July Trip to Utah

Ah, to finally sit down and write the longest blog entry of the year. How I dread, I mean look forward to this giant entry each year. We have so much fun and do so many things visiting our wonderful family and friends each summer that it feels a bit daunting trying to record it all in a single blog entry. Oh well, I'll give it a try. Hopefully I don't bore anyone too much. If you get sick of reading you can just skip through and look at the pictures. That's what I do when I get board reading someone else's blog. The pictures are the real fun of the post anyway.

Our drive out to Utah this year was certainly an adventure in and of itself. We packed food, snacks, and drinks for two days, clothes and toys for three weeks, and three small children and two adults into our amazing Toyota Camry. It was a bit snug, but with some Tetras skills and a lot of patience we got all of it shoehorned in. I don't think there is anything that car can't do. The kids were a dream and behaved themselves very well during the drive. Xavier loved having the exclusive attention of Rebekah and Loyd all to himself in the back seat. They played for hours with each other. It's a wonderful sound to hear giggles and laughs coming from your children as they play together in a tiny car. Xavier did have his moments though; he was a little cranky when his pain medicine would wear off. He started teething just before we left. Xavier left Texas with only one tooth and came back with five! I couldn't believe all the teeth that came in during our trip. I have the bite marks to prove it too. We made it to Grandma and Grandpa P's in one piece and very happy to be out of the car after two days on the road.


Xavier reminded us of a certain cuddly Dr. Who monster we just couldn't resist. So we took to calling him "Adipose" while he only had one tooth. Isn't he cute!


Grandma and Grandpa C., Uncle Jason and Uncle Jared drove out from California to visit with us while we were in Utah. We went on lots of fun field trips with the Cornelius clan. We visited Temple Square, went shopping at the Gateway Mall, went out to eat (Loyd gave a nice juicy sneeze all over Grandma C. and her dinner at the restaurant. It's a good thing she was almost done!) We visited with Grandma Grape (Loyd and Bekah called Great Grandma Cornelius this cute name the whole time we were there.) and Uncle Russ and Aunt Cathy and their nice family. We even went to the Hansen Planetarium. Rebekah was so impressed with the big motion machine at the planetarium she drew a picture of it and entitled it, "The Difficult Machine."


Rebekah and Loyd loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa Cornelius. It was such a treat to spend some time with them in person without the use of Skype.


I think the exuberance of the kids wore Grandpa C. out! From the looks of Loyd I don't' think he feels a bit bad about running his grandparents ragged.




The kids didn't waste any time making themselves right at home and getting into the spirit of play time.


Xavier learned to pull himself up to a kneeling position under Grandpa C's watchful eye. He loved exploring the toy box with his happy grandpa.


Spending time with family really brings your true self out. It's amazing what we learn about ourselves when we spend time with little children. Uncle Jason didn't know he was really a strong man, a jungle gym, a catapult and a pathetic bowler until after his week with the kids.


Rebekah was quick to point out how badly Jason bowled during their friendly game where she "kicked his bum." Don't worry, Uncle Jason. I'm sure with practice you might be as good as Rebekah one, in the far distant future.


Loyd took great joy in thinking up new and unusual ways of teasing, I mean playing with Uncle Jason. Here's a shot of another brilliant plot hatching in his brain...


And here is the attack in action. Poor Jason didn't have a chance. Loyd came flying at him before he knew what was going on. Silly, body-slamming Loyd.


Xavier was a very lucky baby and got to meet Grandma Great for the first time during this trip. We are so blessed to have Great Grandma Cornelius. She is very talented and has such a love and patience for us and the great grandchildren. By the words she says and the actions she takes you know she loves you. She has a kind and open heart. We love you Grandma Grape!


It was so much fun to see our Cornelius family. Thank you so much for taking the time to come out and visit with us. We are so glad we could spend time with you!


We wasted no time getting into the business of activity once we arrived in Utah. The day after we arrived my amazing sister Lizzy gave Xavier his very first hair cut. Doesn't he look handsome with his new tidy hairdo! What would we do without our own personal family stylist? We kept Aunt Lizzy busy with haircuts for the entire family. Thank goodness for Lizzy, and her mad skills at making us look presentable. Liz, are you sure you don't want to move to Texas? You could give us more free haircuts!

One morning during our trip Brandon took Dustin and I up in his airplane. It was amazing to see the beautiful Morgan valley from the air. At one point Brandon let Dustin fly the plane for a few minutes. Those were the scariest minutes of my life! It was a wonderful experience. We had such a great time flying in the little airplane. Thanks Brandon!


The children quickly rediscovered the magic and beauty of Grandma and Grandpa Phillips' beautiful backyard. They were drawn to it's beauty and vastness. Rebekah and Loyd spent most of their time running around playing ball, jumping on the trampoline hidden behind the pine trees, playing games with their cousins Kailyn, Jayden and Skyler and Kaleb, and swinging on the comfortable porch swing. It was absolutely wonderful. All this activity makes a kid thirsty. To solve this problem Rebekah and Loyd ate popsicle after popsicle every day. I would guess they ate between 5-7 "popscibles" each day. They were in frozen treat heaven.

Grandma P even became famous for her amazing breakfasts each morning. Loyd knew that when he woke up he could go upstairs, locate Grandma P and then sit happily at the kitchen counter while she brought him all the yummy berries, cereals and glasses of chocolate milk a kid could ask for. He was in hog heaven. One morning Grandma had to go to Aunt Karen's early to help her with the twins. Grandma had to leave before breakfast. Warning Grandpa P of the eminent call for breakfast she left instructions for him to finish up his bath fast and get dressed because Loyd was due upstairs any moment. Grandma left and Grandpa remained in the bathtub. Not two minutes after Grandma was gone Grandpa heard an unusual noise on the other side of the tub curtain. "Good morning Rebekah and Loyd," says a slightly startled Grandpa P. "Do you need some tub toys?" replies a concerned Loyd. He hated the thought of Grandpa taking a bath without entertainment. With some clever finagling Grandpa got the grand-kids out and he was able to get dressed. When I came in search of the kids I found them sitting stunned at the counter not really willing to accept Grandpa's well intentioned attempts to feed them breakfast. Apparently, once you've had Grandma make you breakfast no one else will do.


Xavier even got into the fun. He could be found bouncing on the trampoline with Daddy or swinging on the porch swing with a very happy Grandma. He is such a happy, handsome baby. How could you not want to snuggle him in the beauty of nature?

Hands down, Xavier's favorite person was Bandit. He would see Bandit and begin to giggle and squeal. If he was on the floor he was heading for Bandit. Bandit was the coolest person who ever walked on four legs and had a fur coat. Xavier wasn't the only Bandit fanatic. We had to keep a tight key on the dog treats and a close eye on Loyd. Loyd thought it was his personal duty to feed dog treats to the ever willing and docile Bandit every two or three minutes. Bandit wasn't quite sure why this was such a bad idea.

Here are some action shots of the kids playing at Grandpa P's house.

Loyd played every form of ball imaginable. He played soccer, t-ball, golf, basketball and even football. This little man is definitely all boy.


Bekah spent a good deal of her time as Bandit's understudy. She copied Bandit's every move and nap. She would lay when Bandit would lay down. She would pant and walk on all fours just like the dog. Bekah put in a lot of work and effort into become the most believable canine she could. Bandit even taught her how to use the dog door so Rebekah wouldn't have to bother with those cumbersome human sized doors anymore.


This handy wheelbarrow was used to haul many toy horses and ponies to and from their sandbox stomping ground. It proved the children were related to Grandma P. They played horses for days on end. I think it might have been one of their favorite games. They played so much that Grandma P let them each take one of her horses home to Texas to play with when we left. Neigh!


Here is Bekah with her teen idol - Kailyn- and her fun cousins Skyler and Kaleb.

We also spent an afternoon with my friends, Ann Marie, Markelle, Laura, Cami and Trinity and their families at the city park. It was so much fun to catch up with everyone and see how big and beautiful their families are getting. I'm go grateful everyone could come. We'll have to do it again next year. It was a high light of my trip.


Half way through our trip we went to Mapleton, Utah, to visit with Uncle Royal and his family. On Friday we went to BYU to visit with our friends the Larsons and see the Bean museum and the Paleontology museum. Bekah couldn't believe we were seeing and touching actual dinosaur bones. She was in heaven. She carried the paleontology museum pamphlet around for nearly two weeks afterward to study the pictures of the exhibits. On Saturday we went with Royal, Loretta, Delaney, Olivia and Walter up the Nebo loop and went on the same little hike up to a grotto we visited last year. The kids had a blast hiking in the mountains and crossing the log bridges along the way.


I carried Xavier up last year (in utero) so it was only fair that Dustin take his turn this year. Xavier had the sweet deal of experiencing nature from a backpack. He loved looking at the forest and listening to the waterfall at the grotto. I think the waterfall was so soothing to him he almost fell asleep.


Loyd decided it was his job to scare away the frightening and vicious friendly butterfly. Luckily, Loyd wasn't very sneaky and no butterflies were hurt during the course of this hike.


Delaney gave Bekah the grand tour of the grotto. She even got Rebekah to touch the ice cold waterfall.

Olivia and I got to play a few games of Slap Dragon. I'm totally awesome at that game. I'm pretty much the best that ever lived. If Olivia should disagree, pay no attention. We all know the truth. ;>)

And Walter and Loyd enjoyed thinking up naughty boy things to do. We weren't at Royal's house more than 10 minutes before the two had snuck outside, turned the hose on and sprayed each other so they were soaking wet just before bed. Boys. Walter is also very sweet. He was very thoughtful to look after his cousin, Rebekah, at Church. It was a precious moment to see them hold hands and walk to Primary together.


The last Monday of our trip we took a picnic up to Midway to visit Uncle L. Grey and Aunt JoAnn. We ate a traditional Great Grandma Young lunch of fried chicken and chocolate cake at a nearby pioneer heritage park. It was very delicious. Then, Uncle L. Grey took us to a nearby fishing pond where the kids learned how to cast a fishing rod for the first time. Rebekah became a regular expert withing 15 minutes. She was casting and reeling her fishing line like a pro with Jayden and Skyler. We were all impressed with how quickly she picked it up. Loyd wasn't quite so quick to get the mechanics of it so we just left some line down for him and he perfected the art of smacking the water with his rod. Silly Loyd. Xavier even wanted a chance to hold a fishing rod. He though the reel was fascinating. Maybe next year he'll be a fishing pro and we might actually catch something.



After fishing we went back to Uncle L. Grey's house and the kids went swimming. It was a wonderful afternoon. Midway is beautiful and a day spent with Uncle L. Grey and Aunt JoAnn is always fun. We are lucky to have such wonderful family.


We spent the last few days shopping for mother/daughter matching outfits with Grandma P. and Aunt Lizzy and relaxing around the house.


The kids were so worn out from their hectic schedule of continuous playing, eating glorious food and staying up late with extended family that they were known to fall asleep in the most unlikely of places at the most unlikely of times. I guess you take a nap whenever you can get it when you are at Grandma's house.

We were so sad to leave our beloved family, but the time came to come back home to Texas. We are grateful we could spend another memorable summer with friends and family we love dearly. We wish we could live closer, but we do love our home in snow free Texas too. I think the only real solution is to have everyone move out to us. What do you think?