Don't worry...about a thing: U***T***A***H!

For us, the vacation starts when we pull out of the driveway. We were very excited to head up to Utah for the weekend and escape the heat!

On the way, we stopped at a little rest stop that was really quite fun. There was all sorts of labeled desert plants and we explored the area a little bit before climbing back in the car.

I love this picture of the boys. I love Clayton's little belly and Daddy's glasses on. So cute!

As we were walking away, Blake decided to pick up a piece of cactus that didn't look like it had any thorns in it. Of course it did and he got some in his fingers. He said he was okay and was kind of picking them out himself, so we hopped in the car and took off. A few minutes later he started freaking out and trying to gag himself. He told us there were cactus thorns in his mouth! I guess he had been picking the thorns out of his fingers with his teeth! I couldn't feel anything on his cheek where he told me they were so we pulled over to get them out.

Daddy couldn't set him down because there were ants everywhere and it took him a while to realize that the thorns were in Blake's tongue, not his cheek. Blake could feel the thorns scraping his cheek so he thought that's where they were. Daddy is really good at extracting splinters, but these were the first tongue slivers he had ever done! In the end, he had two hair thin thorns about the size of a centimeter stuck in the back of his tongue. Ay ay ay!

I thought it was so cute that Claydog was content to just look out the window with his arms up.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was seeing the last Harry Potter film with Granny and Krissy. It is so fun to go to the movies with people who really appreciate the greatness of Harry Potter. It was so good.

Claudia and Miles took us to dinner at Joe'' Crab Shack. It was Warren and Blake's dream eatery! Blake loves crab (definitely his father's son because I can't stomach it.)

Blake was excited about the Pirate sword and Parrot the Balloon guy made for him.

But I think he was more excited about the crab. I have never seen a child that could sit so diligently cracking crab legs. He ate every bite and requested crab for breakfast the next morning.

I learned a really cute story about Warren's childhood: When he was around 8 years old, his parents gave him a lobster tail on ice for Christmas. He loved lobster so much that this is one of the most exciting gifts he remembers receiving as a child. His mom cooked it for him later that day and he got to eat it all by himself. I thought that was such a cute story.

Papa currently has a Yellow tractor out back. You can guess who wanted endless rides in it!

Clayton would look out the window and cry for "Yellow!"

This cute picture is why I NEED a new camera!

We spent a wonderful afternoon visiting Grandma Nancy. She has quite the garden out back and the kids were so excited to see pumpkins growing already. They were also excited to get little surprise baskets with little toys in them. It was really nice to spend time with her.

On the way home from Grandma Nancy's, we stopped at my dad's grave site. I can't believe that we just passed the 4 year anniversary of his death. I loved seeing these pictures when I got home. It made the sad event so much happier to see my boys squinting and making weird faces because it was so bright. My dad would have loved to see them grow up so much. I think often of how much Clayton would have loved my dad. He is such a man's man. I miss you, Dad.

Clayton makes this little face a lot. I refer to it as his "smolder." I swear he is going to be a heart-throb someday.

Another highlight of the trip for me was seeing Elliot and Krissy's new house. It is so cute with a great back yard. We got some darling pictures of the bunch. Kristin made YUMMY Hawaiian haystacks and dessert.

All the men

All the cute boy cousins

All the women

All the girl cousins

and Elton John baby

Kristin had a great idea to make a shirt for Papa with the pictures I took of the girl cousins and boy cousins. It turned out SO darling and was a huge hit. Papa said it was the best Birthday present EVER! Wow! Kristin....you are amazing. You are a genius!

On the way home, Clayton kept rolling down the window with his little foot and it was driving us CRAZY. Daddy finally removed it when we stopped and Clayton was so sad that "Daddy Broke!?" He cheered up quickly with a game of Peekaboo.