Much to celebrate

It was a busy week of celebrations last week and I can say SUCCESS on all of it!

Chris and I did get away for our anniversary and it was soooo great! We went to Park City and enjoyed some much needed, much enjoyed alone time! I love our kids so much, but nothing rejuvenates me like quality time with Chris! And a HUGE thank you to my mom for coming to stay with the girls for us (grandpa would have loved to join them, but he was in Cali at a funeral)! I didn't worry one second about the kids while we were gone and that is a vacation in and of itself! I know they had such a FUN, FUN time with grandma and I'm so grateful for the relationship they have with her!

Back to our getaway...it was fabulous! It had been a really long time since we had been to Park City and I love the beautiful places our state has to offer -- which means you don't have to travel too far! We even enjoyed the drive -- the chance for uninterrupted talking and hand-holding! We first went to Deer Valley to the Stein Eriksen Lodge. We walked around and enjoyed the beautiful scenery there -- views in every direction! We ate at the most delicious restaurant and the best part was I was feeling soooo good and I ate like a horse! It was literally heaven! The food, the ambiance, the views from our table -- it was all so beautiful and romantic! And sitting across from such a handsome man, well, it really doesn't get any better than that! (We had a good laugh when they brought out this "appetizer" and it was the size of a quarter! Luckily our actual meal was MUCH bigger!) We enjoyed a good breakfast the next day (yep, I was still feeling so good!) and then spent about 3 hours shopping! Shopping with no kids, I mean really, that IS a vacation! Then we went up to the Canyons resort and took the most beautiful gondola ride up the mountain. Again, the views and the scenery there -- BREATHTAKING! Like postcard beautiful! We hiked around when we got to the top and maybe found a secluded little bench in the forest where we could steal some kisses :) We really didn't want to leave! It was such a perfect little trip and we had so much fun together! We resolved that we need to do things like this more often -- it is just so healthy and good for a relationship to have time to reconnect! Not that I need much reminding of how much I love this man of mine, but it is nice to be able to focus just on each other sometimes too! Thanks, babe, for such a wonderful getaway!! I look forward to our next! And thanks again, mom, for taking such good care of the munchkins for us!

That night when we got home from Park City, I got busy making the cake for Kaiya's bday party and Chris got her presents all wrapped. Saturday was a pretty perfect day (I hope) for our little birthday girl! While Taylor was taking her morning nap, we took Kaiya out to give her the jeep we bought her and she was sooooo thrilled!! (Thank you, KSL classifieds for this beauty that was hardly used and dirt cheap! I am too cheap to buy one for full price!) She really loves this little car and I love the hours of time it will occupy for all of our kids in the future!! Kaiya does need to learn the concept of steering though, so that mom and dad don't have to run beside her the whole time she is driving it! We'll keep practicing...Taylor really loves to go for rides too, and Kaiya loves to be her chauffeur! They look so stinkin cute riding around together!
(this girls' tongue always comes out when she is concentrating really hard!) (look at daddy trying to teach her how to steer!)
Then we got everything ready and headed over to the pool where we met up with my parents and siblings and all their kids for the party! The kids all had fun swimming the day away, and I was thinking how NICE it was that I didn't have to be in charge of entertaining all of them! I love how well all these cousins play together and how sweet and supportive they are with each other! Kaiya really loves them all so much and had been talking all week about how she couldn't wait to go swimming with her cousins! Thanks so much to all those who came! We enjoyed cake and opened lots of fun presents that Kaiya just loved and swam until we were all pooped out! It was a really great day for Kaiya and we loved to see her so happy! That's really all that matters! One more birthday this month (mine) and then we get to take a break from all this celebrating for awhile! All this fun is really tiring!! But thank goodness, I think my sickness has hit the road and I have been feeling soooo much better the last few days! It makes celebrating a whole lot easier and a whole lot more fun! 3 1/2 more weeks and we get to find out what we're growing in this belly of mine...we can't WAIT!