This summer, Hayden and I decided to spend an entire month with family in Utah. We had a great time. A big reason we stayed for so long was because my twin brothers Ian and Sean graduated from high school June 1st and then Paul's brother Mark got married on June 23rd. I was not going to go for their graduation because we weren't even sure they wanted to walk, but then one day my mom called me and said that all they wanted for graduation was to have all their sisters present. Sean even said he wanted a picture of all the siblings oldest to youngest. Sean and Ian don't ask for very much in life and I was honored that they wanted us to be there. Also it's a pretty huge accomplishment for them to graduate with a normal diploma, just like everyone else except that they did it with autism. They are pretty amazing guys! You'd think with almost a whole month, I would have seen EVERYONE that I wanted to. But I still didn't manage to see everyone that is important to me. Now that we live so far from family, they have to come first, but I was able to squeeze in a few visits with friends.
I took Hayden swimming the morning of our flight because we didn't fly out until about 7pm. I thought for sure that would wear her out to take a good nap. Well, she didn't, she just played in her bed and then played on the plane and finally fell asleep around 1 am our time. She was great, but she did not want to sleep! As you can see, she definitely new the safety information the aircraft provided!
Graduation was the first big event. I was worried about taking Hayden and had almost decided to leave her at home to take a nap, but decided to bring her and she did fabulous. She was a little obsessed with Aunt Shannon and sat with her for most of the ceremony.
Michelle, Jared & Owen got to stay for about 5 days, so we made the most of it by going swimming, celebrating an early 1st birthday for Owen, going to Wheeler Farm, and The Children's Museum!
Owen had fun playing with all his new toys!
Sunday afternoon at Wheeler Farm, it was super hot!
Hayden's favorite person: Shannon!
This picture accurately shows how obsessed she was at protecting our belongings. My sister was taking a picture with my phone for us and she was losing it!
Children's Museum
Hayden loved the helicopter on the roof, I bet we spent an hour inside of it!
Hayden could have played here all day...
After the Oldham's left and Shannon's husband had to go back to work, Shannon was kind enough to stay for another week! It was so nice having her help me entertain Hayden and so nice to spend quality time with her. We made fancy rings and headbands (a way fun craft my mom had planned for Hayden), went to the zoo, and made a trip to Logan to see Shannon's apartment and have lunch with Michelle before they headed back to Colorado.
Hayden always loves a good day at the zoo. Hogle Zoo was so much fun. Sean was in a bad mood because he had a headache and Hayden was so worried that he wasn't having fun. She even offered him a drink of her milk she was so worried about him!
This has been at the zoo since I was a kid, so I had to take Hayden to get a drink, she thought it was pretty exciting to drink out of a Lion's head.
Hayden sure loved her Uncle Ian. She would say he name all day long and come looking for him whenever he tried to hide from her :) He spent hours with her outside on the trampoline and playing with her in the yard.
We went swimming with my friend Kim Smith and then had McDonald's afterwards. This picture is included because it is the first Happy Meal she has ever had. I know, I know, I am a lame mom, how has she never had McDonald's? I guess because I never want to eat there!
After Shannon left, my mom and I took a quick trip to Cedar City. I got to see a good chunk of my extended family which is always fun, but my most important visit was with my 94 year old Grandpa Cowan. He is now living with my aunt and uncle and I'm so grateful he is in such good hands. It was pretty hard to see how he has aged. He has always seemed so young to me. We took him to Applebee's for father's day and just spent time talking and watching all the birds out his window. Hayden was so good around him, it's almost like kids just know he is someone to be respected!
Shortly after returning from Cedar City Hayden and I went out to Tooele. Hayden got to spend lots of time with her cousins and she had so much fun. Here she is with Maizey and Maren playing with bunnies. Hayden isn't afraid of any animals or bugs, she loves them all!
We finally got to pick up Paul on June 17th and we were so excited to see him after 3 long weeks. Because neither Anne or I had anything to wear to the wedding, we decided we better go shopping and we went to the new City Creek shopping area. It was beautiful!
Our time in Tooele was so fun, Hayden literally played with cousins all day long and just loves her Grandma Anne and Papa Steve so much. We went swimming, shopping, and did lots of fun wedding stuff.
Here is my new sister-in-law Kelsey with all her pretty flower girls. Grandma Anne sewed all of these skirts and they turned out so cute, everyone loved them. Kelsey and Mark's wedding was the most fun wedding I have ever been too. The decorations, food, everything was so cute. She had dancing and even without alcohol, everyone had a great time. Hayden had 9 of her cousins there and the big girls even let her have a sleep over with them after the wedding. She was on cloud 9 talking about how she was going to have a sleep over.
They also had a photo booth at the wedding, which was one of the highlights for everyone (especially Trent). We had so much fun. I was lame and didn't even get a family picture of us on the wedding, so these will have to do.
It's not everyday that 5 out of the 6 brothers are together, I'm so glad Anne thought to take this picture. From left to right: Kyle, Paul, Scott, Trent and Mark. We missed Russ and his family so much and wish they could have been here for all the fun.
The day before we left, we went back to Salt Lake, so my family could see Paul for a day. We went to the Aquarium and Hayden loved it of course. Our favorite part was the Otters.
Hayden also finally warmed up to my mom and was very intrigued by her cello. I tried to hold her on my lap and play, but she wouldn't have it, only grandma could hold her.
My Georgia friends kept telling me how quick the time would go and I honestly did not believe them! We had some rough days with Hayden being possessive of everything and throwing some awesome tantrums, but we have far more good memories that outweigh the bad ones! Can't wait to do it again! (Although Paul can, he was pretty lonely while we were gone and was so ready to be with his family again.)
