Trip to Utah!

The children and I took a trip to Utah at the end of Jan. for a couple of weeks! It was really hard actually...to travel with 2 little kiddos by myself, but it was fun and worth it! The flight home was the worst flight of my life though! Noah was sick and had an ear infection and screamed most of the way, and after almost 3 hours, the captain would get on and say we had to stay up in the air for longer because of weather in Texas. The 2.5 hour flight ended up being 4 hours. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh after the flight was over and we saw Nate. Stopping off for ice cream filled with chocolate helped a little on the drive home from the airport:)

This post is filled with pictures of family and friends we were able to see and visit during our trip! I couldn't fit all the pictures, so there are a lot of people we saw that I didn't post pictures of, but this post was getting a little long. I was so proud of myself for taking lots of pictures, but with all the pictures I took, it was hard to decide which ones to post! I overdid it, I know, but it's been awhile:) I love my camera so much I actually LOVE to take pictures!! I really did take it everywhere.

Nate's little sister Lisa left for Haiti the night after we flew in, so we visited with her before she flew out. She has the cutest little dogs ever and the children loved them. Noah was so cute with them...he was fearless and kept putting his finger up to their mouth so they would lick him.

Marci, Nate's sister and Tayla. Tayla and Noah adored Marci! She is so cute with children.

My step dad enjoyed Tay and Noah. I gave him and my mom babysitting duty more than once:) They loved it though!

It has been a long time since I'd seen my little brother Casey. We were able to visit with him quite a bit. Noah and Tayla really loved him. He taught Noah a little dance while beat boxing, lol. It was hilarious!

Tayla and my older brother Caleb!

The children with my mom....I don't know anyone else who acts crazier with my children than my mom. She is overly proud of her grandchildren (and she will tell you...a lot) They have a great time with Grandma Karr!

The first thing Tayla wanted to do as soon as we arrived in Utah was play in the snow. She asked everyday until we did it...and then asked everyday after! Since I was alone, it was hard to get out there by myself with Noah, so we had to wait for Papa Petersen.

She had the time of her life!

Noah came out with us, but didn't last very long. He went down the hill a few times and was done:)

Tayla making a snow angel. She was out there for quite a while. The only way we could get her to go in was by bribing her with hot cocoa and marshmallows.

Marci and Cedric played in the snow too!

Tayla and her cousin Hayden.

Noah was SO obsessed with the cats! He followed them around constantly and then would lay right on top of them and give them loves!

I think the cat was happy to see us leave.

I was able to see a couple of friends from high school I hadn't seen in years!! These are Tiffany's girls. They are adorable and the girls had lots of fun playing 'house'.

Those teeth, lol.

Hayden had a birthday while we were there, so all the Petersen cousins had fun together.

Noah thought this horse was pretty awesome!

Grammy Petersen helping Noah ride Hayden's new scooter.

Grammy and Tay! Tayla misses all of Grammies books and her sweet song she sings to Tayla.

Noah wasn't sure what to think about this big bear sitting on the floor of my Aunt Cheryl's house. He didn't seem to be scared and after a few minutes was giving it kisses..yuck.

Tayla loved holding the newborn pig! It was only a couple of days old! She did freak out when it started squealing though, lol. She didn't think that small little thing could make a noise like that I guess.

Here is Tayla out on the farm, looking at all the baby pigs and their mommas. They had quite a few! It was sad, but pretty funny, when Tayla saw a couple small pigs outside on the ground and she said, "Mommy, that pig looks really cold and sad." I couldn't help laughing because it was cold..it was very dead. I just agreed and picked up my pace so we could pass it faster. Poor pig.

She was able to see quite a few animals. It was worth the awful smell and having to take baths as soon as we were home to try to get the poop smell off...really it was SO bad.


Tayla with her second cousins Collin and Ashia. They were so crazy together! It was hard getting her calmed down to go back home and she was asleep as soon as I started driving.

Nate was sad to miss out on the Super Bowl party his family has every year! The kiddos had a fun time eating lots of junk food and drinking soda! Here is Cole and Tayla! I had WAY too much to eat that night.

Some of the children coloring...and Grandpa Walker in the left corner. I love going to Grandma's house on Sunday and parties because Nate has an awesome family. They are so fun to get together with and there are always LOTS of people there so it's always really loud and there is always a conversation going! We really miss them when we are gone!

Nate's grand parents live right next to the temple, so Tayla really wanted to get a picture with it. We talk a lot about the temple to Tayla and she is overly excited to get married in the temple. She said, "Mommy, is that where the prince lives?" And I told her that is where she can marry her prince! After I told her that mommy married her prince in there, and my prince is Daddy, she laughed and said, "Mommy...stop! That's silly."