Previous Stop, UTAH

I just uploaded all the pictures on my camera and forgot that I never blogged about our trip to Utah in July!

Utah was my mom's last stop from her 2-month visit from Thailand, so we went up to say good-bye, as well as to catch a bit of a big Smedley Family reunion in Mt. Green (Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay for the big weekend-bash but we had fun seeing all of our aunts and uncles together and a handful of cousins for one day).

We spent a lot of time with Ryan and Emily and their kiddos. One fun place was Lowes Extreme Air Sports in Provo. It's a big tumbling gym that has foam pits, a climbing wall, trapeze swing . . . we took turns playing with the kids in the baby-toddler section:

 

 

 

Then we got brave and tried the swing. . . OK, it really was not a big deal but I don't now why it felt so scary getting up there and swinging off that podium!

 

 

Emily's 2nd attempt. We had to laugh at ourselves at how nervous we felt. This one was not as high as the other one, but both felt like you were about to dive off the high-dive as you climbed up there and stood at the edge. Foam-pit or not, I'm not a huge fan of free-falling or swinging like the crazy dare-devil kid I used to be. But after a couple tries, it was no big deal and was just fun! There were some amazing gymnasts at this place though, flipping and tumbling like crazy!

 

Back at the house . . .

 

Aiyana loved all the fun toys Emily has set up, and enjoyed playing with her cousins. Addie was in a love-hate relationship. She's old enough that Aiyana gets on her nerves when she's doing or saying naughty things or getting into her stuff, but she also played with her and acted like the "big cousin", such as telling her to stop saying bad words like "No" (Aiya's favorite taunting word) and feeding her yogurt! So cute. 

 

 

 

BABY. ISSUE. Aiyana did to Charlotte what Addie did to Aiyana around this age. Aiya just wanted to hug and kiss ("Muah! Muah!) all day long, which was not a great thing since she was kinda sick. She just thinks babies are the the coolest and wants to give loves all around non-stop. Hoping she grows out of SOME of it by March. (I did not take enough pics of this little chunker. She's such a chill baby!)

 

 

 

Other days, we also went hiking one day to Stewart Falls, one of MANY places I never made it to when I lived there. So much to catch up on now that I've moved. Isn't that always the case?? Other days we went to IKEA, the park, caught up with friends, ate at ZUPAS -- of course --and swimming at Veteran's Pool. Love those fast, slippery slides! Aiyana was not even scared and just had a huge grin on her face the whole way down. SHE'S my dare-devil now. She loves that stuff. (We also met up with Pat, Lynette, Pawnee and Ethan, but again, no pics. Bummer!)