Wiped Out! The drive was long (only gas and potty breaks), but the kids did AWESOME! Ted did all the driving, bless his heart.
...And then the SNOW? When I told Chloe is was snowing she yelled "YEA!, let's go play in it!". With NO winter clothing packed the kids did with what we could find. Chloe thought the plastic sandwich bags were fun to wear as sock water-proofers.
...and then...as Utah weather loves to do, the snow comes and the snow goes, only the snowman left (I love the lilacs in the background)
Fishing is such a huge part of Ted and thankfully he was able to do quite a bit of it (in my opinion, I'm sure not in his). Porter loved being with his daddy, he really seemed to understand that this was dad's break and that he needed to take every moment to be with him.
All sorts of fishing: Fly Fishing on the Green, Bate fishing on Utah Lake (twice) and Fly Fishing the Provo... pretty good!
I love Chloe's dedication to life and making sure she's a part of everything going on, and then Porter's willingness to touch the only fish caught that day, one cool kid.
I love all the fun things the Butterfields have introduced me to... bugs, spinner/bate fishing, more bugs, cinnamon rolls (probably the best of all ) and many many more things!
The best "fish-hooked" kid Ted could every catch.
Family...and Food...and Graduations!
(You better believe my Two oldest brothers in the back are talking politics)
(such cuties)
Happy Graduation Chris, you are AWESOME! (and HANDSOME if I might say so myself)
Of course park playing and running (me running...I don't usually go around in little shorts, I promise)!
Cute Porter decided he was TOO BIG for his "porter-crib"(as Chloe calls it) and he slept on the floor/bed by Chloe for the whole two weeks. It's amazing what an older sibling can make the younger one want to do, such a BIG Boy.
I was able to get together with some of my dear cousins (and forever friends) for an afternoon. I just love them to pieces!
(I wish I had more time to see more of my friends...time just flies within two weeks.)
Let the cleaning of the bricks begin...
Well that's not what the ballons are for, but in a way it's fitting to celebrate that my parents finally have a brick mailbox. They've only had the bricks hiding in the corner of their yard for uhmmm.... yeah, 20 years, just waiting to be made into a mailbox. Well lucky for them, I married a guy that thinks he can do anything...AND HE CAN ;)
The before (not really) mailbox. My dad had a nice post holding it, but it didn't make it to the picture. 
The mailbox was done in a 3 day period, work one day, play one day, finish the last day. We forgot to take pictures of the first day, which is too bad, but we got sunburned on our ears and neck. Plus on the "play day" Ted went fishing with his dad in the canoe and had an amazing time, however he fished in shorts...with NO sunscreen... yeah, his legs were FRIED! In short, the canopy was a true life-savor for the finishing day of the mailbox.
Our sweet little chillins' just played around and let us work for the most part, however, Grandma Lou was a BIG part of keeping an eye on them and keeping them fed and happy.
Thanks Grandma!Master Mason Ted
Ta-Duh!
It's BEAUTIFUL!
My parents neighbors enjoyed watching the creation of the mailbox. It was fun to have people frequently asking Ted if he "did this for a living"...or... "you want to do mine next" ... Ted would just laugh and somewhere in conversation explain that this was his second mailbox ever and that it's really not that hard... (so modest).
One of the neighbors that took particular interest in the mailbox invited us to take a swim in their pool to celebrate the mailboxes completion... which we did, ALL of us! It was so fun to spend a couple hours with the whole Howard clan (well most of them, we missed you Johansen family and Trevor/Hillary). Nothin' like family!
Thankfully, we got one last dinner with the Butterfields, in which all of Ted's current Utah residing sibling could come. Family is WONDERFUL!
Sweet Marie, we're SO excited for your baby girl to come! We can't wait to meet her!!!
I'm just the luckiest person in the whole world to have TWO amazing families!
My husband, that I think loves me, but who can tell with a face like this...?
Yeah, he loves me... and I love him... A LOT!
5 comments:
What can I say? I LOVE IT!!!
How fun for me to read about your past two weeks. I knew it was full, but seeing the pictures and hearing the stories just made my heart feel full. Family is the best, and it's memories like your past two weeks that make the mundane worth it!
I laughed, choked up a bit, laughed some more, and laughed again. Welcome home!
Okay, I have one more thing I've GOT to say :-D
Ted, that mailbox looks AWESOME!!!!
After 20 years of having those bricks, and only 2-days of building the mailbox, I can only imagine how special the gift of your time and talents means to my parents.
Thank you so much for doing that for them. I'm grateful to have such a neat and giving brother, who really is quite fun to be around.
LOVE YA! ;-D
Great pictures of a great visit. I'm sure your family loved seeing you guys. I hope you are coming back to Utah in a month for Bear Lake! And that mailbox really is awesome! Go Ted!
FUN! I am super jealous that you were in Utah for two weeks and I didn't get to see you :( But hey, trust me, I know how it goes! You visit people and there's not enough hours in the day for even just family that you never get to see, so I understand :) But that doesn't mean I'm not jealous that I didn't get to see my Allie :) I love all your fun pictures! Your kids are so cute! And Ted, way to go on the Mailbox! You are awesome!
I second Ashlee's comment! I'm glad you got to enjoy both the best and worst of what utah has to offer :) did you get sick this time? Have you broken the curse? Love you guys!
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