LaFeber Life Lately: Enjoying July!

Such a beautiful day! We stopped over at Jolly Beans Cafe for some treats and then ate in the shade over at the park while the kids played on the playground. It's days like these that make it all worth it :).

July has been a busy one and we have been happy for the sunshine and joy! We are still in the middle of a pandemic but we aren't letting that stop us from living life to the fullest, even if we have to wear masks everywhere we go. Thank goodness the HOA finally opened up the pools and let us cool off this summer or we would be going insane! 

Dad's first day at the pool!

Austin got to stay with Grandpa Nate and go shooting for his birthday! Now he can't stop talking about how fun it was to hold that 22-rifle :).

They also went on nightly bike rides together.

I love having a Step-Dad who loves my kids and does such fun stuff with them! It makes me so sad that my own Dad will never know them like that.

Meanwhile, Evie had a sleepover with Gracie at Briana's apartment! Gracie adores Evie and wants to do everything she does and wear everything she wears :). Because of this, we got them matching nightgowns for Gracelynn's birthday :).

Dad and Austin having a fun army guy battle!

I played beauty shop with Evie and got my hair and makeup done :)

making lemonade and lemon squares with all of our lemons!

My little buddies in the kitchen!

Evie finally had her Pre-K graduation ceremony! It was short and sweet because the pandemic has made everyone too scared to do anything social. But Evie was totally oblivious to all of that because she finally got to hug her teachers goodbye and they gave her all sorts of fun surprises in a goodiebag!

So proud of our Evie girl!

Hugging Ms. Ezree and Ms. Melissa goodbye

She loved her teachers and they were so perfect for her! Austin also had Ms. Melissa and loved her so we were so happy Evie got to experience her as well! Goodbye Children's Learning Adventure Preschool and hello Kindergarten! This is such a monumental moment to no longer be paying for kids to go to Children's Learning Adventure. Because of the pandemic, schools won't be opening up this year and I will be staying home from work to homeschool. 2020 has been one crazy year!

The sweet letter Ms. Melissa wrote to Evie :)

The sweet goodbye letter from Ms. Ezree :).

Doing yoga to try and stay sane during this insane year! It has been hard for me to accept that the kids won't be going to school next year and we are being forced to homeschool. I want Evie to have all the special Kindergarten experiences that Austin had and I feel so much pressure to make this homeschooling year incredible for them since they can't play with friends or have normal social interaction at school :(.

Grandma Helm stopped by to say hello and to give the kids their late birthday presents! It was so nice to see her! She has been staying away in fear of catching COVID-19 but she finally couldn't take it anymore :).

Isla has grown a ton since she last saw her!

Grandpa Frank passed away right before we went to Utah so we stopped in St. George to pay our respects. Aunt Gena was there along with almost the whole family and what sadness we had for losing Grandpa Frank melted away into the love of family.

I love this woman so much. She is the rock of our family.

Goodbye Grandpa Frank. We will miss you! Because of the pandemic, we weren't able to do a big funeral. Large gatherings of any kind aren't allowed right now to slow the spread of the pandemic. So we mourned him in our hearts.

The kids have had to get creative because we can't leave the house very often! So they cut up boxes and made space ships!

I love seeing their imagination at work!

 Pool days are magical days :).

Off to the pool! Bring on the Vegas sun!

Milestones: Isla is 7 Months Old!!

7 months has come and gone and our little Isla just won't stop growing! We have had an adventurous July and she has done so good at taking it all in and enjoying the ride! She is such a good baby and so happy all the time (except when you try to get her dressed. Then she's a screaming banshee). She loves to go swimming and is a huge fan of bath time! She is working on crawling and gets so close! She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth but hasn't quite figured out how to move the arms and legs in sync yet. So instead she worms her way along or rolls. Both effectively get her where she wants to go ;). She is becoming a huge Mama's girl and always wants to be held which makes it hard for me to get anything done. So I wear her in the baby carrier a lot and she loves that she gets a front row seat to all the action that way :). She is teething and so far has one bottom tooth with another one on it's way! She has been sleeping terribly because of this which means I'm not sleeping either :(. She loves her siblings and loves to watch them play! I swear she is growing up so much faster than the other two did because she wants nothing more than to be a part of their fun! She is doing so good at eating baby food now and it is so cute to have her at the table with us eating :).

This is daily life!

TWINS!!

Enjoying some watermelon :). She loves fruit!

Sadly we have to wear masks everywhere now because of the pandemic but we are doing our best to not let that stop us from enjoying our summer!

You are the light of my life baby girl and you complete our family in so many ways. We love you to pieces!!

Utah Vacay 2020 with the WHOLE LaFeber Clan!

Our happy place :)

 The Texas, Utah, and Nevada LaFeber's all reunited this summer in Utah and we had a BLAST! It was so fun watching the kids be reunited with all their cousins and having the time of their lives! It was a nonstop party from sun up, to sun down and nobody ever complained ;). Even Isla got nonstop attention and very little sleep but she was so in awe of all the people and didn't mind one bit!

All the girl cousins lovin' on Isla :). She had so many little Mommy's on this trip!

 The kids got to have a sleepover with their cousins at Uncle Nick and Aunt Jenn's house. The boys stayed up all night cruising the town for babes (everyone but Austin is a teenager now) and playing Gatorade Pong hehe! Austin thought he was so cool hanging out with the older boys and they were all so sweet with him! Meanwhile, Evie and the girls all made a giant fort downstairs and slept in that together after they had a spa night! They did each others nails and facials. It was adorable! My heart was so light and happy watching the kids make such precious memories with family. We haven't seen the Texas LaFeber's in years so this was a treat!

Austin staying up wayyy past his bedtime and playing gatorade pong with the big boys :)

 We stayed in Layton with Grandma and Grandpa Ronnenkamp the first half of the trip and enjoyed playing out in their yard every day! I'm serious. We were outside from sun up until sun down, enjoying the grass and playing with the kids. We played crab soccer, hands up stands up, and all sorts of other games we made up. I even finished a book out under the shade of the trees! I can't even tell you how nice it feels to enjoy grass after coming from a Vegas summer.

Fun at Grandma's house!

It was so nice having help with Isla so I could play with the older kids! We sure love Grandma!

Grandpa Steve got out his old army helmet and canteen from the Vietnam war and Austin was in heaven!! He is obsessed with guns and the army! It was so sweet seeing them bond over this :).

Grandma must be comfy because Isla fell asleep on her A LOT!

Playing games outside in the yard. This is the life!

Even though half the family was in Salt Lake staying with Nick and the other half was in Layton staying with Josh's parents, we all got together daily. We went to Rodizzio for dinner one night and it was the first time we've gone out to eat since the pandemic began. We all had to wear masks everywhere we went but it felt so wonderful to feel free to live again. Free to eat, free to travel, free to enjoy family. People are still dying from Covid-19 but we all decided it was worth it to see each other again.... and it really was! I could have died happy after this trip! Luckily that didn't happen though ;). We also got together each night and played either at Nick's house or at a park. We went to Sugarhouse park where the kids played on the playground and in the creek and North Canyon Park where we ate KFC Chicken and played ultimate frisbee and football. We also spent a day at the Layton Duck Park wandering around with bags of bread feeding all the hungry ducks. The weather was beautiful and wandering around by the creek was so peaceful and wonderful. We also all went over to the cemetery to say hello to Papa Art and reminisce about all the memories we have with him when he was alive. This was very different having the whole family here and not him, so we let him know how much we miss him.

Dinner at Rodizzio!!! We were all in heaven! This is the girls table.

And this is the boys table! The parents got our own table ;)

Fun at the duck park!

Isn't it gorgeous?!

We also splurged and got treats at Twisted Sugar :)

Fun at Sugarhouse park! Austin isn't in the picture because he fell in the creek and was soaking wet hehe!

Yard games :)

I wish I could freeze time and live in this moment forever.... Laying in the grass with Isla, the kids chasing Josh around.... it was perfection.

 Visiting Papa Art at the Bountiful Cemetery.

It breaks my heart that Isla is the only grandchild that Papa Art didn't get to meet :(. But I'm sure they were pals in heaven!

Aunt Jenn getting some baby love :)

Macy is the oldest girl cousin (since Kate is on a mission) and she was so sweet with all the little girls! She did such a great job coming up with game ideas and playing with all of them.

The second half of the trip was spent in a giant lodge in Park City that we all put our money together and rented out so we could be under one roof together. It wasn't quite what we expected (the air conditioning didn't work and the water smelled like sulfur), but the kids were completely oblivious to all of that so we did the best we could to just enjoy each other under the circumstances. The cool part of the house was that it had a playground with a pirate ship and a movie theater and a hydroponic greenhouse and over 5000sqft to run around! The kids were up til 3am playing and back at it early in the morning. It was loud and it was amazing! Uncle Nick brought his boat up and we all went boating at Rock Port. It was a blast! Evie surprised us with her bravery by going surfing with cousin Porter and all the kids had a blast on the tube! It was seriously a nonstop party and I just wanted to soak it all up. The laughter, the joy, the companionship with family. Oh how I have missed all of this! Quarantine has stolen so much of our joy and I didn't notice how much I was missing it until we had it again!

Lexi and Isla :)

Whitley and Evie were little pals! They're almost a year apart but Whitley is super shy and Evie is anything but shy, so they were two peas in a pod!

Brandon was the fan favorite! All the kids were jumping all over him and he was so cute with them.

We went over to Olympic Park and watched the skiers practice. The older kids did the tubing while the younger ones played on the playground. It was hot and we had to wear masks because we were in public but it was fun and we got ice cream afterwards before we headed back to the lodge for dinner :).

Grandma's happy place :)

I love my Mother In Law more than words can say!

The kids played all day long on this indoor playground!

How many people can you fit into that hot tub?! Asking for a friend... ;)

Austin was so happy to find other boys who love video games!

Uncle Nick's boat!

It was a hot day and the water felt so cold and invigorating! We all had a blast jumping off the boat and swimming around in the water!

Brandon and Austin tubing!

It was fun getting to spend time with Uncle Tony and Aunt Stacy. Our kids don't remember them much so we were so happy to make some memories with them!

Grandma and Grandpa showing their wild side!

Love my boy!

Evie being her wild self! This girl has no fear and it is amazing!!!

  We were so sad to say goodbye to our family that Sunday as we all packed up to head to our own homes. The kids now refer to their cousins as their best friends and I think we all agreed that this needs to happen more often. The older kids are going on missions and it is important for us to see each other more before they all grow up and move on. We took a gamble on this trip that we wouldn't get sick but it was well worth the risk!