We were busy in Utah

The girls and I had a special date with Grandpa to Taco Bell (of course), Temple Square, and the church history children's hands-on exhibit.
Sydney and Grandpa developed a special bond, I loved witnessing their connection. Every day Syd ran up to Grandpa when he came home from work.

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Grandma is the best! She is full of energy and always has a bag full of tricks, stories, dances, etc. The girls love their Grandma and she was so quick to take the girls so I could go for a run, or just take a break.

Sydney did this in a couple different houses. We're those great guests!

Leah and Paige are deathly afraid of dogs- like ridiculously afraid. The first day we were there, we took a whole afternoon to train them to like Maggie. They made phenomenal progress and have continued to enjoy being around dogs- for the most part.
Oh, and here is their Mickey Mouse snow man. Sadly, it melted by the end of the day.

I love being on vacation but it isn't always easy with three completely under slept kids. One Sunday, all three girls were crying at church so my Dad just took them home, the third hour so I could enjoy Relief Society in peace. Seriously, being around family is so nice. We came home to a Link-in-logs fort and happy girls.

This is the only picture I took but we got to hang out with our old New York friends, the Brenchley's. We miss them a ton, it was so fun to catch up.


I took the girls to BYU to see Lizzy and to show girls BYU, since they are always chanting it I figured they should see it. Liz treated us to lunch in the new awesome canon center. I think we tried everything. Man, I would have gained so much weight if the canon center were that good when I was in the dorms. And of course, my little Paigey girl threw a fit in the middle of the cafeteria, kicking, screaming, the works. She's just a peach. We loved seeing Lizzie's dorm and even got to walk her up to meet a date. I'm sure she loved that I insisted on going.

I went to Provo multiple times and even stayed with Liz in the dorms...good times. The day I was there, President Monson spoke at the devotional. Seriously, BYU is such a great place. I was going crazy with nostalgia, I love it there!

I sure adore these fun gals!

For some reason, I was really bad at taking pictures the rest of the time, more highlights were:

• Staying at Dave & Les's new house and getting to know all the cousins better. When we left, Leah said, "she is soo nice mom!"
• Epic mountain bike ride in the snow with Bryant
• Staying with the Youngs, running with Debbie in "her mountains" and going to the temple with Debbie. So fun to watch her freak out when she'd see a group of missionaries (her son just entered the MTC)
• Dinner with in-laws. Great Thai food (or raw chicken for a few others) and the traditional Coney's custard. Thanks to the nieces for babysitting!
  
• Multiple lunches with Grannie Rae and Grandma
• Helping Dodee and Papa (my grandparents) put up some Christmas lights- we're talking Griswald christmas decor! Followed by lunch with Dodee and Lori.
  
• Meeting up with old college friends, Gillian, Andy, and Amelia
• Temple with my parents
• Watching TV- I know this is a lame highlight but we don't have any TV so I was ridiculously glued.
• Dates with me and each of my girls. I try to do this whenever my mom is around, it's so fun to spend one-on-one time with my girls, we never get to do that.
  
• Hanging out with my sister MoMo- love that crazy girl.
• One of my favorite things was that Leah got to spend some time alone with Grannie Rae, so precious!
  

Basically, it was a blast! By the time we had to leave, we were tired but so grateful for every second we got to spend with family. A big thanks goes out to Mariam and my parents for watching my kids so much, it was all so needed and appreciated.