Our Time in Utah

Back in July, towards the end of the month, we took a nice trip out west to visit both of our families. I'll break up the trip into a few posts. 

We did a little traveling back and forth from Idaho to Utah to make sure we fit everything in while Brad was still there. While in Utah, we enjoyed spending time in Smithfield with Brad's parents as well as several of Brad's siblings and niece and nephew. It was also fun to see much of our extended family. Here are some highlights from our time there:

• Spending time chatting and getting caught up on one another's lives.
• Going on a date and eating some seriously good Mexican food.
• Shopping. 
• BBQ-ing at a park.
• Watching the Olympics. 
• Watching Mirror Mirror.
• Having conversation over family dinners. 
• Visiting my good friend Amy. It's so fun that her parents live so close to my in-laws now. 
• Having a fun combined birthday party for Landon and Teryl. We had a yummy dinner and a nice time visiting with family from Tammy's side. Unfortunately, Landon was beyond exhausted by the time we had the party so he was kind of a mess that night. He was also sick, which I'm sure contributed to his fussiness. But we still had a nice time and of course Landon got spoiled :).
• Going to a Roper Family Reunion at the girl's camp in Heber. We so enjoyed visiting with Grandma Roper and aunts and uncles and cousins. We ate lots of good food and had some fun family activities. We went on a zip-line, which turned out to be fun. The hardest part for me was walking across the super high log to get to the point for zip-lining. Glad I went but that was hard! We also went canoeing the next morning which was enjoyable. The reunion was short and sweet, but we were so glad we could make it out west for this!  

Leavin' on a jet plane!!! Waiting to board our flight in the Chicago O'hare Airport.

Bath with Madeline and Benson (hope you don't 

mind a naked pic of your kids on here Allison!). Yes, Landon's favorite part of bathing is trying to drink the yucky bath water...

Family pic our first Sunday there

The Birthday Party!!! Playing with his dump truck from Grandpa Wagstaff...and Benson's bus too:) Poor Benson had to learn to fend for himself with Landon around!

Eating a cupcake in between "I've had it" tantrums

Opening a gift from the Serr Family

With Aunt Allison. Thanks for the Melissa and Doug animal puzzle! It's been a hit with Landon for sure!

Opening gifts from Grandma and Grandpa

Landon loves trucks!

Me on the zip-line! Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of Brad. Anyone have a pic of him zip-lining?

Brad and Landon hanging out at the Roper Family Reunion

Colin, Alan, Madeline, Allison, Landon, and Brad 

Roper Family pictures 

Rice Krispie treat cook-off. Allison won first place with her cinnamon roll Rice Krispies!

Four generations of Ropers: Grandma Roper, Teryl, Brad, and Landon 

Landon was a big help on the canoe:). Actually, anytime Landon has a life jacket on he thinks he's being tortured. He tolerated our time on the lake. Brad and I enjoyed taking in the beautiful scenery. 

 

Landon and I walked to the neighborhood park while we were waiting for my parents to pick us up from Smithfield to head back to Idaho.  

He just loved the swing and did NOT want me to take him out. 

By the time we got home from the park the fever had hit him hard. Poor kiddo!

 Traveling to Idaho with his beloved DVD player:)

We had a lovely time in Utah and we are so grateful for the hospitality of Brad's family. Thanks for the nice visit!

A Visit from the Parents

 So back in April--yes that is a couple of months ago and I'm finally getting around to posting about it :)--my lovely parents came for a visit. I wasn't so good about whipping out the camera, but fortunately my picture loving mother took some pics with her phone and shared them with me. 

We had a wonderful time shopping, eating good food, going to the zoo, playing outside, relaxing, and just enjoying being together. My sweet parents watched Landon so Brad and I could have a day to go to the temple and then they watched him again so we could go on a date for our 5th anniversary. We hope for the day when we can live close enough for this to be a regular thing:) Here are some pics from their visit:

Mom bought me some clippers and taught me how to cut Landon's hair. I'm still afraid to do it on my own, so he has longish hair right now. Maybe Brad and I will tackle him this weekend:) 

He was pretty intrigued with those clippers 

 Landon loved having Grandpa for a constant playmate!

 Loves for Grandpa!

 What a stud with his spiky hair

At the Peoria Zoo 

Landon loves to slide! 

Something smells funny Mom! 

Stud muffin in his cool shades that stay on for about 2 seconds

Wrong direction but you get the idea:) Majorly cool

Monkey from the zoo! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!! He's now a pro at "oo-oo ah-ah".

 The box that came with Landon's cool new play toy you can kind of see in the background. He thought the box was most intriguing:) 

"I'm so glad when Daddy comes home!" 

Not the best family pic:) Brad and I were off to our date for our 5th anniversary. It was so nice to know that Landon would be in good hands while we were gone. We went to a fantastic steakhouse, did a little shopping, and saw the Hunger Games movie. Yes, I liked the movie! I think Brad liked it, but he found it a little strange:)

Family love!! 

 Landon was really trying to help Grandma feel better when they were leaving by giving her lots of hugs. It was pretty stinkin' cute!

Really wish I would have remembered to whip out the camera more often. We were a bit preoccupied with house buying stuff at that point--putting in offers, signing papers, getting inspections set up, etc. Didn't end up buying that house but it was good practice:) And it was nice to have my parents help with some of it. 

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming out and seeing us. We loved having you here and can't wait to see you later this summer!

It's about time!!!

Happy Birthday to Tammy, my sweet mother-in-law! I decided to get some pictures uploaded from the past few months for her to enjoy on her special day. Here's some eye candy for your birthday Tammy:) We love you and hope you have a great day!

The joy technology brings to Landon is indescribable

An afternoon at the zoo the first week in January. Not one bit scared of that big lion right next to him.

He can put on my headbands all by himself. He has learned the hard way that they can be dangerous if stretched too far.

The one day we had enough snow to play in this winter

Intriguing...

And delicious!

The guys

Yogurt is a great way to add volume to your hair

Maybe starting your day at 4:30 am is not such a good idea, Landon...just a thought

Playing with mommy's drill. Atta boy!

Just a taste of the messes this kiddo can make

Sporting his cool backpack

Vacuuming up a storm. Wish I had one of these at home!

He just helps me with my real one:)

Costume fun!

Enjoying some warm spring weather

So proud of himself for getting his pants off all by himself

First day of shorts this spring. He couldn't stop pulling them up.

Note to dad: a box of unattended tissues makes a great toy:)

Sweet little smile

Downing a peep from Grandma and Grandpa

Can't get enough bags!

First Easter egg hunt

I shouldn't encourage such behavior

Matchy matchy with Dad 

Mommy's rockstar for sure!

Trying to ride the bus around

Grandma Call teaching me how to trim his hair. He just wanted the clippers the whole time.

This video was taken in March. He has acquired a few more words since then. Just glad we were able to capture some of them on camera which is almost impossible with this guy's obsession with technology!

A family in our ward held a fun Easter egg hunt for young children in their back yard. I wish we could have caught more of his excitement. He seemed to like all of the commotion and would suddenly burst out with loud random ramblings. Of course I left his Easter basket at home so we resorted to using the diaper bag:)

That's a good start for getting caught up. More to come next week!!!