Williams Family "Mini" Reunion 2008

This last weekend the Williams' who live out in CA came to visit those of us in Utah! We haven't seen them in a while, so it was really great spending time with them. And so fun to see the grandkids all playing together! The Tracy's even joined us for some of it!

We did a lot of fun stuff- attended a wedding in the Logan temple, spent an afternoon at the Bountiful Rec Center, had a homemade sushi night and just hung out in the back yard.

I'm still trying to recover, as I'm sure everyone else is, but had to upload some pics and smile. We really do have a fun time together!

Here are Adrian & I with the Logan temple as a backdrop.

Hailey and Claire playing on the steps. These two are so alike in so many ways- size, mannerisms, etc. It was neat seeing them play together. I just wish Hailey wasn't always stealing Claire's toys. Ahhh...what can you do?!

Family pic on the temple grounds. I really like this one of all 4.75 of us.

All the women...except Raz. Maybe we should photoshop her in??

Adrian taking Hailey down the slide at the Bountiful Rec Center. She LOVED it. I was a bit nervous, but he lifted her up at the end so she didn't go under. Until the last time they went. Not sure what happened there, but all we saw of Hailey was her feet! She came up sputtering...but still wore a smile! That's our Hailey!

Funny pic of Adrian & Bubba being Adrian & Bubba.

The two from above later that evening making sushi!

Janet did such a great job hosting Sushi Night. It's a lot of work pulling that kind of a meal off- way to go Janet!!

Goodbye Gen & the Big Blue Bash

We had a fun weekend! Friday ended with a drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon as we went to "celebrate" my BFF, Genevieve leaving for graduate school in Virginia. I say "celebrate" because although I know it's a great opportunity for her...I'll miss her dearly! Most of you know her, but for those who don't, she and I have been super close since Freshman year in high school. She was the one who introduced me to the church and has just been a wonderful friend for the past 14 years. We had a fun time with her roasting hot dogs and s'mores and enjoying the outdoors.

So, just for fun, I thought I'd post a couple pics of Gen & I way back when...these are from 1996 (at an award ceremony) and 1997 (before Junior Prom.) Stop laughing! We were cute! And yes, I cropped out the boys that were in the pic with us for Prom! Hahaha- who needs them?!

And this is us this last weekend. Hmmm...I think we look a little different! Gen looks great! I look plump. ;)

Here are a coupe pics of our family enjoying the outdoors. Thomas had a great time playing with the other boys in the dirt. Hailey actually invented a game- she started sliding down this big rock. It caught on quickly and soon all the kids were doing it. My little trend setter.

And finally, the Big Blue Bash. Anyone know what that is? We didn't either, until a few weeks ago. Apparently, it's an event where all of us Die Hard BYU fans who live near SLC get together and declare our devotion to the Cougars. We dressed the kids up and headed downtown to be amongst fellow fans. It was a fun night- Adrian certainly had more fun than the rest of us but that's OK! We didn't get many pics at the event, but he did get Max Hall & Austin Collie's autographs. Cool!! Thomas also got a neat pic with Cosmo!

Go Cougars!

Fun Times at the Davis County Fair

So it's county fair time here and decided to take advantage and head on over. I love the fair! Adrian...not so much, but he goes because I love it! I knew the kids would love the animals more than anything, so we spent most of our time in the barn. Kory, Raz & Elise went with us and we all had fun, despite the overwhelming barn smell. What can you expect?!

They had a cute little petting zoo, pony rides and lots of animals on display. All the kids just loved them.

Both kids riding the ponies. I had Hailey on the sidelines (we weren't sure she was old/ big enough to ride) but at the last minute, Adrian grabbed her and put her on! I'm so glad he did too!

I took this cute little video of the kids riding the ponies too. They're so fun to watch. Thomas seems like an old pro and Hailey was just taking it all in. She cried when she had to get off! I guess that shows she really enjoyed it!

A Hailey "Scare"

So the kids were in the backyard and I was inside reading a magazine. Suddenly Hailey starts SCREAMING and CRYING!! I ran outside- couldn't initially see anything wrong. But that's when I saw it!!

A grasshopper landed on her shirt.

It took her a good 10 minutes to recover while I held her. ;)

SUCH A GIRL!!!

Happy Pioneer Day!!

I say Happy Pioneer Day, but really...we did very little "traditional" celebrating- which usually includes parades, fireworks, etc. Instead, we took advantage of Adrian's 4-day weekend and had some fun. On Thursday we went to the SLC Aquarium. It's small, when compared to the aquariums in CA that we grew up on, but the kids loved it.

Here's Thomas next to the octopus and star fish.Hailey and I pose by the coral reef tank. She loved all the "Nemos."

Hailey and Daddy looking at some trout! They had a large section on "fish in Utah."


Daddy thought it was fun to see if Hailey could balance on her tummy by the large pool of water holding sting rays...hmmm.... fun??

On Friday, we went on an adventure and drove to East Canyon State Park. It's up near Morgan, UT. It was a sunny, hot day, but thankfully, up in the mountains, it was a bit cooler! There were some great sandy beaches and we had a fun time swimming in the lake. We didn't stay as long as wanted to as Hailey decided it was time for a nap...and apparently the lake is not her ideal location for a nap! Poor girl. We had a fun time though!

Adrian and Thomas swam out to the end of the dock. The water felt sooooo nice! Hailey gets a snack in the shade. Adrian & I rarely get pics of the two of us anymore. We were all set up to take a pic and a nice man offered to take a pic for us. Sweet! Unfortunately, he took the world's WORST picture- all shadow...so we took one of our own.

Only 12 weeks left!

Until my due date that is- who knows when I'll actually have this baby! I've never made it past 38 weeks, so that would be towards the end of September. We'll see! I would REALLY like to make it as far past Thomas' birthday as possible.

For whatever reason, this pregnancy has been really tiring. Third time's a charm?? With the other two, I had a lot more energy- and I can't just blame it on having 2 kids because when I was pregnant with Hailey, I had Thomas AND worked full time! This one is just doing me in. Nevertheless, I am doing my best to enjoy it. This baby moves around all the time, but it's not the super strong movements and kicks I felt with Hailey. Oh- and he gets the hiccups at least 3 times a day! It's kind of funny.

I'm doing my best to keep up with my "belly documentation" like I did with the other two, so here I am at 28 weeks. I'm even brave enough to do a bare belly shot. No stretch marks...yet! Crossing my fingers SUPER hard!

BTW- we just painted our bedroom! We'll add a chair rail eventually, but even for now, we really like it!

My Garden...

Is overtaking the yard!! Well, not really, we have a pretty big yard, but still- it's getting big! I love it! We're really starting to reap the rewards too- just this week I've pulled off a handfull of cherry tomatoes, 3 other tomatoes, 2 zuchinni and 3 yellow squash! My peppers are all coming in nicely as well- I've got 2-3 on each plant so far with several more in the making. It's a good thing we love vegetables! All the neighbors have their eyes on my leftovers, but it's going to take a while for me to get sick of all this!

Here's a view from the front-

My zuchinni plants are bailing out the side!

Here are my bell peppers- all different colors, but the kids have moved around the markers so much, I can't remember which one is which! Oh well, it will be a fun surprise...

Check out this cherry tomato plant. It's HUGE. Cherry tomatoes anyone?? You might have to figh Thomas for them- he sees a red one and wants to eat it right off the vine- LOL!!

Hahaha- not exactly one of the garden, but I couldn't resist. Hailey LOVES cuddling with blankets. Always has- even from a very young age! I found her like this the other day and had to snap a pic. Doesn't she look so cozy? I hope she can breathe!

Happy Birthday Adrian!!

It's the big 2-8 this year! Only two more years until the BIG ONE. Tee hee! Despite having to work a lot on your birthday, we wanted you to know that we LOVE you and hope you have a GREAT day!

My Hailey girl

I wanted to just post a cute pic of our little Hailey. She's growing up so fast- I know that sounds cliche, but it's so true! I can't believe she'll be 18 months old soon- and a big sister! Well, an older sister at least! She's is talking like crazy! She'll try and repeat everything you want her to say...and has even picked up a few things we would rather her not! She is such a great helper and just has a darling personality. Each morning when I go get her out of her crib, she starts asking for cereal and bananas...and treats of course! This girl LOVES treats! She really is a cutie- I just love her to pieces!!

Look, Ma, NO TRAINING WHEELS!!

So today Thomas decided he wanted to be like the big kids that ride their bikes all around the neighborhood...which meant- no more training wheels! He actually did really well! He's still a bit wobbly with turns, but he really picked it up easily. GO THOMAS!!

Swinging in the Sun

Raz & I met up at the park today for a picnic lunch. It's so nice living so close! It was cool out, but it's perfect weather for 2 pregnant women! We had a fun time!

Here's Hailey and all her teethies! She just got tooth #8 today!

Thomas' BIG smile. Such a goof ball. This is Elise, Kory & Raz's daughter. She just celebrated her 1st birthday on Monday! And come December, she's going to be a BIG sister! Well, an older sister at least!

Going down the STEEP slide! You'd think with it being smaller it'd be great for little kids, but nope! It's more like a luge than a slide...Playing on the monkey bars. He's still not quite sure about them. He can get up, but then once he's hanging there...he gets a bit nervous! Finally he yelled for me and said, "Mom, I'm really stuck!!"

Baby Stuff and the Belly

I couldn't resist. Saw this cute little outfit today at Walmart. Had to get it. Each baby deserves some new stuff, right?! Matching shoes and all. Awwweeeee....

And here is the belly at just over 22 weeks. Nice. It's all for a good cause though! I seem to carry each one a bit lower. No wonder I go to the bathroom 37 times a day.

Mowing the Lawn & more Zoo pics

So I think Adrian feels left out. He gets mentioned on here occasionally but rarely gets a spotlight, so here it is. We bought a lawn mower. Finally. Never needed one before now and really could have used one a few weeks ago. Adrian mowed the lawn and trimmed it and everything and well, this is what he looked like afterwards. Tee hee. He looks so proud.

The kids and I went and picked up Raz & Elise and met Nellie and kids at the zoo last week. It was the week our membership expired, so we wanted to go one last time. Boy my kids love the zoo! It's been fun going so much this last year, we'll certainly have to do it again. Although the weather was nice, the zoo really was a zoo this time around as it was also the last week of school and "field trip" day for it seemed like every elementary school in Utah! It was pretty crowded. We still had a great time though. Thomas just adores Savannah it I think he really enjoyed having other kids there, besides Hailey and Elise!

Here's one of the 5 kids. No one is smiling. At least some are looking. :)

Hailey and the giraffe. She was so good all day. Last time we went it wasn't crowded at all, so I let her walk around a ton. Thankfully, I think this time she was a bit nervous with the crowds too, so she was really content to stay in her stroller. Well, most the time anyways!

Thomas & Savannah on the "plastic tigers" as Thomas called them. right after we got to the Zoo he started asking if we could go see the "plastic tigers." I had NO CLUE what he was talking about until about 1.5 hours later when we rounded the corner and saw these...it's all making sense now. Funny kid.

Here's most of our group eating lunch. I'm taking the pic and Hailey's at my feet. Hahahaha- no surprise there. The kids all shared food except for Paris and her poptarts. No one was getting within 5 ft of those babies!! ;) Hailey even shared some food with the birds I'm sure as half her lunch was strewn all over the lawn. Ahh, what can you do?

Our gang on the Zoofari Express. We always seem to end the day with a train ride. It's short, but oh my, the kids just love it. Thomas & Savannah rode the caboose. Notice Hailey sitting on the seat all by herself. Talk about little Miss Independant!

It was a really fun day. I think we'll take a year off from the Zoo, but we'll get another pass again I'm sure. Maybe we can have this playdate again next year...only there will be 2 more kids in tow! And we thought taking a pic with 5 kids was hard enough! Try 7!! YIKES!