September Trips

We planned a lot of fun weekends in September and went on some weekend trips.

CAMPING INSIDE AND OUT
This was more of a stay at home trip for me and Kayzee but Danny and Memphis went camping up American Fork Canyon.  It was our ward's father and sons campout.  Memphis had so much fun going tent camping with daddy.  Kayzee and I had a girl's night and we went shopping, stopped by swig for a cookie, slushy, and some swinging:)  We also painted our nails while we watched Frozen and then had our own little sleepover.  Kayzee was so excited to sleep in my bed with me.  What a fun weekend!

CANYON PASS

Because Danny went up American Fork Canyon to go camping he bought a pass so we could go up as a family later.  We decided to go camping and have a picnic.  The weather was PERFECT and the canyon was beautiful!  I love living in Utah with all this beautiful land so close.  I definitely miss my California Ocean but these Utah Mountains are totally worth living by.

BEAR LAKE
My kids are still so mad at me for going to Bear Lake without them but I got to go to Bear Lake for a girl's weekend at our Ideal Beach Condo!  I wasn't going to go but then decided to go and I am so glad I did.  I totally needed a kid-free relaxing weekend.  My mom and her sisters try to plan a weekend somewhere together and they are so nice and invite their daughters:)  I have been very lucky to have extended family that I have grown up with.  It's nice living close to them now too.  My cousins are crazy and hilarious and I love our girl's weekend!  We had fun walking on the beach, biking, crafting, go-karting, eating, and laughing.  The weather was PERFECT this weekend too:)

 Me and my mommy

 Sisters

 Cousins

CABIN WEEKEND
Danny's extended family has a cabin up in the Uinta's by the Utah Wyoming border.  It's only a couple hours away and the drive is BEAUTIFUL especially now with the changing leaves for fall.  Wow, I am really loving living in Utah and I never thought I would say that.

We invited our neighbors who have become really great friends and we had so much fun.  The weather was crazy but we made the most of it.  Next time we will just have to go up earlier to miss the rain and snow.  YES, SNOW in September!

We wanted to go up early Friday morning but the husbands needed to work at least a 1/2 day and Memphis did not want to miss school.  He LOVES kindergarten.  We wanted to leave as soon as they all got home so I decided to get a sub and miss work.  It was a nice day off.  I took Memphis and Kayzee to my school in the morning for picture day (hopefully they turn out good) and we dropped off Memphis at his classroom and then Kayzee and I went grocery shopping for all the food we needed at the cabin.  Then I went home and packed.  We went and picked up Memphis and then we had lunch and waited for everyone to be ready and off we went.  The weather was perfect on Friday.  Temperature in the 70s and sunny.

 Lots of Cows...they like to run across the road which is scary.  We also saw a lot of deer, a couple of sheep in the road, and a family of moose (pictures below).

 Memphis being silly in the car

 We unpacked and the kids had fun exploring, swinging, playing in the fort, and building a fire.  We made Navajo Tacos for dinner...YUM!  And our friends brought Mexican s'mores that we heated by the fire for dessert.  DELICIOUS!  After we put the kids to bed we watched a movie.  The cabin is well stocked with plenty of comfortable beds just wish I hadn't had an IBS-D flare that night.  Up all night sick was not fun:(

Saturday was foggy and rainy.  And by rainy I mean it rained all day.  We were going to go hiking but that didn't happen.  Our friends have chickens and they brought up a lot of eggs which made a great breakfast.  Then we decided to just brave the rain and go fishing.  By the time we finally found a lake right by the road to stop at (there are a lot but some you have to hike to) it was further up in the mountain so higher in elevation which meant colder.  The dads and one of our friends boys braved the rain and fished.  The moms and the youngest kids all hung out in the cars watching movies.  I guess rain is perfect time for fishing because they boys caught a fish with every cast.  I finally convinced them to stop because we didn't need that many fish and the kids were getting restless stuck in the car.

 We grilled up some hot dogs for lunch and we also got to have some of the yummy trout they caught.

 After lunch we played games with the kids, did some crafts, and play dough!  We also took naps, the boys watched football, and my friend and I got to visit.  I love her:)  For dinner our friends made a delicious taco soup and for dessert I made brownies.  We put the kids to bed and watched another movie.  Sometimes it's nice to just relax.

 The cabin!  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Christensen for letting us use it!

 Sunday we woke up, packed up the cars, cleaned the cabin, and left for home.  As we started driving we started seeing snow.  We thought we would be ok and kept driving.

 The farther up the mountain we got the more it snowed.

 Our friends didn't have an all wheel drive car like us and they literally couldn't keep driving in the deeper snow and got stuck.  We didn't really want to attempt driving any farther either because we still were not to the top of the mountain.  Bummer.  We had been driving for an hour already.  We all got turned around safely and had to go the long way home.  We had to drive an extra hour and a half!  But we did get to drive through Wyoming and see that beautiful part of the country.

 Here are some pictures of the family of moose we almost ran over.  

When we got home the weather was sunny and HOT!  So crazy.  Thanks for a fun weekend and joining in this adventure with us Hoge family:)

TRIP TO THE PEDIATRICIAN
Kayzee had her 4-year well-check-up.   Kayzee does not do male doctors well (too many painful experiences with her GI issues).  I told her to be brave and luckily she did not need shots.  She did so well!  The doctor was impressed by her growth and development.  He said she could pass for a kindergartener.  She is so smart and growing up way too fast.
WEIGHT: 37 lbs (70%)
HEIGHT: 42 in (80%)
I love my sweet Kayzee Lynn.  It is the greatest compliment to be told that she is very sweet and polite and one of the best behaved kids at school.  She may not always be that way at home but she really is the sweetest little girl.  LOVE LOVE LOVE her!  Her pediatrician gives out free ice cream cones for their birthday so we stopped and got one on our way home.

 Last Thursday I got a call while I was at work from Kayzee's preschool teacher.  I could hear Kayzee sobbing in the back ground.  Kayzee had got a finger stuck in a bathroom stall door.  Her poor little finger was smashed and stuck between the lock and door slider.  Not a phone call I enjoyed getting at work but they calmed her down and her finger wasn't broken so they just kept ice on it and Kayzee wanted to stay at school.  Kayzee loves school too:)  They told me should would probably lose her fingernail.  At home Kayzee would scream every time something hit her finger so we bought a finger guard on it.

 All week her entire finger was swollen and purple.  So sad.  Today, a week later, it is finally not swollen and only under her fingernail is bruised up and purple but she will not lose the fingernail...YAY!

One last thing I have to share.  I have had the busiest week with way too much to do, and I have been very stressed.  I definitely don't handle stress well.  That's why my body is so sick all the time.  I found myself stressing out because I was stressed out.  Doubling the stress?  Seriously?  Who does that?  I am just crazy I decided.  I shouldn't be stressing out either.  AHHHHH!  To add to my stress I forgot how nice I am and in the middle of the busy week with having to much to do and trying to do it all I let Danny go golfing one night.  Danny came home from golfing, handed me money and told me to go shopping for myself.  WHAT?  Shopping for myself!?!  It's been a long time and I was so excited to buy new clothes and have some time to myself.  But of course while I was gone I started stressing out that the house wasn't clean because I have been so busy doing everything I needed to do all week and we had family coming into town.  Well, when I got home the entire house was CLEAN!!!!  My dear husband Danny who never cleans the bathrooms scrubbed every inch of them.  And he had also vacuumed, swept and mopped, and all the dishes were done.  What a great husband:)  It was the best surprise and I am so thankful for his thoughtfulness.  THANK YOU DANNY I LOVE YOU!

Now time to relax and enjoy my weekend:)