Utah and General Conference!!!

UTAH!! We headed down to Utah for 5 days of fun! It was General Conference weekend and also Zach's birthday. My parents were headed up there and Cody and Jess were headed down for their baby shower/family get together, so we decided to join in the fun too! 

Conference Saturday breakfast. It was ZACHY BOY'S 7th BIRTHDAY that day!!! We slept at Karen and Alvin's, but she was working a couple night shifts while we were there and so we left so she could sleep and so our kids could play with their cousins. Delicious breakfast of fruit filled crepes...THE BEST!! Thanks Katie!

Mom and little Westan. :) 

The kids eating their dinner in the awesome fort in Chris's back yard. 

SO MANY COUSINS! SO MUCH FUN!

Zach's cake that literally came together last minute thanks to Katie! She had a few cake mixes and cute little football cupcake papers, so we decided Zach loves football and that's what his cake would be! He was all about it and I love how it turned out. The last minute ingeniously awesome idea was the flaming goal posts. Wicked!

We love this 7 year old. He is getting really good at reading and is an exceptional student. He is such a sweetheart, great worker, loves to cuddle, is a mama's boy, yet still enjoys bossing and teasing his sisters. That one may never change. :)

Ha! To say Addie loved the cupcakes may be an understatement.

Some of the handsome men in my life on their way to the Priesthood session of General Conference. Love those boys.

After that cake mess we all know Addie needed a bath. Here she is with her cousin Aleia...who is just 3 days younger than Addie!

Ha ha! Love Ad's face in this one. Can't delete all the "bad" digital shots...they have to know they weren't photogenic 100% of the time!

 

Auntie Carrie and fam sent up silly string to give to Zach for his birthday.

The kids had fun with it for the 30 seconds it lasted. :)

 

Addie was sleeping in our room in a pack and play, which I think she is probably outgrowing because she was tossing and turning all night. Anyway, she woke up a bit too early so I pulled her in bed and she actually fell asleep by Justin! I was a little jealous of those sleepy cuddles! Not jealous of the 2 inches of bed Justin had though! He's used to it.

Mom, Dad, Cody, Jessica, Justin and I all got to go to the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference. It is such an amazing experience being right where it is all happening and hearing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing live.

FLOWERS?!?! Green grass?!These were taken April 6, 2014 (18 weeks pregnant here!). It is May 10 here now. We still don't have this. UGH! Pretty funny because as we pulled into Utah the FIRST thing the kids noticed was the green grass! "Mom! Do you see how green the grass is! Mom, look at that grass! More green grass!" ;)

My dad's phone had a filter on the camera or something...this is me feeling really silly because Justin was taking my picture as well as my father and mother. Embarrassed! I just wanted to remember the flowers! My favorites! Tulips and daffodils.

And the purple version. I made Justin get in this one with me. :)

And this one! Beautiful pinky-white blossoms! None of those here yet either!

The next day we went to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City with Katie and her family.

I really think this monkey was trying to copy Addie. It was so funny, and a bit spooky how it kept watching her and playing with her.

So there was this big eagle's nest thing that I wanted all of my little birdies to get in so I could take a picture. :) It was a little bright. Can you tell?

The best they could do.

Addie even got to ride a polar bear!

These two are such buds. It's adorable.

Zach loved this drinking fountain. He had a bunch of fun posing in it.

My personal fav. "The Kill."

I was impressed he thought of this all on his own!

Kara had a bunch of fun copying his poses...

Carousel!

 

Cousins!!!!

They had fun. After all day at the Zoo we got together for dinner with all the cousins again and then went to the AMAZING Provo Rec Center and went swimming. The kids had a blast! I was so exhausted. And that night Addie woke up out of dead sleep and puked. No fun. At least it was kinda contained, but after that I started feeling woozy and just off...I felt that way all the next day too. No fun.

Our last day there we went out for an adult lunch...(which surprisingly sounded good to me!) and prepped for and attended Jessica's baby shower for Baby Evan! She is 3 weeks ahead of me. About an hour after this picture I was in bed and feeling horrible...I tossed my cookies. Carabba's will never taste the same. :( Funny thing was just a week before this I was telling a friend that I don't puke in my pregnancies except 1 time so far each pregnancy, but because I really am sick. I hadn't done that yet and was sure it wouldn't happen now! Wrong. Yuck.

The next morning saying goodbye to our wonderful hosts. :) We Love Kalvin!!!

Papa and Mer Mer stopped by too to say goodbye. We love you two, too, tutu!

 

We had a great FAST drive home...made it in 10 hrs 57 mins! Our kids are champs. Helped that most of them felt a bit off too so they didn't want to have snacks the entire time. Luckily no one ever did end up puking. Phew. That's never fun. Thus ends another fun road trip!