St. George with the Braithwaites 2023

 We went to St. George with my family at the every end of July -yes I'm super behind on my blog! 

On our way down to St. George we let the kids have iPads, and they looked kind of creepy, covering their heads with blankets to reduce the reflection on their screens!

We went to Willy Wonka at Tuachanr. It was good, as always, and a weird story.

Audrey and Emma on the train at the park. It's always a hit!

We all took a turn on this zip line with Grandpa pushing!

We went to get free rootbeer floats at a new grocery store in town:

Fun cousin time! It's only a few days a year that these kids are all together. 

Brent and I wanted to see the new Barbie movie and we took Ava with us. It was definitely a movie to remember and see this year, and I liked it fine for one time.

Tarzan at Tuachan:

We went to Andrew's pool a few times and enjoyed his lagoon. 

They had activities for the kids with prizes, which was so fun! 

It was SO hot that day. You had to be in the water or else it felt unbearable. Here are the faces of three very tired and hot kids after our pool day:

I love the condos! They are such a happy place because they hold so many good memories. We like going on walks in the evening and looking for bunnies (which seem to be decreasing in numbers every year).

Cher did an activity for the kids- they painted and put together (with lots of adult help) remote control cars. 

We spent lots of time swimming:

Watching something funny on the phone:

The adults went to Outback for lunch:

We went to Hunchback of Notre Dame at Tuachan. I love the music in it.

We went to a new museum with Cher's family and my dad. They had animals that are local to the area including turtles that the kids liked.

Us kids gave my dad a retirement present for a new hobby- a telescope. He liked it and was surprised!

We had a sibling movie night (Frequency) and Andrew's kids watched tv with our kids and then fell asleep in their beds.

Hanging out at Andrew's house. This picture cracks me up because my Grandpa is always interested in these sort of contraptions! 

Braithwaite performance at the St. George tabernacle. This year I participated in 3 numbers- singing the National Anthem with my sisters (which we reviewed 15 minutes beforehand and freaked ourselves out that we didn't remember it anymore, but then pulled it together), the flute for the kids song "Sing a Song" and the piano for Coen's solo. The hits are Andrew on the piano and Laura and Jordan singing.

Here's a picture of Audrey planting a kiss on Andrew before it starts:

Missing Andrew in this picture- I think fans were still talking to him :)

Audrey and Emma played so well this summer. Audrey was to the age that she could really play. And we couldn't help noticing how alike these two look!

Ava and Adalyn had lots of fun together.

On the way home from St. George we stopped to visit Brother Rojas. It was his birthday and we sang to him!

Back at Grandma's house- we enjoyed more family time for just a few days before it was time to fly to Hawaii. 

The organizing and packing suitcases begins. I did the kids' school clothe shopping and I also bought last minute things that I thought would be cheaper than buying in Hawaii. In total we brought 10 suitcases, 5 carry-ons, and 5 backpacks.

Trying on a cheerleading outfit:

Since Audrey's birthday was going to be a few days after we arrived in Hawaii, we decided to celebrate early with family. The kids played with water balloons outside and then we opened presents,

and ate cupcakes.

Natalie and Tammy helped me pull everything together and turn it into a real party:

Natalie threw a Harry Potter party for the kids, which is sooo fun for them.

Whose kid is whose?

We went to Jen Gapinski's house and talked with them about Hawaii- they're the ones that sold us all their stuff for the house on Oahu! While we were there, Ava got a hook stuck in her finger, way deep. It was so awful! She ran to me to pull it out, and I couldn't, and neither could Brent, but luckily Jen's husband is a doctor and got it done. 

We also saw Emily's family, since Em and Jen are sisters. Every year we take a picture of our growing families! 

I'm so grateful for my bestie! We stay in contact through texts and marco polos throughout the year and she is such a blessing to me.