{Summertime in UTAH}

For part of the move I landed in Utah for a few delicious weeks of summer.  Everyday spent with the cousins was cherished and Calvin certainly seemed to bond with the family during this time!  Here are a few of my favorite snapshots - 

Grandma had prepared the house for our arrival by blowing up this cool kiddie pool and filling it with balls!  This was the boys favorite place to hang during our stay.  It was NOT my favorite thing to clean up after though!

Uncle Grant bought a boat and we thoroughly enjoyed it during our visit!  One trip to Willard Bay and another to Pineview Dam completed our water sport events.  I loved riding the tube but it scared the crap out of me!  Even Calvin hopped on for a nice slow ride on the bay.  

Calvin and Wesley love the Treehouse Children's Museum!  We were able to visit a couple of different times and went with our cousins Molly, Grace & Lola.  

Another highlight was going to see the taxidermy work of our cousin, Ryan Cook!  He is kind of a big deal, as you can tell by some of his amazing work pictured above!  It was so fun to see him in his element and learn a little about taxidermy.  

On Sunday I went to church with Jana and got to see her in action teaching her young women in Washington Terrace.  Those girls are so lucky to have her - she is an amazing teacher!  It was fun to hang with the cousins and have a tasty Sunday dinner together.

We did a couple of days of "Cousin Camp" with Molly and Grace.  Pictured above was Dinosaur day - we painted dinos, learned fun facts, and then went to Dinosaur Park.  Calvin loved chasing them around and seeing the huge creatures in the park scared him a little :)

Another cousin camp day we spent at Krispy Creme Donuts eating ourselves into a food coma

An afternoon at the bounce houses - Classic Fun Center.  Calvin loved wrestling with his cousins and feeling like a part of the team. 

Quincy and Collin do such a great job looking after their little cousins

POOL PARTY!  Julie hosted ALL the cousins at her house for a swimming extravaganza - water balloon fights and ice cream.  It just smells like a good time!

Our last evening and morning in Utah - all the family came over to Mom and Dad's to see us off.  We played boggle, ping pong and had hand stand contests.  The next morning we ate a farewell Denny's breakfast - then the rubber met the road and we started out on the next adventure of our life.

To be continued...

{Final Days in Vegas}

We tried to jam pack a lot of activities in the last few weeks of our assignment in Henderson!  As I'm writing the post we have officially started the move - I'm in Utah with the boys & Michael is at home taking care of the moving details.  My heart is tender every time I think about heading "home" because it's not going to be the same!  I have been a bit of an emotional basket case thinking of the friends who became family while we resided in Vegas.  I found this quote I love that really resonated with me - 

It's a good change & I am excited for the next chapter but also feeling a little blue!  Anyway, here's the last of our Vegas adventures... <3

 

We recently started taking the Cal-meister bowling.  He loves it although he has been known to chase his ball down the lane once he launches it. I love the minutes we spend together bowling as a family - it's so fun to have the time with the nuggets.

We made it out to see "Phantom of the Opera" at the Smith Center!  We went with the Vidrines and had a tasty meal afterwards.  It was a super fun group date with some of our closest friends.

These sweet ladies from my ward planned a going away lunch.  The Acacia Ward ladies are some pretty incredible women!

We also did a fun Hoover Dam Tour with Bro. Parry - he has worked there for many years and showed us all sorts of interesting things!  I loved seeing the inner workings of the dam, the gigantic turbines & pipes... also the amazing tunnels cut right through the mountain.  It was great to spend the night with Renee & Jessica also - two of my favorite people.  

This is a shot I captured on Horizon Ridge, a road near my house where you always get this view of the strip when you crest the hill - it's one of my favorite parts of driving this way and when I saw the sun setting on Vegas it seemed to have a double meaning.

So long, Nevada!

{Christopherson Vegas Trip Part 2}

This past week the Christopherson clan came for another short visit to Vegas!  It was an awesome way to kick start the summer - plus the last week of reasonable Vegas weather (today it has hit 117 -whew!)

Jana and I had some fun together to kick off her birthday celebrations!  We got pedicures and ate lunch at our favorite thai restaurant - Lotus of Siam. 

The boys loved a Denny's breakfast with their cousins :)

Video game time with Uncle Mike - they sure love their games

Emily and Nate were kind enough to let us use their swimming pool a couple of times.  

One of our fun mornings we went to Las Vegas Mini Grand Prix - the boys go kart raced and rode a couple rides.  They also had a fun arcade where they played some games

Cowabunga Bay was definitely the highlight of the trip - that waterpark was AMAZING!  Calvin swam til he dropped and he felt like a VIP when he saw his babysitter Mallory there as a lifeguard!

We had a high stakes game of Bowling at Sunset Station. I lost and became a Ute fan for a day - Yikes!

Another fun visit was Bouncy World - that was probably Calvin's favorite.  He ran around like a maniac and couldn't get enough of the big boy slide.

We sure loved our time with Quincy and Collin - they are some great dudes <3