Weekend Getaway

The weekend of our anniversary, Jason and I sent Carson and Brooklyn to stay with my sisters and we headed down to Salt Lake. Morgan came along with us because she is just so cute - oh, and she is nursing. :) On our way we drove up to the Bountiful Temple where we were married 6 years earlier. It was fun to go back to the temple, especially on our anniversary.

We had a great time in Salt Lake. We were able to go out to dinner some friends of ours and relax. I was also able to go to a conference that I had really looked forward to attending. I was able to meet some of my favorite bloggers (Tara from Dating Divas and Six Sisters) and spend time with my good friend, Chelsey. I have an amazing husband who is so supportive of everything I want to do.

The weekend flew by and we were anxious to get home to our kiddos. Poor Brooklyn and Carson really missed us (as evident from our Skype call below). I think its important to get away every once in a while and focus on being a couple. Having a healthy marriage is important! :) That being said, I always miss my babies terribly.

Thanks for the great weekend, Jason! Love you!

General Conference Weekend

We thought it would be a great idea to go down to General Conference this fall. We wanted to visit Jason's parents and grandparents and take a break from school and Idaho. :) We also wanted to look for a van while we were in Utah. With our third baby on the way we felt it would be so much easier, especially since all 3 of my kids are in car seats. Grandpa Hileman was able to get us tickets to the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference. We left the kids with a YW from their ward and had a great time. The session was amazing and I left uplifted and inspired.

We were also able to find a van for our family. We did lots of research and decided to get a Honda Odyssey. We knew what our price range was and had a list of vans to look at while we were there. We went to a ton of dealerships and couldn't find anything that we felt right about. We decided to go to one final dealership and the moment we saw this van we knew it was the one for us. It was in our price range, had everything we wanted and way more, had fewer miles than we were hoping for, and it was in great shape. We are super happy. I never thought I would be as happy about having a mini van as I am. :) It also gets great gas mileage and the kids love it. 

We had a great weekend and enjoyed spending time with family, listening to our inspired leaders, and getting away as a family. I've also loved going through the Conference talks in the Ensign. I ordered the Conference Notebook from the redheadedhostess.com and I love it! If you are looking for a great way to study General Conference I would recommend it.

Salt Lake Convention 2013

In early May, Jason went to the Melaleuca convention in Salt Lake. Since he was hosting a table at the banquet, I had to attend with him. Carly and the kids and I packed up our bags and headed down for the weekend! We stayed in a hotel with a swimming pool and had lots of fun. We ate at In-N-Out, walked around IKEA, shopped at the mall, bought lots of yummy treats at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, talked around Temple Square with the pretty tulips, and pretty much partied all day. That night I went to banquet with Jason and got to watch him walk across the stage during the management introductions. He did a great job and I am so proud of him. He is doing so well at work and has gained the respect of a lot of the upper management.

Salt Lake Trip

 My brother, Zach, got a job in Washington as a State Trooper, and had a 2 weeks notice to move up there. My mom was coming up for her Spring Break and Ashley was already headed down for a wedding, so Carly and I decided to join in on the fun and go to Salt Lake for the weekend as well. My dad was able to come up for the weekend and we managed to get him a cheap flight back to Farmington. Jason was the only one not able to come because of homework. Let me tell ya, traveling as a single mom = no fun. Luckily I had my family there to help me and Carly and Will rode down with me, but it is still exhausting. I was glad to be home at the end of the weekend.

We started off the weekend with a little bit of Joe's Crab Shack. It's kinda turned into a tradition of ours to go with Zach and Haleigh when we are down in SLC. It was a little different not having Jason there to crack my crab for me.... A guy that worked there made the kids balloons, which was great entertainment. Carson got an airplane and Brooklyn got a flower. She tried to eat hers. Silly girl.

 We made sure to get a hotel that had a swimming pool so we could take the kids swimming. They had a BLAST!! Brooklyn loved the water! I was a little surprised because Carson hated swimming at her age. He would cling on with a death grip and be on the verge of tears the entire time. Not Brooklyn! She was a pro! Carson even had a lot of fun this time. I still can't get him to jump into the pool, but we are working on that. He starts swimming lessons next month. :)

We spent a lot of the day on Saturday at the City Creek Mall. Carson loves the water fountains there and wanted to watch them for quite a while. He has the best facial expressions. You can tell what he is thinking the entire time. It is fun to sit back and watch him sometimes.

Loading up the car with Papa. He got to ride on the luggage cart. He thought it was awesome!

My kiddos love their Papa! Probably because he shares his soda with them. :)

 By the time we went home, Carson and Brooklyn were both spent. They both fell asleep as soon as we left SLC and didn't wake up until outside Pocatello. Carson's stick from his chocolate dipped marshmellow stayed in his hand the entire trip.

Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving we had originally planned to drive to Colorado Springs to spend the holiday with Jason's parents. Jason only had Wednesday-Sunday off from work and since it is at least a 12 hour drive, we decided to drive through the night on Tuesday so we would have plenty of time to spend with Jay and Leslie. Jason's parents, however, were a little leery of our plan and with Brooklyn being sick we all decided to meet in Utah for Thanksgiving! We had a great time.

Brooklyn and Grandpa Jay

Daddy and Carson talking to Aunt Emily on Skype

Great-Grandma Hileman and Brooklyn

Brooklyn and Grandma Leslie

We had a great Thanksgiving feast and did some shopping on Black Friday. We got to spend some much needed time with Jason's Grandparents and even played a game of Ticket to Ride (Grandma won - wink, wink). We ventured to downtown SLC and spent a little time at City Creek Mall and then went to Temple Square to look at the Christmas lights. Carson was in awe with the water fountains and the lights. He thought it was so cool! I love Temple Square, but when you add Christmas lights it becomes a new kind of amazing. The Nativity in the center of the reflection pool was beautiful and watching the kids take in the awe of the lights was so fun.

It was also Grandpa Hileman's birthday while we were there so we stopped and got him a cake and sang to him. Carson loves to sing "Happy Birthday" and Grandpa even let him help blow out the candles.

It was fun for the kids to get to spend time with their grandparents and great-grandparents. Carson went to the park with Jay and Leslie, and we spent lots of time playing with blocks.

On our way home, we stopped and spent some time with Zach and Haleigh. We went to see "Wreck it Ralph" with Haleigh and walked around the mall. We rode Trax down to the Gateway Mall, which Carson thought was AMAZING. He thought it was so cool that we got to ride the train, not just watch it. Haleigh had to go to work so we went to eat with Zach at Joe's Crab Shack. It's tradition!

 

We had a great Thanksgiving week and have so much to be grateful for.