Farewells

This past week, we have said a lot of "goodbyes." After a wonderful Summer, we left our family and friends and headed back to the midwest. Less than 24 hours later, I drove Colby to the airport and said the hardest "goodbye" of all. For the past 3 1/2 years I have been (apprehensively) waiting for this day to come. Colby's fourth year of school is now in full swing and as part of his last year of formal education, he is required to do a lot of traveling. This means that I am currently living in Iowa with the kiddos while he is over 1,000 miles away enjoying mama Frost's pot roast and laundry service. He has been gone for three days and we are already missing him like crazy. I would like to say that I am coping like a champ but I'm not going to lie; I cried my eyes out at the airport, I spent the last two nights watching chick flicks and going through boxes of dating/wedding pictures and I have spent an inordinate amount of time surfing the Internet. I have had many people tell me that this will be worth it- all I can say is, "I hope so!" The good news is, I have these cute little kiddos to brighten my days and GREAT memories of all the time we spent with family this Summer.

Those are my boys: always super creative!

I love this cute little face.

Ice cream and Goodbyes with Grandma and Grandpa Stewart.

I love these girls! Our last Girl's Night Out of the Summer.

Grandma Stewart and Abbi on the carousel at the zoo.

Temple night with the Frost family.

Oquirrh mountain temple open house.

Kenecott Copper mines with Grandpa Stewart.

Cousin Time!

One of the best parts of the being in Utah for the Summer was being able to spend LOTS of time with cousins.

Carter and Megan.

This picture cracks me up! Could it get any worse?

Abbi got to meet Henry for the first time,

and had lots of fun playing with Barrick.

We had much better luck getting a picture with the Stewart cousins.

Salamanders

When I asked the boys what their favorite part of our visit to Utah was, they both replied, "finding salamaders." Our last week in Utah, the boys spent a lot of time in Grandma's window well, they found a grand total of 5 salamaders and 3 frogs. These little creatures kept them entertained all day, for about 3 days straight.

Showing their little "pets" to Abbi and Colby.

These little critters got a lot of love!

Although we had a great time on our trip, I was very excited to see the beautiful midwestern landscape. We had a hard time saying our farewells, but it's good to be home.

Campaigning for votes

By suggestion of Colby's mom (and being persuaded by the cash and diaper prize), I entered Abbi in the Standard Examiner's "cutest baby contest." Obviously, I think Abbi is about the cutest baby ever (I think most moms think that their kids are). Look at this little face, I mean- what could be cuter?

You can check out the contest at www.standard.net/live/babycontest or text your vote to (801) 513-8855 (text Baby 57).

An abundance of family fun

The last couple of months, we have been living in Utah while Colby does a rotation with the residency here. We have both been keeping very busy (my excuse for not blogging in 3 weeks!) and when Colb is not at the hospital, we have been able to fit in some "fun time" with our families. Here are the highlights of the Summer, including way too many pictures, but like they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words," right??

RSL game

Colby and I were able to go to a Real Salt Lake game in the new Rio Tinto stadium, it was a great game and they even had fireworks at the end! Thanks to our cute niece, Brianna, we were even able to leave the kids (this was the FIRST time we have left Abbi to go out on a date and it was GREAT not to have to wrestle her during the game!)

Dan and Marcie joined us on our hot date, and Marcie and I were "lucky" enough to be asked to participate in the halftime show. Don't ask what we had to do (all I'm going to say is it involved dressing up like giant buckets of KFC chicken and we did NOT win an ipod.)

The stadium was awesome!

Four-Wheeling

Grandpa Frost took us four-wheeling up in Mountain Green. It was a beautiful view, a beautiful day and the boys had a blast.

We sure miss these Utah mountains when we are in Iowa!

I thought I was a great driver, especially considering that my last experience driving a four wheeler was traumatic (it had something to do with running over my homecoming date). Carter later let it slip that daddy thought I drove "as slow as a turtle." (really, I was worried about the safety of my young child.)

Boating

We spent one Saturday boating with Grandpa Stewart and "the cousins." Despite some bad luck and a dead battery, we had a great time. A bonus on the trip was my brother, Daniel practicing his photography. He got some great pictures of the kids. Now if only we could get Grandpa and Colby to stop working we could go again!

Carter clearly enjoyed himself.

Our cute little Abbers.

Bowling

Another fun Stewart family event that was captured by Daniel was bowling. We had a great time, and got some sweet pictures (a few of which I think belong in Bowler's magazine).

Like this one.

And this one (I mean, look at that form)

Abbi loved the hand dryers.

Cart insisted on bowling without the kid assisting device (not really sure what that thing is called) and he actually did a decent job.

Ammon even got a strike!

And how could you not get a strike with this great technique?

Happy Fourth of July!

We were excited to be in Utah on the Fourth this year, that means getting to attend the annual Frost family Independence day breakfast. The food did not disappoint, the weather cooperated and the kids looked adorable in their matching red, white and blue attire.

Our boys love their cousins.

Abbi and her cute little cousin Hazel had matching rompers.

Abbi and daddy.

Our family (complete with stuffed souvenirs from the zoo).

Mutton Bustin'

For me, this was the highlight of the Summer. Grandpa Stewart (who I have to add grew up on a farm in Benjamin and graduated from Spanish Fork high) suggested that the boys participate in Mutton bustin' in the Draper days rodeo. The boys seemed excited about it, so we put on their bike helmets and headed to the rodeo. Prior to the Mutton Bustin' event, Colb told the boys, "whatever you do, just don't let go, just hold on really tight." This turned out to be a mistake. Who knew that Carter would take this to heart and hold on after he got bucked off the Mutton? He ended up being dragged, stepped on and covered in dirt.

Carter "before."

Ammon getting ready to ride.

Carter "during."

Carter "after."

Before you think that I'm a bad mom for letting my four year old participate in this- it was totally consensual and (after he got the dirt rinsed out of his mouth) he said it was "awesome." He even bragged about it to his cousins. (I actually have video of this, if I ever get it to download you can all see how "awesome" it was.) If you have actual made it this far, I commend you for your faithful support of our blog- now leave me a comment so I know someone is actual still reading this thing!

Sunny St.George, Utah

This year the kids and I were lucky enough to go on the annual Frost family St.George trip. (Unfortunately, poor Colby was too busy, as he puts it, "saving lives and becoming a Master," and couldn't come with us). It was beautiful, warm weather and we had a blast! Here are the highlights (in no particular order)...

Visiting the beautiful St.George temple.

Chelsey, Susan and I went to the Tuachan outdoor theater to see Annie- it was wonderful! (Thanks Ron for watching the kids.)

We spent lots of time swimming in the pool at the condos and soaking up plenty of sunshine.

Crystal, Ammon and Carter rowing at Sand Hollow reservoir.

The raft was also a great place to put Abbi to keep her from eating the sand.

We spent one day in Vegas visiting Jared and Carolee's home. Carolee even got a babysitter for us and we hit a spectacular buffet.

The highlight of Vegas for the boys was this fun splash pad.

Carolee and I took the kids to the Wildlife museum, where we saw lots of cool animals.

The boys even got to use their own binoculars.

It wouldn't have been a Frost family trip to St.George without a visit to Lake Mead. The boys took Grandpa on a lizard hunt (but the little buggers were so fast they didn't catch any),

Abbi had her first boating experience, and she did great!

The kids had a great time swimming and playing on the beach,

we had great water for waterskiing,

and lots of fun playing with cousins.

We got to spend most of the trip carpooling with Crystal and baby Hazel, and these two little baby girls were angels (well, most of the time!)

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the fun trip! We hope next time Colby can come with us (we missed you babe!)