4th of July in Cedar

 I'm playing catch-up with the blog! Because this was a literally like six months ago! Ha ha! 

 We spent the Fourth of July in Cedar city this year! It's becoming kind of a tradition to spend our holidays with the Neibaur's (Beau's sister, Tiffany, and her family)  and I kind of really love it! They have an amazing neighborhood, and everyone gets together to have a party. 

 We started out… Well… Honestly I can't remember what we started out doing, because it's been so long since we did it! Ha ha we had a sleepover though, the kids loved sleeping in the basement with their cousins!  Beck was a little difficult, he doesn't love sleeping in the pack and play, but we finally got him to sleep and got a good nights rest!

 The next morning we got up early, and got ready, and walked over to the park in their neighborhood for a free breakfast and to listen to a veteran speak. It was a really good program! Then after that we booked it over To the parade. Which was full of excitement, because Presley wandered off and we spent half the time searching for her.  But the parade was really good and the kids got tons of candy! After that we went back to the house and hung out for a bit, Tiffany and I did a little bit of shopping and bought fireworks for that night. Then we went to their neighbors house for dinner, they had Barbecued something, don't ask me what it was because I don't remember. Then their neighbors had bought some gigantic fireworks, so we got to watch those before we headed home.

It was super fun spending the holiday with them! We love having cousin so close and being able to spend time with them. Quinn absolutely adores cadence and Maddie, Beck loves uncle Brian, and Blake and Presley have a blast!

Quinn's Christmas Dance Recital

 Quinney bear had her first dance recital! I seriously couldn't even handle all the cuteness! She did so fantastic! She really knew the dance actually, and stayed focused,  as much as a three-year-old can! Ha ha!  Daddy bought her flowers, which she adored!  Grandma Cathy, Grandma Jolley, grandma and grandpa Stratton, grandma and grandpa Campbell, Scott, Nicole and Briggs were able to come watch!   She loves being the center of attention!

Family Pictures in Zion

This was honestly the best experience we've ever had taking family pictures! I don't say that because any of our other family pictures have gone bad, but these ones were actually FUN! 

We left for Zion at about 4:00, and met Arika at the Visitor's Center at 4:30. I was a little nervous about taking the kids on the shuttle, but it turned out fantastic! They loved it! Sidenote, Blake is OBSESSED with Paragon Falcons (thanks Wild Kratt's) and on the ride up, the announcer mentioned that we may see all sorts of animals, including, you guessed it… a Paragon Falcon! Haha! He was so excited and kept his eyes peeled the entire time! It was about a 40 min shuttle ride up to the trail we were going to walk, and when we got there, the kids were more than ready to stretch their legs! 

We took the double umbrella stroller, which turned out to be a blessing and a burden! It obviously was nice to have Quinn and Beck ride, but there was SO much getting in and out, that it was a little annoying. I would have rather had it than not though! 

The kids had a really fun time! They played in the water and ran up and down the trail, there wasn't a whole ton of posing involved, it was mostly candid shots, which I loved! There was only one point that I got a little worked up, and it was when she was trying to get a shot of all 3 kids, no one was looking, they would smile at different times, Beck kept trying to make a break for it… finally I bagged it, I was more worried about the family shots anyways! We did get a few decent ones, surprisingly! I love all the family shots we got! I only had a week to throw our outfits together, and since I knew we'd be 'hiking', I kept it semi-casual. The kids had all gotten brand new clothes since school just started, and Beau is pretty easy to dress, so I was the only one who needed an outfit. I ended up grabbing a few tops at Kohls in the 20 minutes I had to shop while Quinn was at dance on Tuesday, and one of them worked perfectly! It was the least amount of effort I've ever put into family photos, and I loved it!

(I think the solo pics of Beck might be my favorite out of all of them! he is the CUTEST!)