Utah Summer 2010 Trip Part 2

Kennecott Copper

Trucks!! We love big Trucks in our family and so what better place to go to then the copper mines at the west of the Salt Lake Valley.

Carter and Kyle carefully studying each miniature version of the trucks used at the mine.

And then we got to see the trucks in action! These puppies are HUGE - trucks on steroids are what they are.

Watching in fascination.

The men.

This is one of the tires that belongs to the monstrous dump trucks.

Wheeler Farm

Last time we were in UT we went to Wheeler Farm, but wasn't able to milk the cows so we knew this trip we needed to rectify that.

Carter was pretty nervous about milking it so I had the pleasure. It was just a weird experience all around. Even though it was a cow, I wasn't so sure about grabbing her own personal stuff and then the smell just turned my tummy.

A crazy tractor driver. What out cows, here comes Carter!!

Oh the intrigue!! I love all those adorable little backs.

And Hayden, true to form, is patiently taking it all in with her beautiful blue eyes.

Wrestling

Carter LOVES to wrestle!!! I guess Dad became to easy of a match for him so he moved on to

humongous beast named Sadie.And after several laps around the yard, Carter conquered!

Now it's time for Muttenbusting. He lasted a couple seconds.

Pineview Lake

Chillin at the beach.

Carter playing in the sand with his cousins. The sand is the best part of Pineview.

Chillin on the floatation island.

The lakes are so beautiful out in Utah. But the water is SOO Cold. Everyone was talking about how mild the water was on this day, but I have become a wimp after getting used to nasty, brown, warm Midwest water.

Mini-Golfing

Carter went out on a double date with Tim, Stef, Matt and I. It was his first time mini-golfing. It was pretty cute.

SCORE!!!

Here's a video of Carter putting one in:

Our exhausted child. We played so hard from morning till night, so every night we had one exhausted boy. We stayed at my parent's like usual, but this time they decided it might be more comfortable for us to stay in their big 5th Wheel RV parked on their drive way. It was really nice. We had our own bedroom and the kids had their own area to sleep. We had our own bathroom too.

Liberty Park

Hey there cuties!!

The Seven Rivers at Liberty Park was such a HUGE hit last year that we had to return. Carter once again loved floating his boat down each river. Soon most of the kids there learned not to get in his way or they were going to get an ear full from him. He took his boat runner job very seriously!!

And at times, we required Dad's help to get the boat unstuck.

Sitting on a fountain.

Bathing beauties!

I'm surrounded by girls!!

Aunt Nicole and Hayden.

Once again, we had a super successful trip to UT full of great memories! My siblings and parents were so awesome to take so much time off of work and out of their schedule to do so many things with us. My family definitely knows how to play together and how to play hard.

Utah Summer 2010 Trip Part 1

Matt had about a two week break from the time that he finished up residency in PGH to when he started his new job at our new location. So we thought before we start using up vacation time let's get a trip in to UT. Well, we are feeling a little poor right now with all the expenses that come with buying a new house so we decided to drive. And with the small children we thought driving through the night might be less brutal. So when we arrived at 9 am the next morning after our fun welcoming by family we handed the kids off to Tim & Nic so we could nap and this is what they did:

Carter was hooked on this Utah thing from the beginning.

The next day we got out to visit Grandma Ione. I don't know how many visits are left with her so each visit is bitter-sweet.

In this video, Carter & Hayden have a great game of footsie going on:

Snowbird Condo

Grandma Yvonne has a snowbird condo timeshare that we love to use when we are in town. First stop is the playground.

Shocker that the two boys are on their phones prolly Cougar Fannin it. They are both totally oblivious to the world. This is a daily scene with my husband. The I-Phone is a blessing and a curse.

Next the tram:

Precious. We had a little boy that was getting tired - he was having too much fun in cousin heaven.

COUSINS!

I will eat you!!

Back at the condo after we went swimming. My brother Dan with his adorable son Sawyer.

Fourth of July (Utah Style)

Since the 4th was on a Sunday, in Utah the 4th was mostly celebrated on the 3rd. We started off the day hitting up the awesome Park City Outlet Mall and then we met up with my siblings and their kids at a park to play and then to Stac's for a BBQ.

All the cousins. Carter thinks cousins are pretty much the coolest things ever. I told him one day that we were going to go see his buddies and he said, "Not my buddies, my Cousins!" And he's right, Cousins are pretty special.

Chris's youngest, Lilly, couldn't get enough of her cousin Hayden. She wanted to hug and kiss her all day long. (Notice Hayden is now sitting.)

Then that night we were off to fireworks.

I love this picture of Carter and KK.

Beautiful Babes!

Jen & Sawyer

Here we are dressed for church on the actual 4th of July and no matter how sickening sweet it is, I just can't help dressing the family up for Holidays.

The Sunday night tradition for Matt's Utah paternal side is to meet at Gpa and Gma Nielsen's for ice cream. We love going up and seeing the family grow. This is Matt's "twin" cousin Andrea.

This is our handsome little nephew who is obsessed with trains. He labels everything in two categories. If it is a train he shakes his head yes while saying "train." If it is not a train he shakes his head no while saying "train." This particular night he was pretty fascinated by this big truck and kept walking around it saying "train" while shaking his head no. He is such a cutie putootie!!

Hayden Takes Her First Bite

Last month (June) we gave Hayden food for the first time. Her "scowl" face in the video down below pretty much describes her relationship with food.



She actually got quite a bit of food down for her first time eating, but ever since this day she has not been a fan of food. She turns away, swats away our hands and spits it out no matter what we give her even the sweet things. It's frustrating, but I keep trying hoping that she will eventually decide that food is a good thing and start swallowing.


For fun, I posted pictures of Carter eating for the first time. Carter (like most babies) thought the food thing was pretty awesome and LOVED it! Plus, it's fun seeing both kids side by side at the same age.

I love seeing his arms extended and flexed like that. It brought back so many memories. That is what he did every time he was really excited and into something. He would extend his arms and do a grunting noise.
The video below is of Carter making Hayden laugh as we were moving into our house last month: