The Motherland

WARNING: HUGE LONG POST WITH PICTURE OVERLOAD! Don't say I didn't warn ya!

We hit Utah for about a week in August, mostly to celebrate Ethan's birthday, but these kids are SO spoiled they get presents just for showing up! No wonder they love going to Utah!

 Grammie got the cutest little tea set for Abby's room, Abby LOVED playing tea time! LOVED it! Especially when Grammie and Ethan would play with her.

 My teddy bear snuggling and napping with a teddy bear-hahaha! 

 Abby's first official haircut, at Cookie Cutters, such a cute place don't you love the pink car? She cried for a minute at first, especially when the lady tried to put the cape on. But once we decided the cape was a no go and we got her blankie from the car-she did great!

Ethan sure enjoyed Abby having her hair cut! I mean how cool is that to have a slide right there?! 

 Not sure about this??? But hey now I can see!!!

 After the cut, she got a cute style and even some sparkle hairspray! What a diva!

We went to Bear Lake and stayed at my Uncle and Aunt's cabin and had a TOTAL BLAST! Doesn't get much better than fun in the sun, boat rides, good food, awesome family and s'mores!

Me and Abby in the hot tub at Sweetwater {or whatever it's called now}, trying to warm up, we're warm weather and warm water gals not used to those 'freezing' temps!

Ready to get the fire going for s'mores!

OK...seriously...how cute is she?

OK...seriously...how cute are they in their sweatshirts?

OK...seriously...who gave crazy cousin Dave the axe? Take it away, take it away!!

Ethan got to sleep on the floor with my cousin's kids, so much fun!

Grammie threw Abby and all my cousin's girls a Fancy Nancy Tea Party, I'm not totally sure who had more fun, the adults or the kiddo's??

 Lovely Fancy Nancy centerpice

 Lovely Fancy Nancy place setting

 Lovely Fancy Nancy table decor

 Hmmm, what to wear, what to wear??? I'm not sure about the flounce...What is a princess to do?

  How about the boa? Too much?

After several wardrobe changes and attempts to find just the right thing, this tutu, leotard ensemble (that's a fancy word for outfit) was the clear winner. What's that about the bows? Oh, there a bit much? Well, it is a Fancy Nancy tea after all!!

 A practice run before the actual party, every princess must practice her manners!

 A good luck kiss from Prince Charming, in this case that would be Daddy!

How do I look? Movie Star Glam?

All the other princesses in attendance

 Cutie pie, Sydney

Sweetie pie, Karlee

 Adorable Miss Rachel

Grammie and the biggest diva of all, my sister Kristi (hahaha!-I kid!)

ALLL set!

 My cute cousin Michelle with her cute girls!

 My Sister Kim and our cousin Shannon's daughter, Sydney

All the fancy's together!

After the fancy tea party, we had a CARS birthday party for Ethan and little Alex, cousin Michelle's boy. Grammie sure knows how to party and didn't miss a beat having two parties back to back in the SAME afternoon. She is the party queen!

 Cute table dec.'s

Birthday boy my big 5 year old!

 Little Alex, the other birthday boy! He's 3 and as cute and as tough as they come!

 Didn't Wal Mart do a great job on the cake? I finally got a little wiser and gave up trying to do birthday cakes. Grammie made sure Ethan got to pick out the cake he wanted and made sure they got it just right. Thanks Grammie!

 Michelle made these cute stoplight brownies.

 Awesome presents! Although it's hard to tell in the picture what they are exactly but I KNOW they were awesome!

 Can I eat it? Actually I think he's thinking someone get me fork ASAP! I need some cake!

A few more highlights:
Pool time at Grammies...

 1, 2, 3---CANNONBALL!!

Cute little butt nubbin's ...

 Doesn't she look old in this picture?

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

4-Wheelin' with Pa-pa! We hit the mountains on the east side of Utah Lake...All you Utah county peep's you know those radio towers you can see on the top of the mountain? That's where we were.
Fun, Fun, Fun! This was Abby's first 4-wheelin' trip and she liked it, poor Alex had to basically hold her with one arm and try to steer with one arm. She liked it so much she even fell asleep on the way back. Alex's arm was really hurtin' then!

Not a bad pic., huh? Considering I took it with my phone..

 Heeheeheehee!

 Check out those rims on Pa-Pa's 4 wheeler...

My Dad and Alex taking a break on top of the mountain.

And that about wraps up the picture overload! Such a great trip, so many good memories! Sure love my family, they're pretty darn great!