A little Vacay in Gilbert, AZ

Since we were still waiting for official dates for our move, I decided to take a couple weeks in the middle of July to go and stay with my parents in their new house in Gilbert.  Nathan had a bunch of oral exams to study for anyways, so he was fine with having a quiet house for a bit.  So I gathered up a lot of courage, and went on a road trip with my THREE kids all by myself.  And I'm happy to say that it went pretty well!  While we were there, we mostly just enjoyed being in a big new house and having Omi, Opi, and Uncle David around!  Of course we saw a good amount of Kristie and her family as well.  The kids had a blast, as did I.  I had a super good time helping my parents decorate their new place.  Although it's not the easiest thing to take 3 kids under 4 and David shopping, the three of us teamed up and were able to find some pretty good stuff.

The kids loved this old pinball machine in the playroom

I LOVE this picture!  Sawyer joined uncle David in my parents' huge shower.  They both thought it was hilarious!

Lots of time playing Legos....Sawyer's favorite

Mom, Dad and I had a little ritual every night after the kids went to bed.  Ruby's Chocolate Shakes and the show Castle

Isla Bea had a brand new swing to hang out in!

Discovery Park feeding the ducks

The new Gilbert Temple being built 2 miles from their house!  So exciting!

2 months old!  Mom hung a little hummingbird mobile over the table and Isla loved watching them!

Remember Polly Pockets?!  The kids loved them.  Violet kept calling them her 'Dolly Pockets'

Violet wanted to spread her own Nutella sandwich--messy!

Of course we made sure to spend some time with our awesome Garrett cousins!  They only live 1 mile from my parents' house!

The kids spent lots of time playing dress up...

 

Time to say goodbye.  Wasn't too bad because we knew we'd be back in a month!

4th of July

For the 4th this year, Erin and her little family came down from Utah to celebrate with us.  We had a great time barbecuing, swimming, doing fireworks, and of course, taking the Sea-doos out on Lake Mead.  

Beckham and Violet, getting along for once ;)

Violet finally passed out at the Lake!  On the right you can see that Isla is not so sure about getting wet!

Violet is obsessed with the Sea-doos.  She LOVES riding on them.

Our last week in Vegas

As usual, our last week or so before moving was a total whirlwind.  But between the packers/movers and cleaning we managed to have some fun as well.  Nathan (finally) graduated from his Residency in Advanced General Dentistry.  I know it was only a year, but we were both done with it :).  

Of course the major perk of having this residency was living by Nathan's parents for a year!  It was so great to have them so close. 

The faces in this picture just made me laugh.  This was our row at the graduation.  So sweet of Grandma and Grandpa Larson to drive up from Arizona.  We sure love them!

I love it when he has to wear his Blues.  So handsome :)

Something we had wanted to do all year, but saved for the last week, was go to Tournament of Kings.  It was really fun and the kids had such a great time!  Although I wouldn't count the food a success.  More like, Sawyer was so terrified of the small bird sitting in front of him that he wouldn't even look at it.  I think they both ate their rolls (oh and Violet ate her broccoli).  I thought it all tasted pretty good!

We also managed to squeeze in one last trip to the Children's Museum!  We loved having this place around over the past year.  So much fun.  We took Grandma, Erin, and cousin Beckham along this time!

Our last hurrah with the Christensens.  Met up for frozen yogurt and some silly pics ;).  It was getting dark by the time we took these, hence the graininess.  We love Hadley & Lincoln!

The morning before we took off for Phoenix, we just hung around with Grandma.  Nobody wanted it to end, so we just kept finding more things to do.  It was a hard goodbye.  These kids loved having their Grandma so close, and so did we!

Goodbye Las Vegas!

And just a few random pictures...had to include them

Larson Ranch Week(end)

Our week at the Ranch was cut short this year, due to Nathan having zero time off from his Residency and all of us trying to prepare for the overseas move.  But we still did manage to get up there for a whole day and a half. Drove up Friday, enjoyed our Saturday, and back to Vegas Sunday afternoon.  It was short but sweet.  And this actually took place before our weekend trip to California to drop off the car.  Here are the few pictures I have from the Ranch this year.  It was hard to leave because we didn't really know if we would be back anytime over the next 3 years.  We missed having Andrea and Paul there.  They were a little busy having just barely welcomed Ella & Olivia into the world!!

Not a true Ranch Trip without some horse bonding time

...and some Badminton, of course

Isla's first Ranch experience...it feels like every other year we have a 3 month old at the Ranch.  Oh wait, that's cause we do.

No fear!