Our Utah Vacation

We are finally home from our month long vacation to Utah and it is bittersweet. We have missed the day to day things in Texas and our friends and having somewhat of a normal schedule for Payton, but we really miss being in Utah. There really is no place like home.

We were able to do a lot of fun things while we were there and see our family and friends and that probably made it harder for us to want to come back to Texas. I want to say thank you to all of you who made time from your busy schedules to see us. I know there were some of you that we didn't get to see and wanted to and I am sorry. I wish there had been more hours in our days.

Here are a few highlights from our trip...

My dad loves bagpipes so we had to take a picture of him with the men in kilts. We stopped to visit an airplane museum while driving to Bear Lake.

Me and my sisters.

We had a lot of fun playing in the beach. Payton even enjoyed eating the sand.

Payton really likes my brother in law and if he was around that's who she wanted. I think he loved it too.









These are all of the Arrington cousins. The only people missing are Milan and my sister in law. Not bad.

Payton and her great grandma's on my side.

We can't come to Utah without seeing the kids' friends Colton and Kassi. It's so fun to see them together. Carson couldn't get out of the car fast enough when I pulled up to their house. It was really cute.

We stayed at my mom's house part of the time and the kids had so much fun doing crazy games and activities. My mom is always full of fun things for them to do. She had a jungle day where they dressed up and did jungle dancing in her garage. They also got to spray my little sister and my nephew with whip cream. I even wanted to join in on that one.

Ethan loves to dress up and found one of grandma's wigs.

We didn't all wear green on purpose. I got dressed first, really.








We went on a fieldtrip to a musem by BYU, the bean museum with stuffed animals on display.

We even had time for family pictures. My friend Mandie from Texas was visiting in Utah and was kind enough to take our family pictures. These are some of my candid shots and I'm sure hers are much better than mine. Thanks Mandie.

Of coarse we had to ride the rides in Park City. These are a few shots of the roller coaster and alpine slide. Milan and I actually tried the zipline this year. The anticipation was a little scary, but once you start going it wasn't scary at all.

Milan's brother was kind enough to take us boating. We had so much fun riding the tube and playing on the beach. Grandpa even took a turn which was sooo funny. He couldn't stop laughing the whole ride.

I am grateful to have so many wonderful people in my life, who make my life so much better. Thanks to all of you who a part of it in someway.

I Survived Girls Camp!!!

Wow it's been a while since I last blogged, but it has been a little crazy around our house. I just got back from girls camp and my in laws are here visiting us. They are wonderful. They came to help with the kids so I could go to girls camp. THANK YOU grandma and grandpa!!!!


Camp in Texas is a little different than camp in Utah. First of all it never cools down and I felt like I was going to melt like the wicked witch on the wizard of OZ. It was like 95 degrees and 70% humidity. I'm not used to that. Then there are the bugs. Everythings bigger in Texas, including the bugs. There was no point in even attempting to put makeup on since you were constantly wiping you face from all of the sweat dripping down your face. And my hair, it would never stay strait in this kind of humidity and you can't leave it down cause it was too hot so all week I wore it up in a "sweet" bun. I actually loved not having to do my hair or makeup all week long. Well, I thought I would share a few pictures from girls camp.

Carson's last day

Today is Carson's last day of 3rd grade. He moves on to be in the oldest grade at his school, 4th grade. He starts off the next year on the safety patrol which he is so excited about. He has had a wonderful teacher who has been so loving and patient with him and I have seen alot of growth this year from him. His ticks continue to make school challenging, but he is learning to push through it and achieve his goals. He has decided to try writing a book about tourette syndrome as seen through his eyes. I'm not sure he will ever finish it, but he really wants others to be aware of it and know what its like living with it. He makes me so proud to be his mother. Here is a picture of Carson and his teacher, Mrs. Douthit. He's almost as tall as his teacher.

Graduation Day

Today Ethan graduated from kindergarten. He is so excited to be going to first grade. I can't believe how fast time is going by, before I know it he will be graduating from high school.

















This is his teacher Mrs. Shehane.











These are some of the friends he made this year.











He has changed so much this year and I'm kind of sad about some of the changes. For instance, he is now too cool to be seen holding mom's hand, he has to walk at least a few steps in front of or behind me, heaven forbid he be seen walking right next to his mom. He is so independant and wants to do everything on his own without any help. I can still get hugs and kisses from him if no one is around to witness it. I miss my little snuggler, but I'm so proud of him. He has come along way since we moved to Texas.

My new niece

Today I have a new little neice. She was born to my brother Matt and his wife Kolene this morning at about 8:30, 7lbs. 5 oz. and 20 inches long. She has yet to recieve a name, so for now she's baby girl. I have to wait 3 more weeks before I'll get to see her and hold her for the first time, I can't wait.
Today is also the 6th anniversary of losing my Grandpa Lewis. He was an amazing man and a hard worker. I used to always look at his hands and see how rough they looked and felt. It was proof of the many hours he spend working and helping others, but somehow they we also so gentle and loving. Carson has his hands, maybe they will be just like grandpa's someday.

My boys were so young when he died, Carson 3 1/2 and Ethan 6 months, so they only met him a few times. My grandpa must have made such an impression on Carson and I will tell you why. My grandpa died of Cancer. He had been sick for a little while, but I didn't really discuss it with my kids. I guess I didn't think they were old enought to understand.

Carson climbed on my lap one day and looked at me and asked, "Mom, why does Jesus want Grandpa Lewis to come live with him?" I wasn't sure what to think of his question and didn't really worry too much about it until I recieved a phone call about an hour later from my Dad saying that they didn't think grandpa would make it throught the night. My grandparents lived about 4 hours from us, so we headed up to Idaho and I took Ethan with me and left Carson with Milan. As we were getting off the freeway, Ethan woke up and was fussing, he'd had enough of his carseat. He continued to fuss until we walked into my grandparents house and he saw my grandpa laying on a bed. His eyes lit up and he couldn't stop smiling. I know he knew what was going on.

Kids are smarter than we give them credit for.

This is the last picture taken of my grandpa. Ethan was meeting grandpa for the first and last time. I love you Grandpa and I miss you.