Reese's Pieces Day 2 - Monday, July 23, 2012

On Monday morning Scott, Kristy, Steve and I went to see Batman while the kids stayed home and had some cousin bonding time together.  Later that afternoon we decided to go do some target practice.  We walked to  a place out behind our house.  (Just in case you were wondering, we did not shoot beyond that point shown in the picture above.)

Addy and Baron.  At this point their relationship was still fresh and new and they were

 able to stand next to each other and even touch each other without fighting.

Kristy and Baron

Baron and Owen shooting for their first time ever.

Tia

 I just had to post another one of these since by the end of their trip I had 

completelyforgotten that this kind of affection ever took place.

Kristy.  She didn't want to do this but we made her.  She used Emily's gun.

Spencer

When we got back to our house, Sam and Teresa and their friend who was helping them move, and my mom and Lauren were all at our house waiting.  Sam and Teresa had  graduated from BYU Idaho just a few days before and were on their way from Idaho to Ohio to start a new job.  We had to keep their dog, Beano in the house so he wouldn't eat the chickens.  He was freaking out at the window and kept jumping up and down so he could see them.

 For dinner we made our own individual pizzas.

Teresa

Sam did a little magic for the kids.

Zac said his goodbyes to Beano.

Scott and Kristy made us root beer floats.

Kay and Lauren

  Eating their creations

I'm not sure what they were watching on TV but Scott seems to be interested in it.

We found a snake in the garage.

And Tia and Aubrey and Emily got dressed up for the occasion.

Finally the time came to say goodbye to Sam and Teresa and Baby Snow and Beano.  We loaded up their moving van with all of our baby stuff!  YAHOOO!!!!  We have loved having them so close to us and will miss them.  We will also miss the birth of their little baby in a few months.  But we are excited for them that they have this new experience and opportunity and wish them the best of luck in this new phase of their lives.

Ohio Update:  Sam and Teresa are getting settled in and Sam is now in week 2 of his new job. They already  have friends there who have helped them so much.  Here is a view from his office.

Reese's Pieces Day 1 - Sunday July 22, 2012

The day after we got home from our little Idaho adventure was the start of our week long Reese adventure in Utah.  We went to church and then went to my mom's house where she had made a delicious pork taco dinner.  This is the first time the kids had seen each other since last summer.  BFCs (best friend cousins) Aubrey and Tia were happy to be reunited.  Emily was happy to see her boys again.

This is Spencer.  He is Steve's brother Mike's oldest son.  They live in Kentucky.  Spencer spent two weeks in July with us while he worked for Steve.  He just left to go home Tuesday of this week (July 31st).  We loved having him here.  I already started making plans with him on our way to the airport for next summer.

Living proof that Redskins and Cowboys fans can peacefully coexist.  Even in the same family.  Even in the same family that is from DALLAS TEXAS!!!  That is OK Owen, we forgive you.  It would seem that Owen and Tia's school is the Play60  school for the Redskins so their players are always at their school.  That is so awesome!

We were just glad that it wasn't a 49rs jersey since he is predisposed to be a San Francisco fan since that is where his dad is from.  Although he does have 1/2 of his mothers Dallas blood in him.  I guess with that inner struggle going on, he made a good choice on picking the team where he is from.  Good job Owey!

CUTE BOYS!

Flashback/Flashforward Friday - Family Resemblances

Flashback: Rose Prom 1988ish

 Flashforward: July 2012

My brother Melton and his family were in town from Washington for a visit.  They came to our house for dinner on Wednesday July 18th.  What?  You can't see the family resemblance?  Addy was so confused.  Melton kept calling me and Lauren "Sis" and he was calling my mom "Mom", which he always has done since he pretty much lived at our house most of our teenage years and became a part of our family.  Addy took me aside and whispered in my ear, "Mom, who is Melton?  Is he really your brother???"  We had a cookout in our back yard.  It was so fun seeing him again and meeting his wife Marie and their kids.

It was fun to see these girls having so much fun together.

Side note: Later that week Steve came home from work late and was telling me about how he took some of his guys out to dinner at Pizza Hut down in Provo.  He said that while they were there this big black football player tried to start a fight with him.  I asked him what happened.  He said he was just minding his own business walking over to get his drink when outta nowhere this guy came up and shoved him.  I was like  "Are you serious???"  And he started laughing and said "Yeah, but it was only Melton".

It Was An Idaho Kind Of Weekend

Every time I say Idaho, this joke plays itself in my head: 

Do you want to buy a New Jersey Oregon?  

Idaho, but I think Alaska!

On Friday, July 20th, my brother Sam and his cute little pregnant wife Teresa graduated from BYU Idaho.  My mom and sisters, Lauren and Kristy, and my three girls and I drove to Idaho for their graduation.  Kristy and her family were in town and had spent the week before with her in-laws at a cabin here in Utah.  We all loaded in my mom's van extra early Friday morning and picked my sister Kristy up and made our way to the land of the potato.

Our first stop: Sam and Teresa's house.  Our second stop: Lunch at Big Jud's.  Home of a very large hamburger.  They have some sort of monster meal that comes with the giant burger, a huge basket of fries, 2 drinks (which they kindly put into 4 glasses) and 2 ice cream cones (which they also kindly put into 4 smaller cones).  My girls and I shared it and it was super yummy.

Aubrey's 1/4 of the burger.  Her 1/4 is larger than most normal hamburgers.

Our third stop: The Rexburg LDS Temple

I tried to get my mom to wait until he had actually graduated, but she couldn't stand it.  So when we got back to Sam and Teresa's house, we gave him his present.  And ipad 4.  Or whatever number the new ipad is.

Then it was time for the graduation!  We all got ready and then picked up my Granny Snow who was in town from Washington visiting my Uncle who lives in Rexburg.  We went to the Commencement Services at the new and huge BYU-Idaho Center.  Then we went to the Convocation Ceremony.  

After the graduation fun, we went back to Sam and Teresa's and got Jack-in-the-Box Tacos (we don't have Jack here in Utah and we grew up eating Jack Tacos in Texas).  The whole time we were eating my girls kept saying how it reminded them of our Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner (Why are we eating Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner at Jack-in-the-Crack you ask?  Click on the highlighted words and find out!)  It also reminded me of the same thing because this Jack was out of everything we wanted to order just like the ones in St. Louis were.  Apparently it is a national Jack problem instead of a localized one like I had previously thought.

The next day was Saturday and we woke up that morning in a packing mood.  Sam and Teresa were getting ready to move to Ohio so Sam could start his new job (which he just started Monday of this week).  We all helped them pack up their apartment.  Aubrey found Sam's batman mask.

I just want you to know that my sister Kristy is a packin' fool!  She probably packed more by herself than all of the rest of us combined.  And just look how happy she is while doing it!

After we had them packed, we ate lunch then stopped at Mill Hollow for frozen yogurt.  Kristy used to work at Mill Hollow when she was going to BYUI.  They put an addictive chemical in their yogurt that makes your crave it fortnightly, so while the rest of us were having Jack the night before, she had MH and she had to have it once more before we left town.  She HAD to have her own MH sandwich, just like she HAD to have her own hamburger the day before.  (There are 2 inside jokes in this paragraph, if you can find them, you win the prize!)(The prize is I will send all your stuff you left here home with your daughter when I return her to you.)

We said goodbye to Sam and Teresa and then made our way back to Utah.  When we got home we had a little reunion of sorts.  Zac had just got home from the scout camp he works at and he and Spencer (our nephew who was visiting us from Kentucky) and Steve got home from the Batman movie not long after we got home.  Kristy went to my mom's house to find her husband and children who had just finished up their vacation with his family earlier that day.