Family Reunion

After our visit in Oregon and Washington the boys and I flew down to Utah with my parents for a family reunion. The reunion was in Southern Utah at a ranch in the middle of nowhere (seriously...30 miles on a dirt road after you are already in the middle of nowhere.) I have mixed feelings about this trip...lets start with the not so good...rattlesnakes-we killed three while we were there! We started off with hot water. But after the carbon monoxide detector went off twice in our cabin, and some overwhelming propane smells we opted to NOT to die in our sleep and have cold showers... so we turned off the propane to our cabin. On the bright side, my boys had the absolute time of their life there. There were horseback rides, four wheeler rides,fishing, goats, dogs, cats, chickens, campfires, a playground, a slip n slide and plenty of dirt to play in. I think my kids need to live on a farm.

On our way to the ranch-this is the gas station that Crew had the craziest melt down at. I could NOT get him back in his car seat. There was a car full of people right next to ours just watching me struggle to get him in while he is screaming his head off. One of the guys turned to me and said "ah the sacred work of a mother..." mmmmhmmmmm. Just what I was thinking pal!

The Ranch:





Jaxon pretty much had a dog with him the whole time



Fishing with Uncle Alan and Grandpa




Bike rides from Uncle Cory and four wheeler rides with Grandpa


For Christmas last year my mom gave me a girls trip to go see Wicked, so after the family reunion in Utah my mom and I were able to get away for the weekend by ourselves and go see Wicked. It was amazing! I had so much fun, thanks mom!

This past month...

We flew from Dallas to Oregon for a wedding.
Drove from Oregon to Seattle.
Flew from Seattle to Salt Lake.
Flew from Salt Lake to St. Louis and back.
And FINALLY flew from Salt Lake back to Dallas.
My kids are confused and I'm exhausted.
Explanations and pictures to come...if I ever recover.

Seattle so far...

We have been in Seattle visiting Grandma and Grandpa Hawke the past week and a half and have been so busy but have had so much fun! Jaxon has already told me he just wants to stay here. He doesn't want to go back to Dallas. There's lots of pictures, so here we go:

We went hiking up to a place called Twin Falls. Jaxon was a champ and walked almost the whole way. Grandpa was an even bigger champ and carried Crew in the backpack, while sometimes holding Jaxon...they cannot get enough of their grandpa!



Since we have been in Seattle our good friends Meegan and Keaton came to visit. Jaxon was beyond excited to have Keaton to pal around with. I'm pretty sure we packed in as much as we possibly could while they were here. By the end of their trip I think we all felt like we could sleep for three days straight...and I'm sure Meegan and I would have, but why is it that no matter how tired kids are they still get up at 6:30?


A good friend of ours is a fire chief and brought over his truck with lights and intercom and let the boys try on his gear.

Our first day we headed to the Pacfic Science Center and IMAX theater downtown. The boys had tons of fun despite what seemed to be field trip day for all the surrounding schools in the Seattle area. Crew sat out on this trip, he was able to spend some quality time with Grandma at home.
The boys getting ready to go to the Pacific Science Center. I seriously can't tell you how cute these two were the whole trip!
Testing their strength :)
Waiting in line for the space simulater-I was sure that Jaxon was having a panic attack inside and there was nothing I could do. But to my surprise they were all smiles when the ride opened up!


A little water play


Jaxon's favorite exhibit was the dinosaurs. He kept saying he wanted to ride one.


They had a cool butterfly house.
Muscle men at the circus exhibit.
After the Science Center we took the monorail and headed over to another part of town to get some lunch. Jaxon LOVED riding the monorail and still talks about how "so super fast" it is


Day two was the Point Defiance Zoo.

These animals were the favorites for my boys...Dory, Nemo, and the walrus that kept swimming right up to the window where we were standing.


Although Crew really is more concerned about what snacks we have to accompany his trip to the zoo.

The boys watching one of the animal shows.
Meegan and I were able to go downtown one day by ourselves and do some shopping and wander around Pikes Market. I love downtown!

A few more things we were able to do:


Smores in the backyard. My dad was offering free lessons to anyone on how to cook a perfect marshmallow. Keaton humored him.

We headed downtown to see the Fremont troll under the bridge. The boys loved it. We couldn't really get very good pictures because there was also some people putting on a free performance of scenes from Shakespeare under the bridge. I mean why wouldn't you act out Shakespeare under a bridge in front of a Troll???...gotta love Seattle!
We ended Keaton and Meegans trip to Seattle with a trip to Dicks Drive In...mmmmm.