We went home to southern Utah/Nevada the end of July. We were there for 3 weeks and packed as much fun as we could in to it!
We started the trip in Tropic, camping for the 24th with the Ott's. Of course we loved camping and Josh especially loved being outside in the dirt for 3 days straight. The first night we slept in our tent and had the worst night EVER! It got down to freezing temps and I had no idea what to do to keep Benson warm. All 4 of us ended up on one queen air mattress and the whole night I was doing whatever I could to keep Benson warm without smothering him. Needless to say, I didn't sleep a second the entire night. But the second night we slept in a trailer and everyone stayed nice and toasty.
We spent the majority of the trip just relaxing, playing with family, and spent lots of time swimming. Beau and I got to go to Vegas and stay a night for our anniversary. It was SO nice! I of course stressed about leaving the boys overnight, especially Benson because he's still nursing, but they were fine and we thoroughly enjoyed getting away just the two of us for the first time since we had Josh almost 3 years ago. Thanks mom and Tar for watching the munchkins.
I went to see The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn with my Mom, sisters (minus Tara), and Grandparents. I loved it! We sat about 5 rows up from the front and to the furthest left side, right next to the orchestra. I think I watched the orchestra half of the show, not because the show was bad, but the orchestra was amazing! Such talented musicians. They acted like they could all do it in their sleep. It was such a fun night.
The last 2 days of the trip, Beau went to Lake Powell with his family to stay on uncle Kim's houseboat, but the boys and I stayed home. I know, I'm a total party pooper for not going, but after 3 weeks of traveling, I couldn't even handle the thought of packing up one more time, driving more hours in the car, having one more bad nights rest, being in a panic the whole time worrying about Josh getting out of my sight, and then adding 2 more hours to our already 8 hour drive home. (Pessimistic much?) When Beau got home and told me all about it, it did sound like a blast and I'm excited to go next summer.
On our way home we stopped in Provo for Jeff and Lindsay's weddding. It was Beautiful! Probably the best sealing I've ever been to. Elder Bruce R. McConkie's son performed the sealing, and gave great insight into the whole ordinance. Everyone left talking about how much they learned from him. Jeff and Lindsay are such an awesome couple, and Lindsay was a stunning bride for sure!
It really was a fun 3 weeks, being with family always is, but both Beau and I agreed that it was probably a week too long. It's so rough being away from home and having no schedule for that long with 2 kids. Nights were hard and mornings were early with all of us sleeping in one room the entire time. Josh did really well for the first two weeks, but in the last few days, the lack of consistency really started to show in his attitude. He is most definitely a creature of habit, that boy. I wonder where he gets it from....probably from the mother who was having an equally hard time functioning those last few days.
I took tons of pictures, but here are just a few:
Josh LOVES ladybugs! He's really into pretending right now and if he's not pretending to be some kind of tractor (which is the case 85% of the time), he's either being an alligator or a ladybug.
