Family trip to Utah and some more August fun

These photos loaded kind of randomly, so we'll just go as they come.  

At the end of July, we made a quick trip to Utah for Emily's (Gordon's sister) first baby blessing.  Baby Ella was just as adorable in real life as in the photos we had seen.  We had a great time visiting with all of the Dix side of the family and the cousins had a blast together!

Once we were in Utah, we visited the Museum of Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point.  It was awesome! And by awesome, I mean - full of amazing things for the kids to do.  But, kind of crazy to keep track of your children.  I'm still amazed we didn't lose one of them.  But, the kids had fun and there were TONS of cool exhibits.  I think my favorite was this amazing climbing structure.  It went up about 3 stories and had tons of nooks and crannies for the kids to get into.  I tried following Spencer and Chloe (the kids I was in charge of) for the first bit until Natalie informed me that all of the obstacles came out at one single point at the bottom.  That was much easier, I just waited at the bottom and high-fived them each time they came down.  They were in heaven!

Gordon took Daniel duty.  Which right now, is definitely the hardest job - he is everywhere!  And they found a cool little place for toddlers that he loved exploring.  

As per tradition, when we are all together, Grandma gets a cake with everyone's names on it and we celebrate ALL of our birthdays.  Such a fun idea!

The next day, we hit the Bean Museum in Provo and the nickel arcade in Orem.  It was fun to be on BYU campus again.  It's been quite a few years since we have been back and a LOT has changed.  Many new buildings and for some reason all of the kids look like they're 12.  I'm sure it's not that we have aged .... 

Daniel loved checking out all of the cool animals there.  

After the Bean Museum and before the arcade, we hit up J-Dawgs for lunch.  It's a new hotdog stand with amazing hot dogs.  The buns are toasted and yummy and they have tons of toppings you can add-on.  I think we all loved that place. 

Most of our evenings were spent at Wray and Natalie's house in their backyard.  The adults could chat while the kids ran crazy.  They have an awesome, huge backyard with a trampoline and their neighbors have a play set that the kids could climb on.  They played every night until very late and the kids were exhausted.  It made bed time VERY easy.  :) 

Don't let this picture fool you.  Daniel had his VERY rough moments in the car on the drive there, but for the most part he did pretty well.  He has learned how to do this lovely, high pitched scream when he's upset and in the car ... holy moly - it about made me lose it.  Fortunately, he was pretty easily distracted with toys, snacks and videos.  I'm looking forward to next year when he's a bit older to travel.  1 1/2 is a hard age for a 12 hour drive.  

We were very glad to stop half way and make the 12 hour drive split in half in Winnemucca, NV.  On the way to Utah, we stayed at a Motel 6 that was less than desirable, but we wised up and stayed at a nicer place on the way back.  The kids had a great time swimming together in the pool and they both slept great the whole trip.  It made it much more fun!

I love pictures of sleeping babies.  

Lucky us! We stopped at a gas station in nowheresville Nevada and BIG FOOT was there!!!  Spencer had never seen a monster truck up close (neither had I!) and it was pretty impressive.  Now he is totally curious about monster trucks and how fast they can go and when we can go and see them race.  Ha!

Back at home, Spencer and Dad found this classic car convention going on where they saw an awesome old Mustang.  If you know Spencer, you know he is TOTALLY into cars lately.  He points out every mustang, Audi (my favorite car), ferari, BMW, Mercedes, Ford, Toyota and Lexus.  It keeps our road trips pretty animated. 

While in Utah, Grandma and Grandpa Dix gave us all gift cards for our upcoming birthdays.  Part of our money was spent on these cute little chairs for the boys on the front porch.  Spence is a little big for them already, but Daniel LOVES his and brings it inside to sit in all the time.  

Mom is a little big for the chairs too.  :) 

There is a tree about half way between our house and the closest park.  Spencer calls it his "resting spot".  He and Daniel always stop and rest there for a minute before continuing the walk.  They really are such good buddies.  We love watching them play together.  

Can you believe this crazy kid starts kindergarten next week?  I can't.  I'm excited for him, but at the same time nervous.  I know he will do great and he is a very social guy, so it will be good for him.  But, it's hard to give up so much of his day to someone else, just trusting they'll take good care of him and be kind to him.  Ugh. 

These are out of order, but from the way home from Utah.  D did much better on the way home from Utah than on the way there.  He LOVES books.  He will bring them to you, turn around and plop down on your lap.  "Ree, Ree".  So cute. 

Uncle Wray is definitely the "cool" uncle.  No offense, Taylor and Gordon, but Wray owns a landscaping company and has tons of tractors and trailers and would take the kids out on rides through the neighborhood.  Don't worry, this picture was taken when the trailer was still.  I was kind of crazy mom about them all holding on and SITTING down the whole time.  

Every night, the kids played in the backyard until dark, or after dark on the trampoline inventing all sorts of games. On our drive home, Spencer took two naps in the car - he never takes naps anymore.  He was definitely a worn out little man.

Mom and Dan on the four wheeler. 

The two pictures above are from the Museum of Curiosity.  The first is from the climbing ropes course and the second is from the little stage area where the kids could put on shows.  There were different backdrops that you could pull and different songs to put on depending what your play was about.  They had a blast.  

We all went out to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch afterward.  Except Gordon and Daniel, on the 1 mile drive from the museum to the restaurant, Daniel had crashed in the car so just spence and I ate there and D went back to the hotel with Gordon.  It was so cute to see all of the kids sitting at their own table just chatting and eating while the adults were at the table next to them.  These kids are getting  big and independent!

We couldn't forget swimming at the hotel!  Warren, Spence, Chloe, Cami and Caite are pictured here. 

And here is sweet, baby Ella.  She is adorable and such a sweet baby.  

Photo op at the Bean Museum.  All of the Dix brothers with their kiddos. 

Nickel cade fun!!

Just a little proof that baby Ella DID like Steph and I.  Even though, sometimes (okay a lot of times) she cried when we tried to hold her.  :) 

Tons of road trip pictures.  They just kept being so cute. 

Spencer loves to help Gordon anytime he pulls out a tool.  So, he has learned how to nail down any little finishing nails in the wood floors that stick up.  He found one while he was mopping for me a few weeks ago (yay for summer chores!) and went out and nailed it back down all on his own.  He's getting so big!

Spencer's buddy, Jack, invited him to Chuck E Cheese for his birthday.  It was just the two of them and Kelly spoiled them with tons of tokens and pizza.  What more could these cute boys ask for?! And Daniel had fun pretending to ride everything there.  :) 

Our friends, the Bonners, have officially moved up to Livermore.  It's only about 45 miles away, but feels much farther.  We really love them.  Hazel and Spencer are such good buddies.  We all went out to ice cream the night before they headed out.  These kids couldn't stop posing for pictures.  I love the one of Jack pouting in the corner.  He was actually happy to be in the picture like that, and smiled afterward and wanted to see it.  Ha!

"Let's dress Daddy up like Nephi!"  

We went out for dinner for Gordon's birthday and saw a Cobra mustang in the parking lot of Olive Garden.  Of course, when Spencer is NOT with us, we see his favorite car.  Excuse me, I mean "almost" his favorite car.  His absolute favorite is a black, convertible, cobra mustang.  

I know.  

Griffon and Daniel are becoming buddies. They were so cute together when we had him and Nova over to play last week.  

Daniel loves mandarin oranges and has learned how to peel them himself.  Hooray! 

This keeps him busy for a long time and keeps my fingernails clean of orange guck.  Win, win.  :) 

And ... it's super cute to see his little fingers going to work.  

Spencer starts kindergarten this coming week so we went shopping for uniforms last week.  He is going to be so super cute in them.  And I'm excited for the "choosing the outfit" process in the morning to be so quick.  

Spence loves reading to Daniel.  

Whenever Daniel will sit still long enough. 

I got my wisdom teeth out three days ago. 

This was the first day. 

And this is yesterday. 

I haven't swollen up too much yet, but the bottom right tooth has been pretty sore.  They took out all four of my teeth and the bottom two were impacted (aka, they had to cut through bone to get them out, yikes).  I wasn't totally knocked out, but had intravenous drugs to put me into "la la land" so I don't remember anything.  I kind of remember opening my eyes and feeling his hands in my mouth at the end, but I'm not sure if it was to pull something out or just to put some gauze in.  It all went smoothly and I felt so blessed to have a great doctor.  He was awesome.  And for the time being, I'm enjoying lots of popsicles, jell o and pudding.  :)