Summer in Utah

Adalyn finished up 1st grade on June 8th.  Addie had a wonderful 1st grade year.  Great friends and a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Harker.  She will never tell you that she likes school and she was usually dragging her feet on the way out the door (it is hard when you are the oldest and all your siblings get to stay home all day while you go to school), but she always came home with a smile on her face.  Way to go Addie!

June 9th we moved to Utah and our 2018 summer officially began.  The first several weeks of summer we were staying at my parents house in South Jordan while we waited to close on our house.  This move was a big transition for our kids and they had lots of meltdowns and struggles to prove it.  They were used to having lots of friends right out the front door in the neighborhood.  Without those friends to help in the entertainment department my parents and I ended up doing a lot of the entertaining those first few weeks.  I am so thankful for my parents help since I was 9 months pregnant and I was just not able to keep up with the 4 crazies like I needed to.  

We got into a fairly good routine while we were at their house which was nice to be able to give the kids structure and stability.  Each day we would wake up, have breakfast and get dressed.  Then we would normally go to a park or splash pad to help get the wiggles out.  Then we would come back and have lunch followed by nap/rest time.  Late afternoon was always the hardest time of the day.  Often someone would take the kids for a walk or on a special outing during that time while we waited for dinner.  Then we would have dinner and play with daddy and then bedtime.  

Here are some of our adventures-

Camping at pine view reservoir  .  The 3 older kids went with my parents and McKay camping one weekend.  Magnolia and I slept at Corinne's house while they were there and just visited the campsite one day.  Magnolia is just not the best camper yet and I was happy to sleep in a real bed.  

       

The week after we moved Uncle Jace came home from his mission.  He served in the California , Redlands Mission (which is where I was born.  Cool!).  He is the last of our siblings to go on a mission and we are so grateful for his service and efforts.  He came home on a Tuesday and we were able to meet him at the airport.  The airport was the first time that he got to meet Miss Magnolia.  I was pregnant with her when he left.  After saying hi at the airport we went to Chuck-a-rama for lunch (which is a Pace family tradition).  That Sunday he gave a very nice talk in their ward.  Welcome home Jace.  This was our first family get-together since we moved back to Utah and it was so nice to be closer to family.

  

One Tuesday we were able to go to Alpine for our first taste of a Huli Boys Shaved ice.  I was looking forward to it for weeks and it tasted heavenly (gotta love those pregnancy cravings).  Huli Boys is a shaved ice shack that my Aunt Heather and Uncle Brent own.  This is their first summer getting it up and running.  It is in the cutest location and such a fun spot for summer.  After our shaved ice we were able to go swimming with them at the American Fork Pool.  Fun summery day! 

We visited LOTS of parks and LOTS of splash pads.  We are very much in the "fun at the park" stage right now since all of our kids are still young enough to enjoy them.  So we took full advantage of that during the month of June.  The older kids even got to try their hand at pickle ball one afternoon with Grandma.  They liked it and we will have to try it again when the weather cools off some. 

We went to the food trucks by the lake.  Every Thursday in Day Break there is a food truck round up next to the lake.  It was our first time going to it and we had a nice time.  We got lots of food!  And the kids ate it all!  So yummy!  

We took turns taking the older kids on special "dates".  Addie got to have a late night one night, Jensen got to go out in a kayak on the lake one afternoon, and Declin got a special trip to the mall for a pretzel.  The kids loved their dates and still ask daily for another date.  

We took a trip to the mall with all the kids.  We did a scavenger hunt around the mall with special things that they had to find in the stores.  When they finished the scavenger hunt they got to get a pretzel.  (We really like mall pretzels :)

Picnic in the mountains one night after McKay got home from work.  They kids loved climbing all over the rocks

And last, but certainly not least we (more like I) prepped for baby #5.  I met my new doctor in Utah and had lots of "fun" appointments.  We waited and waited for him to make his appearance.  Which he FINALLY did!  Lots more details in a future post!