Vacay! Day 7

And so our trip ended with a visit to the temple. We decided to do Initiatory work, since that would be quickest for the kids. Ken got up early and went with his Dad to Mount Timpanogas; then his Mom and I went to the Draper Temple. It was fun to visit a new temple. It was very beautiful! Hayden saying good-bye to his new best friend, the ceiling fan!

Before we left, we had one last visit from a friend from college. Bob Ullery and his family live in American Fork and he was able to come see us before we left! It was great to see him and catch up. His family was out of town, but we're hoping to meet them when we come down again! We left after lunch and we didn't make it even out of UT before Ken was too worn out to drive! So, I drove for a while. We had a pretty pleasant trip home! We stopped in Shoshoni and there was a beautiful sunset!

It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful trip! We are so blessed to have such amazing family and we are so happy that we were able to be there for some great events, as well! We always play so hard and come home needing a vacation to recoup from our vacations! We LOVE you, UT Cutlers!!

Vacay! Day 6

Tuesday, we decided to just lay low. We'd been having so much fun so we decided to just stay home and relax. Taysum gave us a bit of a scare in the morning, though. He said his knee hurt and he couldn't fully extend it; he couldn't even walk on it! We weren't even sure how he had injured it! We rubbed it, iced it, stretched it, and gave him some Tylenol. Eventually he was able to get around, but he was still limping a bit. I was thankful we didn't have to take him to the doctor! So, it was probably a good day to choose to rest, but we still had fun! Ken's cousin, Carly and her kids, Boston and Jocelyn, came to visit us. Carly and I have wanted to get our kids together for a long time because they are SO alike! I feel bad that she has to go through some of these struggles with her kids, but it is so comforting to know I'm not alone!! We've shared a lot of stories and I'm thankful for her example! I'm sure it's difficult for her, but I admire her attitude and how wonderful a mother she is to her kids and I hope I can be more like her!!

Visiting the Chickens Boston

This was our day to rest and Taysum took full advantage of it!
That evening, when Ken got back, we went to a birthday party! We went next door and celebrated Alicia's birthday. It was so fun to get the three babies together! Hayden looked SO HUGE next to the two little girls! I was kind of grateful that he was the boy...it might have been a little awkward being a big girl with two little boys on either side! ;) It was especially fun to see Hayden next to Lizzy, because they had the same birth weight; so we were able to see how much growth he's had in the past 2 1/2 months.

Lucy, Hayden and Elizabeth

This was the Dads' idea. Mark was a little punk and took a picture from behind as well...we'll have to burn his camera! This angle turned out pretty cute, though!

Momma and Lucy

And, of course, being at Uncle Mark's, our kids insisted on riding horses one last time! All the kids wanted to ride, so Uncle Mark solved the problem by getting out the buggy.

So, our vacation was coming to an end, but we made every moment count! We had to get one more picture of our smily little Hayden!

Vacay! Day 5

On Monday, we headed up American Fork Canyon! It's so beautiful up there and we had a really nice time. We bought some music CDs for the kids and they LOVED the music. We listened to them on the way up the canyon and they just wanted to hear the same ones over and over. By the end of the day we all had them stuck in our heads!! On our way up, we got a little lost, but eventually caught up with everyone. After lunch, we went for a hike that ends at a BIG bridge. Taking a break on the trail...

They had little markers along the trail with numbers on them and the kids had a blast looking for the next number!
We found this little "cave" near our picnic site. Ken found some charcoal and the kids were drawing pictures on the rocks with it.

We got back home and rested up, then Ken played some polo with his brothers before heading south for a job he had the next day. It was Round Up Days in Lehi, so we went to "Lehi's Got Talent" in the park that evening. It was pretty difficult without Ken, but Grammy Penny was a great help!

Uncle Nick was so great to wrestle with the kids. Ken HAS to wrestle Taysum at least once a day and Bailey loves it all, too! Uncles are just awesome and Taysum and Bailey have some of the best there are...all 9 of them: Shane, Karl, Paul, Mark, Nick, Chad, Matt, Nick and Tyler!

We got the kids to bed and I got some "relax" time. I watched Some Star Trek (Yes, I'm a Generations Trek-y NERD!) and Ken's mom taught me how to crochet an edge on a blanket. So even though I was missing Ken, I was able to have some much needed down time to myself!

Vacay! Day 4

Happy Father's Day to all the WONDERFUL Dads in our lives! We have been so blessed with such wonderful family; and such wonderful, faithful men to lead us!

For Father's Day, I had the kids make a card for Ken; he loved them! I also gave him a gift I had been working on for a long time. I went through all our pictures and put them in order and made a DVD for him. He loved it and it brought tears to his eyes. I was so glad he liked it!

What better way to celebrate Father's Day than going to a baby blessing! Ken's youngest brother Nick blessed his first baby and it was such a wonderful experience. I was so glad Ken was able to stand in the circle with his Dad and brothers and be with them for that wonderful blessing! Afterwards, we had a nice lunch in the park with our family and Leah's family.

The Happy Family

Leah, Lucy and Nick

Grammy Penny and Lucy Nick, Lucy and Paul

Three Little Princesses

Sami, Bailey and Adelaide

We also got to meet up with some more friends from college! When Ken was younger, his family lived in Evanston, WY and they were friends with the Pierce Family. Nick and Leah didn't really know each other very well then, but the families stayed friends and Nick and Leah were set up after he got home from his mission. I got know Leah's sister, Konea, while we were in Laramie, so I thought it was so cool when Nick and Leah got married! It was so great to see Konea and her husband, Lex, and their wonderful little family!

Taysum wanted to climb a tree and he wanted me to take a picture.

Aunt Amanda, Uncle Shane and Michael

We wanted to get a picture of Bailey with Grammy Penny since they had the same colors on, but Bailey doesn't hold still for pictures very well...or at all! :)

As always, Hayden was just wonderful! He's so easy going, even when the rest of us are going crazy!

He really started smiling and laughing this week. Hayden just LOVED the ceiling fans. He would catch even a glimpse of one and he'd break out in a cheek-bustin' grin. It was so cute!

Father's Day nap

When everyone woke up, we got to go visit some more friends. Matt and Kandice Gardner are two just wonderful people! I got to know Kandice really well while we were in Laramie. We were in Centennial Singers together and we did YW Camp together for three or four years! She is someone I really admire and I love keeping up with her on her family's blog. They have lived in Lehi for quite some time, too. When we're in Lehi for a holiday, they are usually gone to their family for the holiday. The other times we're down there, it's just too quick of a trip to try and get together. This time, we made sure we went to see them! It was so wonderful to see everyone in person!! It was great to see them again and see their beautiful home and kids! I am so mad at myself for not getting out the camera, but we were having too nice of a time just chatting!

We had to cut our visit short, because we had a family dinner to get back to. All of Ken's family, but one brother, was able to come. Also, his Aunt Ruth came to visit and her son Rob. It was a really fun time together!

Holly, Penny, Ned, Karl, Ruth

Uncle Nick and Hayden Nicholas

It was so sweet to hear these 4 little voices singing Ring Around the Rosies

Adelaide, Bailey, Taysum and Trevor

And so ended another fun day with some wrestling on the couch...

The time went so fast, but we have 3 days left to go!! :)

Vacay! Day 3

Blogging in the summer is so CRAZY!! We just do too many fun things and I can't keep up! No complaints, though! That's a great problem to have!

This has nothing to do with the rest of the post, but I had to just stick it in somewhere! Lately Taysum and Bailey do a really cute little thing! Bailey will say something like, "I love popcorn!" Taysum will say, "Me, too!" Then Bailey will say, "Me three!" Then they'll give each other a high 5 and say, "Splibidy!!" (It's from the movie of Max Lucado's 'If I Only Had a Green Nose.') It's so cute!! Another fun thing is Taysum takes a toy Millennium Falcon from McDonald's and flies it around as he sings the theme from Star Trek Generations!! He even says, "Captain's log, stardate....." Too funny!

So, Day 3 we were up bright and early to meet with some friends at McDonald's for breakfast. We met the Delgados in college in Laramie and have been friends for about 12 years now! They have been living in Lehi for a while now and we've seen them a few times. Nic just got a job in Nebraska and they'll be moving as soon as they sell their house. So, we thought we better take the opportunity to meet up with them and say good bye for now. This McDonald's had a great play place! It was all about music which was perfect for our kids! The toys all played music and were over sized so you could walk on them; it was great!

"All 9 Delgados"

Nic, Cortney, Daniel, Cael, Abigail, Nathan, Joshua, Zach and Gabe

Then we got to go meet the newest member of the Cutler Clan. Elizabeth Elaine Cutler made her way into the world early Saturday morning and she was more than worth the wait!! Here is a picture of Lucy and Hayden. They are only a month apart, but she makes Hayden look SO big!!

Uncle Ken meets little Lizzy

This was Ken's reaction to hearing a little more about the birth story!

Uncle Ken and "Wheaty"

In Ken's family there are 5 boys and 1 girl. There are 13 grandsons and (now) 6 grand daughters. No family had more than one girl until now!

After lunch, a nap for Bailey and a couple quick shopping trips, we went to Thanksgiving Point. They have acres and acres of gardens and one of them is just for kids. It has this wonderful Noah's Ark wading area,

(Bailey getting brave)

Fountains that squirt up from the sidewalk,

(Taysum and Garrett)

Lots of shade for the grown-ups,

Statues all over the garden of animals, including this giant centipede to climb on,

A pond and stream for launching wooden boats,

A trail with animal tracks that leads to a bear cave,

With a bear in the cave!!

(Kymball, Adelaide, Bailey and Taysum)

And a lot more fun things! Next time, we're excited to go through the mazes!

Hayden and Cooper

The day wasn't over yet!! That night, we took a ride in Uncle Mark's buggy to the ward Rodeo Night! It was such a great activity!! We had a delicious Bar-B-Q and then all sorts of fun rodeo events!

Sami and Bailey LOVED these little rocking horses.

The kids really enjoyed the snow cones, too!

Taste for taste!!

Let the Games Begin!

There was stick horse barrel racing,

Cow Pie Tossing,

Taysum's version of a Three-Legged Race,

Steer Roping,

Spectators

My Handsome Cowboy

and Horse Rides

(Bailey is a pro! They were worried she would be scared, but she knew what she was doing!)

We headed back home after a long, but WAY fun day! What better way to end the day than with some tire swinging!?

Taysum and Ryan

They say Sunday is a day of rest and we did get a little; but as you'll see next, it was another wonderful day full of babies, family, friends and food!