First Few Days in Utah

February 25th, Brady, Kolton and I headed out to Utah. We were super excited to see everyone! And I was super excited that Brady got to come with us! It had been since my brother's wedding that Brady had been out to Utah, and even then, he was only there for 2 1/2 days. This time he was flying out with us and staying an entire week before going home. Let me tell you, it is WAY better to fly with him than to fly by myself! Someone to talk to and keep you company and someone to talk to Kolton and keep him company. You can go to the bathroom or to go get food without lugging everything with you, because there is someone there to stay with your stuff... It was so much less stressful to go through security and everything with him there! I loved it!

I had called TSA to ask them about Brady's finger to see if we needed anything to prove that the metal in his hand was from pins that were needed to keep his finger in place. They said no, but that we should come about 30 minutes earlier than we normally would so that they could pull him aside and look at his hand. So, we had the Foys take us a little earlier than we'd normally go. He went through the metal detector and then they took him into a little room and went over his hand with a metal detector and that was it. He was sent on his way, no big deal. So, we had extra time in the airport waiting for our flight. :) Kolton spent a LONG time looking through the window at the airplanes and then he came and laid down on the bench and totally crashed about 15 minutes before we were supposed to board. He fell back asleep on the plane, though, and had a good nap.

As always, Kolton loved every second there. He gets so much attention there and he loves it!

Kolton and Korver quickly became little buddies and every time Korver would come over he'd go running through the house looking for Kolton and then would get SUPER excited when he'd see him and squeal and try and give Kolton a hug. It was really cute.

Sunday morning Kolton was working on his tower building skills. Here he is with his tower that he built on his own.

Then Brady decided to help him make it as tall as him...

And then they tried to make it taller than him...

But it crashed!

Kolton went to Primary all on his own like such a champ. He's getting so big! He was sad that Grandma wasn't the music leader anymore, but he didn't get upset about it and didn't protest to going to primary. He stayed and had a fun time! Sunday night we relaxed and Kolton and Grandma made cookies and Brady went home teaching with my dad.

Grandma let Kolton play her harp a couple of times. He like plucking the strings! :)

Tuesday we worked on getting ready for Shawn to come home the next day. We made signs and picked up the banner (which we weren't able to use because even though my mom ordered an "outdoor" banner, they said you can't put it outside...go figure. So, we had to order one from somewhere else that was able to make it that day).

Late Tuesday afternoon we headed to go see Shana and Kit. We met at their house and chatted for a little bit and then went to The Pizza Factory with them. We each got a salad, ordered some breadsticks with alfredo sauce and ordered a couple pizzas to share. It was super yummy! I especially liked the breadsticks with alfredo sauce!

After dinner the boys and Gracie went back to their house and Shana and I went to go pick up the banner for Shawn. We may have gotten a little lost and drove to a couple different places, but we got there. Haha. It wasn't my fault...the directions didn't get us to the place...it totally left off the last few turns. Anyway, after that we all went to a place called Lowe's, I think, where they have trampolines and stuff.

Kolton and Brigham had a good time running around and jumping everywhere. And it was only $3 which was awesome!

We tried to get Kolton to jump off this from the very beginning but he wouldn't. Even after watching Brigham, he wasn't interested. However, when the workers announced that we only had 5 more minutes, he decided to go over there and try it out. It was about a 6 or 7 feet drop and he ended up loving it! We didn't have time to do it again, or he totally would have.

It was so good to see Shana and Kit and their kids! We miss hanging out with them but had a good time for that few hours that we were able to see them.

Originally, Kolton was just going to make a sign to take to the airport for Shawn, but after he saw all of us making bigger signs to put in the front yard, he decided he wanted to do one of those too, so Wednesday morning he made his. He wrote on it "You're So Cool" and then drew a balloon, a sun, and a picture of Shawn (he had to draw all 10 fingers on one hand because he said there wasn't room on the other hand for its 5 fingers).

Then we all got ready to go to the airport to pick up Shawn!! We were all super excited! It had been 2 whole years since we'd seen him last!!

Snowmen:Pictures:Zoo

Here's a catch up of everything else that has happened in the last week or two so that I'll be all caught up! Just in time to go to Utah and have a BUNCH to blog about! :) We leave tomorrow and we are so excited! EVERY morning Kolton wakes up and tells us how many days until Utah.  This morning when I was waking him up, the VERY first thing that came out of his tired little mouth was "One more day until Utah" in his yawning/stretching voice.  It was cute! We can't wait to go! 

One Sunday evening Kolton and I made snickerdoodles.  He's an awesome helper in the kitchen! 

 We had our first (and probably last) "real" snow fall on February 13th.  We woke up to some snow on the ground and Kolton couldn't wait to get out in it.  I postponed it as long as I could so that hopefully it would warm up some and not be so cold, but I think we headed out at 10:00. 

 He really, really wanted to make a snowman so I showed him how.  The snow we received was perfect for making them.  It stuck together really well.  He did awesome at it! He would just roll and roll and roll!

 We used carrots for the nose and little rocks from our backyard for the eyes. 

 Kolton with his first snowman.  He was pretty darn proud! After he finished that one he decided to make two more so we could have our whole family of snowmen.  :)

 And here he is with them all! They look pretty cool to me! Especially coming from the hands of a sweet little 4 year old.  Once we were done with the snowmen he asked me to have a snowball fight with him.  He thought that was hilarious! I had so much fun running around in the front yard with him throwing snow at each other! It was a great morning! After we were done with that we came inside and warmed up under a blanket and watched a show together. 

 Tyler's birthday was on the 22nd so we did the same thing we did for Shawn's birthday for him.  I put up a grey sheet for him to stand in front of to hold the signs thinking it would look better than the wall but it didn't work out too well.  Anyway, I could hardly get him to take the pictures with the signs we made because he just wanted to pose for me.  He cracks me up.  He came up with all these poses (and MANY more not shown) on his own. 

 I kept telling him to smile and he kept squinting his eyes...not sure why, but I thought it was funny. 

 He's just so darn handsome! Love him!

 

On Monday morning we went to Journey Church to play.  A girl from the ward put on the relief society email that she was going there and for anyone else who wanted to go to join her so we headed down there.  They have like a McDonald's type playground in their lobby.  We were there for an hour and a half and Kolton had so much fun! 

Tuesday we went to Jumpzone.  Kolton has been asking to go there for months and so I told him I'd take him before we went to Utah.  Well, since we were going this weekend I figured I'd better take him soon.  We met the Foys there at noon and played.  We were there until almost 2:30 and the kids were going strong when we left! I couldn't believe it! There was hardly anyone there so that was nice too.  Unfortunately one of the slides wasn't blown up because they didn't have enough workers to man them all (even though they are never out there and always back in the back) but the kids had fun none-the-less.  After Jumpzone we walked to Once Upon a Child.  Kolton picked out a swimsuit and a shirt.  When we got home the first thing he wanted to do was put the shirt on and take a picture and send it to Daddy, so that's what we did.  Check out his posing...the leg crossed over the other, knees bent...haha.  If only we could get a real smile and not a fake one, it'd be perfect.  :) He makes me laugh. 

 

On Wednesday we went to the zoo with Vanessa, Pierson and Rigdon.  It was such a beautiful day! We had a lot of fun walking around everywhere and the boys were funny to listen to.  They talked and talked and talked to each other the whole time.  I fully expected the zoo to be packed that day since it was supposed to be so nice, but surprisingly there wasn't very many people there, so that was great too! We got to see a lot of animals that we don't usually go see...like the bald eagles.  

 The boys were running up this hill and decided to take a break and catch a breather.  I liked how they were leaned over resting.  Thought it was cute.  They held their pose for me to turn the camera on.  :)

 We also went to go see the jaguar which I don't think I've ever gone to go see at this zoo.  All the cats were pacing in their areas.  Not sure what that was about but it was fun to watch! :)

 This snow leopard totally looked pregnant to me. 

 We went to go see the baby tiger cubs as well.  They are TOO cute.  One was over by itself for a while, resting on a rock, while the other three were over by their mama while she licked and cleaned them.  It was fun to watch!

 After a few hours walking around looking at the animals we went to the playground and let the boys play for a bit.  I seriously can't believe how much energy little boys can have after running through a zoo for hours!

 Wednesday night I watched the Foys kids during youth since it was New Beginnings.  Brady had to go to youth early that night because they were doing a physical fitness merit badge and so he left at 6:00.  They finished fast, though, and so he was able to come home around 7:30.  Brady's dad decided to come by and bring us smoothies.  Yummy! When Brittney came to pick her kids up that night she asked if Kolton would want to spend the night.  I was going to be going to work the next morning and she was going to watch him for me, so if he stayed the night I wouldn't have to drive him over there in the morning.  He was super excited to go--especially after Kade was nice enough to let him sleep in the top bunk! The next day they were all wearing their Thunder shirts so Brittney took some pictures of them. 

I love them all! So cute! Thursday night they came over and watched the Thunder game with us.  It was fun! The boys really like to watch the Thunder play too so that makes it even more fun! 

Right now the Thunder are tied for the best record in the NBA.  No biggie.