Last but not least, Utah and the wedding!

This post is pretty pathetic with my lack of pictures. But my phone was full, and pulling out my big camera is not always an option. So I just stole a few pics from my sisters phones. We had to go shopping to get everything we needed for the wedding, and that's never very enjoyable with kids. :) We played at a park a lot because we didn't really have anywhere to go a lot of times. We stayed at a rental house in Pleasant Grove, UT. One day we went to the Andersen farm where a lot of my relatives live, and where I used to live. We got to visit with my awesome Aunt LaDawn a little bit. She let us pick some peaches and gave us a drink of her freshly made grape juice from the grapes they grew. Oh I do miss that place. On Thursday morning I got to go to the temple with my parents, and Tim and Laura. It was awesome. My dad is just amazing and shared some neat insights and things with us in the celestial room and I will always remember that trip. Wish we could've all gone together...some day we will. Tim and Lauren had their reception on Friday night. It was absolutely gorgeous! The food was delicious and it was so fun seeing so many friends and family that I never get to see. I was missing Kenny so so bad that night. Everyone had someone to be with and talk to the whole time. Someone to just share that whole evening with and I was missing my husband and holding a very heavy baby boy. But they looked beautiful and it was a great evening overall. My kids danced their little hearts out. They were so sweaty and tired by the end of the night! Tyler especially had some pretty funny dance moves and just has no shame. He was just going for it and had a lot of people comment to me about it. He was feeling pretty good about life :). Friday, the 22nd was the actual wedding day. It went perfectly. So happy for those two and the life they'll have together. We had a luncheon after the wedding too that was SOO good. We had a great time celebrating Tim and Lauren. Kelsey was being difficult and refusing to be with me. She just finds people to cling to and it drives me crazy because I know it's so annoying to whoever she decides is her best friend of the day/hour. She acts like we never give her any attention or love and it's sort of really embarrassing. I know we were at the end of a very long trip and we were all anxious to get back home to daddy. Glad we could be there for the wedding though. It's always good to be with family!! They got a whole lot of cousin time that will hopefully last them till next year. ;)

My mom is the most amazing seamstress and she made all the little girls' dresses! They all had matching hair-do's too. We painted their nails and they were loving getting all dolled up. They kept twirling and were just so darling.

Saturday we flew home. It was a very long flight all by myself. No need to dwell on that or give too many details. It was just one of those things that's really hard and no fun at all, but you have to do it anyway. We had a short layover in Seattle to help break it up, and really the kids behaved as well as could be expected. They really are good kids and I'm blessed to have them. Never been so happy to be in my own home. I didn't realize how much I loved our house and our lives here until I got back. We were thrilled to be reunited as a family.
And that my friends, is THE END of our trip. Hallelujah.

Next up: Spring City, UT

Saturday, Aug. 15th we got up and going early to pack everything up and clean the condo. Then we drove about 6 hours to Spring City, UT. Ask me how much I love road trips. NOT AT ALL. But it does get us from one fun place to another so I shouldn't complain too much. We were all very glad to be there. Life just slows down whenever I'm in Spring City. I breathe deeper and just don't worry about as much. It's a wonderful place, but mostly because my Grandpa and Joyce live there. I sure love them a lot and I was so grateful for my kids to get to know them better. Kelsey immediately took to my Grandpa and just wouldn't leave him alone. She was always holding his hand, grabbing onto his leg and hugging him, sitting on his lap, etc. It was pretty sweet. I was worried he would be annoyed with her, but he wasn't. He is so good and kind. All the kids were obsessed with his dog, Belle. They played with her for hours and hours and hours a day. My grandpa would have to come out and lock her up and tell them to let her rest haha. She would just keep running and playing--she really loved the attention. 

Here you can see Kelsey hugging his leg :)

Briggs is checking out what Ian's doing with that hose. Nice way to cool off! They don't turn their A/C on so it was pretty hot!

Sweet Eva helping Briggs practice walking

They played the funniest games like tying each other up and prison, etc.

We tried to get some family pictures with them before we took off. Belle kept getting in the way. :)

The same swing I used to swing on growing up when I would visit Grandpa and Grandma Backus.

Brynlee got her dream come true of petting a horse. They were feeding them Alfalfa through the fence. Oh I love country life.

Durango, CO days 2 and 3

The next 2 days in Durango were lovely and chaotic all at once, as family gatherings usually are with this many little ones :). We really enjoyed being outside in the perfect weather and gorgeous landscape as much as possible. We ate yummy food together and swam a few times (though I forgot to take pictures of that). It was just a really fun place to be! Very similar to Alaska with the mountains, lakes, lots of vegetation, etc. But it was great to be all together.

Grandma was brave--that water is ice-cold! Coupled with the sharp little rocks made for quite a painful walk. But the kids just kept going back for more.

Made a giant letter A for Andersen out of the daisies. Aww presh. ;)

We went to the cute, and very old town of Silverton one day. We found a nearby park too!

Tyler and Leighton were always catching bugs. Always.

Lots of tree climbing makes kids happy :)

The funniest thing that happened was when Tyler walks out like this and asks, "Mom, what happened to my swimming suit?!" I was laughing so hard I couldn't even explain to him that he had put on MY board shorts, not his swimming suit. It was awesome.

Happy 1st Birthday Briggs!! (And Durango, CO Day 1)

Still going with our trip here! I'd really love to be all caught up!

Mon. August 10th we drove from Houston, TX back to Steph's house at Alamogordo, NM. Another very, very long day in the car. The next day we got back in the car (hooray! Not.) and drove to Durango, Colorado. Steph's in-laws own a condo up there and it is absolutely gorgeous! Such a beautiful place and we were so so grateful for the generosity in letting us stay there. They really are so kind. We got there on the night of the 11th. So our first real day there, was August 12th--Brigham's first Birthday!! I was feeling pretty bad that Kenny wasn't there for his son's first birthday. How lame is that? We really didn't do a whole lot that was for him, but what can you do really when they have no idea what the difference is? We still had a fun day though, and Laura and her baby Ian flew in to join us so our party grew again! :) My mom and I got up and went on a walk/run that morning. When we got back Steph and Cami were making delicious french toast with strawberries! It was so dang good. A great birthday breakfast! :) Then we all got ready and played outside for a good part of the day. We drove down to the town and hung out at a super fun park for many hours. We had an incident there where Madison climbed up the outside of this big twisty slide. She slipped and fell off from the top. Thank heavens she had some guardian angels watching over her and she wasn't seriously hurt. It was scary, but thankfully she was absolutely fine. We had a really fun time there. We came home and had dinner, then cupcakes and ice cream for the birthday boy! We did face time with Kenny so he could watch him. Briggs was so funny when I first put the cupcake in front of him. He didn't know what it was at first, so I ripped a piece off and put it in his mouth. I still remember watching him process the taste of that, he immediately perks up and lunges at the plate for more! hahaha. He devoured the rest, needless to say. He didn't get as big as he is being a picky eater! :) This boy loves food and treats in all their varieties :). I didn't even get him any presents because I knew he wouldn't care one way or another and we were short on luggage space, but my mom did get him some birthday gifts. Trust Grandma to take care of that :).
Oh how I love our sweet Briggs. I just can't get enough of my chubby, adorable, and good-natured baby. He still has the most kissable cheeks in the world and it makes me so happy that he still loves to snuggle me. He'll pat me when he gives me hugs sometimes and I love how he loves me. He is such a blessing in our family and everyone simply adores him.

 Steph, Cami, me, Mom, Laura, Sarah--I really loved having this time with my mom and sisters. We were missing Kim and Kerri so badly!!!