Utah- Cousins Rock! Families Rule!

My girls love playing with their cousins and grandparents. I start to miss my girls when we’re there. They have very full agendas and hanging out with mom and the babies is not part of it. Alyssa got to spend a whole day with Mike's sister Polly. Alyssa and Polly LOVE each other. I think if Polly had had a girl she would have been much like my Alyssa. This dog is not Polly's, but she does had tow that look very much like this, and I credit Polly with helping Alyssa get over her fear of dogs. Patience is Polly.

Emma Grace has two cousins that were born the same day as her. We call them the triplets. They played really well together. It’s fun to see that they all have their own personalities, but they love each other very much. A favorite activity for the triplets was feeding the neighbors goats. Logan got in to it, too. My parents willow tree will never be the same. The goats were sure happy and well fed. The trampoline was also a big hit. We stationed adults all around the perimeter to catch any flying babies.

We spent a few days in Bear Lake. We went to the beach. My babies could play in the sand forever. The girls built some sweet sand castles.

Becca will be mad at me for posting this, but she is such a good mom. 9 months pregnant, contractions, tired she takes her kids to the lake for two days. I admire her. She had her baby while I was there. Layton Don was born weighing 7lb 11oz. He is a cute little guy. Everything went great. Except, Becca broke her tail bone! Oh, Man. She said having the baby was a breaze, the tail bone was what hurt.

We also went to Pickleville. My girls LOVED it. They wanted to hear all about when I was the star of the show. Yeah, right! I was never the STAR! But, I did have a lot of fun. They had to buy a T-shirt and I got one too.

We were the for the 24th of July parade. It's a very convenient parade to watch as is passes right in front of my parents house.

The last two days we were there we had a Larsen family reunion. We went on a hike in the mountains.

Played "The Amazing Race" around Logan. My kids were VERY impressed with my ice blocking skills. We made arts and crafts. The Duck tape wallets were a big hit. We ended the first day with a talent show. Savannah did a dance with Kassidy. Alyssa did an art exhibit with Tommie. Emma Grace sang Happy Birthday, Mushy Muddy, and Big Girls Don't Cry. Logan was the stunt double for Mason in his sword fight with Grandad. A good time was had by all.

Saturday morning we went to my Grandpa Larsen's graveside. Grandma Larsen met us there and she shared some stories about Grandpa with us. We then went to the Logan City Cemetery and visited some of our reletives graves that helped found Cache Valley.

Back at Mom and Dad's we had a family devotional. The theme of the reunion was "Your Stonger than you know, Smarter than you believe and Braver than you think." Mike and I were in charge. Mike shared The David and Goliath story. It worked out great becasue Dallas was there (7' 4") and so Mike could demonstrate how tall Goliath was by having Dallas reach up high above his head. We then played lots of game that you had to be Stronger, Smarter and Braver to play. It ended with a dunking machine and a chance for all of us to throw stones at Goliath (Scott). It was fun.

The reunion ended with a carnival in the back yard. Every family was to bring a carnival game. We used the dunking machine. My parents rented a popcorn machine, a snowcone machine, and a cotton candy machine. Yum. It was so much fun. Everyone was there and I really love my family. I love watching my kids play with their cousins and I like being with my brothers and sisters. My Granny Coburn came down and I hadn't seen her since Grandad's funeral. She is the best. She cried and cried when I drove away to come home. That of course made me cry and cry. Families are the best.

Utah- Seriously?!?!

Before we went to Utah Logan was complaining that his private parts were hurting. He would show his sisters by squatting down pointing and saying “hurts”. I couldn’t see anything and we were leaving so I just didn’t do anything about it.
He persisted when we got to Utah and my mom mentioned that she knew an excellent Urologist (My uncle Ryan). So, I took my baby to see my Uncle. My cousin is his nurse, and my Aunt Marlys is another nurse. Imagine my surprise when they told me that my baby needed surgery! OK surgery may be a strong word, but numbed, clamped, cut, and bandaged. My baby was NOT impressed.
We had a few great days and then disaster struck again. Emma Grace started to fever and puke. Logan followed suit. I had my friend Amy come over and look in their ears. No shock here, Logan had double ear infections. Alyssa was the next leaf to fall. She is my puker. Mike was fishing in Alaska and then back the Georgia. He joined us at the end of Alyssa’s pukage. Savannah cried every night scared that she would be next. My niece Tara Lee shared with her a philosophy her mother had taught her: If you only let good things in, you’ll get good things out. So, Savannah tried to have a good attitude, washed her hand obsessively and made it through just fine.
I guess if we were going to be on vacation during all of this, my mom’s was the best place I could have asked for.
It wasn’t ALL bad we had a good week before we fell and we were healthy for the last 3 days.