Four Generations

I am very lucky to have the "four generations" photo below of my grandma Jensen, my mom, Isabelle, and me. Since my grandpa died several years ago, my grandma has lived with my parents. Up until early this year when she had her first stroke, she has been in really good health considering her age of 93. When we visited Salt Lake in March of this year, we took a similar photo and based on how she was doing at that time, I was certain that would be the last photo and the last time we would see her. But, she keeps hanging in there somehow and so we were able to take another priceless photo with her.

Pioneer Day

There is a state holiday on July 24th in Utah called "Pioneer Day" commemorating the arrival of Brigham Young and other pioneers in the Salt Lake valley in 1847. After living in Phoenix for over four years without this holiday, it was nice celebrating it with my family. In the morning, we went to a cute little parade in my sister's neighborhood which Allie, Max, and Sam were a part of. Then, my dad took us out to his favorite breakfast spot, "Jim's" for real homestyle breakfast. Later, some of us went swimming and then we had a little get-together at my parent's house that evening and ate delicious take-out from one of my favorite restaurants, Italian Village. After dark, I sat out on the deck and watched some pretty firework shows going on throughout the valley.

My Old High Chair

While staying with my parents, Isabelle had the privilege of using the high chair I used when I was a baby (I couldn't believe my mom actually still had it, especially after the big move!). Anyway, after getting used to the blinding retro-yellow color and the old-school functionality, it ended up working great and Izzie loved it!

Popsicles

Grandpa Barry introduced Izzie to Popsicles during our stay (is it any wonder why she loves him?). Once he gave her one little taste, she followed him around wanting more! Finally, we let her go crazy in the high chair with her very own; and, as you can see, she loved it.

Cousins & Friends

We were happy to spend time with family & friends during our trip to Salt Lake. Below are some more photos of Izzie playing with some of her cousins and good friends.

Left: Cousins Alyssa & Olivia; Right: Friends Max & Cade Swensen

Left: Cousin Riley; Right: Friends Sam & Jack Ward

Cousin Allie

Fun at Grandma & Grandpa's

After staying at my sister Heidi's for the first few nights of our trip, we spent the rest of the time at my parent's new house in South Jordan. The new house is really nice and has awesome views of the mountains, valley, and Jordan River LDS Temple. They also have a cute little community pool that we took Izzie to a couple of times.

Izzie loves her grandma Shar & grandpa Barry. We'd ask her "where's grandma" or "where's grandpa" and she'd look around and give them big smiles when she found them. She had a great time playing with all of their toys, especially the big teddy bear that's as big as she is.

Chavez

On Friday, we spent the afternoon with Danny's mom and Andy. Danny's dog, Chavez, still lives with his mom. The poor little dog is thirteen years old, is deaf, and suffers from asthma, but Isabelle still loved playing with him. She hasn't ever really been around dogs, but she loved climbing on him, tugging on his coat, and trying to stick her fingers in his mouth (yuck!); lucky for her, I think he is just too old to mind much!

The Spruces

When I was little, our family used to go camping at a little campground up Big Cottonwood Canyon called "The Spruces". Heidi and Mark promised to take Max and Sam camping on Thursday night, so Danny, Izzie, and I met my parents at The Spruces that afternoon to save them a campsite. Hanging out up there brought back some good camping memories and we had a nice time relaxing and enjoying the cooler canyon weather.

Izzie's First Zoo Trip

On Wednesday, we took Isabelle to Utah's Hogle Zoo. When she caught sight of the animals, she'd get excited and kick her little legs and smile. She's still a little young to fully appreciate the experience (and she slept through some of it as you can see), but Max and Sam had a really great time! Heidi bought Izzie these cute, plush baby animals as a souvenir from her first trip to the zoo.

Izzi's First Sleepover

On Sunday, Danny left to join his family camping in Mount Pleasant, Utah. Isabelle and I stayed back at my sister Heidi's house and let Izzie get used to the new faces and surroundings in preparation for her first sleepover. On Monday, my parents and Heidi and her boys, Max & Sam, drove us to Mount Pleasant to meet Danny and his family. We hung around the campground for a little while and the kids went swimming and then Isabelle headed back to Salt Lake with my family.

That night and part of the next day, Danny and I went on some fun four-wheeler rides and spent time with his family. Izzie stayed at Heidi's that night and had a great time. They even took her on an adventure on Tuesday to the Children's Museum and The Gateway (I'll post some photos when Heidi sends them to me). Thanks Heidi for watching her - I'm quite sure camping and Izzie wouldn't have mixed well!

Welcome to Salt Lake City

On the afternoon of Saturday, July 14th, we flew into Salt Lake City for our two-week visit with family and friends. That evening we had a fun BBQ & swim party at my brother Shaun's house. It was great to get a picture with Isabelle and all but three of her cousins on my side of the family (from left to right: Sam, Alyssa, Max, Megan, Maddie, Izzie, Riley, Ben, Allie, and Olivia).

Happy July 4th!

Since we did our celebrating the day before, we had a really calm 4th of July. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch/early dinner, but other than that, we just stayed home and relaxed. We hope everyone had a nice day!

Independence Day Celebration

This year we celebrated the 4th of July a day early. Our friends Niki, Greg & Alexa and Britany, Jeremy, Maya, & Kenyon came up for a fun-filled day in Anthem. Niki and Alexa came up earlier in the day and Izzie and Alexa had a great time playing (don't they look like they could almost be sisters?).

Later in the afternoon, everyone else arrived and Niki, Britany, and I left the kids with the dads and went shopping at the outlet mall for a little while. After shopping, we all headed over to the water park for some splish'n and splash'n.

After swimming, we went back to our house and had a barbecue. Then, Niki, Greg & Alexa headed for home and the rest of us went to the park to watch fireworks. We were worried about Izzie screaming her guts out (since she's afraid of anything loud like the vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, and blender), but to our amazement, she slept through it all! She must have been exhausted after such a fun day with friends.

Thanks Niki, Greg, Britany, and Jeremy for making the journey clear up here. We had a good time!