Graduation, Reunions, and return to Utah

I know I had decided to not travel again until my family reunion trip in July, but I am a glutton for punishment.

At the beginning of June, I decided to take a trip to Vegas to go to Jake's graduation and attend a little reunion of some of my favorite BYU ElEd girls. Brad was going to be traveling the same week, so it was a no brainer.

As luck would have it, Brad's trip got moved back a week. My mom was planning on going to Utah the week after Jake's graduation, so I decided to tag along. It made for a LONG two weeks of missing my husband, but enjoying time with friends and family.

WEEK 1 - VEGAS

While in Vegas we....

Swam in the pool,

Rocked our sweet shades with Grampy,

Went to Uncle Jake's graduation (so proud of you Jakie-Poo!),

Rocked sweet shades with 'mamama' at the outlets

And enjoyed a nice family dinner with Afton's Great-Grandpa Morris, and cute cousin Natalia!

I was also fortunate enough to be in town for Jake's priesthood ordination. I am grateful that I was able to be there for this special moment in Jake's life. To learn more about the priesthood, go here. OR you can always contact me. :)

While in Vegas I also was able to reunite with my girls from my Elementary Education program at BYU. We had weekly girl nights and I have missed them all dearly.

Saturday morning/afternoon was spent at my parent's house soaking up the sun, and in the evening we went to Ceasar's forum shops for a delicious dinner and shopping!

It was so fun to see all of these girls again!

Week 2- Utah

Monday my mom and I (and of course Afton) flew up to Utah!

I got a little nostalgic seeing the Y on the mountain.

Afton and Cosmo, Rawr! 

Afton's Great Grandma and Grandpa Henderson. 

Afton cuddling with the dog at Ikea. Lucky for me, she got sick of the dog after a few minutes. I don't know how we would have fit that in our luggage home!

Cousins! (Technically these are my cousins, so Afton's cousins once removed, but does that really matter?)

Holding hands, so cute!

Feeding the ducks

The ducks! Afton started to try and chase them into the water. 

Lucky for her, I was there to keep her from rolling down the hill!

While in Utah, we did a lot of shopping. Afton picked up some very useful skills with all of this shopping.

She can now push her own stroller:

And look for her own clothes!

And just in case you were wondering how we survived a 4 1/2 hour flight home...

Trip to the Coast

I wish I could tell you that our weekend trip to the beach was spent on the beach all day, every day and that fun was had by all...

but that would be a lie.

In truth, we spent a total of 3 hours on the beach itself, which is what we anticipated. :)

The rest of the quick trip was spent at yummy local restaurants that we discovered, cruising along the coast, and just relaxing as a family. 

Brad and I had a fun time intoducing Afton to the ocean and the sand....

but she clearly did not enjoy the experience :)

Is it bad that we laughed at her protests to play in the water and the sand?

Because we did.

The funny thing is, her "cries" were totally fake cries. You know, the pathetic little moans that kids make to try to manipulate you. 

She liked the sand for about 2 minutes, until she realized it was all over her hands and she couldn't get it off.

I don't blame her for being afraid of the ocean. Huge amounts of water moving towards you? That's worrisome for a little girl!

We are hoping that she will warm up to the ocean as we will be spending a week on the beach later this summer....we will let you know how that goes :)

Silly Afton Antics

Being a mom is getting more and more fun. While Afton's beginning stages of toddler-hood do come with challenges, it also comes with a lot of awesome and funny moments. 

Yesterday, I asked Afton if we should get her dressed and we went in her room to pick out something for her. I picked out a t-shirt and skirt, but she apparently had other ideas in mind. After I got her dressed she kept bringing me clothes from her drawer and insisting that I put them on her.

Here is the result:

5 layers....

 7 layers...

She drew the line at the pants on the head ;)

The past couple weeks Afton has had a little cold or allergies. It's San Antonio, so I am not sure which. Needless to say, there have been a lot of tissues used on Afton's nose recently. This morning I found her taking tissues from my nightstand and "blowing her nose." 

Aren't those pigtails just adorable?! 

Stay tuned for more Afton Antics!