Time to Sit Back & Unwind...yeah right!

This summer we headed off on The Great American Road Trip (read that with reverb) with

day 1 stop at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. This hotel was way too cool for us, not really family friendly- I guess the marketing slogan of "What happens in Vegas" is not referring to being crazy and swimming without goggles just this one time. (Don't worry, my kids wore their goggles while everyone else in the pool was mingling with their cocktails; we totally fit right in.) This was the one foot pool where we felt marginally less uncomfortable.

Getting ready for a night on the town.

So adorable cuddling up with his bear.

For dinner we found a restaurant that was a fun mix of food, family, & Vegas at Max Brennar's.

Elli's main course, grilled banana and peanut butter sandwich with chocolate dipping sauce.

Spaghetti sauce syringe for Addie's pasta.

Day 2, headed to Provo for a look-see at the BYU campus. The girls want to go there when they are older but had never visited before. Go cougars- grrrr!

See the "Y" in the back? This picture will be framed in their dorm room some day, I can see it now. We then crashed our friends Stadium of Fire party, thanks Craigs for the yummy food and good company.

Days 3-6 we were off to Island Park, Idaho to spend the 4th of July with our good friends the Henries. We had fun celebrating Parker's birthday, floating Mac's river, visiting Yellowstone, swatting mosquitos, eating tots in Idaho, enduring crazy weather with lightening and hail, & a power outage.

Look at my guys in their patriotic ensembles.

Justin & Jason, friends for 18 years, half their lives.

Old Faithful, check that off their bucket lists.

Dear Sheets family,

Thank you for having us over for a fabulous dinner. Your tablescape was so lovely. It was great catching up with you and your family. You guys are totally blogworthy, but the real question is are we disneyworthy???

P.S. Congrats on your promotion, your are #1 on our most influential friends list.

Retrieving Addie's wayward shoe by lowering a child into the creepy neighbors back yard, hopefully he doesn't read this blog.

While in Salt Lake Valley for days 6-9, we ate at some of our old favorites:

Cannella's

Hires

The Dodo

Rodizio

Temple Square

They would have made cute pioneers.

(They would need to get by on their cuteness because they don't do well with manual labor.)

We ran the gamut of places to lay our heads at night, and our favorite was The Grand America which welcomed us with a chocolate piano - yum.
Day 8 we headed to Park City to ride the alpine slide & alpine coaster then off to picturesque Midway; would be such a beautiful place to live if it weren't for those darn winters.

Elli really wanted to see the hospital where she was born, which incidentally is run by our friend, Jim Sheets. (Excuse me while I go pick up his name.)

After all the go-go-go we finally slowed down on our last day and lounged poolside.

What you don't see is days 10-15 in Roseville with cousins, dinner with Grammi and moo-moo, lemonade stands, & swimming with flippers.

We were then off to Danville for days 16-19 to stay with Poppa & Linda for eye exams, a visit to "the city", hanging with Uncle Randy & Katie, and a tea party.

I lost count of how many times my car was packed and unpacked, but it was a really great getaway for our family filled with fun, sightseeing, cleaning up blowouts in the Walmart parking lot, and friends and family that we love.

Too School for Cool

Millie started Kindergarten this week, she was so excited and so was I, my bubby is a big girl!

We love that goofy smile.

B.M.O.C.

Elli's last year in elementary school, she has big plans for this year.

Addie is in 4th grade this year and happy she got the teacher with a bathtub for reading in her classroom.

So I might of taken one or eight more pictures of Amelia than the others, but you only start Kindergarten once. (That is also true of 4th grade & 6th grade, but it's my reasoning & I am sticking to it.)

Our B-Boy

Happy Feet

The girls had their "Iconic" dance show this weekend and it was very well done. Elli enjoyed being in 4 numbers this year, Addie danced in 2, and Millie tapped her heart out to "New York, New York." They open and close the show in their recital t-shirts and no pictures are allowed to be taken during the show so for now I have no costume photos. But check out their t-shirt designs; all I have to say is the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I kept telling them to pull their shirts up on their shoulders, but really who am I to criticize? (If you knew me when I was their age, you understand.)

Father's Day

We all know Jason is a simple man.

When I asked what he wanted to eat of Father's day his answer surprisingly was not "whatever you make I am sure will be lovely, dear"; it was that he wanted a gourmet burger with meat from an actual butcher and buns from a baker and ingredients that mimic a real chefs inspiration. So, since I am such an awesome wife I ran around town buying the meat and bacon from the corner butcher who conveniently also sold fresh brioche buns for the local bakery, and Trader Joe's kindly sold all the other ingredients I needed. (micro greens, mustard garlic aioli - thought I was going to have to make that myself- smoked gouda, and maui onions that Elli caramelized to perfection.)

They turned out phenomenal, can't wait to make them again - stellar idea Jason.
F.Y.I. I didn't need to ask him what he wanted for a present since he bought himself 2 Father's Day gifts. First one was a belgium waffle make that he "will be using to make waffles for his grandkids" and second was an air compressor. Happy Father's Day!

How to Sleep With One Eye Open

Creepy but still cute, right?

May is My Frenemy

I know, I know, we are all busy people. But for me May is like a second December. I hardly had time to nap! There was our anniversary (13 years), open houses galore, the PTA reading party that I head up, my sweet sister and her family coming up to meet their newest nephew, Elli's birthday & party (separate but equal), Addie's birthday & party, school choral concerts, baby shower, Amelia's preschool graduation (it was a squeaker but she pulled through in the end so we can proudly say she is a Pre-K graduate!) alongside all the other busy-ness like "the battle of the bottle" of which I am the proud victor and the "Finger feud" of which I think I have won, but we are still waiting for the numbers to come in from Florida so Max has yet to give his official concession speech. But it is fun and worth it and I am so glad it is over.

These invite pictures are out of order but what are you going to do? Think of it as a teaser of what's to come, an amuse-bouche if you will.

Our annual Red Robin birthday burgers.

Millie's rainforest open house with her terrific teachers.

Preschool Graduation, Oh, the places she'll go. (but only if I drive her because she can't even ride a bike and she is not allowed to cross the street by herself)

Uncle Trevor getting laughs.

Auntie Yo-Yo giving luvs.

Fi-fi got him to sleep, she's a natural.

Fondue fun for Addie's 9th Birthday

In-n-Out before Pirates for Elli's 11th Birthday, check out their cool t-shirts.

Good-bye May, parting is such sweet sorrow.