Our Trip to Utah. . . NOW BOARDING!

Usually when we make our trip out to Utah Rob drives out with us, gets a round trip ticket so he doesn't miss too much work, flies back out, and drives us home. This year we tried something a little different. As we were planning our trip and looking at flights for Rob, we noticed that there wasn't going to be that much difference between the cost for us to fly or drive with gas prices the way they are. Especially when you consider the worth of NOT driving in the car with 5 kids for 12 hours (each way). So Rob sacrificed his trip to Utah to work on the wood floors, but we didn't tell the girls we were going to fly. The girls were really bummed when they found out that Rob wasn't going to be going to Utah with us. They kept saying it wouldn't be as much fun without him there (which he totally ate up!) and they were really concerned about him being sad about getting left behind, but he kept telling them that if they were good and would be happy, he would give them a surprise before they left that would make their trip "go by really fast". They had been pestering us for a couple of years about wanting to go on an airplane. We didn't tell them until the morning we left. We gave them each a boarding pass in an envelope - they were SO excited!

Saying goodbye to daddy for 18 days! :(Madison had the hardest time with leaving Rob behind. Here she is when we got to our gate already on the phone with Dad.
Madison and Ashlyn were really great about helping me keep track of Kennedy and Mckinlee, and keeping Jaxton happy. With two strollers and a car seat, I was really glad I had their help.

Keeping Mckinlee entertained was a challenge!Jaxton, always a perfect angel flying. This was his third airplane ride!
We made it! Defininately the way to go!
We've spoiled ourselves on all future trips to Utah!

A work in progress...

Rob and I decided we were going to attempt to put in hard wood floors ourselves. I got a little anxious and just wanted that carpet out of there. So, we decided we would get a head start on all the prep work so we would be all ready to glue when the wood came. I can't believe we started ripping our carpet out and taking the baseboards off before we even bought the wood. I didn't realize it would be two weeks before we would actually get the wood! We were told it would be a couple of days! The first week of living on concrete floors wasn't too bad, but after that it got a little old. Laying our first row... It was very exciting!!
Just cruising along... We were trying to get as much done together as we could before I left for Utah.We had lots of little helpers!

MCR Night with the Stockton Ports

*Sorry, I'm back tracking a little here. There was a couple of things I wanted to post before our trip to Utah, but wasn't able to because of our computer crashing.

Each year Rob's work buys tickets and invites the employees with their families to dinner at a Stockton Ports baseball game. We all made it out this year, and had a great time (even though it's the Minors). The girls were especially impressed with the Ports Mascot (what is that, anyways?)

Last day of dance

Madison and Ashlyn's last day of dance before summer vacation. Even Ashlyn, Kennedy and Mckinlee got to participate in Madison's Jazz and ballet class! Good thing they have such a fun ,easy going teacher because I couldn't keep them off the dance floor. It definitely made it a lot less stressful for me for the two hours.

Lots of catching up to do!!

I have so much to post I don't even know where to start! My computer crashed about a month ago and I finally just got it back this week. That's my main excuse. Also it's been a busy summer, we've had lots going on. Hopefully I'll find time to update soon. We just got back from a three week stay in Utah. So, sorry if I get a bit carried away with posting pictures. I love taking pictures!