Two less lonely people in the world...

Last week (as I was missing my husband and dreading the weekend alone), I got a message from my friend Celeste that she wanted to come to Iowa to visit. I was so excited I called her immediately and we started planning. Her husband was also away on rotations and we both wanted some company. She is amazing and braved the 10 hour drive here from Michigan, with 3 kids- including a 7 week old baby. WOW! She totally made my week. Make that my whole month. We had a blast. It had been over a year since I had seen Celeste and her kids, back then we spent nearly every day either running together...

or working together. We had some great times!

This weekend was no exception. Still more great times.

We were so excited to meet little Maddilyn. She has the cutest little face and the best hair! Abbi was especially interested in her and kept crawling over to check her out. Sadly, cute little Maddi made Abbi look like a toddler.

The boys were also sooo excited to see their buddy Cannon. They spent the whole weekend playing with legos and transformers and we hardly heard from them. The older boys stayed up chit chatting until late into the night and somehow weren't even grumpy the next day.

They even included Karlee in the sleepover festivities, and she was such an angel!

We revisited some of our old "stomping grounds" like the Neil Smith trail. Hauling six kids on bikes wasn't quite as relaxing as running the trail used to be, but it was fun all the same.

We also had to hit Panera bread and take it to Dewey park for a picnic.

Somehow I don't have photo documentation of it, but one of the highlights of the weekend was getting a babysitter and going to dinner and shopping.

The weekend wouldn't have been complete without meeting up with some of the old Chapelridge crew. We met up with Megan and Lisa and their kids for an afternoon at the park. As far as parks go, it doesn't get much better than Raccoon River.

What a crew! The kids (minus Logan and Maddi) stopped playing for a minute to have a snack.

We spent all afternoon playing at the park, playing in the sand,

and swimming in the river.

We ended the weekend with a pizza party and (of course) the kids ended up hunting for (and catching) frogs in their pajamas.

This wasn't really part of the festivities, but I had to throw this picture in here because I am certain that I have about the cutest baby in the world and I wanted to share it with all of you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Celeste, Cannon, Karlee and Maddi. We had so much fun visiting with you guys. We had such a good time that Celeste has convinced me to drive to Michigan in November for a visit. (She is going to hold my husband captive as collateral!) We can't wait to see you guys again.

Firsts!

We have had a lot of FIRSTS at our house lately. Today was Ammon and Carter's FIRST day of school.

Ammon started FIRST grade,

and Carter started four-year old preschool. It was the FIRST time the boys got to play together at recess.

This week Carter also had his FIRST soccer practice.

Today was also the FIRST time I took all three kids to the doctor for check-ups at the same time. (This was also the LAST time I attempt to do that!)

Little Miss Abbi is growing like a little weed, at 9 months here are her stats:

Weight: 21 lbs. 6 oz (75th percentile)

Height: 30 inches (97th percentile)

Unless she gets her mom's hand-eye coordination, we could have a little basketball player on our hands!

This week, Abbi got to visit Gray's Lake for the FIRST time,

It was also the FIRST time she stood on her own,

and sadly, the FIRST time she skinned her knee.

And last but not least, this was the FIRST week that Colby was away on rotations....

and we survived!! Hurray!

Whew, all this excitement is wearing me out!

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!