Last week we went to Eden to celebrate Kendrick's and my 10th Anniversary and Taylor's 9th Birthday. The weather was much cooler than it normally is when we go, but I really enjoyed doing it at the beginning of the summer because it helps to come home from a vacation knowing that you still have a few more "vacations" in the works. We spent the majority of our time there relaxing. Well some people (those who work full time and have busy lives outside of their home) call it relaxing, I call it being plain lazy. On Saturday we literally laid around
all day long. We read, we watched a movie, we ate, we sat in the hot tub, we cooked, we talked...it was the most unproductive day I have had in a long time. Everyone else loved it and needed the break. But since I can lay around any day I want, I really wanted to go OUT and DO something. Still, it was nice to have some quality time together.
My parents and Richard and Tiana came up on Friday night. My parents ate dinner with us but Richard and T didn't get up there until nearly 9:00. After they got settled, Tiana and I stayed out in the hot tub until 1:00 in the morning and we only got out because the sprinklers came on and squirted us in the face. It was nice to spend time with Richard and T because they are social butterflies and are hard to pin down. We hadn't hung out with them for more than just a few hours since...New Years! Plus, it's always nice to have T's photography skills on hand. I didn't even bother to take my camera on this trip because I always use my phone when I take pictures now. But seeing my phone pictures next to her real camera pictures makes me wish I had taken my camera with me.
The highlights of this trip, for me, were celebrating Tay's Birthday, spending most of Sunday and all of Tuesday at the pool, Kendrick date day on our Anniversary, and us trying to extend our vacation by going to see a movie and doing some clothes shopping for me when we got home. I love Eden. I am so grateful to Jake for letting us use his house year after year. It truly does feel like OUR second home. If we had the money, I would totally invest in it because I want the Eden house to be a part of my kid's childhood for years to come.
Friday-
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| Easton and Grandpa caught in a riveting game of checkers via Easton's ruling system of- anything he says, goes |
Saturday- as you can see from these first few pictures, we get a lot of reading done in Eden...
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| Richard |
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| Kendrick |
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| Myself |
The downside is: while we read, the kids get bored. What happened to the days when kids knew how to entertain themselves?
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| Myles tried to play goldfish by himself |
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| Easton had a grand time performing bubble tricks |
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| Taylor attempted to read several times but would get easily distracted |
When our kids get bored, they start to get crazy...
Which then gets them locked out of the house by their mother
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| This picture nearly breaks my heart...except then I remember that he was being a STINKER and deserved to spend some quality time locked out of the house |
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| I told him to go run around the tree 20 times to burn off all his excess naughtiness and he wasn't having it |
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| Myles, on the other hand, ran around the tree dutifully exactly 20 times:) |
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| And then he begged to come back inside |
You would think that being locked out of the house would put an end to the craziness, but it didn't. Which then got them tied up by their Uncle...
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| Yes, we like to torture kids in my family |
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| This looks way intense but really, Jack was laughing so hard he almost peed himself |
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| Jack tied up with a netted beach toy bag. Clearly desperate times called for desperate measures on Richard's part |
On Saturday night we had a Birthday dinner for Taylor and let her open up some of her presents. My dad made some carnitas and I made veggie fajitas and a gluten free cake and we had a wonderful time celebrating Miss Tay turning 9 years old.
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| Ready to open gifts. She totally knew what she was getting being that she picked it all out online the week before, but it was still fun to see her so excited! |
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| Team Lazy Butts. I love this crew more than words can say |
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| Tay was very enthusiastic about her new skateboard. She has wanted one for MONTHS |
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| And her skate shoes. What can I say about these kicks... they remind me of something you'd find in an 80's rap video |
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| Oh, Jack |
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| The proud parents with the Birthday girl |
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| All decked out in her skate gear and ready to go |
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| Our house is sort of on a hill so we had to walk down the road a bit to where it was more flat. The roads in this neighborhood are awful and were probably not the best place for Tay to learn to ride |
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| She totally looks like a skater chic right? |
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| Love it! |
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| I have to say, Tay's gluten free Betty Crocker cake tasted WAY better than the non gluten free cake I made. Maybe I will start eating gluten free too... |
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| I think she was so excited to eat it that she forgot to make a wish |
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| Grandma and Grandpa Winter and the Birthday girl |
On Sunday, we had a big breakfast and then took a walk before saying goodbye to my parents. Then we laid around in the backyard while we waited for it to get warm enough to hit the pool. At the pool T was able to get some super cute pictures of my kids. About an hour into our pool time Kendrick and Richard got antsy and decided that 18 holes of golf were in order. So Tiana and I packed up the kids and took them back to the house for some hot tub time and then we all sat around and anxiously watched as Nik Wallenda crossed the Grand Canyon on a high wire. Oh my goodness-my palms were sweating and my stomach was doing flips-that was the craziest thing I have ever seen on live TV! When the boys got back from golfing we barbequed up some grub and enjoyed a night of yummy food, laughter and s'mores.
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| Not the most flattering angle of me... like how my hand is buried in my trail mix cup? That's how I roll-reading and eating at the same time |
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| And this is how Richard rolls-sleeping wherever he can |
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| The kids could not get enough of the hot tub on this trip. They would wake up and ask to get in it, they asked to get in it after each meal and asked to get in it before bed. I think we need a hot tub |
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| Cute Myles drying off |
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| Miss Tay being dramatic |
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| My wussy boys wouldn't let go of the floating toys and even attempt to swim |
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| Oh, surprise surprise, look who is asleep AGAIN! |
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| Tiana and I |
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| Richard and Tiana-it literally took me 15 tries to get this man to smile a decent smile for his poor cute wife |
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| LOVE this kid |
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| Our view from the lawn chairs |
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| My hot tub monkeys |
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| This would be such a cute picture of Tiana holding an array of king size chocolate bars if my daughter hadn't recently learned the very obnoxious skill of photo bombing |
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| Richard and Tay. Can I say how confusing it can be to have a Tay and a T around. I am constantly mixing them up! |
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| Jack |
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| My love |
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| two CRAZY kids |
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| Oh, and two more crazy kids;) |
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| The cute newlyweds who need to bite the bullet and "become parents already!" says Taylor |
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| Tiana and Jack |
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| Tiana and Myles |
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| It wouldn't be a vacation without a picture of Kendrick making some awful face |
Easton missed out on all our marshmallow fun because he passed out on the couch before dinner even started...
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| Looks comfy right? |
And when we came in from doing s'mores he was like this...
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| He then moved to the other sofa and then was back on the floor by about midnight and then spent the rest of the night in our bed, which made me go searching for a new place to sleep. My first stop was Jack and Myles' bed. But they were both passed out upside down with their heads hanging off their bed. So then I attempted to sleep with Taylor who spent most of the night trying to use my butt as her pillow. I finally ended up in my favorite bed downstairs-I don't know why I didn't just go there in the first place. |
On Monday Kendrick and I celebrated a decade of marital bliss by dropping the kids off at my Aunt Keri and Uncle Todd's house and then going out to lunch and doing some grown up clothes shopping. I love that Kendrick loves to shop. We were way overdue for some decent clothes and it was so nice to get out and do some shopping, explore the random city of Ogden, eat a yummy Italian lunch and enjoy some quality time together. Now this is where the pictures start looking kind of crappy...
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| I really hate this picture but Kendrick loves it so it made the blog. Check out my funky deformed arm!! Isn't that funny! And I totally have a pig nose going on here but I'll own it |
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| It was on this trip that Kendrick started styling his hair like "a grown up". After 11 years of my guy rockin' the spike, he finally started parting his hair. I like it either way really, but when it is styled like this his greys stand out more and I love that |
While we were out, the kids enjoyed splashing around in my Aunt Keri's parent's pool
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| Tay |
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| A twin, Easton, a twin, my cousin Macy and her friend |
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| We had to show off our comfy new shirts. This Glamour Kills sweatshirt ate most of my shopping budget but was so worth it. It is the softest sweatshirt on the planet! Aren't we turning into such a cute old married couple? |
On Tuesday all I wanted to do was spend the entire day at the pool. The day never warmed up beyond 80 degrees and that was kind of a bummer but I refused to not spend an entire day at the pool. I love laying by a pool. And it was entertaining to watch the other pool goers. Midway into our pool time we had a group of scantily clad overly tanned cougars come to the pool. It was a mixture of awkward and enthralling to watch these women bust out their wineglasses and gourmet cheese and sit around the pool getting sloshed. They were still laying by the pool, going strong when we left 2 hours later and I couldn't help but giggle to myself as I pictured them waking up the next morning with hangovers and sunburned butt cheeks.
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| Love this group |
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| Tay tried and tried but could not master the dive on this trip. I don't know if it's because she has gotten too big for Kendrick to throw or if it's because the pool was much more crowded and she had less room to work with or what but she was bummed that she didn't get in a good dive |
For our last night in Eden we had to get in one more "game" on the golf course. Since our house sits right across from the 16th hole, we were able to spend lots of time working on my driving and putting skills. Both of which still need a lot of work, but it was on this last night that I had the best drive yet.
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| The boys. Jack is becoming quite the serious little golfer while Myles and Easton were there more for comic relief and Tay opted to stay home and watch the Disney Channel |
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| Having a 6 year old take your picture in poor lighting makes for a very chubby looking photo-that or we ate WAY too many snacks on this trip... |
The next day we had to check out of the house early because there were renters coming that evening so we decided to hit a movie on our way home and since I still had some shopping "credit" left we went and snagged a few more clothes for me.
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| The first movie that Kendrick and I ever watched together was Monsters Inc. so we thought it fitting that we should take our family of 6 to see it 11 years later:) |
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| Our littles were so excited to see this movie and it did not disappoint. I loved Monsters University. I still like the first movie better, but this movie was awesome! |
We were reluctant to see this vacation end, it was a lot of fun and it went by WAY too fast. As the years go by, I find that after a few months I start to get "homesick" for Eden so I have a feeling that I will be ready to go back come fall...
What do you think Mom, Dad, Richard and T-should we give Eden another go in October?
July 2, 2013
I just found a few more pictures from Eden that I had to share/wanted to remember...
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| Jack drew this picture for me as an "I'm sorry" after he picked a fight with me over...I really can't remember, but it was ridiculous and he got in trouble for it |
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| The flies in Eden are huge! This bad boy was on the driveway. I remember a few years back when we got a picture of one of these in the kitchen |
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| Love these cute hairless wonders |
