Summer of 2010

WHAT A SUMMER!  Talk about packing a million things in!  Noelle was born at the end of June and then 3 weeks later my mom and sister, Kenna, came down to Texas for a week.  We celebrated Molly's 2nd birthday and then we jumped in the car and headed up to Montana.  Matt had to stay home since he just started his new job at Wells Fargo.

THE DRIVE

The drive from San Antonio to Glendive, Montana is about 1600 miles.  That translates into one motel room, a few naps, several...no...many movies in the car and snacks, snacks and more snacks!  Noelle did amazing only crying a tiny bit and Kylie and Megan were awesome.  Molly was...well...she needs improvement when it comes to traveling!  She did not enjoy the drive and wanted to sit in the front, then the back and she wanted food the whole time.  When she got the food, chips, sandwiches, suckers, anything, she would throw it at Kylie and Megan and she thought that was so funny!  Surprisingly we made the drive in only 2 days thanks to Kenna's help driving (and we only had one near death experience...hahaha).  Here are our traveling girls!

Yep, I know...taking pictures of crazy Kenna...maybe not the best idea, however, this was not our near death experience.  :)  Love you Kenna!

Such a good little traveler.  What an angel!  I was worried how she would do with her tender little tummy, but I was pleasantly surprised.

AT GRANDMA'S HOUSE

We were so glad to finally pull into Grandma and Grandpa's driveway where we were met with hugs and kisses.  We rushed the tired kids off to bed and Molly insisted on sleeping in the bed with me.  She was not too sure about the crib.  I think she thought I was going to drop her and run.  As long as I let her sleep in my bed she went to sleep and stayed there with no problems.

My sister, Carli, came up for a few days and brought her adorable girls.  Hannah wanted to sleep with Kylie and Megan in their bed.  Here are the little slumber partiers...although it only lasted about 30 minutes and then Hannah went to her mom's room!  :)  Cute picture though!

Occasionally I would lose my little baby.  I would often find her curled up with Kenzie while she was watching TV.  Thanks for all the help, Kenz.  I love my sisters!

Noelle was getting so strong.  She would hold her little head up and it made Grandpa giggle.

Have I mentioned that I love my sisters?

This is the first time I got Noelle's smile on camera.  Kenzie and I were sitting her up against the back of the couch getting her to smile and she kept falling to the side.  It was adorable and we thought it was pretty funny especially since it looks like she was laughing along with us.

My sweet little baby at 6 weeks.

10 YEAR CLASS REUNION

I can't believe that 10 years have gone by since I graduated from high school.  It was so convenient that my class reunion was just a week before my brother's wedding.  I really enjoyed getting together with all my classmates and seeing where life has taken everyone.  I was so lucky in school to have a strong group of friends that made high school fun and it was easy to make good choices!  Only a portion of our group was there but it was wonderful to reconnect with them.  It is crazy to see everyone with spouses and children but so good!  I only wish Matt could have been there.  The last day of the reunion we had a picnic and everyone brought their families (this photo was taken there).

Eric, Celeste, Kristin (with baby Lucy), Jessie, Susan (pregnant), Stephen (my locker buddy and trading card partner), Denae and Kevin Pena with their little guy.

THE FIRE PIT

Out on the back patio Kenna has a firepit for all her gatherings.  It was so much fun to go out at night and sit around the fire making S'mores and talking.  The big girls loved it.  The weather was gorgeous up there and the temperature cooled off at night so it was pleasant sitting around the fire.

Molly hated the fire.  It terrified her!  She came out this night but stayed inside every other time we did a fire.

My dad baptized a man in Australia on his mission and he came to Glendive with his family while we were there.  His daughter, Sydney, just turned 8 and she and Kylie had so much fun together all weekend.

There is Molly keeping her distance from the fire!

RANDOM PICTURES FROM GRANDMA'S HOUSE

I love my mom so much.  She is my best friend!  I am so glad I was able to go and spend a month with her.

This makes me laugh so hard!  Molly was "helping" Grandma do the laundry.  She would only take the underwear out of the dryer and she wanted to wear them all.  It was so funny.  She wore them around for about 20 minutes before she would take them off.

CALEB AND SARAH'S WEDDING

My not-so-little brother got married to Sarah on the 14th of August.  They were sealed in the Mount Timpanogos temple at 8 am.  That was a little early for the kiddos but it was so lovely to be there.  The sealing was amazing and Caleb and Sarah are so happy.  We snapped a couple pictures outside the temple while we were waiting for them to come out.

All the kids rushed Caleb after they came out.

This is while we were taking pictures and the kids were soooo not happy!  Everyone was tired and hungry.  Luckily we were almost done.

My mom really wanted a picture of all her grandkids together.  Things didn't go like we had hoped and it was rather difficult to get the three 2-year-olds to sit for a minute for the picture.  This is the best one I got that had everyone in it.  :)

At the reception there was a dance floor with a mirror close.  The kids loved dancing in front of the mirror, including my Megan.

Katelyn and Kylie

After the Utah reception we drove back up to Montana for the reception up there.  It was beautiful and here is a picture of Grandpa dancing with Molly and Evie.

Congratulations Caleb and Sarah!  I am so happy to have a new sister-in-law and look forward to the many memories we will make in the future!

GOING HOME

After being gone for a month we headed back to Texas.  The girls were anxious to get home and start school.

Goodbye Montana

This was the funniest sign.  Apparently there are speeding problems here on this road but not when we went through.  There was an accident that caused slow traffic but Matt and I thought it was so funny that the speed limit was 55 and we were only going 5...hahaha!  I think this was somewhere in Colorado.

The last few snapshots in the car...we were only an hour or so away!  Anxious to be out of the car!  Silly Megan and sleepy Molly.

Still friends after about 5000 miles of driving!

Still smiling...and being silly.

What a wonderful summer trip full of family, friends and fun!