Quick Trip to Cape Cod

We had so much fun in Cape Cod last year that we knew we wanted to go again! In 2013 we went Labor Day Weekend, and with baby girl due August 25, that wasn't in the cards. But we made the trip at a similar time, and went the first weekend in August. We planned the trip with our good friends, the Giffords, Morris' and the day before, we had last minute addition - the Mumfords.

We loved our time in the town Chatham and Orleans last summer so we got a house in Orleans that was big enough to fit all enough but also allowed us to book for only a weekend, instead of a week. It was not easy to find - but Tyler made it happen of course :)

We drove up a day before everyone else and spent the first day at the beach with just our family, if I remember correct that was also the best weather so I'm glad we went early!

Since we were there the longest and had two kids, we took the master suite. Lucky us it was painted this beautiful shade of green. We ended up staying in 4 different VRBO homes in our time in new england. This one was probably the most random with the old school decor and super random basement haha.

After the long drive and getting the kids in bed we were happy to just chill

Happy to be back at Skaket Beach!

Jackson in his element.

Jackson was so glad to finally be back at Pirate Golf

Our last picture as a family of four

This girl loves her daddy

The crew arrived the next day, Mariah, Matt & Emily Morris. Ryan, Alarie & Tyosn Gifford

The girls took an afternoon shopping and crashing the fancy hotel - Chatham Bars Inn.

So the weather on Saturday was actually pretty lame, and then on Sunday it was going to be rainy too - so after attending sacrament meeting in the morning, we decided to head to Boston for the rest of the day.

Parade happened to be rolling through Boston

Fun Sunday in Boston

Is this thing on?

tap tap.. is this thing on? It's been a while. Like basically a year, a while... And i haven't even blogged about our beautiful Kaylee. I always promised myself I wouldn't stop blogging even when it wasn't trendy anymore. Because, well it's our family journal! So yeah, I've felt awful about this for a while. But with my computer being moved into the basement after Kaylee was born, and that computer being the slowest thing ever... it would literally take me hours to do one post while sitting in the freezing cold basement. So since that computer was basically dead, we decided to get a laptop for me, oh wait - Tyler had an extra laptop left from his MBA days, so I blogged a few times after Kaylee was born using that laptop. And then it got virus after virus, we tried to fix it, repair it blah blah it never happened. Then we moved across the country and here we are on September 1st.

Now with Jackson in kindergarten and Abbie starting preschool, I would like to believe I'll have a little more time on my hands. It's been 6 months since I've had Jackson and Abbie in school in the mornings. So this means I will have a little bit more free time and can hopefully get caught up on this. I'm hoping to do some major catch up posts in the next couple months and get totally caught up by the end of the year. OK maybe I just made up that goal now as I'm typing but hey - I wrote it down. And you're what, 10 times more likely to follow through or something like that :)

I'm using Tyler's laptop from work, they just gave him a new one and I'm hoping they dont ask for the old one back because it still works great and I would love to have it :)

alright so there is the catch up introduction. I am such a blessed mother and am hoping my good memory can last for the past year :)

July in CT

After a fun trip to Utah, we spent the next few weeks having fun in the sun in Connecticut. The kids and I went somewhere everyday, parks, libraries, lakes, splash pads - we tried to soak it all up! Jackson took another session of swimming lessons and did so great! Abbie and Jackson both had fun in different library classes too. We had barbecues with friends and got things ready for baby girl to join the family! Here are some of the highlights...

Tyler's Fathers Day Present - A boys trip up to a Boston Red Sox game

We all enjoyed free slurpees on 7/11

A weekend trip down to Mystic and the Seaport Village

We had fun walking/waddling around that day.

An evening swim at the Gelbach's pool.

Abbie loves blueberry picking!

Sunday evening stroll at the mountain top lake

My favorite pick of the season - raspberries!

Love these 3, another Sunday stroll

Abbie in full pink princess diva mode.

Most of the month I was watching my belly get bigger and bigger!

Summer in Utah

We had a great time in Utah this summer! There were a lot of different parts to the trip. Jackson, Abbie and I flew out on alone and I was pretty nervous about flying out by myself with them. I had flown alone with them just on the quick flight from Utah to Arizona but the whole cross country flight with the layover was intimidating! Honestly the flights couldn't have gone much better. The first flight was from Hartford to Denver and the kids didn't fuss or fight the whole time. The layover in Denver was a little tricky especially since the flight was delayed an hour but we made it through that last hour flight and were excited to see grandma waiting at the airport. We spent our first day with them at the Jennings at their house.

This was at about 6 am ... Ty snuck this pic after dropping us off.

Jackson loved his tag reader and Abbie loved a special treat - Fruit Loops :)

From there the kids and I headed to Provo and spent a few days with the Lewises. We had a lot of fun at museums, BYU, splash pads, pools, horseback riding, good food, seeing Michael and Annika too.

Finally trying the famous Swig with Annika

Jackson loved time with Will-E-am.

Jackson sitting in his Daddy's favorite spot from BYU Days - the perch

Cousin Love

Drying off after fun in the splash pad

From there we went to Salt Lake City and stayed at Papa and Nana's house for a couple nights and my mom dad and Steven flew up from Phoenix to be there. From there we went to Park city for a Christensen family reunion. We had fun on the Alpine slides playing at the hotel the dinosaur Heber creeper ride and fun game nights. . Tyler finally arrived in Utah for the last day of the Park city reunion we also took family pictures up there and had a really fun night playing soccer and a beautiful park.

Jackson loved this spiderweb climber

He was so patient and waited 20 minutes to ride this airplane

Riding the Dinosaur Train

The kids were so excited when Daddy came back!

The boys went golfing one morning

First time Alpine Sliders - both of them!

The new family photo - soon to be outdated with both Paige and I prego here...

Our last official family photo of 4

Nice Kick Abbie!

Collage of our last night in Park City

The last part of the trip was a week with the Jennings at their house.  With them we did lots of playing with Tony, playing with cousins, more swimming, splash pads, museums, and lots of costa vida. We spent the Fourth of July Day with them and had a lot of fun :)

Boys lovin the Mario Golf - even Jackson got in on the action

Family day trip down to Provo

Avery, Reese and Jackson loved pushing uncle trav in the pool!

Grill Masters

Loving their time with Tony and Grandma

A Visit to the Cooks new home, with the Nixons too

Fourth of July!

The final night was 4th of July we went up to Salt Lake and got together with the Christensens one more time at the country club for fireworks.

Abbie was a serious ice cream eater

Stuffed after the buffet!

Waiting for fireworks

The final day was a really special one in which all of the Jennings siblings spouses and grandkids are able to go visit with grandpa Harline for the last time. While we were visiting we found out the previous week that he had cancer and probably didn't have much time left to live. He is such an amazing man and it was a great final visit.

June in CT

After Grammy left we had a couple weeks in CT before we flew to Utah. Jackson was in a "fun in the sun" camp at his preschool three days a week for those two weeks. He had fun wearing his swimsuit to school, making crafts and playing in the sprinklers and with all their water toys.

We started to get ready for baby sister's arrival by updating the basement. Sounds weird, but we had to change things down there to get room for Abbie to take over the extra bedroom upstairs and make room for her in the nursery. The most exciting thing for the kids was having a tv in the basement now. Tyler upgraded our tv upstairs so our old (still really nice) tv was sent in the basement and we got an awesome new couch off craigslist to fill the space.

Before...

Gotta love Craigslist

 

 After

Big Girl Abbie with her new nikes and camelback!

Abbie was quite the strawberry picker!

These kids sure do love their daddy

Abbie and her buddy, Mariah

Jackson and his buddy, Levi.

Jackson loved doing swimming lessons again!

He is such a great swimmer!

Oh that face...

Silliest

These two are besties.

A chili's gift card resulted in a few dinners there this summer and the kids' new favorite restaurant

Dinosaur Museum on free admission day, glad we didn't have to pay - it was pretty lame.

Jackson got a summer buzz haircut!