Before the break...

Our first week in Utah

We have anxiously been counting down the days for our Utah trip for Lizzie's wedding. Dan's work travel fell right inbetween the weekend of the wedding so I would be able to stay out in Utah longer (16 days!) and he wouldn't need to take any vacation. Perfect! The day finally came. The kids were so excited to get on the airplane and they did great. We dropped Dan off at a hotel by the airport there in SLC since he had about 6 hours to sleep and then returned to the airport to head north to Washington for the week.

Monday March 5th Uncle Steve decided to take the day off so he and Tate could just hang out with us! Abby adores "baby Tate" and asked to play with him every day of our trip! 

 After spending the morning recouping from late travel we went to the park to enjoy the great weather.

 Abby wouldn't leave the leftover snow piles alone. She doesn't listen to a thing I say these days, so, I decided just to take her picture!

It was fun to spend the day with Mom, Steve and baby Tate (who has the cutest side smile)! 

Tuesday we spent time with Aimee in SLC. First we visited her in her element, her classroom.
We met her kindergarten kids as they were packing up for the day. Aimee bought some really fun toys that the kids could take a part and put back together...Jake was in heaven when he got his turn to drill.  We spent an hour in her classroom and then headed out to her playground.

When Abby saw this playground she was in awe! She told me it was "beautiful"! It is an amazing playground! It has a real merry-go-round, teeter-totter, huge slide, two different sized rock walls, and really fun spinning and climbing equipment. The story behind it is even better! My sister is amazing and put her heart and soul into fundraising so that the kids at JMS could actually have a playground rather than a parking lot to play in!

Of course Aimee jumped right in and played along side them! The kids raced from one fun play equipment to the next squealing with delight!

After playing hard at school we picked up dinner and spent a couple hours at Aimee's house. The kids watched a show while Mom and I helped Aimee with the wedding video for Liz and Kent. It was a really fun night.

Wednesday. The morning we flew out to Utah I found out that my young women's president from when I lived in New York had just lost her husband. Bro. Neilson was a Pediatrician in Orem. Within one week time he came down with a staff infection that led to a stroke and killed him leaving behind his wife and four young kids. What a horrible crazy tragedy! The funeral was on Wednesday morning in Orem so I attended with Mom and Dad.
Liz drove up from Albuquerque that day.

Thursday was the last day in Provo and Mom had a long list of things to be done, plus we had all the last minute fun plans with Liz. When my sweet sister Emily volunteered to watch my kids that afternoon so I could be more helpful to mom and Liz, I happily accepted. Emily has a really fun big backyard. They have a "playground" as Abby puts it, trampoline, horses, chickens, dogs, a four-wheeler and tons of room to run and play (all fenced in)! My kids LOVE to play at her house. The weather was perfect  so the kids could just play outside. I had a great time running errands and ended up back at Mom and Dads home right before dinner when Emily brought my kids came.

Ella came hurrying into the house telling me Tess got hurt and won't stop crying. Emily carried her in and I quickly found out she hurt her knee on the trampoline. She wouldn't put any weight on her leg and it was clear to me that sweet Tess wasn't being dramatic, it really hurt. I thought/hoped maybe she had bruised it or twisted her leg wrong since I couldn't see any swelling. I elevated her knee, gave her Motrin, and kept ice on it. Dad went to pick up Dan at the airport so I could stay with Tess and get her to bed. She was up that night about every 2 hours crying out in pain.

Friday morning Dan and I decided we needed to take her to the doctor before we left for Manti. We opted to try to get an appointment with a Pediatrician rather than head to the ER to try to save some money. I made the appointment and Dan took Tess, with Jacob, to see Dr. Olsen while I went with my sisters to get Lizzie's hair done. I kept in touch with Dan throughout the morning. Dr. Olsen thought it was broken. He had an x-ray done and paiged a Pediatric Radiologist from the hospital across the street to take a look at the x-ray as well. The two doctors then told Dan to take Tess back to Provo to a Sports Medicine clinic for their opinion. Poor Tess was in a lot of pain! It broke my heart! I met up with Dan at the Sports Medicine clinic and held Tess while they put a temporary cast on her for the weekend while the swelling went down.  The cast went from her toes all the way up her thigh. The doctors told us that when Tess landed from being double bounced on the trampoline her leg didn't bend and her femur and tibia knocked together. She had a hairline fracture on her tibia, just below her knee, that went up to her growth plate. We picked up a wheelchair for her and headed back to the house. I immediately left to fill her prescription for tylenol with codeine and find some skirts for her to wear for the rest of the trip.

On a lighter note; here are some pictures of Lizzie getting her hair done by a good friend of hers...

Friday, late afternoon, we drove to Manti. Following our family tradition, Mom and Dad rented a Bed & Breakfast for the family to stay in the night before the wedding. It was really nice to have some time with Lizzie and not have to get up early to drive to Manti!

First things first, pedicure time. Aimee is the pro! 

Tess and her pretty blue toes to match Aunt Liz!

And then onto the surprise Marriage Survival Kit, of course!!!
Emily put it all together and we all took turns presenting.

Emily started off by handing her a cookbook she had put together titled "The Road to Kent's Heart".

 Dad thought of giving her a calculator and Motrin for budgeting/finances.

 A candy reminder to keep the humor and laughter going...

 Two tubes of toothpaste that can be squished any which way they individually desire...

 Duck-tape to help unify them as a couple!

Band-Aids to remind them to say I'm sorry, to fix injuries quickly.

 Activity book/games to remind them to play and do date nights.

 A calendar to remind them to coordinate their schedules.
(We all had fun filling up the calendar with reminders to do FHE, date nights, send birthday gifts, save for a trip to D.C. ect.)

Lastly, Lizzie read aloud the advice Emily had collected from each of the nieces and nephews for Liz and Kent. Such as:  

"Don't kiss EVER AGAIN!" --Evan

"Cook yummy food, not rotten food, like my mom did once"--Dean

For Kent "Bring her a necklace" --Bryn

"Spoil your kids but don't have bratty kids"-- Ella

"Remember we love you" --Tess

"Buy him his cloths, because he probably will not." --Bekah

"Always have breakfast with Kent." --Elise