We Went to Utah!

We recently took a fabulous vacation to the remote location of Utah! It really was fabulous, though. Kellie and Addison were in town so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to make a pilgrimage home. At first Liam and I were just planning to go alone, giving Dan a chance to get work done, and get to know Mary on a more personal level. (Which definitely DID happen!) But at the last minute we decided it was worth it to buy and extra ticket and get a babysitter for Mary so that Dan could join us for the last few days of the trip.

Liam discovered this hammer the first night, and was hardly seen without it from that moment on. He hammered everything from the pegs, to my face, to the cat.

It was really fun to see Liam and my dad bonding. Liam took a liking to him right away and they had a really good week together. This was especially nice considering my dad hasn't been able to come out for a visit since Liam was born.
The infamous petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. As usual, most activities there were really more for me than for him. Especially his "pony ride". For all he knew he was sitting up to the dinner table. It was totally worth it though. Seeing him on that horse was hilarious, and of course, adorable. Thanks to my mom for the great idea of going here, it was so much fun.

Liam followed Addison everywhere she went, and wanted to do everything she did. This sometimes included playing with her toys, which didn't go so well most of the time. On this occasion I think she was glad for a partner in crime.

Liam's first day at the pool! Thank you Kellie for the classy Burberry swim trunks. I know it helped Liam feel confident for his first swim. For the most part he was terribly confused by the pool. He wasn't excited to be in the water, and wasn't necessarily scared...just extremely skeptical of the whole situation. He just kept looking around and around wondering what the heck everyone was doing. It wasn't until he got in the baby swing that he finally got in his element.

We had a big family Japanese dinner in celebration of my parents' recent trip to Japan. It was actually really delicious, but just in case it didn't go over well, we had Dominos Pizza lined up for the after party.

Here are all of the cousines forced on the couch at one time in a desperate attempt to get a cousins photo. You should have heard the screams, shouts, and caws...not from the kids but from the parents trying to get these poor little kids to look at the camera. After about a hundred photos, this was the best I could do!

Same story here. They all really did want to pile up on grandpa, but they really didn't want to look at the camera.

Liam's second swim went a little better, but he still seemed a little concerned. We're working on it. It was really hard to come home. It was the best trip we have had in a long time! Also, Liam took his first three steps while we were out there! We were so proud. More to come on the progress of Liam's walking!

And this video is just plain funny!