Trey turned 6! We had so much fun celebrating him. The kids love to go with dad to pick out donuts in the morning of their birthday so of course he wanted to do that. He loved opening presents. He got a lego gift card for his birthday so we went to the Lego Store too. The kids had so much fun looking around and Trey loved picking out his lego sets. Then we went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch. I’ve wanted to take Trey there for a long time because I thought he would love it. He thought it was the coolest thing! Our animal-loving boy really thought that was neat. After that, it was time for his party at FLIPnOUT. We had a blast celebrating him all day! Also, Sis. Pollock came over the next day with a special present for Trey. They sure have a sweet bond!
Picked this out with his birthday money and return money from duplicates. 
Built legos all day the day after his birthday. 
All the kids from Mrs. Buell’s class 
A few days before my birthday we didn’t have any plans, and that was fine, I don’t really need anything crazy planned but then all of a sudden we ended up with lots of plans. We had a friend give us a free hotel room at the Red Rock Hotel but had to use it on Thursday night and with that we could use the pool all day Friday. My birthday was Saturday but we couldn’t pass up a free room! We also had a gift card to Echo and Rig so we used that Thursday night. The kids went to my mom’s house and we had a fun little staycation! We haven’t done that in a very long time! Friday we enjoyed the pool for a little bit and then went and got the kids to come check it out. They stayed for a bit and then Haley and Erin came to hang out at the pool with me. After that we grabbed the husbands and went to dinner. Saturday I went to breakfast with Erin and Haley and then Kayli and I went shopping at Downtown Summerlin to shop. When we passed Claire’s I jokingly said to her that we should get her ears pierced for my birthday (she’s been terrified and has never wanted to before). She shocked me when she said she kind of wanted to but was nervous. I went right in to see if they’d do it right then and there but they didn’t have any openings that day. I called a different Claire’s and they could do it later that afternoon. I scheduled it and then we went to Beau’s hockey game which I love to do and then we went to Claire’s and Kayli actually got her ears pierced!! It was a big deal! She said it was her birthday present to me. She did awesome and she had fun picking out new earrings. And she is the best and remembers to clean her ears every day and she does it all herself! After that we went to Osaka Japanese Steakhouse with the kids and mom and dad. I had wanted to take the kids there for a long time and it was really so fun and the food was delicious! Then we came home and had cake that Kenny and the kids made for me. I didn’t really need cake and don’t always love cake but that morning Trey asked if I was making my own birthday cakes (because I make all the cakes on birthdays). I told him no I probably wouldn’t make my own cake and he said, “well then I will make you one!” I knew he got to work making a cake while I was at breakfast and he was so excited to show me when I got home. He is so thoughtful and he had help from everyone else too. It was a great, busy few days. We ended up doing so much!
Making mom a cake. 
The next week we went to Utah! We look forward to going to Utah every summer. Mom and I headed up the day that Kenny went up to young men’s camp at Great Basin National Park. We love staying with Grandma and Grandpa and listening to their stories and enjoying summer nights. The first day we were there Kayli and I went to East High up in Salt Lake where High School Musical was filmed. You can go tour the school and there are lots of cool things to see! Kayli has been dying to that for a long time and both her and I thoroughly enjoyed it! We were both giddy! It was so fun to see her experience that.
Then we went to City Creek. It was fun girl time! Mom took the other kids to the Bean Museum at BYU. Trey always asks to go there when we go to Utah.
After that we went down to Payson to meet Kayryn for bowling and ice-cream. She had a short break from work but everyone wanted to see her! My kids love her so much!
Later that day I saw that Kenny was in Ely. I asked Grandpa how close he was to Aunt Beverly, Grandpa’s sister, and he said right around the corner. I told Kenny that and he asked if he should go say hi to her. Grandpa said yes he should that Beverly would invite him, make him a smoothie, and talk to him for 3 days! Haha. We love Aunt Beverly and Kenny actually hasn’t ever met her! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her too so Kenny went over and Grandpa called Beverly to see what she was doing and make sure she was home. She was and they chatted about doctor appointments and then she said to hang on because she had company. Grandpa told her he knew it was! Haha. Joette was in town and she actually opened the door for Kenny and when he explained who he was she said she new exactly who he was and let him in and they all met and Beverly told Kenny some funny stories about her and Grandpa. I was on Facetime with Kenny seeing them and it was all pretty funny but also so cool and Grandpa got a kick out of it! I loved hearing the stories later and then Grandpa said he had stories about Beverly and told us more. It’s my favorite thing-to sit and listen to Grandma and Grandpa tell stories. They remember so much from so long ago! Kayli even recorded stories and added them to Family Search so that we’d have them forever. She likes doing Family History and this was such a good way for her to be involved!
The next day we got to see the Sagers family! They had just moved to Utah from North Carolina that week and my kids had been looking forward to this day for a long time! We have missed this family so much! It was McKay’s birthday and so we met at the splash pad to play and have cupcakes and the kids were in heaven. I loved it so much! Rachel Orr also met up with us and it was so good to see her too since she moved to Utah as well. Haley ended up going up to Logan for a play that night with her aunt and wanted to see Mindy and the kids too so we planned to surprise Mindy’s kids with that. When Haley got close to Orem we headed over to Mindy’s mom’s house and said hi again. But then McKay was so surprised when Madden showed up too! It was so fun seeing Madden, McKay, and Trey together again and so fun to visit with Mindy. We miss the Sagers family so much but are glad they are in Utah at least and we will get to see them still.
The next day was the 24th of July. We went to the Provo Rec Center for their awesome water park. Kenny was done with young men’s camp that morning so he drove to Provo and met us there at the end. We were excited to see him and take him to see Grandma and Grandpa.
That night we went to Mapleton for the fireworks show with lots of the family. The weather was great and it was so fun to hang out and eat and play games while we waited for the fireworks! It was the best fireworks show I’ve ever seen! We ran into Matt and Natalie Dixon while we were there and it was so good to catch up with them!
The next night we got together with lots of family (we missed all those who ended up sick!) and played at the park. We played Pickle Ball and Cross Net and I love playing all that with my cousins! We did lots of Sodalicious runs, played more Pickleball, watched rainstorms and played with snails afterwards, and loved spending time with friends and family.
The day we had to leave Kenny took the kids on a jeep run since he had the jeep and we never usually do in Utah.
More Utah pictures…
We headed home around 4:00 and by time we hit Nephi we hit horrible rain! I had mom in the van with me and Kenny was in the jeep a bit ahead. It got so bad you couldn’t see anything. Cars were pulled over all over the sides of the road and it was scary because just the day before we had heard about a 20 car pileup on the 15 because of a dust storm. Drivers couldn’t see and now we couldn’t see. I had to exit the freeway but then we were in flash floods and it was all so crazy and mom was actually having to talk me through it all haha. She usually hates the driving in bad weather but she was the calm one. Kenny kept calling to tell me what was ahead and it was an interesting drive home! We kept hearing about flooding ahead but we actually didn’t hit any so we were fine the rest of the way home-although nervous the entire time that we’d hit bad rain again. Also during that, I started getting preschool texts about a new preschool teacher in my stake opening up spots (long story but Sami and friends ended up not having a preschool so we were pretty excited to hear this). I knew I had to get in quick or spots would be gone. Mom had to play secretary for me the whole way home, coordinating with friends, the preschool teacher, sending payment, and all the things to secure a spot for me! It was quite the drive home!
Kenny had a blast at young men’s camp and has quite the funny jeep stories. He ended up having to go to Delta for a jeep part and the whole story was like something out of a country western movie! We were dying when he told us all about it. He hiked Wheeler Peak (which I think is the highest one of the highest points in Nevada) and cheered all the boys on and they all made it so that was pretty cool! He had a fun time driving up there alone and exploring along the way.
We had quite the rainstorm and the whole street came out to play and literally swam in the rainwaters. It was pretty funny!
We had a ward party at Crystal Palace! Maddux, Kayli’s friend showed up and I just thought it was a coincidence! I was so glad because they have been buddies since Kindergarten but now he is going to a different school and his mom has worked at our kids’ school and my kids love her and she’s always so sweet to them so we loved seeing them. Turns out Kayli invited him to come and they did! I had no idea.
Rachel and Russ gave us tickets to Cowabunga Bay and so we went with them and it was a fun way to celebrate the end of summer!
Mrs. Buell came to visit us! It’s been so fun to keep in touch with her!
We saw Jungle Cruise before school started and for Beau’s birthday:
Our kids went back to school! In-person! With masks on 🙁 I hate sending them all day in masks and all the rules that come with COVID restrictions like no playing with other classes at lunch and other rules but we are trying to be grateful that they are actually going to school this year. Beau ended up with an awesome teacher who has been so great for him. She’s super fun and does awesome projects. I’ve been super impressed with her. He likes her because she’s so nice and coaches soccer at the high school. She loves that he plays hockey. He misses Bennett this year but he has lots of friends at school so he’s been good. Trey’s teacher seems super nice and great too (both of the boys’ teachers were new to the school last year and so I didn’t know them although I had heard good things). Kayli’s teacher just passed away which is so sad. We were looking forward to having him this year and we don’t know what will happen now. Her long-term sub is a teacher Kayli knows well. She’s been at the school a long time she’s great but we don’t know if she will end up teaching the whole year or not. I’ve loved being back at the school to drop off and pick up and see everyone!
Beau turned 9! He wasn’t too excited about having to go to school on his birthday but it ended up being a good day! We went to see Jungle Cruise with the Cahills the Friday before and then on his birthday he got donuts with dad before school, opened presents, ran off to school, came home and had friends over for pizza and to play hockey all night. Those boys didn’t stop for 2 1/2 hours! It actually cooled off that night and I think the whole day turned out pretty good! It was fun celebrating our Beau Beau!
Kenny was gone most of the first week of school at a conference in Utah so it was a little exhausting here with the first week of school and activities and no dad here but he is had fun and is stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and took good care of them. He even took them for a ride in his rental Tesla! They got treats and he made them dinner and got lots of stories for Family Search. Kenny also hiked Timp with Uncle Scott and Uncle David!
Sami and I are enjoying our alone (and quiet) time during the days. We spent like 3 hours at Target the other day because why not? She was actually being good with no siblings to bother her and we had fun looking at presents for her birthday. We’ve also been to the library story time and to lunch with friends.
Letting our butterflies go! This is so fun to get caterpillars and watch them turn into chrysalises and then butterflies!
We’ll take any time we can get with the Poulsens even if it’s a 20 minute visit at a gas station as they drive through Vegas!
Sami turned 4! She was so excited for her birthday. That morning she opened presents while all the kids were still home and then got donuts with dad. Then her and I went to Claire’s where she picked out some earrings and a headband. Then she wanted to get some balloons. We got Chick-Fil-A on the way home and then had a surprise from Jake! He brought her a Crumbl birthday cookie. We went and got the kids from school and then came home for a little party. She wanted to have a few friends over for a little princess party. They wore princess dresses and did some crafts and played barbies. She was pretty cute and had such a good time. These little girls are all very sweet and it was the easiest little party with them! Then we played outside with neighbors since it was actually so nice out. We sure love our Sami girl! Can’t believe our baby is already 4.
Beau is now playing in an actual hockey league at City National Arena so it’s very Golden Knights based! He had his first game on Saturday and this is what he loves! They now play full ice, they use the penalty box, the goalies lead the team out…. they do everything like the pros! He is on the Minions team and so far it’s going good! He played so hard in his game and he did awesome. At one point he had a breakaway. When he was about to shoot he got tripped by the goalie which meant he got his own one-on-one (only him and the goalie on the ice)! He missed the shot but man it was pretty cool! He is really into it and it’s so fun to watch him play!
A few more pictures:
Found these on my phone. 
Trey writing a letter to Mrs. Buell 
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