world.

We went straight to Grandma's. And Ethan came straight over after work to visit us! Grandma stopped him at the door with a broom. Gotta brush the snow off those boots!

Anna fell in love with the snow. 

We went to visit Heidi and her pups. She has a new little girl, Gretel. She was so nervous and piddly! But she got brave with a few chunks of cheese in the right hands. 

Heidi and Anna had plans to repair her hair. Anna has had a busy year of hair bleaching an coloring. I has left her hair a bit damaged all she wants is her original color back. Heidi knows what she's doing!

I volunteered to hold Gretel...it was a sacrifice!

And check it out! She loved her new (old) hair. Sometimes it takes a journey to appreciate what we already have. 

We popped over to the aquarium to see the fish and I somehow only got three pictures: 

We spent the rest of the day visiting and making dinner plans. Mom hasn't been feeling well lately, so mostly that means picking somewhere to eat out. The smell of cooking doesn't help her stomach. These two are always down for fast food! And mom loves a Frosty. 

Our last day, AJ got to hang out with Jim and Ameli. She's been texting back and forth with them and they invited her to spend the day skating and feasting on treats. They are the funnest! I dropped her off with Jim and Mom and I went to have breakfast with John and one of his favorite spots. I had the most delicious french toast with raspberries and sour cream. Sounds weird, but it was heaven. 

Back at the airport, Anna did her best to assert her independence. She went on long "walks" up and down the moving sidewalks. I would start to panic when I hadn't seen her in while and just as I felt like I better call the police, there she would be....

The flight back was the worst of my life. The turbulence was relentless. And it wasn't the bumpy, shaky kind. It was like free falling over and over. My stomach was on the verge for over an hour. I truly considered using the barf bag. Sweet Anna was experiencing the same flight, but she was a trooper. She was rubbing my back and asking me how I was doing. I've never been so grateful to land in my life.

 

Day 11 - Timp Cave, Hot tubs and The Gettin Place

Today's crossfit adventures are brought to you by Park City....which was way to far of a drive for me, so I let Mark head up and check it out on his own. I think this Spealler guy is a big deal or something...

He finally got to add to his t-shirt collection!

While he was gone, we got dressed and packed up a backpack lunch. We wanted to hike Timp Cave!

I remember this hike being steep and harder than you anticipate... so we planned on lots of rests and plenty of time to sit and take a drink or munch a snack.

Anna showed us all up by doing walking lunges periodically, just to make it a challenge.

The views were stunning! 

Mom and I were total troopers.

If you don't look too close! haha!

We made it up to the cave right on time for a tour with the most knowledgeable park ranger EVER. She knew way too many things about way too many things. The tour was super cool and super cold. We were all shivering in our shoes by the time we emerged back into the sunlight.

The rest of the group headed right down the mountain. Everly and I struck a more leisurely pace.
Sometimes we meditated....

Sometimes we advanced 20 steps.

But we persevered! And we earned ourselves some treats at the BYU Creamery....luckily, it was right at the same time thousands of hungry EFY kids had the very same thought.

We ended our night at Heidi's for dinner. (Thank heavens....we were so tired!)

The kids got to dig through Jay's collection of cast-offs and left-behinds he inherits when kids leave their camps and dorms at BYU. He call's it "the gettin place" and it is what Mathew's dreams are made of. I see a wad of cords. He sees tech treasure.

Heidi came to Anna's rescue and repaired the mess I made on her hair right before we left for Utah. She was so sweet and did her very best to not laugh out loud at my horrifying hair cutting skills.

Megan surprised us all and asked Heidi to chop her hair too!  She was so happy with it!

Ethan had a chance to reconnect with his cousins, Zach and Johnny...

And then they all jumped in to the hot tub for a soak! It's easy to see why we all love my sisters!

Utah Trip -- dinner with Heidi

My sister, Heidi, invited us over for dinner a few days before we were scheduled to leave.

I was having one of those pregnancy days that meant I felt queasy and tired and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on her couch early on in the evening.

She swooped up the kids and helped them make personal pizzas.

What kid doesn't like to make their own crust?

I couldn't get over how big her kids had gotten since we moved.


When we lived next to each other in Provo, she was the one with five "little ones".

Now look at them:

Wow!

They are pre-adults!

We had such a fun time hanging out with her and her kids...we decided to leave them with Hufford family tradition: A little shirtless table dancing.... WITH melted ice-cream drool down the belly...just because we love ya so much.

Utah trip -- kayaking at Payson Lakes

Later on we drove up Payson Canyon to kayak at Payson Lakes. That's a lot of "Payson" for one sentence....

It was just as beautiful as I remember it.

Oh the aspens! I miss your quakiness.  (Nice legs, Kaira....)

We spent most of the day there, so everyone had ample kayak time.

I bribed Megan to go out on her own. She didn't like it ONE BIT. But I'm positive she was proud of herself....way deep deep down inside. Deep deep down. Way down there.

Or maybe she's traumatized. Hard to tell.

While the others were out kayaking, we grazed on the plentiful offerings of our potluck picnic.

I mean, just look at that well-rounded chip selection! And I won't even mention the jello-parfait.

Delish.

We basked in the sun.

Mathew had more than his fair share of sodas. You do know you already have one in your hand, right Mat?

And I was jealous of Kaira's cute suit cover-up.

There was a 15 minute black hole of terror when Mathew and Ethan floated around a bend on two bright orange floaties and then the floaties came back with no boys. I immediately knew they had drowned and my life without them played out in my mind in every excruciating detail.

But they just hopped off to go on a little hike.

The little terds.

Then I did that thing that only moms can do where you yell at them and cry and laugh and hug them at the same time all while solemnly swearing to yourself that you will never let them out of your sight again because heaven knows you've learned your lesson.

Little terds.

The rest of the day we just snacked and hung out...(love your fingernails, Mom!)

And tried to shake the dirt off the towels to find somewhere to sit.

Finally... one of the best parts....when everybody falls asleep on the drive down and I get a precious 20 minutes of pure, beautiful, Payson-Canyon-wind-in-my-face silence.