The Heber Creeper

No, the Heber Creeper is not some weirdo from a small town in Utah… it’s the name of a train! The three-hour scenic tour on the Heber Creeper is one of those things you do in Utah with the six-and-under crowd… and then never do again. We went as kids with our parents; hence, the reason everyone in our family suddenly became really busy when Jake asked if anyone would like to accompany him and the twins on the train.

Frankly, the thought of being trapped on a train going no more than fifteen miles per hour (there’s a reason it’s called the Heber Creeper) with two boisterous three year olds and no escape route was mildly panic attack-inducing, so I played the Meredith card and had a peaceful day at home with her! Kudos to Jake for taking the girls on the three hour tour of trees…and more trees….and more trees. With such a long journey, I was seriously afraid for his sanity, but they ended up loving their first “real” train ride together. Jake is totally a “it’s not about the destination, but the journey” kind of guy, so this was, fortunately, right up his alley.

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Waving goodbye to random people.

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At one point, I texted Jake to ask how things were going and let him know there was only 1.5 hours left on the train to go! “1.5 hours?!!!!!” he replied.

Snacks made the time go by a little faster.

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Jake reported that the girls got a little antsy at the end, but were otherwise great.

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This is a stick up! In the middle of the ride, train robbers came on board. This is the wild, wild west, after all.

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Gorgeous scenery and playing in the ice cold creek afterwards.

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When the girls arrived home, they could barely contain their excitement telling us all about their train ride.

Me to Jake: “Was it fun?”

Jake: “Yes.”

Me: “Would you go again?”

Jake: “No.”

I guess I’ll be next in line to go with Meredith sometime in the future!

Lots of love,

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Slip n Slide in Utah

One of the girls’ favorite parts of our Utah trip was afternoons spent attempting to master the quintessential plastic emblem of summer childhoods: the slip n slide!

I swear, the slip n slide we had growing up was bright yellow, thirty-feet long, and required you to pound at least 59 metal stakes in the ground to hold the slide to the grass (which took forever and invariably came loose). You then had to project your launch exactly down the middle with Olympic ski jumper-like precision, for fear of hitting the sides and stubbing your hands or torso on the metal. Ah, the dangers of the 90s. Th 2016 version seemed tame by comparison!

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Most days, the girls didn’t even bother putting on swimsuits.

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Not quite sure how to use gravity to her advantage at first.

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The funniest slip n slide fail you ever did see (SPOILER: Sammy gets the hang of it at the end). I keep this hearted on my phone so I can watch in any time I need a good laugh.

A push and Sammy was off.

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SPLASH.

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Amelia was a tad more timid on the slide, but still had fun.  IMG_1507 (1)

Lazy moments in the grass afterwards.

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Amelia loved smelling the grass and rolling over in it, just like Bandit!

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Meredith was jealous she wasn’t allowed to try out the slide and sat with Grandma on the deck.

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I guess tasting my giraffe will have to do for now.

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I don’t know who had more fun… the girls, or us watching them!

Lots of love,

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A Week in Utah

The week before the 4th of July, we left right after swim lessons for our epic road trip to Utah. This was the first time in several years that we hadn’t done the trip in the dead of night while the girls were sleeping, so we knew from the get-go that what is normally a nine-hour drive would probably turn into 11+ hours with all the bathroom, get the wiggles out, and snack stops. All in all, it was about 12.5 hours of total time, and the girls did remarkably well, considering we haven’t done a drive like that during the day since they were babies!

Our plan of attack included leaving right before nap time, which worked well, since they slept the first little bit in the car, and stopping every few hours for breaks. Samantha and Amelia kept busy listening to music (I love you, minivan sound system, which lets you listen to something different up front while the girls could listen to whatever they wanted in the back), coloring, singing, and playing I Spy. I brought several DVDs, but the girls only ended up watching one show the whole trip.

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Meredith was excited for our adventure, but near the end, she was absolutely miserable, and then angry! “I want outtttttt!!!” she screamed for the last hour before she finally conked out in the car at bedtime.

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I bought and wrapped a bunch of random $1 items from Target before the trip and set the alarm on my phone for random intervals during our drive. When the alarm when off, we’d start getting excited and yelling, “Surprise time!” That meant the girls could open one of the prizes, assuming they had not been whining/crying at any time during the interval between the last alarm. They loved it and it kept their attention diverted for a little while, although towards the end of the trip, they became super whiny and kept asking when the next Surprise Time was ad infinitum, which negated the intended hour of peace and quiet Surprise Time was supposed to afford us.

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I laminated a little scavenger hunt game and a map to Grammy’s they could draw on with dry erase markers, which bought us several peaceful minutes throughout the trip.

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When we stopped in St. George for a late dinner, everyone was restless, cranky and tired! Since we had Bandit and it was 100 degrees outside, I walked him around, while Jake took the twins and Meredith to eat and get their energy out in the play place. All three had an epic meltdown inside, and I’m sure everyone at the Chick fil A had pity on the poor “single dad” with three screaming girls!

By this time, Meredith was absolutely livid that she was back in her car seat, and the twins were overtired and just wanted a bed to sleep in instead of their carseats. After a harrowing hour of crying from all three, eventually, everyone fell asleep and the last four hours of our trip were peaceful. Despite getting there at 12:30 a.m., Grammy and Grandpa were there to greet us and carry sleeping twins and baby into the house and tuck them into bed. The trip was exhausting, but we all slept in that morning, plus we had the extra help from Grandma and Grandpa, so getting there late wasn’t too bad.

From there on out, we were in full-on vacation mode. All in all, I will say it was probably the closest we’ve ever had to a true vacation since having the twins. The girls were happy and occupied the entire time in the backyard and adjusted to the time difference and being out of their element perfectly. Meredith, as long as she wasn’t in the car, was a little peach. Bandit lounged on the grass all day and ran around the backyard barking at bikers on the trail. It was our most successful vacation with the kids ever!

Hours of entertainment in the sand pit.

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They didn’t even have to come inside for drinks.

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Meredith soaked up all the extra attention on her first trip to Utah.

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Jake built a zip line in the backyard and we all took turns on it throughout the week.

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The first time Amelia tried it out, Jake had put some WD40 on it to make the zip line faster, with the unintended consequence that she zipped so fast down the thing, that she crashed into the tree at the bottom since Jake couldn’t catch her fast enough. She was a little bit wary of the zip line after that and we had to bribe her to try it again. IMG_1710 IMG_1711 IMG_1713 IMG_1718 IMG_1719

Unbeknownst to us, there were some wasps underneath the deck chairs and Amelia got her first two wasp stings. She was a brave little trooper through the pain!

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Recovering from the wasps with a plate full of cherries and ice packs.

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Samantha didn’t get stung, but she must have been feeling the pain vicariously because she claimed she needed an ice pack as well. It’s a twin thing.

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The triage unit! Jake went to spray the wasp’s nest and got stung in the process.

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I used to spend entire summers in the sand box digging holes and making rivers with the hose. Good times!

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Grammy froze some sea creatures in a block of ice and the girls were busy for an afternoon trying to free them.

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No need for clothes! Most days, we were too lazy to even grab their swim suits, so the girls stripped down to their undies and ran around outside.

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When I wasn’t relaxing on the deck, I was usually pushing the girls on the swings or riding on the glider with them.

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So much to do and see for Meredith.

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Grammy bought a new tree swing, which, after Jake unsuccessfully tried to make into a zip line, installed on the tree instead, to great enthusiasm.

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The swing/zip line was much too slow to be fun, except for Meredith.

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Amelia loved feeding the garden bunnies.

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Lovely Meredith blended in nicely with the flowers.

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Smothered in love!

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Butterfly kisses. IMG_3513 IMG_3524

We all agreed it was well worth the drive! More vacation footage to come.

Lots of love,

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Utah Fall Leaf Fun

While in Utah, Aunt Sarah took some awesome pictures of Samantha and Amelia playing in the leaves (for about ten minutes until they started whining that it was too cold!) Her pictures definitely deserve their own post– we’ve never managed to get proper fall leaf footage before!

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Amelia surveys the landscape.

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Hooray!

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Good thing Uncle Mike was there to take on raking duty.

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Samantha waits to be buried.

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Amelia’s sly little grin.

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It’s raining leaves!

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Hmmmm… what next?

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Bury sister!

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Samantha the snowball.

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Amelia digs for mittens. We lost about 2.5 pairs this go around.

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The girls love the nursery rhyme, “The Three Little Kittens” and always beg for me to sing it. After losing their own mittens, they pretended to be kittens crying because they lost their mittens. You shall have no pie!

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Run around! Run around!

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Cutie Amelia.

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Ali was totally on top of hat replacement duty.

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That Samantha.

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Buried alive!

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The girls giggled as they “hid.”

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Found a hand!

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The Daddy swing.

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Whoosh.

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Into the leaves we go.

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Bury Daddy time.

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Too cold. And we’re done.

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Thanks for the pics, Aunt Sarah!

Lots of love,

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