4th of July Fun!

We went to Utah to celebrate the 4th of July and visit Chris' family. This was Daniel's first time flying and he did great! On the plane I mentioned to Chris that this was Daniel's first flight and it made me curious how many flights Katelyn has been on. I thought back on all the trips we have done with her and counted. Katelyn has flown 23 times in her three years of life. Pretty crazy! Unfortunately a good portion of those flights are not my happiest memories but Katelyn did well on this flight to Utah! Yay!

There were some fires in Alpine pretty close to where Chris' parents live. This is a picture of Chris' dad by their house. Thankfully we didn't have to evacuate and some heavy rains put the fires out a few days later.

On the 4th of July we had a super yummy dinner and then headed to Provo for Stadium of Fire. My family came to Utah to see us and my mom watched the kids so we could go to Stadium of Fire. It was fun to celebrate the 4th of July with both of our families! Thank you to Chris' parents for taking us and my mom for watching the kids. Chris and I lived in Provo for some many years and we never went to Stadium of Fire so this was our first time. It was really fun!

The whole show was awesome and the fireworks were amazing! Good times!

My mom with her grandsons! My family stayed in Utah for a few days and we got together at Boondocks one day. Boondocks has a fun play area for the kids and it only costs $3. Katelyn was super happy there.  

  

Later that evening we met up with a bunch of friends from our old BYU 5th Ward at the University Mall's indoor playground. I had originally planned the get together at the park but we had to relocate to the mall because it rained all day. Of course it is just my luck for it to rain the one day I plan a get together at the park. The rain helped put out the fires so it was good even though it made the day more stressful. Katelyn wore herself out at Boondocks earlier in the day so she wasn't the happiest child at the mall but we still enjoyed seeing our friends!

We went to City Creek Mall the next day and it is a beautiful mall! Katelyn enjoyed touching the water from the fountains and playing near the splash pad!

The last day we went with Chris' family to the Heber Valley Railroad. Katelyn loves trains so I was really excited for her to take a train ride.

The train was stopped at one point and some robbers came on board. They took the conductor and put on a little performance. There was also a magician on the train and he walked around doing tricks and was pretty entertaining.

Katelyn was really good for the first 30 minutes and then it went downhill from there. The train ride lasted for two hours which is a little long for younger kids.

Chris and I have noticed a pattern when we go on trips. Katelyn's behavior gets progressively worse each day due to lack of sleep. It is always hard to get her to go to bed when she is having fun with her cousins and she never sleeps as well when we are away from home. By the time we flew back home she was out of control. The last 20 minutes of the flight is usually the hardest because we have to turn her movie off. What did people do before portable DVD players were around? Katelyn refused to sit in her seat and was kicking and screaming. The worst was when she slapped Daniel in the face right before we were going to get off the plane. I'm sure several people saw her hit Daniel because everyone was standing in the aisles waiting to get off the plane. I was so mad and embarrassed. We did not look like the model family and I'm glad I wasn't wearing a BYU tee shirt!

One positive thing I can say about Katelyn is she didn't have one accident the whole trip. I had her wearing pull-ups while we were traveling and she used the potty every time. I'm excited that she is comfortable using  the potty anywhere. That is definitely a big step in the right direction!

I recently saw the saying, "You know you're a mom when going shopping at Target by yourself feels like a vacation and going on a family vacation feels like work." So true! It is a lot of work to go on trips but it is worth it!