Home Sweet Home in Maryland

We are living in a cute little Townhome until we find a house we like.  We searched and searched for a house that fit our family that we liked but just didn't feel good with anything.  Now we know why.  There is sooo many square miles in one ward.   We've been to our ward and love it so we're trying to find something in the ward boundaries.  We were so busy in Utah finishing up moving details, trying to survive Jon traveling and ending voice teaching stuff.  Now we actually have the time to look at houses together.  It's fun!

I'll start from the beginning:

The 4th of July!

We drove to Pennsylvania where there's no illegal fireworks and got a bunch of good ones!

In our wet backyard.  Everything is VERY wet which is why it's so Amazingly GREEN!!!

 Hanna, ever so dainty!  She's full of class!

 I love these pictures with the sparklers, it shows so much of their personalities!

 Bridger is not always crying but it depicts his face when he is!

A hike down the Appalachian Trail!  So beautiful but like I said,  Super hot and STICKY.  It's hard to enjoy our normal summer hikes we do on Saturday mornings when all of us are dripping.  It's usually about 90deg. with about 90% humidity. 

This is a trail right across the street from our house.  We have this beautiful pathway that leads to a park across the street and we try to walk it every morning with the kids.  It's so pretty here!

This is a street  we drove down the other that I just couldn't help take a picture of.  It looks like a picture postcard!  

 A merry go round in the middle of the park! Sometimes it seems so old fashioned here but still so kept up and elegant.  It's very historical.  All of the streets are some sort of representation of the Found Fathers of our Nations.  There are no numbers to help me find where I'm going like in Salt Lake.  In fact even if the road curves, it changes names.  All I can say is, Thank goodness for my map app on my phone!  I live on that thing.

 Our Tuesdays at Green Briar Lake!!! This is the best thing ever!  A bunch of ladies from the ward get together every Tuesday from like 9-2pm and just hang out at the Lake! My kids love and it and it's so beautiful! It's been a really great way to meet new friends!

We took the kids to see Brave a bit ago.  Cute movie!

The Hershey Factory in Pennsylvania! Awesome!!! Jon let us tag along with him on his last business trip to Up State New York and we passed through Hershey Pennsylvania on the way!

 Oh and I had to put this cute picture on here.  So once you walk down that green pathway next to our house, you walk through a little path in the trees and it opens up to this park!  It has a cute lake that is stocked with fish and ducks to feed.  It has an old fashioned merry go round that my  kids love to ride, tennis courts, and a running trail! It's been super nice to have this for the kids since I still don't know where I'm going in this city so we just hang out at home most of the time!

All in all, it's a really great move for our family! I love spending the time with Jon every day.  There is nowhere I'd rather be than with him at my side!

The trip to Maryland

Our first night we spent in Silverthorn, Colorado. A beautiful hotel right off this amazing Lake! Too bad we only had like an hour to spend there before heading out again.  We usually rolled into our hotel around 1 or 2am and let the kids and us sleep in a bit before starting the drive the next day! on to Kansas to visit Dave and Tisha!

Wichita, Kansas at the Exploration Place! Tisha took us and the kids to this awesome museum that they had passes too.  

Jon and Hanna in a wind tunnel!

They had this cute dress up station where all the kids played forever!  Hanna and Hunter looked pretty great in the Stocks

 So this was our goal for Bridger.  He was pretty hard on this drive.  We woke up late and drove till late so he'd sleep on the ride.  

 As long as they got to swim in the pool, the kids were happy!

Saying Goodbye :(

A FINALLY clean house! Sad that you have to move to finally get things the way you want them.. 

We miss our house already :( 

But are super happy to be together!

 SOOO Empty.

We had to keep the kids on the back porch eating pizza to get anything done inside.  That was a long day and were planning on getting on our way out around 12:00 but didn't head out until almost 5. Whew! thanks to Kelsee and my mom who came to help that day, they were AWESOME!

We have the most amazing friends.  Lisa vacuumed out my car, cleaned my shower and packed all my glass, Lindsay cleaned boogies off of Bridgers wall and Toni vacuumed all my shutters and window seals.  What would I have done without them?  What will I do here in Maryland without them?  I better make friends quick

Spring pictures of life back in Utah

The Ogden Marathon! 

Jon ran the marathon in April and finished feeling great! The kids made him GO DADDY posters and Jon was sure happy to see them.  He was supposed to run it with my dad but he had to have knee surgery that week... that wouldn't work!

 Hanna turns 6!

Hanna had a HUGE birthday party in our backyard this year.  I didn't want to say "No" to anyone because I knew she wouldn't be able to see them anymore so she made the list.  We had 25 in total at the end! WHEW!

 Hunter and hid buddy Bryson!  They just moved to Colorado, we're sure gonna miss those guys!

Neptune Park!

They just built this awesome park in Saratoga and the kids loved playing there.

Welcome Home DADDY!

When Jon comes home from a week long trip, the kids could not stay in their carseats for one more second! We all get so excited!  Luckily we don't have to suffer through those long weeks anymore!

A Spring Campfire!

We took the kids up American Fork Canyon in  early April this year.  We just had the campfire itch for biscuits and honey butter!

If any of you like biscuits and honey butter, you have to try our recipe!

Get a stick about the half the size of your pinky, width wise and about 2 feet long. smooth out an end.  Wrap a biscuit around the end of the stick and seal the end.( Very important to seal the end or all the honey butter will run out). Cook the Biscuit over the coals until golden brown. Biscuit should pull off easily!

Get the pourable honey butter from Walmart, (Raspberry is our favorite) and pour down the middle! YUM!!

 Haha they weren't too happy when I told them they had to eat carrots before they got their biscuits!  A campfire is yummy but not the healthiest of food!

YELLOWSTONE!

We headed up to Yellowstone this spring for the Harris family reunion!

We made a stop in Idaho Falls where Jon and I spent our first night on our Honeymoon!  They loved the ducks!

 In Yellowstone Park!

 All the ladies!

Right before we took this picture, Jon's dad did a heroic romantic gesture for his wife!  She had dropped a book in the river and was really sad about it but just decided to forget about it.  About 5 minutes later we look down the bridge and in the middle of the river about 1/4 mile downstream, There was Ted saving Joans  treasure! It was pretty cute!

Hanna's baseball team!

Poor Hanna, she didn't get to play for very long but I managed to get a few pics!

Sunday mornings it takes us a pretty long time to get downstairs to make the kids breakfast. Bridger must have gotten impatient!

He was so proud of himself for getting bowls out for the whole family.  And line up all the cereal!

Hunter's music talent show!

He played the piano and was super nervous!  I think he must have restarted about 5 times! He finally got it in the end.

PROVO HALF MARATHON!

Shannon, Berta, Lisa and I did a half marathon relay in April! It was blast! We had to wake up SUPER early...hence the dark picture of sleepy beauties!

 The night before where Lisa showed us all the cool tights and head bands we were wearing!

 Hunter and Braden!

The Eskelson family stayed with us a few times this spring and Hunter couldn't wait till Braden came over!

BOATING!!

Hunter and Easton were the bravest on the tubes!

 Hanna and Bubba were good with chilling in the boat eating the snacks!  My kids or what?!

Lake Powell

Mike and Janiel brought their cute little one. Hunter couldn't get enough of him!

 The kids get so tired in Lake Powell, the sun, the late movie nights and cousin craziness!

They'll fall asleep anywhere!

 The Indian Ruins!  Worth the HOT hike!

Jon has a great fan club!

 Cliff Jumping! I

 Hunter wakeboarding.  That was tough.  He was a good sport and got up for a second.  I wish we would have had more time to practice.  He kept saying his stomach hurt and he had to go to the bathroom every time I tried to tell him to do it again.  It was the  nerves! He'd find every excuse not to do it.  I hate that nervous feeling where you really don't want to do something but you know your mom or dad is going to make you.  He tried real hard to be tough though and kept trying! What a sport!

 Hanna was so brave with the ski! I couldn't get a great picture but she was the first one to volunteer every time!  She's a little fishy, I love it!

The CABIN!

We tried to do so much before this move.  

We did the Yellow Stone trip, Lake Powell and finished it up with an awesome trip to the cabin!

The Polar Bear plunge!

Jon challenged everyone to get in the FREEZING water and sit neck down for a minute!

The kids rose to the challenge!

Hanna's accident.

Hanna fell off the monkey bars in May on Grandma Harris' house. Jon was standing there with her and Bridger helping them. Hanna said she was good and decided to jump to the ground.  She turned in the air and landed on her right arm. Jon heard a snap and was afraid to look at it until she got in the house. She was being so tough and trying not to cry. We laid her on the couch for a bit and thought it was her wrist that popped out of socket because that happens a lot. As we looked closer though we saw her arm bent toward her body.  It was a scary sight.

We took her over to Wee Care in Layton where they took  X-rays and told us it was a clean break but was moved out of place so we would need to go to Primary Children's Hospital so an Orthopedic Surgeon could pull it out of socket and replace it for her.  That was a long night.  We got there around 10:00pm and left at about 3:30 am.  When we arrived at the hospital they told us it would be about an hour or so... Not TRUE.  So Jon waited in the car with Hunter and Bridger.... for about 5 hours.  It was a long night.

This is in Primary Children's hospital waiting for the anesthesia crew to show up.

We went to  Lake Powell, Yellowstone, the cabin and many other places with that cast on...

Here's the tan line after all was taken off!

She looks so excited!