Apple Valley--The King Side

After leaving my brother's, we drove up north to stay with Corey's mom and see some of the cousins on Corey's side.

Westley and Felicity (both 7)
and Savannah (same age as Eliza)

Travis and Thomas (age 4) climb on Corey

Eliza, Travis, Felicity, Westley, and Caleb

On our last night there, Nana and Corey took the boys to a minor league baseball game.
I stayed home with Eliza.

Balboa Park

After leaving Arizona, we drove to Southern California to visit my brother. While there, we visited Balboa Park and the Air and Space Museum.

The boys looking in a fountain at Balboa Park

In a garden at Balboa Park

In front of an astronaut suit at the Air and Space Museum.
The girl in the picture is cousin Maggie

Travis, Eliza, and Westley at the Air and Space Museum

Westley, Travis and Mommy on the tram in Balboa Park

Family Reunion 2010

In the middle of August, we left fairly comfortable Utah (yes, upper 90's is comfortable for me!) and drove down to miserably hot Arizona. Actually, the miserable part was being about 7 weeks pregnant and very sick. We only had to stop about 8 times that day for me to go to the bathroom, sometimes within 45 minutes of a previous stop! Anyway, we made it to my parents' house by about 6 pm Arizona time and were very glad to be there, feasting on Eve's chili.

It was a great time. All my family was there--my brother from Texas with his wife and children, my brother from London with his wife and children, my brother from California with his wife and children, and my brother from Virginia with his wife and child. My parents and youngest brother, who live in Arizona, were also there, of course. There were 13 adults and 16 children (12 and under). Lots of little ones. We all stayed at my parents' house--it was crowded but it was fun. My parents set up an air conditioning unit in the garage along with several long tables for eating and we all ate buffet style meals out there.

Here are pictures from the event:

All the kids gathered for a big Family Home Evening. Other kids were scattered on parents' laps throughout the room.

Aunt Kaori's talented handiwork--a difficult task on such thin, fine hair (just like my hair!)

Westley (age 7) reads his favorite book, Dinotrux, to his cousin Matthew (age 4)

Of course swimming was the favorite past-time

We had a mini-Olympics, Fellows style (if you're a Fellows, you know what that means)

sack races

Crazy Face Contest

Root beer drinking contest (out of baby bottles)

And of course, Makutu's Island--this has become a tradition of our get-togethers

Everyone had fun, it was great for all the cousins to see each other and spend time together, and I certainly enjoyed visiting with my brothers and sisters-in-law. Hopefully for our next get-together (for my sake, anyway), I won't be pregnant and miserable, which will make it that much more fun!

Children's Gardens

We went to Thanksgiving Point's Children's Discovery Gardens a few days before our big Arizona/California trip. The kids had fun playing in the Noah's Ark splash fountain, except that the water was freezing. I had them wear their swimsuits (except Eliza) as shorts. Eliza wore her swim cover-up and then I changed her into some dry clothes afterward. They only got to play for twenty minutes. So many kids come to play in the splash fountain that they hand out colored bracelets and give you a time slot according to your bracelet to play. Kind of defeated the point of meeting at the gardens for playgroup, which we had, but since we all got there at different times, we all had different time slots for the fountain.






The rest of the visit was equally fun for the kids--they went through the maze, climbed to the top of the lighthouse, and explored the in the discovery area. However, we went on "$2 Tuesday", so it was very crowded. Since we have a pass, we didn't have to pay to get in anyway. I think next time, we'll skip "$2 Tuesday" and all the crowds!

Summer Fun

We got this used big wheel for free when we lived in Arizona. We haven't been able to use it all year here because of the snow and the cold, plus it always needs charging. We finally charged it and the kids had a blast playing with it.

Thanksgiving Point with Family

On Wednesday, August 4th, we went to Thanksgiving Point with my brother's family visiting from out of the country. My brother wasn't there, he was still at home working. But my sister-in-law and their three daughters came with us. Corey stayed home with Eliza because she was still napping when we left. We went to the Museum of Ancient Life and Farm Country.

In the Museum of Ancient Life

Farm Country pony rides

Visit from Nana and Aunt Leslie

In July, while Caitlin was here, Nana (Corey's mom) and Aunt Leslie (Corey's baby sister) came up from Southern California for a visit. Leslie brought along her two girls, Felicity and Savannah.

They were here from a Thursday night through Monday morning. On Friday, we met up in the morning and took the train from Sandy into down town Salt Lake City, where we went to Temple Square and then to the Beehive House for a tour. Then we had lunch at the Lion House before riding the train back home.

Westley (by window), Felicity, and Caitlin on the train

All the kids in front of the temple by the visitor's center (can't remember which side of the temple this is)
back: Westley, Travis, Felicity, Caitlin, Caleb
front: Savannah, Eliza

Westley in the visitor's center in front of the Christus, you can see Caitlin with Caleb in the background

On the lawn, where we sat down to have a snack

In front of the reflection pool that is in the Main Street block between the temple and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Nana with Eliza, Savannah, Caleb and Travis in the Beehive House

On Saturday, we went to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. As you can see from the pictures, the Megalodon is our favorite place to pose.

Felicity and Westley, Daddy and Eliza next to them

Exploring erosion at the sand table--Felicity, Travis and Caitlin