Girl's Weekend

I've known these girls for a long time. I knew of Hannah in Monterey when I was pregnant with Brody, but we didn't meet until 2005 when we were both new to Grovetown. We became instant best friends and were together almost every day. I met Megan soon after that. We were all in the same ward for about 4 years. I can't imagine going through this life without my Georgia ladies.

Hannah lives in Miami and I don't get to see her very often so I'm so glad she comes to Utah to visit family once a year or so.

We started out our weekend going to Costa Vida for dinner. Then we just hung out at the hotel and talked into the week hours until we fell asleep. In the morning after breakfast, we went to get pedicures. Lots of laughs. My nail guy was Alex and he was really funny. Poor Megan didn't get a very good technician even though it was her BIRTHDAY!

After our pedicures, we ran some errands together, which sounds lame but wasn't. We decided even running errands together is awesome (or at least better than being at home with our kids).

Our final stop was the Village Baker for lunch. Those cinnamon rolls.....DIE. They're the first cinnamon roll I've tasted that I like better than my own.
 
I wish we could do this more often. Love these girls.

Bonus- Hannah and her shoe polish mitt that she insisted on wearing all night. 

FInley's Blessing

 

I've never loved a baby that wasn't my own as much as I love this girl. She's perfect. I'm so glad I live close enough that I could see her blessed.

 Eliza was beaming. She makes motherhood look exactly like happiness.

 

Notes from Finley's Blessing:

Finley Blake Yeafoli

I bless you that you have a deep rooted understanding of the love Heavenly Father has for you.

That you will feel his love throughout your life and take that love to others.

That you will build relationships with others, especially Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

That you will have an understanding of the Atonement and utilize it often in your life.

You will make many friends throughout your life and will be a strong influence. I bless you that you will be a leader in your community. Others will look to you and emulate your behavior. That you will be a leader in the church - Those who come to you for counsel, use the Spirit.

You will also be a leader in you home, a peacemaker. I bless you to bring your family members together when there is contention. You will bring them closer together and closer to Christ and Heavenly Father.

I bless you with health and strength as you grow. That you will feel the need to build the kingdom of heaven.

I bless you with a desire to read the scriptures, that your testimony will grow and that you will help others' testimonies to grow; that you will remember that you are a tool in Heavenly Father's hands.

I bless you that when the time comes, you will meet a man that will take you worthily through the temple. Both of you will have a family that you will take through the eternities.

I bless you with these and all other things that Heavenly Father has in store for you. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

It used to be pretty seldom that we were all six together, but since I moved to Utah, it happens a few times a year and it's AWESOME!

Everyone that came to see baby Finley blessed. So many good people.

Cabin in Brianhead

We planned a weekend at a cabin between here and Nevada so our family, Jacob's family and Zach's family could hang out and have cousin time before going to Vegas for Finley's blessing. We also had our dog and Jacob's new puppy, Bear. We rented a nice cabin in Brian Head and loved it.

 The kids walked out into the woods behind the cabin and built this fort out of fallen tree branches.

 He's cute, right?

 The first morning, everyone went to Cedar Breaks. They hiked, took pictures, and enjoyed the view.

 This is one of my favorite pictures. Beckam's eyes match the sky and the scenery is amazing!

 These cousins sure love each other.

 This picture makes my tummy hurt.

In the afternoon on Friday, everyone went to Mammoth Cave, which is a lava tube. They crawled inside and explored the cave. Macy was not a fan, but everyone else had fun.

I was not in any of the fun adventure-y pictures because I was back at the cabin, enjoying the peace and quiet. This was my view- cross-stitching like an old lady, watching Blue Bloods, and eating M&Ms.

Cove Fort

We are usually in a hurry to get to wherever we are traveling (usually Vegas) but on our way to the cabin, we had some time. We've been wanted to stop and check out Cove Fort and so we figured it was the best time. It turned out to be a longer stop than we had anticipated and it was HOT and we had to hold scout inside the fort, which was annoying. The tour was really cool. We saw rooms that President Gordon B. Hinckley's grandparents lived in and a room that was a favorite of Brigham Young. All the artifacts and clothing they had displayed were really interesting. The kids loved climbing to the top of the fort and looking down. I love history and really liked hearing the stories the senior missionary told us. I'm glad we stopped.

Bridger's Bear Cub Scout Day Camp

Bridger loves scouting. He was really excited to go to Day Camp and he LOVED it! This is him with some of his buddies and one of his leaders, Sister Stokes.

 He is really proud of his catapult and loves shooting things all over the house with it.

I'm so grateful we are in a ward that appreciates the positive parts of scouting and works hard to make it fun for my boys.

This is the Place Monument and Park

This was our second summer going to This is the Place. I love it here and was so excited to go again. We had Jack with us for a two weeks this summer and we loved having him.

 They learned how to use a washboard and a clothesline. Bridger asked if we could get rid of our washer and dryer so he could do this all the time. They didn't want to leave this station for a long time.

 This was what Beckam was the most excited for. The kids (except Brody) waited in a hot sunny line to ride on ponies for like 2 minutes. I think it was anti-climactic for everyone except Beckam. He was smiling the whole time

 Our favorite part each time we've gone is panning for gold. It was shady and cool and we had a lot of fun finding all the gold pieces in the stream. Brody and Bridger decided to spend $1 of their own money to go over to the gem section and mine for gems.

 Beckam is OBSESSED with trains and this did not disappoint. It was a short ride on a tiny train, but he was so happy about it (clearly).

They had a big teepee built and the Native Americans do some songs and dances inside. It's air conditioned which was nice. They also had an arrowhead necklace craft that the kids liked doing.

Other highlights- getting flavor-swirl ice cream at the Huntsman Hotel, playing in the mini town playground, watching the blacksmith and tinsmith, and taking the train tour.

Cousin Robot

Jack and Bridger were so excited to be together for two weeks. They got to work the first morning Jack was here building a robot. It started out pretty simple and kept growing and getting cooler. They sat right by the recycle bin and pulled anything that would work out. They made it into a dishwashing robot like on the movie "Robots." They're adorable.