Makayla's First Pedicure (I know, I know)

After my Grandma's funeral we still had a few days to hangout with my family, which was so nice! My mom had promised Makayla that the next time we came home she could go with us to get a pedicure. We thought that would be next summer, but alas it turned out to be a month later. When my mom and I decided that we needed another pedicure before I left Makayla insisted that she get to come, and of course my mom could say no to her!

So yes Makayla at age 3 got her first pedicure and she LOVED it! I think I might have created a monster! At least she is cute right....

Soaking her feet.

(we were just going to get her toes painted, but she wanted the whole thing done. so of course my mom gave in and let her get the real deal)

Getting ready for the paint. She loved every second of it and was so enthralled in the whole process.

Such a big 3 year old!

Makayla and Grandma.

(Grandma definitely spoils her)

The people there were so sweet to her and made her feel so special. Makayla sat so still it was amazing.

The finished product. The color was so cute on her. She even got a flower on them. So cute!

She is growing up too fast!

This was a one time thing, trust me!

Grandma's Funeral

When I got the phone call that my Grandma wasn't doing to well and wouldn't be with us much longer, I knew that I had to make the trip even if it was without Caleb. I started looking for flights and by the weekend I was on my way to Utah. The girls and I made it there without too much of a problem, we only had an hour delay in Minnesota and both girls did very well. I am so glad I was able to be there. My Grandma is so important to me and I could not have imagined missing it for the world. The funeral went very well, and it was nice to be around family during this difficult time.

Lucy and Brinley entertaining themselves very nicely.

My beautiful Makayla. For a 3 year old her understanding of what was going on amazed me. She truly loved her Great-Grandma.

Dedication of the grave

The 5 kids

-Aunt Sue, Mom, Uncle Mike, Aunt Julie, and Aunt Bonnie-

These five took such amazing care of my Grandma. They loved her so much, and they will miss her dearly.

Me with my girls.

We were sad that dad couldn't make it, but with his crazy school schedule we understood.

My family

Again I am so thankful for the plan of salvation and my knowledge that families are forever and that I will be all of them forever!

Dedicated To Grandma

GRANDMA......

I am writing this post as a dedication to my Grandma who passed away Friday August 5 at the age of 83. My grandma was one of the greatest examples of love. The most important thing to her in life was her family. She loved us so much and showed it every chance she got. My grandpa was her everything and she just hasn't been the same without him. I know it was because she missed him so much. She had 5 children and dedicated her life to raising them to be good people.

She was always so proud of us when we did anything whether it was big or small. She had a way of making even our small accomplishments seem huge.

Here I am with her at my graduation from BYU. She wouldn't have missed it for anything. I love that she loved to be there when we accomplished things. I will miss her wanting to come to everything. Even just to see a new house or apartment that we had moved into and decorated.

My Grandma loved the Lord and the gospel and was an example of it. She made me want to try harder everyday to be a better person so I would have the opportunity to be with my family forever just like her. One of the things I will remember about her is how she loved to buy us little things. I remember countless times she would let me go to the dollar store and pick out little presents. She will also always be the gummy bear grandma to me. I think that is why I have such a love for them. She ALWAYS had them in her cupboard growing up.

Another thing I love about my Grandma was how much she adored my girls. She was always talking about them and how beautiful and smart they were. It gives me confidence that I am doing an ok job raising them. Makayla loved Great-Grandma too. On this last trip home this summer she was always asking to go and see her when my mom would go up to visit. My mom took her with her countless times and Makayla loved it. Great-Grandma and Makayla became buddies and loved to share Swedish fishes. I am so glad that Makayla got to spend some time with her and see why I loved her so much and why I will miss her dearly.

4 generation picture taken at Eric's wedding.

Grandma was an incredible lady. Her testimony was unshakable and she will forever be an example to me. Things will definitely be different with her gone, but I know she is in a better place with her eternal companion. I am grateful for my knowledge of the plan of salvation and the fact that I will see her and Grandpa again.

LOVE YOU GRANDMA!!!!!

Summer Vacation (Part 5-The Last) - Lagoon, The Zoo, & Cory's Birthday

Well I am finally finishing up my last post about our summer vacation. It has taken me awhile because of the passing of my Grandmother, but that is another post in and of it self to follow later.

Back to our vacation, about 4 days before Caleb was going to try to fly standby home and I was going to stay and spend more time with family, I was lying in bed and realized I had to go with him. You see we have one car and if I didn't go home with him he would have no car to get to school and back for about 2 weeks. Not a good idea. After I made that discovery we decided to make the most of our remaining days.

Last summer we really wanted to take Makayla to Lagoon, but it didn't happen. This year we made sure that it did and she had so much fun. We only bought her a pass so she had to go on all of the rides by herself and she was a champ. Nothing scared her!

Giving me the "thumbs up"!

Grandma came along with us and here she is keeping Lucy company in the stroller. Sad for her she spent a lot of time in there while we were there, but she was smiling the whole time.

Makayla riding bulgy the whale. This was one of my favorites when I was little.

This was probably one of her favorite rides.

This is the slowest ride ever! She loved it and wanted it to be her last ride, but the line was too long and since the ride is so slow we would have been there forever! Needless to say I talked her out of it.

Daddy and his girl watching the kids on the rides

We were also lucky enough to get to go to the zoo while we were there. This time they had dinosaurs set up all over the zoo. Makayla had so much fun looking for them and got so excited when we would find a new one.

Don't they look scared!

Lucy doing what she does best, riding in the stroller enjoying the sights!

Makayla and dad digging for bones and Lucy watching!

Digging some more.

I love my little family!

This elephant blew water out of his trunk and even though it was hot Makayla wasn't a very big fan of it.

Yet another dinosaur we found.

Makayla and Dad being silly.

Uncle Cory celebrated his 30th, yes he is old (hahaha), birthday while we were visiting. We all know Makayla is in love with birthdays and making cakes and all that goes with a birthday. So of course we had to make a cake. Uncle Cory got a lemon with raspberry filling baseball cake. The raspberry filling started to leak out so it turned a little bit pink, but Cory's favorite team is the Boston Red Sox so I guess it kind of worked.

He needed a little help with all those candles!

Uncle Cory and Makayla with the masterpiece

(I know the 30 is upside down, it was a long day)

We also got to spend some quality time with my grandma while we were there. Even though she wasn't her normal self we loved and cherish all the time we had with her.

The girls with Great-Grandma Marchant

And I just had to throw this one in because she is just so cute!

Well that concludes our 2011 summer trip. I know it was long, but we just had to much fun and I wanted to document it all for my sake!