The Bailey Family: To Utah and Back

After saving my pennies for several months, I finally went my big trip to Utah!

Just me and the kids. In the car for 10 hours, again.

Everything went really well, except that Jack threw up. He gets car sick really easy. Poor guy.

Then my sister Sarah told me there is Dramamine for children! Sheesh. I knew I would need some before heading back to Arizona.

Entering Utah!!

The kids always say "we are leaving the land of rocks for the lands of tress"

First thing we went over to the Robinson's!

And of course immediately started playing and having fun outside.

It's still so hot in Arizona!

Tiffany and I were just standing outside chatting when we look and see Avorie running along side Ella on a bike... without training wheels!

See, Ella's tried learning how to ride her bike without the training wheels, but it's never gone well. I guess this time it just clicked because after a little push from Avorie- she was off!

So thank you Avorie for teaching Ella how to finally ride a two wheeler!

Ok, well then I helped out a little too!

Thanks for taking some pictures Tiff.

Avorie and Ella

Looking a little scared and then very happy and proud! This was a HUGE accomplishment for her!
We got to stay for a while with John and Tiffany and help celebrate Alivia's 1st birthday!

It's been a year already!?

Then the kids and I drove up to Alpine to stay with our friends Lisa and Jake.

We had to get some good sleep because in the morning we had to get up and drive to Provo for Lisa's gender ultrasound!

Isn't that so nice that she planned it for while I was going to be there!?

I was sweating, so worried... we ALL wanted it to be a girl! I never even stressed about my gender ultrasounds as much!

Yippee!!!!! A GIRL!!!

Lisa's mom, Tiffany and I all screamed! The ultrasound tech said that she thought it was so nice that we were so excited for her, even thought it's her third!

We truly were! We can't wait to meet baby girl Ballard sometime the first of February!

Then we went straight to Gymboree to buy all of the cute girly things!

All the best buds together again! (and Jack, that little sneak!)

Jack and Preston get along so well. Soo much better then Ella and Paige did at the same age!

Boy... we have a lot of kids! I remember before we had ANY! Now they take up a whole bench!

Sleepy Boys

We just spent our time doing what we do best, hanging out, playing with the kids, watching our trashy reality shows and eating!

Such sweet boys! Thanks for the twin shirt Lisa!

Every free second my kids had, they wanted to be outside!

In fact one afternoon the girls were going to play upstairs in Paiges room but as they left to go Ella said she changed her mind and just wanted to go back outside. Poor Paige, she didn't understand why Ella kept wanting to play outside. We talked about how in Arizona it's always too dang hot to be outside!

My kids were seriously in heaven being outside!! They were out there until way after dark and early the next morning! Winter in Arizona can't come soon enough!

Me, Lisa and Tiff! All out to lunch at Olive Garden!

I love that we are all still the best of friends, no matter what!

This also started my BIRTHDAY fun! It seemed to last a week this year, which was awesome!

Thanks ladies!

So one of the main reason's I went to Utah was to be able to see my Mom and sister Mary as Mary was about to start her freshman year at BYU Idaho!

Any chance I have to see my family, I have to take it!

We spent the day at temple square!

My silly kids... it took a couple tries to get a "good" one

My little sister Mary. I remember when she was born. I'm getting old.

{Mom, why didn't we take a picture of you and I!?}

Mary and Mom.

That makes only 3, yes 3 children living at home! That hasn't happened since 1987!
So Mom took Mary up to school and I stayed in Utah with Lisa!

Yummy cheesecake! Although I'm not sure when I'll be able to eat any again.. there IS such a thing as too much of a good thing.

One evening Tiffany came over with the older girls and hung out and had dinner. Then Avorie stayed for a sleep over!

The girls were watching a movie when Ella ran out of the bedroom and started yelling "Avorie has blood gushing!" Sure enough, Avorie had a huge gash on her forehead! She was playing around and bonked her head on a window frame!

We had to call Tiffany and have her meet us at the hospital!

Poor Avorie!! We felt so bad... on our watch, she got hurt!

I'm glad you're all better Avorie!!

We were in Utah over Labor day and were able to join Jakes family at a house up hobble creek canyon for a day of fun!

Jakes brother in law Phil was SOOO nice! He helped Ella so much! He taught her everything she needed to know about riding a horse. At first she was really afraid, but soon got the hang of it and was bossing that horse all over!

Ella could have stayed out there all day! She loved it so much!

I never in a million years would have thought we would have been able to get Jack on a horse, but Jakes sister just walked up and put him on and he was fine!

Thanks Jake for helping him!

Ella and Paige riding together.

Right after this Jakes sister Jenny and I hopped on with the little girls and followed Phil up a long trail through the hills. It was so pretty! We had a lot of fun! Even if our saddle just about tipped us over! Ella now REALLY wants a horse for her birthday!

Then we all took a break and had some lunch. The kids played with chalk and played on all of the little bikes outside. Then Jack was getting all upset about something.

He knew what he wanted to do next!

Girls first!

While Jack waited his turn we went and played in the back yard. He started walking off into the wilderness. When calling to him he just looked at me like " What, I'm going to check things out!"

SOOOO Beautiful!

Finally Jack's turn! Soo excited!

Everyone played crocet.

If you look close, Jack's ASLEEP!

I think that he liked the ride though! He said he wants one for his birthday!

Then my Mom came back into town for a couple of days after dropping off Mary at school!

(I don't know why on earth I didn't take more pictures with MOM in them! Goodness!)

We all went out to breakfast before some fun shopping!

We all went and saw a movie

The next morning my Mom had to head back to Wisconsin. So sad. It's hard to say goodbye when you don't know the next time you'll be able to see your Mom! I hope soon!

I'm so glad we got to see you Mom! Totally worth the drive! We miss you already and can't wait to see you again soon!

Good luck at school Mary!

So.... that day was also.... my

BIRTHDAY!

Lisa and I went to one of my most favorite! Los Hermanos!

Saying goodbye. The fun couldn't last forever.... or could it!?

Lisa decided to drive down to Arizona with us!

Yeah!!!

But poor Paige had to stay at home to go to school!

The kids having their last bit of fun before going back to the heat!

Everytime I leave Utah I'm so sad. Mostly because I have to leave behind all of my friends. This time, with Lisa in the car I still found myself chocked up about having to leave Utah.

But then I got to thinking, It's where I first lived on my own, met my sweetheart, got married, had babies, owned my own home. So many great things have happend there. It's my home. Maybe someday we'll move back! ;)

All packed in!

All of the kids did so well on the drive to Arizona! We did get some medicine for Jack and I was so happy that he made it through the whole trip back without throwing up!

We drove almost all night! We tried getting a hotel half way through, but they were all booked! We had to drive another two hours to get to a hotel that had rooms availible!!

Finally back in Arizona, the first thing we did was go swimming! It was so hot!

Preston LOVED to swim! He would have stayed in the pool the whole trip if Lisa let him!

Jack loves otterpops!!

A couple of days after we got back Ella had her first day of soccer practice!
Of course the day of, Ryan see's what shoes and things I got for her and they were NOT the right things. Uh hu. Right. He had to take her back to get the RIGHT brand and everything!

Hehehehehehehehe!

Ella did so great! And look who else is out there! When the coach yelled out and asked if anyone wanted to be the assistant coach I raised my hand extatically for Ryan! There couldn't be anyone MORE perfect for the job!

It was hot, so I was happy the boys just stayed asleep in the car

The boys woke up and played on the playground. Jack wouldn't let me take his picture.

At the end the coach asked what everyone wanted the name of the team to be. (I asked Ryan what his first team was called. The Scorpions! So I ran over and whispered it in Ellas ear.) After some descussion they ended up choosing the Scorpions! Hehehehehehe! She's jersey #4!

The rest of the week Lisa and I just hung out, watched movies, ate lots of food, made lots of crafts and then ate more food! I gained 5 pounds over the two weeks we were together! No joke!