A day with the animals

About a month ago, we headed to Thanksgiving point to celebrate Paityn's birthday. We checked out all the animals, talked to all the animals, played in the mini houses a bit, and Maycee had her first pony ride. And to my surprise, she was very brave and loved said pony ride....

At first Maycee was a little cautious about the animals...but then Paityn showed her the ropes and she was just fine. Even had a little conversation with the chicken.

She is a natural!

Concentrating so hard...

Thanks for the fun day Paityn and Joy!!

BYU - OKLAHOMA

KC and his Dad went to Dallas this last weekend for the BYU - Oklahoma football game. Before the game they had some killer brisket, ribs, and sausage at KC's favorite BBQ pit, "Rudy's". Then they went to the game at the new Cowboys stadium and witnessed BYU upsetting Oklahoma. Couldn't have been a better weekend!

Paris by the numbers...

24 - Number of hours spent in Paris

20 - Number of hours spent on plane(s) to get to Paris and back to SLC

15(give or take a few) - Number of french baked goods consumed (including: chocolate and plain croissants, baguettes, cheesy sandwiches, chocolate banana crepes)

90 - Number of pictures taken

3 - Number of Paris landmarks seen

Seems like a REALLY long way to go for only 24 hours, but it was a really fun adventure!! KC took a couple days off work and talked me and Marin into going on a quick trip. We left Maycee with grandpa and grandma(thanks Steve and Annette) and headed to the airport with just our backpacks and a couple options of where we would go. After barely missing a couple flights we ended up on the direct Salt Lake to Paris flight.

Cousins

So crazy that in just a year these two little girls have gone from this....

To this...

It has been so much fun to watch these two grow and learn together. Sometimes it takes them a minute to remember each other when we get together, but they always end up having so much fun together. Funny that Sophia looks so much like Blake (my brother) and Maycee looks so much like me, and Blake and I look so much alike yet...these two look SO different! Its so fun that Maycee has a cousin SO close in age (2 1/2 months), I hope they stay friends their whole life. I love the mosaic above because it shows both their personalities so well!!

Uncle Austin is always willing to play with the kids. He is so cute with them and you can tell how much they love him.

Cousins with Uncle Austin...Tyson, Sophia & Maycee

The beach

There is a nice little beach with a playground here in Daybreak. Its been fun to take Maycee there and see her love for the beach begin. It took a little bit for her to get used to the sand and the water temp, but once she did...there was no looking back. We first took her with her cousins, Jack and Halle a couple times. Then we took some friends up with their little ones.

Maycee's first swing experience...she giggled the whole time.

These two always want to do what the other is doing...they love each other SO much!!

This is how Maycee started out in the lake...not too happy about it

Then she got a little more comfortable...splashing a bit...

Lovin' life...(as long as she's holding on to Dad)

Went back to hating it once she was in her swimsuit on her own...

Then Halle showed her the ropes and she was lovin it! They could have stayed there for hours playing!

Jack the fish
A different night we stopped by the splash pool, it closed...so we headed to the beach.

She had no problem this time around...headed straight for the toys and the sand.

I love this little girl!!!

Finally...this is when we visited the beach with KC's college roomies and families.

The guys - Jodie, KC, Jeff (we missed you tall Jeff and Natalie!)

The kiddos...Gracie, Maycee & Drayden

Pretty sunset...perfect picture op

The Sandbar

Kenny Chesney came to town a couple weeks ago and I was graciously offered a ticket by my sister-in-law. As we sat in the blistering heat (we were in direct sunlight in 98 degree weather!), we noticed we were possibly as far from the stage as you could get. Then we see my other sister-in-law get taken down to the field and given a wristband...of course we are raging with jealousy! About ten minutes later the same lady that just made Katie the luckiest person, found us and we were upgraded to "The Sandbar". Whats "The Sandbar" you ask? Oh, just the section right next to the stage where everyone stands and Kenny comes by during his songs and grabs your hands. Yep, we were right next to the stage! Thanks for the sweet hook-up Tara, we owe you big time!!

This is the stage from our original seats...with the camera zoomed as far as it could be.

Then we got these magic red wristbands...

And they took us up this close!!

The ladies...Lindsey, Amy, Kristin, Sally, Katie, and Tara

This is how close we were to Kenny...no zoom on the camera now!

There's Kenny right behind us...

Katie got on Jake's shoulders and got to hug Kenny!!

Kenny knows what's up! He came back on stage for his encore with a University of Utah hat on!

Thanks for the great night Kenny!!

5

This is what our family looked like five years ago yesterday...
This is what our family looked like yesterday...
To celebrate five years, we started with a little swimming at the Grand America Hotel with Maycee. (This was after we made a last minute trip to Maycee's doctor, where she was diagnosed with her first ear infection...SO sad!) After A LOT of convincing from KC that Maycee would be fine, we dropped her off for a sleepover at KC's parents (thanks Chuck & Tami), then headed to Provo for a little take-out at the picnic tables where we first met...pretty cheesy, I know. But, it was fun to be back where we both have so many fun memories from working for EFY.

Not too many people around...this was the best we could do with the self-timer.

Standing at the exact spot where we were first introduced to eachother...right by the flagpole.

Then we headed for a little treat. KC had heard about this new ice cream place with a really cool concept....

Start with the cream and the flavors you want mixed in...

then add freezing gas...

mix together and this is what you get!

They freeze the cream right in front of you! The end product was pretty tasty and I'm sure you could come up with some crazy combinations! Then it was back to The Grand America Hotel for a relaxing night and morning. KC had massage appointments booked for us, then we spent a little time by the pool. It was a nice little stay-cation to celebrate our marriage - Thanks babe!

Turn down service...and nice robes!

Yummy chocolates with a little note telling us the temperature for the next day, thanks Beto!!

Pretty crazy how quick the last five years have gone by. I am so lucky to be married to such a crazy, funny, hardworking, loving, happy, amazing man! I am grateful for the man that KC is and all the hard work he does to support our little family. I love watching the relationship between him and Maycee grow, she loves when he comes home at night and runs to meet him when he walks in the door. Thank you KC for being so patient with me and working through everything with me. We have made some amazing memories with all our adventures these last five years! I am SO excited for everything that is to come! Love you!