The next few posts are of our trip to Utah this summer.  Steve was traveling for work for over a month so the kids and I made the trek to Utah (I survived flying with all 3 kids by myself:) and had a great time visiting our family and friends for a couple of weeks.  Steve came the last 4 days so it was fun to have some time with him there also.

Here are the kids checking out Grandpa Wright's undercover police car.  He showed them all the lights and sirens and they thought it was pretty cool! 

Happy Independence Day

One more...all dressed up for the celebrations.

4th of July dinner

Taking these pictures are how we entertained ourselves while waiting forever for our dinner on the 4th of July. Happy independence day!

Indy children's museum

Since we spent the 4th of July in Indy with Steve I got super brave and took the kids to the Indy children's museum the next day. I had heard how amazing it is and have wanted to go for a long time. It was great and the kids loved it. Let's just say it was super busy-I guess the day after a holiday isn't the best choice! We survived about 6 hours (I was determined to get my money's worth!). The kids thought it was fabulous and I was just happy we made it without any major melt downs-me or the kids!

Our 4th of July

 

Steve was working in Indianapolis over the 4th of July so we decided to go up there and hang out with him for the holiday.  We stayed in his hotel with him (Emery and hotels=my least favorite thing ever!), went to dinner (we got our dinner for free because it was so slow...our kids were bouncing off the restaraunt by the time they ate at 8:30pm!)  and watched fireworks in downtown Indianapolis.  Notice how red the kids faces are...it was really that hot!

 Ivy was a good sport even with the heat and the late hour.  She is the best baby ever. 

Some cute little girls gave the kids glow bracelets while we were waiting for the fireworks to start.  They had so much fun with them and thought they were the coolest things ever!  It's the little things, I guess! 

We had a fun time and most of all are so grateful for the country we live in.  We are so blessed to have the freedoms that we enjoy and I am so glad that we could celebrate this together as a family. 

Sleepy

Waited too long to lay her down for her nap. 

Florida!!

We had been planning on going to Florida with our friends, the Madsens later in the summer...they are much more spontaneous than us and decided about the third week of May that we should go the next week.  Steve and I, the planners that we are, started getting hives and hyperventilating a little bit about the whole thing:)  We decided to go for it and found a beach house and off we went.  It was an amazing vacation and I was so sad to come home.  The weather was PERFECT, the company was fabulous and  I just love the beach.  The kids had such a fun time together and we are grateful to have such great friends to go with. 

         

Body boards were the best investment we could have made.  The kids played on them for hours.  Davis was in the water from the time we walked on the beach until we pulled him out to leave.  It was hard to even get him out to eat or reapply sunscreen!  Lets just say he had a good time. 

Ivy was amazing!  She sat in her stroller under the canopy, took naps and was just a happy girl! 

Emery and Kennedi are the best of friends.  They are seriously so cute together and love each other so much.  They kept each other very entertained and either played in the sand or ate snacks pretty much the entire trip!  

Some pretty impressive digging with a little help from Steve.  Kaleb is 7 and Davis is sure that he is as old as him.  He likes to do everything that Kaleb does (that is sometimes good and sometimes not so good:)

We went to a place in Destin where they have a bunch of alligators.  It was interesting...the kids thought it was pretty cool and loved learning about alligators. 

This is the size of the biggest alligator on record.  Yikes. 

Davis trying to feed the alligators.  I am surprised these gators aren't super overweight because people are trying to feed them all day long.  They didn't seem too interested, but Davis was finally successful in getting an alligator to eat his food. 

Ivy hanging out by the pool. 

Kennedi, Emery and Ellie with matching jammies.  These girls looked so cute all matching (I especially loved the scrunchies that came with these night gowns!)  and the boys were all jealous that they didn't get something matching! 

Best friends.  Are they not the cutest?! 

Right before we got in the car to come home we took the kids to play at this really cute park in the area where we stayed.  We had to run off some steam before the long drive...and do a little photo shoot! 

If you ask me, Florida never disappoints!  We had such an amazing time and as always, I can't wait to go back!