Our Mountain Home

Well, we finally have gotten our act together and updated our blog with pictures from our trip to Utah. Doing this made us realize two major things: we had a fantastic time with everyone and we take way too many pictures! Surprisingly, this is only a portion of the pictures we took and it's not even showing all of the fun things that we did! At one point in the trip we literally made a schedule for the remaining vacation, just to make sure we got in all of our activities. Some of the things we don't have pictures for are the great movies we went to (Bourne Ultimatum, Hairspray - which Rachel LOVED, Stardust, and Harry Potter), Bridget getting her first pedicure with her sisters-in-laws and mother-in-law, dinner with Bridget's friend Robyn, a BBQ with Justin's high school friends, and lots of fun games with family (wiffle ball is a new favorite). Anyways, it was a fantastic trip and we're already missing everyone. But, now for the things of which we did take pictures. Brace yourselves for way too much Lee family fun ...

After we arrived, Grandpa and Grandma pulled out all of the fun toys from when Justin and his brothers were little. They have a great workbench that was a little dusty and so Rachel, Brady, and his girlfriend Kasia were given the task of washing it off. It should have been simple enough, but Rachel figured out how to make "rain" from the sprayer. Needless to say it was the first of many fun things she got to do with Brady and Kasia.

Ian's blessing day was jam-packed for our little guy, but it was definitely a special day. Justin performed the blessing and it was so beautiful. Baby blessings are always amazing, but when it's one of your kids it's incredible to think about all of the different traits and blessings that are given. He is seriously such a sweet baby and we love having him in our home! Here he is with Grandma. We're just glad that we got him back to Minnesota, because she kept threatening to keep him!
Rachel and Ian with Grandma and Grandpa.
Rachel loved her little cousin Ethan and tried to be really careful with him. For some reason she started calling him "Ithan" as a joke (could it be Ian and Ethan combined?) and she still thinks this is hilarious.
Here she is trying to hold him up - these little babies aren't so little for a toddler!
Bridget's cousin Audrey, her husband Joshua, and their adorable daughter Sophie came for the blessing. Here we are with Bridget's brother Brian after the big event.

Here's our cute boy. He was so tired in this picture and pretty much all of the pictures of the day he's looking like he needs a nap. We were impressed that despite his tiredness he didn't make a peep during Sacrament Meeting and he even kept his white clothes clean! What a champ!
Rachel loving her little brother.
Grandma and the grandkids.
Here's a little bit of happy Ian.
Even though our kids are tired, here is the only family picture we took while we had extra photographers around.

Brian was really cute with the kids this trip. Rachel had fun reading books and watching a movie with Brian and when everyone went to the pool, Brian even did some Ian babysitting. He'll be ready for his own kids in no time (just kidding, Brian!).
Bridget's Mom was awesome with Ian. He was kind of fussy for a couple of days (we admit, his "fussiness" is extremely mild) and Nana helped him get one of his best naps by rocking him to sleep. Look how comfortable he is!
Grandad and Ian having some laughs.
Here's another example of Rachel's Uncles spoiling her. Not only did they give her a bubble bath in the "biggest bathtub she's ever seen," but they also put their feet in with her when she asked them to join her. Nothing is more fun than adoring uncles!

Rachel has really been enjoying swimming this summer. She has been quite brave with her water wings and her she's demonstrating some independence with Grandad in the pool.
One of our favorite places in Salt Lake is the fountain at the Gateway Shopping Center. Here are Rachel and Grandad playing in the water. It's hard to tell who is having more fun out of the two.


Ian having more fun with Nana.

Here's the Penny family at Liberty Park.
Nana took Rachel on a carousel ride and it was very exciting. The little rides by the Tracy Aviary weren't very crowded and so they had the whole carousel to themselves!
Rachel also did this little airplane ride by the Aviary and it was a little bittersweet. It's hard to believe that Rachel's old enough to ride a ride by herself! She loved it and Bridget is slowly coming to terms with her quickly-growing-up little girl.

Rachel and Justin checking out an eagle at the Aviary.

The Lees have been moving around furniture in their house and had an empty room for our visit. This became a temporary toy room and Rachel loved it. Here she is working hard with her tools, clad solely in a tool belt and diaper. Clothes are evidently optional when you're playing this hard!

Here's cute Ian and Ethan. We didn't notice it until later, but they're wearing outfits that have #1 and #2 on them. Also, they linked arms by themselves. We're sure that these two are going to have so much fun together when they get older!

Justin with the boys - thank goodness we don't have twins!
Rachel showing off her height in one of the tunnels at a Bountiful park.
Justin, Rachel, and Suzy went to an international dance festival in Bountiful. Here are some Croatian performers (no, Rachel is not a Croatian performer).
Probably, one of the most excited things for Rachel on this trip was a pony ride that she took at Gardner Village. She did a great job and refused any help from her parents. She sat really still and loved every moment of the little ride.

We love this picture because it looks like Ian is adoring his Uncle Brady. Who knows, he probably is already!
Brady and Justin at the Gardner Village Beach Party.
After reviewing this picture, we realized that it was basically baby torture. Poor Ian!
This petting zoo was also at Gardner Village and Rachel could not get enough of these animals. The only way that Justin could convince her to leave was the promise of seeing lots of animals at the upcoming state fair. We're pretty sure that she's a cowgirl/farmer at heart judging by the pony ride and the petting zoo experiences.

Who can resist dressing up cute babies in matching outfits? Well, we certainly couldn't and we love this little tie picture. We kept joking the whole trip about the size difference between these two. During one funny game of "What If," the question was asked "What if Ian steamrolled Ethan." The answer ended up being "not what if, but when." It will be fun to see how these two change, because judging by Justin and Bridget's heights Ethan will probably end up being the bigger of the two.
Cute Ian and Ethan in crocidile pajamas.
Grandpa let Rachel put a fake bandage on her head after she was pretending to be a monkey jumping on the bed. It was pretty funny because when we'd ask her what the doctor said, she'd very seriously reply, "no more monkeys jumping on the bed!"
The second Sunday we were in Utah was Ethan's blessing. He also had a very long day, but we tried to squeeze in one picture with Rachel. Despite Ethan's expression, Rachel was being very soft, the poor kid was just exhausted!
One of the fun presents that Rachel received from wonderful grandparents was this wand. She loves it and tried casting many spells on family members. She walk around saying things like, "poof, you're a frog." Hopefully they won't all stick (right, Parker?).