Utah

I always procrastinate blogging about vacations (as you may have seen with our Disney trip) because I always have such a hard time summarizing everything we did. That is why it took me over a month to blog about our trip to Utah that we took the last couple days of June/first couple days of July. Let me just start off by saying that I love my family, and I love my in-laws. They really are the best. It's so much fun to see them and they all connect so well with the kids. Every time we go to Utah, I always wish that we could live closer to family.

Now, I want lots of accolades for this: I flew with two kids, ages 1 and 2, all by myself there and back. Yes, the flight is only like and hour and a half or so, but I think I still deserve some sort of award.

They did pretty well on the way there. They were a little restless, but mostly so excited to go that it was smooth. Well, smooth up until the point that the fasten seat belt light came on to prepare for landing. That's when James decided he was done sitting on my lap and began a chorus to a very loud song that went something like this: "Down. Down. Down. Down. Down! Down! Down! Down! DOWN! DOWN! DOWN! DOWN!" You get the idea.

The first night we were there, we went to my cousin's wedding. It was very beautiful.

The kids were a little bit squirrely during the ceremony, but as soon as Kate realized there would be cupcakes at the end, she was as still as a statue. The kids found a nice spot on the lawn to eat their cupcakes. James was happily chomping down on his dessert when he started to look a little distraught. I couldn't figure out what was wrong until I looked down a realized he had a trail of ants going up his pants, making their way toward his cupcake. Oops. Lesson learned. Don't let your kids sit in ant hills, especially when they are eating sweets. Kate thought the whole thing was pretty funny. Here she is taunting him about the ants in his pants.

At one point during the trip we rode the rides at Liberty Park. Kate asked the man if her baby could ride, and he was kind enough to allow it. He was also nice enough to overlook the fact that James was about an inch too short to ride the rides. James was very appreciative because he REALLY wanted to ride in the plane.

One of the main reasons we went to Utah was to see Gabe and Betsy, the only cousins my kids have (until my sister has her baby, then they will have 3 cousins). It was really funny to watch Kate and Betsy. These girls are four months apart, and play and fight like sisters. They had so much fun together.  I only had one incident where I picked up Betsy and thought it was Kate.

One day we went on a hike with all four kids. James grabbed the map and took the lead. 

 We eventually hit this sign that said, "trail closed", but in classic Kleager style, all six of us hopped over the fence and continued on our journey. Gabe, the only cousin who can read, was a little disturbed, but not so much that he wouldn't smile for the picture.

One day I got to drop off the kids at my mother-in-law's house and I went out shopping with my mom. That was a treat! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures with the kids at the Krells' house, but man did they have a good time! Kate told me about 67 times how much fun she had. She really loved playing with Cassie, Grandma, and 'Funny Grandpa'.

Did I mention I have some of the best in-laws in the world. I do. I especially love to watch how much my kids love Christian's siblings.

We went over to the Kelseys for Michael's birthday and the kids played for hours and hours with Uncle Michael and Aunt Kayla, and even got in a water fight with Uncle Alex. Eventually my kids gave up trying to work the squirt guns and opted for the hose instead. They were having a grand time until James sprayed himself in the face and got scared. Poor little guy.

Ice cream always makes you feel better, right James?