St George Vaca!

In the middle of September we headed down to St. George for a weekend family getaway!  It was the first time we've gone anywhere just the 4 of us, and it was nice to get away from "life" for a bit and have some fun with them.  Also, it was really, really, (REALLY!) nice to have Brad with us the whole 3 days.  He didn't do any work or school work.  We were really able to just enjoy the time together!

We picked a great weekend to go because it just rained back at home.  It rained a lot! I got a little nervous when I saw a news report of 2-3 ft. of flooding at Herriman High School.  I was hoping our house was fine, which it was.   

We stayed at a condo, which allowed us more flexibility on meals, naps, etc.  Everyone had their own room and Owen instantly fell in love with his "St. George House".  The first day we swam at the condo and then headed over to town square to let Owen ride the carousel and to let the boys explore the lazy river water area/splash pad.  They had fun getting wet!

Enjoying his carousel ride.  What kid doesn't!

Town Square.  Owen was anxious to get wet so we quickly switched into swimsuits

Our next stop was to Nielsen's Frozen Custard for a yummy treat.  We all loved it.  You can't go wrong with custard!

Yum!

Owen loved the custard but his ice water was a close second.  Silly boy.

Saturday was our hiking day!  We thought about doing Zions, but realized our boys are still a little young.  Instead we opted for the Red Reef Trail at Red Cliffs Recreation Area. This ended up being the perfect hike for our family! It wasn't too steep for Owen and there was plenty of streams & pools of water to stop at along the way. We all really enjoyed this hike! (If you don't have small kids with you the hike continues farther than we went... I hear it's beautiful!)

Ready for some hiking!

Stopping for a snack break!

Brad and Owen with their hiking sticks

This was our turn around point.  (Notice the steep incline and rope to help you get over)

The rest of the afternoon was filled with naps, college football, and more swimming!

Owen finally figured out that his floaty helps him swim!  He was so excited to move his arms and legs and swim around the pool.  It made the swimming so much more enjoyable for all of us!

Later that night we watched an awesome storm roll through!  

Brad captured this awesome picture!

We had contemplated seeing a show at Tuacahn, but I'm glad we didn't.  Both nights we got storms, and this one came with flash flood warnings.  We were happy to be watching it from the comfort of our condo!

What's a vacation without a late night movie & treat!

 Sunday we visited the St. George temple & visitor's center before headed back home.  What a beautiful temple!

"I Love to See the Temple"

It was pretty bright, but I love this squinty picture of my boys!

 We stopped at Fort Cove on the way home for a potty break and to let the boys run/crawl around for a bit.  We had fun taking a few pictures while we were there.

Porter was happy to be out of his carseat!

Owen was a little *too* happy for the cookie we promised him if he smiled for a picture.  Love it!

Owen cried as we pulled into our driveway Sunday night because he wanted to go back to his "new St. George" house.  We sure had a fun time!

"Cars" Birthday Party

With the boys' birthdays being so close together, we decided to do a joint birthday party this year.  Owen wanted a "Cars" theme, and Porter didn't have an opinion, so "Cars" it was!

 

We had a fun, casual BBQ style dinner with Brad's family and enjoyed celebrating our boys!

Porter's smash cake.  We used crushed Oreos for the road.  Easy!

Lemon cupcakes for everyone else.  Owen refused to eat his until I scraped the frosting off.  That boy does not like frosting!

 

Some of our themed food:

Mater's Tow Cables (licorice)

 

Piston Cup Pasta Salad (with wheel pasta)

We had Mack's Race Dogs (hot dogs) with stoplight condiments

Antifreeze (pink lemonade)

Dipsticks (celery & carrots)

Luigi's Tires (donuts)

Flo's Fresh Fruit

Mater's 'Taters (potato & tortilla chips)

 

I kept it pretty simple on the food but it was fun & yummy!  I don't think Owen ate anything except licorice and chips, but what else is a 3 year old to do at his own party, right?

 

After we ate we took the party outside and opened some gifts.

 

Owen excited to wear his new BYU shirt!

Immediately putting his new baseball glove & bases to good use

We took him to see "Planes" for his birthday-- he loved these little figurines from the movie

 

Hanging out with the other birthday boy!

 

We moved inside for the rest of the gifts.

Owen loved his new "Cars" to go with his new movie, Cars 2!

 

Then it was Porter's turn.  He got a few cute things (thanks family!), but wouldn't you know that his favorite thing was the tag that came on his new Ernie doll!  Haha.

 

He was having so much fun with that tag and even started showing off a bit by standing on his own.  For a while I thought we might have a repeat of Owen, who took his first 6 steps at his 1st birthday party, but we didn't.  Just lots of standing and smiling because he knew he was being so cute!

 

And then it was cake time!  I love the progression of these pictures:

"Cheese"

"What is this?"

"Not bad..."

"This is pretty good!"

"Yay for cake!"

"Give me more cake!"

 

We were loving watching Porter dig into his cake, especially since Owen didn't touch his at all when he was 1 (doesn't like frosting, remember?!)

Can't forget this other guy!

 

Happy 1st & 3rd birthday Porter & Owen!!

Porter is 1!

Oh my sweet, sweet Porter!  I can't believe you are 1 today!  You have brought so much happiness  to our family.  You are a sensitive soul, and have softened us.  You are curious, joyful, easygoing, and those piercing blue eyes get you anything you want :)  We love you P-man!!