SuMmeR faMiLY FuN

Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE summer?! I really do!! I ADORE it!!! I love the sunshine, the holidays, the bbq's, the water, the camping, the extra family time that always comes with summer! It is just a happy time all around!!!
This summer has been ESPECIALLY great for me because I had MY family visiting ME for 11 WHOLE days!!!!!!! It all started because of that CRAZY Spartan race we all decided to do together. Crazy as the race was it brought my family here which of course is ALL the better!!!
My sister Dawn flew in first and we got a whole day with her! We of course had to treat her to the Ranger ride to Maddox for some AMAZING banana cream pie!! ;) IT was fun to have her all to ourselves for a day!!

The next day my sister Annie flew in and Dawn and I picked her up and drove to Park City where my other 2 sisters were already there with there 2 families. We of course had to make a few shopping stops along the way...there is never sister time without some type of shopping involved. We REALLY don't know where we got this shopping bug since our mom was NEVER the the one to shop growing up. She probably despised shopping. We have helped her a bit in the last several years and she is getting better! ;) Too bad she had 5 girls who LOVE to shop!!! :)

We were playing…who wore it best?! LOL!! Don’t even think about answering that!! ;)

Our sister Katie texted us wondering where we were…so we sent her this “selfie” of us! She guessed it…Downeast! (Yes…we are TOTAL nerds and we know it!)
We met up with my sisters Katie and Shana and their cute families who had driven there. We went to the Alpine Slides. That was my first time since I was a little girl. It was SOOO fun…especially with them!!!

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Afterwards we went to the place we were staying for some relaxation before the big race!!
You already heard about the race!
Sunday we had to drop my sister Dawn off at the airport and Annie came home with me. My other 2 sisters came down and stayed at my in laws since they were out of town and my house is not nearly big enough.
We went to the drive ins!! A  first for Dakota! He did alright…definitely used the sucker!

Noah, Shea, Logan, and Paige
Went swimming. Dakota went down his first water slide. IT was pretty scary because you can’t get his trach under water AT ALL because that would all go right down to his lungs which would obviously be VERY bad. My brother in law was strong enough to hold him up at the bottom and went slow enough so he was able to go. (Zach wasn’t there and I was too chicken to try). The first time he was like what are we doing??

The second time my brother in law Beau took him down and he smiled a little.

The last time he was serious again. So…not sure what he really thinks about it all.
Sutton and I had to give it a try!! We had fun!!

It is always quite comical to watch the kids at the pool look at Dakota. With no shirt on his g-tube and trach are VERY noticeable so we usually get a few kids following us around and staring trying to figure out what is on him. It makes me smile!!

We hit up the wave pool for awhile…he liked that. Just chillin in his raft!!

Cute Sutton! Love his smile!
Annie’s family drove up on the 3rd just in time to celebrate the 4th of July with us!!!
We had a fire roast at Zach’s parent’s that night. They have the best backyard for it!!

On the 4th Annie and I started it off running the annual Perry 5k…seriously has to be the cheapest race in the state…a whopping $3!!! Love it!! (we never even got a picture but we rocked it! ;) )
Then we of course had to hit up the HUGE Perry parade! ;) Zach and I love it because it is pretty short and simple but cute and fun and lots of candy!!!

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Dakota was pretty pumped to have all his cousins there to get the candy for him! ;)

Our little family…can you tell it is a country parade with that background?! ;)

Afterwards we hit up Maddox for some lunch..YUM!

Kids table

Then headed back to my house for some good ole IPOD IDOL!! I think we were all trying not to pee our pants. It is a game where you have to sing with the headphones in and only you can listen to the music. So everyone else just hears you. Let’s just say…NONE of us are blessed with any sort of singing talent so it was quite comical to say the least. Even the kids were hilarious and enjoyed it.

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Here are just a few of the contestants. I will not post ANY videos in fear of my life! ;)
We finished the night off with some good old American fun…the demolition derby!! They don’t have these in AZ so it was a first for all of my family. They thought it was pretty cool!!!! The kids couldn’t believe that the cars were just crashing into one another!

Dakota liked it for awhile.

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Afterwards we watched the fireworks. I think this was a first for Dakota since his accident. We usually don’t have him stay up for them cuz we didn’t think he would see them good or that he would care and it is a battle when he is tired. He did pretty good though and I think he was seeing them pretty good.
Matt helped hold his head steady so he could focus better.
 
Love this picture!!
After that we had to say goodbye to Shana and Katie’s families! :( Luckily I still had Annie and her family for a few more days!
He definitely got lots of snuggles from his aunts and cousins while they were here!!

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Trai was such a huge helper and sweetie to Dakota. She would read him books, help him play with toys, and he loved her!! 


We were SO sad to say goodbye when everyone had to leave…as you can tell on Dakota’s face! It was really a little depressing for me the next couple of days. WAY too quiet and lonely!!!
 
We are a bunch of crazies but we sure do love each other!

There is never a dull moment with these guys! Sure love my family and am grateful for EVERY minute I get to spend with them!!!!