Vacation!!! (part 1)

Okay so this might be long but oh well!! And there are tons of pictures but I hate doing the slideshow so just deal w/ it!!
We left for Utah at about 4:00 a.m. on the 2nd. It was fabulous, about 3 miles away from home we get pulled over by some completely bored cop. I was a little too chipper and he thought I was odd. He pulled us over for our license plate light being out. We were such a threat that 2 cops had to stop for it!! But then we were off and I have to do a little bit of bragging here. We borrowed 2 dvd players and we had the laptop just in case. But we both decided we wanted to wait until we had at least gotten to Flagstaff before busting out the movies. Well the kids did fall asleep again once we got going but woke up for good at about 5:30 a.m. We managed to make it about 6 hours into our trip before we got the movie going. and then when we did it made Riley carsick about 10 minutes into so she moved away from it. But that was the only movie they watched on the ride up! I have great car kids. They had such a good time entertaining themselves.
We stayed at Eliott's Grandma's house and his sister and brother and wife stayed there too. It was such a fun fabulous time!! Eliott's Grandpa used to love a place called Marion's. They have burgers and shakes and stuff. So it is tradition to go over there and get chocolate malts. So that is what we did! The kids loved it and this is the girls outside waiting for dad to pay. The best part of small town is we could walk over there. It was so fun!

At Grandma's house she pretty much let us have the basement. That left a room for the kids and a room for Eliott and I. It was nice to have a bed for them to sleep in, instead of sleeping bags on the floor. So she had a full or a queen size in there and the kids just laid sideways on it and they slept there pretty well the entire time we were there. There were a couple nights that Riley and Lexi were laying on each other!!
We got to set of fireworks on the 4th and go to a parade. The kids had never seen a parade before and they loved it!! Riley couldn't get enough of any type of cheerleader or dancer that they had. Before the parade they flew (i wanna say) F-16 airplanes overhead. And of course Seth and Eliott loved that!!


Lexi's face in those pictures cracks me up!!

We stayed there until the next Wednesday. We had the best time just relaxing in the beautiful weather. I brought some books w/ me and just sat on the swing and read or layed on the grass and slept. It was great!! The kids did awesome finding things to do. We didn't really have the T.V. on a ton and they didn't take naps. But the colored or played in the sprinklers or just hung out outside. They had a blast!!

There is a dinosaur museum close by so we took the kids over there. It was very kid friendly w/ lots of things for them to do. There was a little tunnel and this is Lexi coming out the other side!
The day we left we went to the local park. It was a fabulous park and everything was so green! The kids had a great time. And I am not gonna lie , so did I! They had one of those zip thingies where you hold on and push off and it zips you to the other side. I would post pictures but I hate how you have to do it and then move the picture all the way down and let's face it this is a huge post (by the way does anybody know how to do it w/out having to move the picture all the way down, like post the picture where the cursor is?)

Anyway it was a great time in Roosevelt and I will post maybe tomorrow about our time in Salt Lake!!

Riley had a b-day, shout hooray!

So Riley turned 4 last month, but things have been so crazy I haven't had a chance to post about it. So beware... This is a Riley picture overload!!
This 1st picture isn't from her birthday but it was too cute not to put in. So I have the kids take turns each night helping me cook. This night was obviously Riley's turn. I went to put some stuff on the table and I turn around and she had balanced 3 plates in her hands and arms and was ready to take off to the table! She thought she was pretty cool. And she actually made it w/out spilling!

So on to her actual birthday... First thing in the morning she got her gift from Eliott and I. Our kids love music and Seth has a CD player in his room, so for her birthday she got her own pink CD player. Then we made her the funnest CD. We put random Disney songs on it. Most of them being princess songs, which she loves! Now you hear her all the time, twirling in the living room, singing, "that's how you know" (from Enchanted) over and over again!

Then for dinner she picked pizza and she wanted cupcakes. So she got to help make her cupcakes and loved every minute of it.

Then while the cupcakes were cooking, she wanted to make a princess hat. So we made one and then she posed for pictures. She cracks us up, she poses by herself and she is always doing some sort of thing with her leg. She is too funny!

Then it was candle time! She was so excited.

And of course we had to burn her hair. I mean come on, it is too gorgeous! I felt pretty bad, but at her party a few days later she remembered to hold her hair out of the way!A few days later we had a family pool party. She had a blast. She decided that she was brave. She would go running and jump in the pool (she doesn't know how to swim) and there were a few times we had to hurry to catch her.
She also discovered she could go anywhere as long as she had a noodle. She would just cruise around the pool w/ her noodle. It was fun! Then we finished of the birthday celebrations with her getting her greatest desire. Actually 2 of them. She has been asking for a Barbie nonstop for the last couple months. We aren't even sure where she found out about barbies, but she wanted them. She was so excited to get 2. She is funny when she opens presents she gets all shy so this picture isn't a very good representation of her excitement but man did she love them!! All in all it was a fun week. But a little sad that my baby girl is 4! (I know I have 2 more "babies" but ya know...)