Colorado

 We were able to escape from Provo for a few days and visit my parents in Colorado. They recently sold their house and are living in a HUGE rental house until they figure out what is next for them in life. We had tons of fun and even survived the road trip there and back! My dad and I celebrated our birthdays together on the 20th with some yummy cake and a day of mostly relaxing.

The girls both loved exploring the house. I don't know what I would do if we lived in a large home--I would probably lose them! Kendal especially loved the kitchen cabinets she could climb in to.

 So much space to roam around! And Roxy (the doggy) wanted to lick and love on the girls, but the girls were a little nervous at first. They eventually warmed up, Lyla let her lick her and Kendal was feeding her by the end of the trip. We now have a new word in our vocabulary and a favorite picture to look at in our books that have dogs in them!

 We went swimming in the front yard! The girls mostly wanted to explore the yard...

I caught her screaming! 

Kendal seems to think she can squeeze herself into extremely small spaces. 

One of the things on my summer bucket list was to take the girls to the zoo. So we went to the Denver Zoo! It was lots of fun! The girls paid more attention to the animals than I thought and they did fabulous even though it was really hot.

 Oh no! We have elephant ears!

 These two monkeys were kissing...and a second later, picking each others butts. Gross.

These girls love their Gammy and Papa. Just a little bit. Or a lot. 

 We went on the carousel. That was an adventure. The girls were a little tense and not sure of it. But, we did it and we even had them on cute baby polar bears.

On our last day we headed out to the local park with a splash pad. It was the coolest splash pad I have seen and wasn't even that busy. Kendal loved it and Lyla will love it more when she can walk I think.  

We also made it to Panera 3 times! Haha. I always make a point of going to Panera when we visit, because I love it and we don't have one here in Utah. I'm sure everyone else gets sick of it, but not me! We went out to eat, shopping, and lots of relaxing. Lyla was sick almost the whole time we were there, but she was still a trooper and gave lots of smiles. We even stopped where Leigh lived for 2 weeks after being born (Sinclair, Wyoming). Super small town, but we got to play at the park, eat lunch, and watch the fast trains zoom by.

Leigh and I had planned on going to see the new Batman movie while we were there, but decided not to because of the shooting in Aurora. I was a little paranoid. We got to watch the news with lots of updates on the tragedy. It was heartbreaking and just shocking to me.  It's just sad that it seems like no public place is safe anymore. You always think, what if? I know we can't live life in fear, but I still worry, especially now that I have children. The stories that have come forth of those that died while saving others and those that threw themselves over others to protect them are encouraging and a great reminder that there are wonderful people in this world. It was nice that the focus seemed to be on those that had been victims and not necessarily on this deranged man. 

We love visitors!!

At the beginning of July Grandpa, Auntie Kirsten, and cousins came to visit! We had so much fun with them and were able to do lots of fun things. I sadly didn't document the visit very well, but did get some good pictures. The girls just loved having all the attention and watching their older cousins. We totally messed with the girls' normal nap/bedtime routine and they both had little colds, but they did wonderfully and we were all able to enjoy everything. We wish we could see them all more often, but we are so grateful that they came to visit and spend time here in Utah! 

  

Preston and Uncle Leigh had tons of fun playing video games and computer games.

One morning, we braved the hot weather, and hiked the Y! Yes, there were 6 kids and 4 adults. Yes, we took a stroller. Yes, we made it to the top. But, it was NOT easy! We all took turns pushing the stroller, which had Kendal and either Tessa or Eva in it the entire time. Lyla got the backpack, which was nice and sweaty. We got lots of comments--basically saying that we were crazy, but in nicer words like brave and impressed. The picture above was from the hike, and the one below is from when we were in Guatemala. I think I need to get my bangs back...and that tan...and lose that baby weight.

Kirsten and I. Again, the picture above was from the hike. And the one below was from Guatemala. When we were taking this picture up the Y I immediately thought of this picture from Guatemala (almost 3 years ago). Kirsten still looks just as fabulous!

Back to the hike, it was gruesome. The kids were real troopers--we had some tough times, but when we got to the top it was like they hadn't just hiked 1.2 miles up a mountain. They were full of energy again. The adults, not so much.

Kendal was there, I swear. She fell asleep in the stroller on the way up so didn't get out at the top. After the hike we went for a well deserved Costa Vida lunch.

Kirsten and I were able to take the kids up to a cemetery in SLC where Leigh's Nana and Grandpa (the girls' Great Nana & Great Grandpa) are buried. 

We also made it up to Temple Square!

 We also went to Seven Peaks, the pool at the hotel, helped Tio Ian and Aunt Emily move in to their new home here, met baby Rubye, ate lots of yummy food, and enjoyed playing. 

Quadruplets??

 What do you think, quadruplets next??

These girls are pretty cute :) At the end of June we had some lovely visitors over at our house! One of my college roommates, HolliJo, her husband Kevin, and their darling little girl Taycie (on the far right) came to Utah for a little visit! We were able to spend some time with them, catch up on our lives, and have all our little girls meet for the first time. Jess, another college roommate, and her husband Daniel also came over with their little girl, Aurelia (far left). They live near us so we see them often, but it is always fun to have them over! **Also, they are hoping to adopt soon--so spread the word, their blog has lots more information about it!**

The girls all enjoyed playing and the adults all enjoyed chatting. Taycie is a month older than the girls and Aurelia is about 8 months older than the girls. It is crazy that almost 7 years ago we were meeting in the dorms at BYU and became fast friends, and now here we are married for several years and having kids!

Babies (left to right): Aurelia, Kendal, Lyla, Taycie

Mommies: Jess, Me, HolliJo

4th of July!

Our 4th of July was fabulous! We took the girls to the Provo Parade and they loved it. It is a big parade with tons of people. We were lucky enough to be able to walk to the parade and have wonderful friends that saved us a spot by where they were sitting.