Summer Utah Trip 2015

We had a really fun/hard/rewarding/exhausting trip to Utah. It started out with a 6 hour drive that turned into a 9 hour drive. We were stuck between Georgetown and the Eisenhower Tunnel for 2 and a half hours. Thats only 12 miles. 12!! Its supposed to take 15 minutes. And it took 2 and a half hours. Jane, Juliet and Kyle just ran with it. Not a whole lot phases them. Abby and I were losing it. It was awful. Luckily the girls did great for the rest of the drive. We were supposed to get to my Grammy's house before dinner and we got there just in time for bed. 

My dad, Halee and Carson were there for the API. Kyle had a blast playing golf for two whole days. We hung out with my Grammy, Aunt Denee, Emme and Luke. It was fun getting to hang out and talk. The girls had a blast playing with Halee and Luke. 

Saturday night we went out to dinner with all of the adults and Jane. Abby and Jules stayed with Halee and Luke. We went to a steak house where you cook your own steak on the really hot rock. Its so fun. The steak was delicious! It was fun getting to sit and relax and talk to everyone. 

The 2015 API team. Left to right: Lester, Colm, Grandpy, Dad, Carson and Kyle

 Juliet climbed and feel asleep with my dad. So sweet. 

Abby playing in the water. She loves the water! She is a little tease like my dad. She kept spraying everyone with the water squirter. 

Found this picture of me while we were there. I was dying. This is me when I was 2 and it looks just like Juliet! Even the lighter hair. So crazy!

Playing out in the backyard. This sweet little Jane was the best baby the entire time we were in Utah. She is such an angel.

Abby and Juliet loved these little bikes that Grammy had. The would ride on them every night. The mosquitos were really bad so it was hard to be outside for a long time. 

One of the hardest parts of the entire trip was the night time. And it was the newborn. Oh no. It was the 2 year old. Juliet would not sleep unless she was in bed with me. It was terrible. She would wake up screaming and I was so afraid she would wake up Jane. She was restless every single night. The first couple of nights she didn't sleep at all. I was up with her for 4 hours one night. It was so bad. 

After the API Kyle headed home and left me! That was when things got really hard and crazy. Having three little kids is a lot of work and Kyle really helps me with so much that it is hard to be apart. We were all sleeping in the same room at my Grandpa Greats house.  Juliet would wake me up 3 or 4 times a night and then Jane would wake up at 5 and I would have to rock her back to sleep so she didn't wake up the girls. So pretty much I wasn't sleeping. I was exhausted and wondering why the heck I thought that this was a good idea. 

But it ended up being so worth it. My family got to Ioka late Thursday night. So we woke up to them Friday morning and the girls were thrilled. Kyle came later that day and it was so wonderful to be reunited with him. I love him. So much. I will spend my whole life trying to deserve him. Anyways back to the Nelson reunion. It was a blast. My dad took Abby up to play in the lake and she was in heaven. She even rode on the tube behind the boat. They said she was even telling them to go faster! It was so cute listening to her talk about it. "The boat would go up and down (she telling all of this with cute little hand motions) and it would go wee (really) fast!"

I was so proud of my brave girl. 

Little jules snuggled up against me as I fed Jane in the morning. I sure love my sweet girls. 

Haley being a goof ball. 

A big yawn after her 5:00am wake up call. 

Sweet girls sleeping in. 

There are few things in life that I enjoy looking at more than these three faces. Especially Janes face. I love baby expressions. They're hilarious. 

So these next few pictures are really out of place.

This was at the beginning of our drive to Utah. Before the horrific traffic. Such a beautiful place! 

Pictures of the food from the API. Kyle always goes on and on about the food there. I've never had any, so we'll have to take his word on it. 

I told him to make sure he stayed hydrated. So he sent me this picture... not exactly what I meant. Ha ha. 

Beautiful Roosevelt golf course

Jane's 5 generation picture with my Dad's grandpa. This is Lynn Labrum. I'm named after him. It was very special to get to spend some time with this great man. 

This was Saturday morning after being reunited as a family. It was so nice to have him help me get the girls up and ready for the day. He is the best dad! 

We were all happy to have him back with us. And Juliets hair. I really try and pull it out of her face but she hates have things in her hair. She is a hot mess. All the time. But a dang cute hot mess. 

The last night of the Nelson reunion my dad got a ton of fireworks and sparklers and put on quite the show. Abby and Jules weren't so sure about them at first. But I told them it was pixie dust and Jules was sold. She kept wanting sparkler after sparkler. Abby was warming up to them and then she touched the hot part and burned herself. Then she didn't want anything to do with it.

The firework show was awesome. It always feels like we are in danger of blowing up when my dad does these impromptu shows. So that really adds to the excitement. Abby and Jules loved it as long as I had my arms wrapped around them both holding them so close. Abby still can't stop talking about it.

This was before the hand burning. She was starting to love the sparklers or the "pixie dust".

The next morning we headed home and the drive went much smoother. We made it home in great time and it was so nice to sleep in our own beds in separate rooms. I love my girls but they are the noisiest sleepers! Now all the girls are  back to sleeping in until 8:00 in the morning which is SO nice. It was a fun trip. A hard trip, but a fun trip. It was worth everything for the fun memories we made. Family is everything to me. I'm so grateful for every moment I get to spend with them. Watching my girls interact with them is the best. Hopefully we make it out next year too! 

June

June was yet again an awesome month. Its been warm and beautiful here. We had Jane's blessing, and then we headed to Utah for the API and the Nelson family reunion. 

This is all the fun stuff that happened between all of that. 

Like Jane blowing out all over. This happened on a Monday and I sent a picture to everyone to let them know that no matter what was going on, their Monday was going better than mine. 

This kid and her grins. She is full of smiles! 

Eating popsicles outside. We have been doing a lot of that this summer. 

Abby loves to help me with my chores. She is the cutest at folding clothes. She will always drop whatever she is doing and help me out. 

I 100% bribed her with candy to get this picture. Little stinker is still not big on pictures. Notice the bears in the shoes behind her. She loves to put things in shoes when she is playing. 

Waiting for my family to get to our house for Jane's blessing weekend!

Playing outside in our PJs and beanies. Not an unusual occurrence at our house. 

This little baby is so fun. She is just so happy and calm all of the time! She is really starting to smile at Abby and Jules when they talk to her or even walk by her. I can't wait to see how she really starts interacting with them the next few months. 

Watching the trailer for Inside Out. This picture captures what my day looks like perfectly. Abby wearing something she picked out. Like a long sleeve shirt and pants, even though it is well over 80 degrees outside. And juliet in no clothes because that makes her happy. 

She is really good at putting herself down for naps when she is tired. Makes things easy for me! 

I love seeing these girls play outside. We are so grateful for where we live. It is perfect! 

See... more popsicles.  

More smiles! 

Check out how cute Jane looked in this bow my friend gave me. She is just the happiest most precious thing! 

We've been going through the verses of "Follow the Prophet" for FHE. This week was the city of Enoch. So we learned the verse and then for our activity we built the city. It was a fun time with the girls. We are really working hard to do FHE every single week. I want my daughters to have a testimony of the gospel. I want them to be strong in their faith. And I'm realizing we have to start acting now, or it will be too late. Its been fun to see the girls already learning and growing from it. The first night we did it there was a good spirit in our home and Abby was so excited to kneel down and say a prayer. Usually we can't get her to want to participate in family prayers. She just has way to much to do. They love singing follow the prophet too. 

We went on a fun day trip up to Fort Collins. We went to a delicious Deli called Fiona's Deli. It was a cool little place and had delicious sandwiches. Then we went to the Main street Fort Collins and explored the little candy shops and the cookie shop. It was a cool town. Then we drove to the new temple that is being built. It was so cool looking and I hope we are able to attend the open house before we move. 

How cute are these kids? They are crazy, and busy and fully of energy. They make every day an adventure for me. Its been very challenging have all three, but its been amazing too. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life watching them learn and grow. 

And the fact that I get to spend everyday making this kid smile is pretty awesome. 

Fathers Day

This Man. Let me tell you, he is incredible. The best man I have every known. 

He treats his girls, all 4 of us like princesses. He is the perfect dad for girls. I watched a mormon message one time that was girls talking to their fathers telling them that if they want their girls to grow up and be strong confident and marry good men that they needed to show love to their mothers. Kyle does that every day. He loves me unconditionally. He honors who I am as a woman and a mother. He respects me and treats me like I am so special to him. 

Watching him become a father has been so fun. He is a blast to be around and his girls think he is hilarious. 

There is always a never ending supply of daddy selfies. They always crack me up. 

Fatherhood looks so good on him. He loves his family and does so much to support us. I am so grateful for how hard he works to support us, and then to come home and play hard. Only a really special man can pull it off the way that he does. 

This was my fathers day gift to him. It was a crazy and hectic photo shoot. But I got the pictures I wanted and it turned out so cute.

Happy Father's Day Kyle! One are one loved man! 

Abby turns 4!

Dear sweet little Abby,

You are 4! 4 whole years. You waited so patiently for your birthday and you enjoyed every second of it. It was so fun celebrating you. You are so much fun. You love to make us laugh by saying words like "stinky poopy" and quietly whispering "poop" in our ears. We probably should get you to stop...but it really is funny. You are the smartest little girl. You love to color and learn. You love to pretend. You will play with pretty much anything. Markers, princesses, blocks. I love to watch you play. You love your baby doll that you have lovingly named baby Vera (like our cousin). You dress her, feed her, change her and put her to bed. Its the sweetest, you will be a wonderful mother some day. 

You are getting better at letting us take pictures of you...but now you pull funny faces in almost all of them. You really do like to be silly and we love it. We talk a lot about making good choices and you really do your best to make good choices. You try to be kind to your little sister and let her hug you, even though you aren't the biggest on hugs. You are pretty good eater, although you would rather just snack all. day. long. You would eat fruit snacks and popsicles all day every day if I would let you. Unfortunately I can't allow that to happen. 

You are still a tiny little thing but you are growing so much. Your hair is getting so thick and long. Your eyes are so blue! You are so beautiful inside and out. I am so grateful that I get to know you and be such a big part of your life. 

I hope you always know how special you are to us. 

We love you

Love,

Dad, Mom, Juliet and Jane