Where have we been?!

On Sunday morning, my sister drove up with her two kids to St. George to meet me and I took Maddie and Hayden up to Salt Lake for the week. Michelle was graduating from seminary that night and from high school on Tuesday so we made a little summer vacation out of it! Josh and Ashley's husband Jake both had to work so it was just a couple of single moms this last week. We all stayed at my parent's house so it was full to capacity...people were sleeping everywhere. But the more the merrier they said! Seminary graduation was our test run to see how the kids would all do on Tuesday night for the big graduation. Not too bad, only had to get up twice...but I could see we would need a lot more distractions for the high school one! Monday we shopped and I actually found a swimming suit I can live with. Tuesday morning Ashley and I were so excited because after months of no hair cuts...things were getting a little scary! So we both packed up a kid and left one each with Nana and headed down to Kim's house for some much needed hair TLC. I would love to have someone wash my hair every day. It is the best part of the whole thing! I was a chicken and stayed the same color but Ashley got daring and went dark. It turned out so cute! We had just enough time to get the kids home and get them naps before we went to Spaghetti Mama's for dinner and then off to graduation that was held at the South Towne Expo Center. Almost 2 hours later and 4 tired kids later we headed home and put them to bed and continued our nightly game ritual. We always played until late and then the kids were up with the sun. So by Wednesday morning, we were two very tired Mommies. But we were so darn exiced because Wednesday was Ikea day. I had never been to an Ikea. My Mom and sister had been to the one in San Diego and they told me all about it. But it was nothing compared to what Ikea actually is. I was completely floored at how huge it was. We shopped for 3 hours. You have to see everything. And they have entire kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms set up. And the prices were amazing! I now have a huge wish list for Ikea! Thursday we thought it would be fun to take the kids and go down to Temple Square and go and see my Dad's new office at the church office building. Little did we know that Salt Lake was going to be freezing cold while we were visiting. Ashley and I had packed one pair of pants for each of the kids and had joked how we wouldn't need them. Thursday morning we had them using Michelle and Austin's sweaters and crossing our fingers that the rain would hold out long enough to let the kids see the temple. To go from 102 to 44 degrees is pretty drastic. We were shivering but we had a great time. We went up to my Dad's office and he had a great view! Not bad Dad...not bad at all! We met a few of the people he worked with and I was amazed at how quiet their work place was. Usually when you go into an office, phones are ringing, people are talking loudly and bustling from place to place but I swear I didn't even hear a phone ring. Everyone talks in a whisper and walks quietly. (Now imagine putting a 5 year old, 2-2 year olds, and a 7 month old into the equation!) Actually they were so quiet, Ashley and I were completely amazed! We stopped off at the Lion House and grabbed some of their rolls and raspberry honey butter... there is nothing better on earth! We went to the visitors centers and went up and saw the statue of Christ. And of course we saw the temple. Maddie has been dying to see the temple since we moved to St. George. We took the kids home for naps and then went swimming. They had a blast and slept so good that night. Friday we ran some errands to get ready for a party with a family we have been really good friends with since we were little. After we ran errands, Ashley and I took the kids up to the park and they played for an hour and a half and slept so good that afternoon! Saturday we got tickets to Raging Waters and spent the day playing. By 4:00 we were in the wave pool and Hayden fell asleep on my lap. It is no easy task to get out of a tube with a sleeping 2 year old! We played games that night (of course) and packed up everything so we could leave at 5:00 the next morning. Yes, I said it...5:00 AM. We figured earlier=tired and sleepy kids. This turned out to be true for all of them but Hayden. He stayed awake the entire trip. We got home at 9:00 just in time to see Daddy before he had a presidency meeting and we all went to bed. So when he came home...everyone was asleep! It was the first Sunday in years I had to drag myself to church and to nursery when I would much rather be sleeping. It was a great week. It was fun to have all of the kids together playing and to see each other...but now I need a vacation from my vacation! So we are here...we are alive...just digging out from piles of laundry!