The Wales Family

A long time ago in a land far far away… well, actually just last month in July in a land 3 hours away…

there was a beautiful queen who traveled with her King and their beautiful young princess to meet their long lost loved ones… that is some of our favorite people in the world, Tammy, Jimmy, and Emily, were vacationing in Florida and came up to Atlanta to see us…The group met with much anticipation and excitement, for they missed each other dearly… (we met them at the hotel and hung out there while troubleshooting a way to print our tickets on the hotel’s computer and stealing tiny ketchup bottles from room service - okay, not really on that last one)…
After their warm greeting the King declared they should travel across the valley of Atlanta to an exciting Kingdom under six flags (we went to six flags together)…

The princess, Jaycee, was very happy to learn she would be receiving a pass to the kingdom (she’s always wanted a card with her picture on it) This pass would allow her to visit the kingdom with her family again later…
Meanwhile, the weather was looking unpredictable, but the group forged on in hopes of having a beautiful day together…
While visiting the kingdom under six flags our group was met by many strange characters…
And the young princesses enjoyed many fantastical rides including the swings…
And the big-rigs in a train… (the girls are in the “cab”)

(Craig really liked this one too as you can see… HONK, HONK!) And Princess Rylee waved to the commoners from her royal semi…
More strange characters from the land under six flags decided to put on a performance in honor of the King and his royal family visiting…

Here you can see some member of the royal family sitting amongst the commoners to enjoy the performance…

Even Queen Tammy enjoyed soaring through the sky with Princess Jaycee in the flying ships. Ships flying? Why, of course, all you need is a little pixie dust and some happy thoughts…

Speaking of flying, Princess Jaycee also enjoyed the airplane ride…
After separately for a while to allow the “grown-ups” to see some of the larger attractions of the Kingdom, the royal family re-grouped for a nice drive through the country…

Unfortunately there are some bad drivers in the family, and some were taken to the local jail…

Not to worry though. Even in the depths of the dungeon, Princess Rylee maintained her happy spirits and eventually saved the day by helping the rest of the royal family escape…

Although the day ended with bursts of thunder and lightning (not to mention the downpour), all in all it was a pleasant day of enjoying attractions of the land under six flags and the company of long-lost family. And they all lived happily ever after….

THE END

So what do Jaycee and Rylee do while I’m working? Most of time I have my amazing babysitter, Krista, to entertain them (although sadly I will loose her next week when school starts… and hands OFF everyone, she is mine. haha), but sometimes I have to try to work and watch the girls at the same time. Yesterday they decided to use one of their entertaining techniques while mom was busy… we often get delivery boxes on the porch that are oh so fun to play in, but this one really made me laugh because the box was so tiny and yet they both took turns sitting it in while the other one pushed them around the house. It lasted for about 30 minutes but then sadly the box broke.

And I finally got our Family & Friends magnets ready for the refridgerator. The kids are having a blast playing with them and I think it is a great way for them to remember everyone who lives so far away. I’m missing a lot of you, so if you don’t see yourself below then get me a full-length picuter of yourself.

We did so many many things while we were in Utah. It was nonstop every day with lots of activities for the kids and lots of visiting family and friends. We stayed on the go all day and all night long and me and the kids are exhausted from it! I missed getting a lot of pictures, but here are some of the things we did during the rest of our trip:

The Treehouse Children’s Museum with Grandpa:

The girls thought the giant tree was so much fun. Rylee had a blast just going up and down the stairs. What cracked me up here is that the girls didn’t spend long with a lot the the exhibits, but Jaycee just wanted to color at every little coloring station and Rylee wanted to walk the staircases - they can do these things at home for a lot less $$ but they had such a great time. If anyone in Utah is going I recommend going during “toddler time” if you have little ones so you can get the much discounted admission, or buy a family pass if you are close by.
PLAYING WITH COUSINS:

On our “down day” we stayed at Grandpa & Grandma House’s house for most of the day and played with Brianna and Brooklyn (oh, and their mom, Janette too!) The girls had fun in the kiddy-pool for a little while. My favorite part was having Garcia’s for dinner. I have so been missing the ultimate nachos and chicken tortilla soup. Yummy!!! And Janette is officially my favorite sister for the day because she brought me eclairs from Schmidts! So totally addicting, between them and the nachos I think I gained 10 pounds that night. haha! THE DINOSAUR PARK!

We used to live right next to this park in Ogden so it was fun going back again. We had quite a big group that came and it was a lot of fun. this park has a lot of dinosaur statues both inside and out and a fun playground, along with a dig spot and gold panning area (which were both closed when we went). It was a fun trip, but really hot outside that day. ugh!

Here the girls are all yelling “aaaaah!” because the T-rex is after them! The kids all had fun with the photo opps…

I thought this was cute… Rylee was on the swing forever as usual with her cousin Gentry by her side. While they were swinging she started pretending she was a butterfly…

Here are my cute nieces, Natalee, Megan, and Madelyn. They are all really cute with the little ones, Jaycee and Rylee have so much fun with them.

THE MAYAN & A BAPTISM

Last Saturday we went to the Mayan for lunch with my sisters Juli and Janette and their kids, plus Natalee and Megan. It is a fun restaurant with okay food and fun atmosphere & entertainment. The divers are fun to watch. Although the food isn’t fabulous, it isn’t bad, and it’s fun, so totally worth going.

Here is all of the kids in front of the restaurant.

After the Mayan we headed to Alpine for my niece Danielle’s baptism. It was so nice to be able to a family baptism since I have missed so many of them being far away. Danielle looked so grown up and beautiful, and the food afterward was awesome.

GOOD FRIENDS…
Jaycee and her cousin Brianna are only 10 days apart in age and they have always been good friends, but it was so much fun watching them together and watching them become even closer while we were out in Utah spending time with them. Brooklyn is Brianna’s sister and she is just a few months younger than Rylee, and they became really good friends too! It makes for a really fun group of little girls. I feel really lucky to have such a great family with close friends for our girls.
LAST NIGHT IN UTAH - PIZZA PARTY
On our last night in Utah we had a pizza party with the Wales family. I love Craig’s family so it was great to get together with them one last time before we left. I’ve been missing all of the fun family get-togethers in Tammy’s backyard. They are always so much fun.

Notice Tammy’s broken foot in the background… she broke it right before the party. Poor Tammy! I hope it feels better soon.

Earlier that day I spent time with my good friend Jenn and her adorable 2-year-old twin boys. I missed getting pictures though, darn it! We had a blast playing with Jackson and Josh and it was so good to hang out with Jenn, and I loved how little Jackson called me “JaNae-Nae”.