Love 'em and Leave 'em

I'm not sure it's possible to communicate how much we love and hate to come home for the summer. This was only our second try, and we improved upon some of the craziness of last summer, but also realized if we continue to live overseas, it will be impossible to completely relax and lounge around during our summer vacation. So many people to visit, so little time...  Perhaps the picture overload will help you understand why we are all exhausted when summer is done:) 

 Some of our days were literally packed from the minute we got up to the minute we unloaded all the bags from the car at the end of the day - we would start with a visit to some friends, maybe with brunch, then a stop at our old ward for church, then dinner with some other friends, then home to bed to get up and meet more friends early the next morning.  Don't get me wrong - we love seeing everyone but it is tough.  Will has so much fun meeting "new" friends and having a whole new stash of toys to play with, but when it's time to leave a couple of hours later, there is always a bit of a meltdown and then he asks about the friends for a little while, until he gets to the next place and starts all over. 

 This is Olive Jones - his first little friend in Arizona, and her little sister Leila.  The Jones' are some of our all time favorites in Queen Creek!

 After Will got potty trained, we got to follow up on the bribes we had been offering for months so we went to Antelope Island to see the buffalo - this guy was walking right next to the road and he was HUGE!  We also went to the dinosaur museum at BYU, and Will still wants me to sing the dinosaur song I made up afterwards. 

We also promised the zoo, and Hogle Zoo delivered with lovely weather, and some great polar bear action, and elephants, rhinos and tigers but sadly, no lions or zebras.  And no picture of Finley is complete without some puke dribbling out of her mouth, and no trip to Hogle Zoo is complete without a drink from the lion fountain. 

Cousin Oliver was a big favorite - I just wish he lived closer so they could have had more time together, but they clicked pretty quickly watching the ducks at Willow Park in Logan, and the guys in the batting cages.  We had a "cousins reunion" with all the family on my mom's side, and it was really fun to see everyone's kids all grown up and to introduce Finley to everyone.  She can be my Uncle Norm's new girl.  When I was growing up, that was the first thing he always asked me, "Whose girl are you?"  Before I even knew what it meant, I knew the answer was Uncle Norm's:)

 Down in Arizona, she met Aunt Melanie, who was so great to play with her and Will and do a lot of babysitting for us with her daughter, Amanda.

 Our friends, the Mittelstadt's, had us over, and their daughter Lauren was so excited to hold Finley and play with Will.  If I had the time, or the speed on my internet connection, I would add the video version of the wagon adventures, with Will's giggles as soundtrack.

 Of course, there was baseball, and Will was really excited to sing "Take me out to the ballgame" with Uncle Rodney, Grandpa and Daddy.  He really loves Uncle Rodney and thinks he sees him everywhere when he sees men with shaved heads or glasses. 

 When we got to Hope and Jack Schlinger's house, Will had fallen asleep in the car, so I brought him in and put him on the couch for a few minutes, and they couldn't wait for him to wake up to play - when it was time for him to wake up, they were crouched down on the floor by me telling him it was time to wake up so they could play.  I was a little afraid he would see new faces and be scared, but after a couple of minutes to orient himself, he was ready to go! 

We also go to see my friend Jocie (another friend/roommate from the Logan years) and she took some great pictures of the kids, then Will got to meet Hallie's animals:) 

 We stopped in Payson, Arizona on our way north to see Rodney and Lisa one more time and play at the park - Will didn't want to leave...

And then, back to Idaho, a weekend at the cabin at Bear Lake with lots of Webbs, some stories and snuggles with Grandma and a four wheeler ride with Uncle Jordan and his friend Ashley (no moose this year though). 

Dinner with some of our favorites, the Kimbers, and their little girl Kennedy who was fast friends with Will, and then more time with cousins Luke and Lauren - they were so great to play with him and take care of him.  Luke even had to deal with a poopy accident one afternoon - sorry Chicken.  We also spent a long weekend with Nate's sister, Lisa and her family, and went to Lindon Days and fireworks, and I only took two pictures!  Hunter and Julianne were so awesome to play with Will and take him outside to see the goats and emus and all the other stuff out there.  When we skype with Lisa, Will always wants to see the goats, and if it's not the dead of winter, or the dead of night, she will carry her laptop out so he can see them. 

And in no order whatsoever, we were able to meet up with my friend Kate (who was a roommate in Logan for a few years) and actually meet her boys in real life - I felt like I already knew Hamilton and Beckett from blog stories, which I guess is an advantage and disadvantage at the same time!  As I am finishing, I realize even more friends we saw and didn't photograph, but loved and left all the same, so until next year, we love you all and hope to see you on skype!