Hogle Zoo

At the end of July, I babysat my brothers 3 kids for a few days while his wife was at girls camp. It was a little stressful having 3 more kids to take care of, but for the most part it wasn't too bad because they just played with Kennedy all day and Kennedy loved it. It actually helped me feel like other kids in our family just might work out :) One day we decided to go to the zoo with my sister and her two kids....so 6 kids in total. Normally I think it would have been fine if Kennedy was in a good mood, but most of the time I was just wrestling with her. Parts of the day were fun though and she loved the bird show (seriously, AWESOME bird show at hogle zoo). The pictures look like it was all kinds of fun, but I can't remember how many times I put that girl in time out. I ended up dragging her out of the park at the end of the day 'kicking and screaming'....literally. Let me re-think this...more kids...maybe not.

Really hot day added to the fun!

Kennedy's 2nd Birthday!

Kennedy's birthday this year was a lot more fun than last year because she was SO into it. She loves singing the birthday song and loves going to parties, so having a party for her this time was pretty exciting to her. My favorite part of the whole day was when she realized everyone was 'singing to her'. She got the cutest look on her face that was priceless!!! I hesitated doing an Elmo theme, but at the time, she was REALLY into him and I decided to do what she would enjoy the most and she did LOVE it. For days she kept talking about her Elmo cake and kept singing 'Happy Birthday Dear Kennedy'. The party turned out really fun and it was a blast being able to have both of our families there.

A little help from dad!

A girl on a mission - pretty sure it involved dad.

A 6 hour detour...A 6 hour detour

The Kerrigan's were headed back to Iowa and decided to take a 6 hour detour to see us (thanks guys!). We were super excited to get to hang out with them again and decided to take them up to the cabin. So after getting down from the cabin on Monday, we headed back up on Wednesday to spend the night. I didn't get many pictures because I think we were all a little tired from traveling by that point, but it was fun to get together and the kids had fun on the tramp, hut, fort, and wagon ride to the river (although it may be deceiving that wagon was not the lightest thing to pull with 3 decent size kids in there).

Independence Day - The Utah Fun Begins!

It was a pretty crazy week for us: Packing Monday, leaving Monday

night, Driving through the night until Tuesday evening, unpacking in WJ, driving to St. George on Wednesday to unpack the rest of our stuff, driving back to WJ late Wednesday night, and then heading up to the cabin on Friday morning. It was crazy, we were exhausted by the time Monday rolled around, but it was worth it. Nothing beats the 4th of July at the cabin!!!

Heading to the Oakley rodeo with cousin Jenna. Kennedy can't get enough of that girl!

Hangin' with Gram

Kennedy discovered the 'hut' and LOVED it!

A four generation photo. Gram was a trooper and went on a little hike with us.

We are all LOVING the mountains!!!Our little hiker!

Pretty sure Brent deserved that!

The Big Move

Moving day was a pretty crazy day for us. Luckily we had the help of our home teacher, Brandon Huebbe, who came over and helped us pack up the truck, although I think his real motivation for coming over was Brent's neice Mckyla. It was pretty cute to watch. We also had the help of two great friends (Julie and Mindy) to watch Kennedy for the whole day. We couldn't have done it without them. HUGE APPRECIATION FOR THESE THREE AWESOME PEOPLE!!! Thanks guys! We got everything packed up, cleaned, and had the landlord come over around 6. We picked up the kid and did a few errands and then headed off for the west around 7:30. We drove through the night, the rest of the next day, and arrived in Salt Lake around 6:00 p.m. It was a crazy 48 hours, but luckily for Sharon, Ky, and my best friend, Dr. Pepper, WE MADE IT!!!! Thanks SO SO much Sharon and Ky!

It was hard to leave our home. It was the only home Kennedy has known and it was really what I consider "our first place" (our real first place was a dive). Kennedy had a little hard time leaving too. She realized what was going on about 5 minutes down the road and kept saying over and over, "grandma pat's house...no". Poor thing. She is doing fine now, but still misses her buddies she made in Iowa. Having dad drive the big truck made up for it though. The girl LOVES trucks and points them out constantly.

Brent's Family Visits the Midwest

About a week before we moved, Brent's family decided to come and visit the Midwest to see their two sons/brothers/uncles. We hung out for a few crazy days in downtown Chicago and had fun visiting Scott & Amy. Everyone then headed to Iowa to see the corn fields and we of course had to take them to see Nauvoo. We spent a couple of days there and then we came home and packed up the place. It was really nice of Brent's sister (Sharon) and neice (Ky) to help us haul all ourselves and our stuff back to Utah. I don't know if they fully realized what they were getting into when we told them we were driving straight through the night. It went by pretty fast (except Wyoming of course) and Kennedy did really well considering sleeping the night in the car. We couldn't have made it without them and are still indebted to them. Thanks guys!

My favorite part of downtown Chicago....the beach. It is crazy cool. They import palm trees and it is just awesome to have the skyscrapers right next to the beach. Loved it!!!

Kennedy had A BLAST hanging out with her cousins :)

Brents killer bike race tan line. His legs were the best though. When he wore flip flops in downtown people actually were laughing at his distinct tan line. Too funny!

Crazy cousin Brin!!!

At the Lincoln Park Zoo

Nauvoo Trip - Carthage Jail

This was the last day of the trip before we headed back home to start packing up. This was a temper tantrum at its best and right in one of the most spiritual places. Hopefully the walls to the jail were thick enough to drown out the screams. Needless to say Kennedy was all "vacationed out" so we headed home before everyone else to give this girl a nap. Funny thing is, if I remember right, she never did fall asleep in the car.

Going West!

Well, its been about a month since the big move, but we are now out west in Utah living with my parents for a few months while Brent finishes up his last hurdle in school. We miss everyone in Iowa and Kennedy keeps talking about her few buddies she often played with. We are excited to be in Utah, but miss the friends we made out there a lot :(

Cute, Jessica Peterson, threw this SURPRISE going away party for myself, Michelle Sheldon, and Rebecca Browne. I miss these girls so much already!!!

The last few weeks it was a little hard for me to watch Kennedy play with her little friends. I knew that it was the last time that she would see some of them. She still talks about them and how they "live in Iowa".

100 miles later...

Brent had his 100 mile bike race yesterday and was riding for 8 1/2 hours. Crazy kid. I still can't believe he did it, but now he has the sore muscles, a pretty killer farmer tan, and of course the t-shirt to prove it. Kennedy and I drove an hour away to see him cross the finish line. We are proud of him and are REALLY grateful to all the friends and family who donated to support him. THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!!

Our friends Orie and Rebecca who did the race too.