St. George Trip - part 2

Wade surprised me by having flowers delivered for me. He's such a sweet guy! I had been missing him, and this was just what I needed. He helps so much with the kids that not having him with me made me appreciate him even more. I was really looking forward to when he would drive down to join me in St. George.


Emily kept sneaking out of my mom's house to play in the backyard, and little Jonathan would follow right after her. Emily LOVED jumping on the trampoline, and Jon enjoyed swinging in the swing and climbing up and down the patio steps. Finally Jon tackles Emily instead of her always tackling him!



Jocey and I hung out again, this time with Brooke Smith Jensen, as well. Although we were at a splash pad, the kids just wanted to run around on the grass and play in the dirt, rather than run through the sprinklers. We thought they were nuts since the water seemed more inviting than the dirt, but whatever...kids will be kids! :) Later that day, I went to see Candice Jensen Blake, another friend I grew up with. When we were little, she taught me how to be silly and just have fun more than any other friend. She still makes me laugh today!


I had a great time visiting with Spence and Julie Kohler. The three of us were in the Institute Show Choir, Inspiration, together, and later were in the college married ward together. Julie and I really connect and I just love her! They live next door to my sister, Ruthanne, ironically. Since I was going to help her pack up to move that night, Spence and Julie made us a yummy taco dinner before we started packing. Thanks guys! Of course Emily was a big fan of their three-year-old, Ben. He has a great sense of humor and is such a character (like his dad)! Emily thought he was hilarious. And their little princess, Madison, could steal your heart. She is SO gorgeous!
Madison, Emily, Ben, and Jonathan jumping on the bed and being silly!


Friday morning, I met up with Brandi Wilcox again to shop at Old Navy and just chill and wait for Wade to arrive. Brandi and I always have fun together, and so do our kids! E.J. and Emily played in the fountain for an hour and were soaked!

Wade finally arrived to town, and we couldn't be more excited to see him! Can you tell Emily loves her daddy? We ate at the famous new IN-N-OUT burger place with Ruthanne and Austin. It was a fun experience, but I still prefer "The Frost Top" or "Charlie's" old fashioned restaurants! Austin had been in Salt Lake for his first week of his new job and then Wade rode with him so we all could be in town for our nephew's baby blessing.

Jon stole his daddy's sunglasses and looked so COOL, I had to snap a picture. :)




Emily has become a little tease lately. She kept ringing the door bell and then giggling at herself!

"Hold it right there, Grandpa! No one gets past me without giving me candy first!" Jon liked to stand up and hold onto Grandpa Maughan's walker, so he couldn't go anywhere. We enjoyed spending Saturday morning with Wade's grandparents. We cooked them breakfast since it was Grandpa's birthday.


They are such a remarkable example to us. After 63 years of marriage, they are still in love and it shows! They are very selfless and giving to one another, and we just think the world of them. After leaving their house, we visited Ryan and Kayla Gubler and their darling girl, Maya. Ryan was one of Wade's mission companions, and I grew up with Kayla. It was a blast to catch up with them and spend time together.

My Grandpa Lang, my dad, and my nephews all planted trees together while the girls jumped on the tramp and played.

That evening, we all went to the Santa Clara splash pad by the baseball fields, the same one I went to with Jocey and Brooke, but this time, Emily actually WANTED to run through the sprinklers! I even decided to get soaked too because when I'm "home", I feel like a kid again in many ways.

That Sunday, my brother Nicholas blessed his baby boy, Preston. It was special to all be together and just enjoy family. I feel so blessed to have each of them in my life! I had a lot of fun these last ten days, spending time with good friends and family. I'm already looking forward to next time I visit, so I can see friends that I didn't get to see this trip, like Kelly, Mardi, Megan, Rachel, Emily, Carolee! I just love St. George and being able to spend time with amazing people who have made a difference in my life.

St. George Trip - part 1

At the beginning of May, I took a trip with the kids to St. George so I could attend the graduation of my younger sister, Ruthanne, and her husband, Austin. The following weekend was the baby blessing for my nephew, Preston, who is Nick and Summer's baby boy. To save on gas money and so I could play with friends, I decided to spend the week in St. George sandwiched in between the two weekends. It was a blast, as always, and I wanted to share some of our adventures!

This is my darling sister, Ruthanne, the one who recently invaded my blog and left a post ;) She and Austin both received their bachelor's degrees from Dixie State College. They even walked through the "D" together! It was so sweet. This is the WELCOME sign my older sister, Margaret, and I gave her for her classroom. She was in the Elementary Education program just like I was, and I kept thinking back to three years ago when I graduated. It's an exciting accomplishment! I was so proud of her that night.

I met up with my sweet friends, Jodi Atkinson and Jaime Monk, at the new Hidden Valley Park in Bloomington Hills. It's the coolest park with these enormous umbrella-like coverings that shade all of the playground equipment and benches. In the hot summer days of St. George, you need shade like that. It has a great splash pad, too. Even the playground equipment is more unique than at other parks, however, somehow it was the drinking fountain that provided the most fun for these three rambuncious kids! :)

Here is Jaime's little Emalee, my Emily, and Jodi's little man Tate. They were so silly together! It was fun to watch them play.

Jonathan was having a blast, climbing and crawling everywhere. I swear he is way more fearless than Emily ever was. He really keeps me on my toes!

Jodi, Jaime, and I were having such a great time catching up with each other and talking that we decided we should have lunch together as well. Where else? Cafe' Rio of course! On the way there, Emily and Jonathan were adorable in the back seat playing peek-a-boo with each other, blowing rasberries, and making other silly noises with their mouths. At a red light, I turned around a snapped a quick picture. They can be so crazy sometimes. I love it!

Later that day, I drove out to Washington to spend time with two of my best friends, Kristal and Brandi. We met at Brandi's so she could give us a tour of her cute new house;) Then we walked down the street to play at her neighborhood park. It also had a splash pad, so I stripped the kids down and let them go at it. We were having so much fun that I was distracted and didn't take many pictures, but here's one of Jon crawling like a wild animal :) Funny, huh? And the other is of Jon and Sophie spalshin' away. Too cute!

Later in the week, I went to say hello to Jocey Anderson Hobson, who lived next door to me all my life. She was my best friend as a kid, making forts in the lava rocks, playing "kick the can", dressing up and putting on shows, and of course swimming and running through the sprinklers all summer long. When I was Emily's age, I had long hair and lots of it, just like she does. So you can see why my mom freaked out when Jocey cut one whole side of my hair off. (You know what that's like, right Rach?) A little while later, sporting my new short hairdoo, I was playing in a box, and Jocey was pushing me around in it. It would have been funny to get a picture of Jocey's little girl, Andee, pushing Emily around in a box. I didn't do it, but I did get some fun shots of them playing together and hugging each other to say good-bye.

My sweet Grandma Lang just makes me smile. She spoils my kids with hugs and kisses whenever she gets a chance! :)

The Sonju's are such an amazing family. I feel very blessed that I had the opportunity to nanny for them. Although Macey and Madi have Down Sydrome, it doesn't stop them from developing their talents and abilities. And they have more friends than anyone I know! Here I am with Madi, my little buddy, who's not really little anymore. Can you believe she's already a teenager, Caralee and Janese?



Emily really enjoyed playing in the playhouse with Madi, while Jon was inside just being silly with Macey. He's learning how to make scary faces, can you tell? :)

How can you not smile when you see these happy faces?!

Ruthanne Invades Blog :)

Hello Wade & Catherine's Family & Friends!
Catherine left her blog open so I've been reading everyone's blogs! It's fun to read about other people's lives!! Especially people I know. By the way, this is Catherine's little sister Ruthanne. I'm currently living at her house for the next 5 weeks with my husband. It's been a little crazy. Austin, my husband, got accepted to the University of Utah and had to start taking classes immediately. I didn't want to have to live in St. George while he was up here so I talked to my nice sister and convinced her it would be fun to let me live with her. :) We just found an apartment, but it's not available until June 25th. Anywho...let me update you on my life. haha Austin and I have both graduated with our bachelors a couple of weeks ago. Austin will attend the University of Utah while he gets his Masters in Finance. He will also work part time doing accounting work for a company. I am going to be a 2nd grade teacher this August. I'm really excited! I'm also kind of nervous!
Also, Julie- you are way too funny! I was laughing out loud reading your blog! I'm thinking that maybe I'll start a blog, but there's just one little problem. Everyone posts pictures of their kids and talk about how cute they are. Austin and I don't have any kids!! Oh well. Peace out! Keep up the blogging!

Marathon & Discovery Gateway

My brother, Randy, and his family came to Salt Lake a few weekends ago for the Marathon. My sister-in-law, Andrea, ran the half marathon and did awesome! My cute nieces, Brooklyn and Whitney, ran the 1K Kids Run. They were so pumped up and excited to run it, and we were just happy to be there, cheering them on! I took these pictures with my cell phone camera, so they are a little blurry, but hopefully, you can still enjoy them!

My niece, Brooklyn, is the one on the left in pink, slapping hands with the crowd. :) My big bro is in the red, running along side her. What a great dad!

Cath, Emily, Whitney, and Brooklyn

After the Marathon, we enjoyed a Pork Salad at Costa Vida (lovin' it!) Then we played at Discovery Gateway, an amazing children's museum. We hadn't been before, since it's a little pricey, but Randy and Andrea were generous and paid for all of us. We were so grateful for that! Because it was our first experience, it was a novelty for us, and the kids were absolutely fascinated with everything there (we were, too)! Emily was particularly amazed by these tunnels that wind around each other and balls shoot up through them in all directions. It's interactive, so Emily could put a ball into the tunnel and it would shoot up real fast, so it was like her own little science experiment, again and again. So fun!

Jonathan loved crawling up this tree house and playing peek-a-boo with us. What a funny little guy!

Just chilin' with daddy!

Discovery Gateway was awesome, and we decided we will definitely need to go back. But the best part of the day was simply spending time with Randy and Andrea and their girls. Even when Wade and I lived in St. George and they did too, we mostly only hung out with them when the whole family was getting together for special occasions. Now that they're in Southern California and we're in northern Utah, we've really missed them, and it was so great just to spend time with them like friends. I have always known how lucky I am to have an older brother like Randy, but watching him with his family and seeing the amazing father and husband he is, makes me proud to be his sister. I love ya, bro!

Old McDonald Had a Farm, EIEIO!

It was my turn to teach Joy School and the theme was "Farms." The kids really got into this lesson making animal sounds, galloping around like ponies with scarves as their tails, and creating farm animal puppets so they could sing "Old McDonald" over and over again! All of us moms were excited to surprise them with a visit to Wheeler Farms as a field trip the next day. It was awesome! Here are some highlights...

In the car on the way over, Emily used her pretend phone to call Grandma and tell her that she was going to the farm. She's so spontaneous sometimes, it kills me! :) I'll be driving along and hear her talking to somebody or something, so I'll turn around and find her "on the phone" in a very serious conversation with Grandma or Etta or Beau the dog or whoever! The other day, she "called" Elyse and said, "Your mommy, Miss Taffy (Kathy)...she go walking with my mommy, otay (okay)? You miss her? Me too. Otay, good bye." It reminded me of my cousin Karen's little guy, Ethan, who has similar "conversations" with Buzz Lightyear! Kids are so funny, aren't they? I love it!
Here's Ems chasing the ducks. This was, by far, her favorite part of the farm! She ran around just giggling and giggling...running after the ducks and finding it hilarious that they ran when she ran... too cute!
Jon and Gibson loved watching Etta and Emily chase after those funny ducks!
The tree house was a hit! The girls climbed up to the top, and then would peek out the windows and say, "Hi mommy! Look at me!" to each of their moms. It was funny! Here's Emily with Salote and Elyse climbing back down, ready to go enjoy more of the farm. We had such a great time on the farm! I just wish I had more pictures to share, but it was one of those days that I was enjoying myself as much as the kids, so I didn't take as many shots with the camera. I usually take pictures on the tractor ride, but just as we were all seated on the wagon, ready to go, the tractor engine started with an especially loud roar and freaked Emily out! She jumped up, crying, and ran for the stairs to climb off the wagon, when I jumped up after her and all the moms yelled, "Stop the tractor! Don't go yet!" Luckily, I was able to swoop her up in my arms as she hit the bottom step. I then tried to calm her down and convince her that "It's not scary. It's fun, I promise"...I don't know if she ever believed me. Strange enough, she usually loves the tractor ride, but obviously this time was different. You have to have a little drama on every field trip with kids, right?

After visiting all the animals, even the darling baby chicks :) we sat down at a picnic table and enjoyed a yummy lunch together. I loved spending time with my friends, away from the noises of the big city, and just enjoying country life a bit. What a good day!