Fall Fun

I'm trying to play the catch-up game here and am making my way into Fall! We did a lot of fun things this fall, starting with a trip to Baltimore to see my brother and his cute family!

Baltimore.  My brother Jeff and his wife Ashton live in Baltimore. He is doing his radiology residency at Johns-Hopkins University. My mom and I flew out to visit him, and got to spend a week there with him and his cute kids. We did something fun every single day, and Lydia had a BLAST playing with Garrett and baby Jane. She LOVES her cousins so much! Me, Jeff, Ash, and my mom stayed up way too late every night playing Settlers of Catan. We were a bit obsessed. Every night we tried to get excited about playing a different game, but we always ended back up with Catan. We became quite the experts, and when we got back to Utah I felt like I went through Catan-withdrawals. It was so much fun to be with them for a whole week and not feel rushed for time like we usually feel when they visit Utah.

At the Baltimore Zoo. It was SOO hot this day, but the kids had fun anyway.

Garrett held her hand and walked her up the stairs to the slide about 20 times in a row. It was the sweetest thing in the whole world.

At the National Aquarium. Lydia was a troll this day, but I had fun looking at everything!! It is an AWESOME aquarium!

We had dinner at SHAKE SHACK!! MY FAVORITE!!! I so wish they had one of these in Utah. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Six Flags America! Jeff had to work in the morning, so my mom, Ashton and I took the kids and went for the morning, then my mom stayed home with the kiddos that night so Jeff and Ash and I could go back and ride all the big coasters. It was AWESOME!!

Lydia loved riding all of the little kid rides. She was in little girl heaven.

Superman - the best coaster in the park! It wasn't crowded at all, so we got to ride it 5 or 6 times in a row. Jeff and I got to ride in the very front a few times - for sure the best seat in the house! I LOVE BIG ROLLER COASTERS!!!!!

This caption was in line for the superman ride, and I was dying. Welcome to Six Flags America, where rule breaking is "strikly" prohibited. Hahaha!

On Labor Day, we took a day trip into Philadelphia. I am SO glad we found time to do this, because it was BY FAR my favorite thing of the trip. Everyone else but  me had already been before, so I felt bad that they were all doing a repeat, but I LOVED it! It was so neat to be able to see all of these places I've read about in history books, and to feel like I was soaking in some truly American history. It was awesome. 

 We stopped at Valley Forge on the way in. It was such a beautiful place - it reminded me a lot of Gettysburg. Not too much to see there, but definitely a neat feeling there. It was beautiful too, and the kids had a fun time running around on all the grass.

I don't think at home you'd ever find me ordering a Cheesesteak, but....when in Rome! Or Philly, in this case - I had to! It was surprisingly tasty. 

Independence Hall. I felt like a true American after being able to see this place in real life. Mom and Jeff watched the kids while Ash and I went on a tour of it. She'd already been, but it was my first time and we had fun listening to our tour guide. He was the most eccentric guide ever, but super entertaining and we had a blast hearing him tell all of the stories about Independence Hall. 

This room is where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were hashed out. In that room was where our Founding Fathers sat and argued and debated about every. single. word. in those documents. It was kind of surreal to be standing there. This is where our nation became a working reality! This is where the America they always dreamed about started to take shape. SO AWESOME!!

This was a little building just adjacent to Independence Hall, and the neat thing about this building is that right behind where I was standing is where George Washington peacefully transferred his power and position to John Adams, setting an unheard of precedent of relinquishing power. Totally cool to be there!!

George Washington. One of my heroes for sure!

The Liberty Bell! Don't ask me why it has a crack in it. There was an entire museum before the bell that explained everything, but we had three kids who didn't take naps that day, and we were nearing total exhaustion. They were all melting down, and so we were kind of rushing through it. The important thing is that I got to see it! One of America's icons! So cool!!

Two exhausted kids after a LONG day in Philly.

After a long day in Philadelphia, we just hung out around home the next day. We went to the library, and out to lunch, and just took it easy. We played with the kids at the park at Jeff and Ash's complex, and watched Garrett ride his bike. It was nice to have a breather for a day. 

Playing at the library

The night before we left, we walked down the street to get a sno-ball - these really yummy smoothie-snowcone things. Ashton was making fun of Jeff's pants and so he made a little spectacle of himself on purpose. He cracks me up.

The two buddies on their last morning together.

I really missed Dave while I was in Baltimore. It was sad not to have him there with us doing all of the fun things we did. He was so cute and had this picnic bench all painted and cleaned up for me as a surprise when I got home! It had been sitting in our garage, half-finished for over a month before I left. It was such a cute and thoughtful surprise. 

Dave ran the Red Rock Relay.  Just a few days after we got back from Baltimore, Dave left to St. George to run the Red Rock Relay with some friends in our ward. They had put together a team of guys and needed another runner and Dave was more than happy to oblige. :) Lydia and I stayed home since we were a little weary of traveling, but we sure missed him! He had a great time with his buddies though, and their team did really good! He ran three of the legs, one was 4.9 miles, one was 2.5 miles and one was 6.8 miles. That's a lot of miles all together! Almost 15! He basically lived out of the team's van. I think he was completely exhausted by the time it was over, but he's already talking about wanting to do it again. I think he's nuts!!

Idina Menzel Concert.  Wow. I am still starstruck just thinking about this concert! Dave and I got some last minute free tickets to the show, and although it was a ZOO trying to get down there (construction on I-15 and rush hour is NOT a pretty combination), all of the madness and chaos of getting there was well worth it. She was INCREDIBLE. She just made singing all of those songs look SO EASY. She was flawless! At one point in her concert, she came out into the audience looking for someone to sing a duet with her, one of her songs from Rent. Dave knew the song super well, but he never does well remembering lyrics, so he didn't raise his hand. Idina Menzel ended up coming right next to us and choosing the guy sitting in the row behind us. We were right on the aisle seats, and they sang their duet in the aisle! We were right next to her!! Like literally 5 feet away. It was CRAZY being that close to a real life celebrity!! Dave was kicking himself over and over again about not remembering the lyrics, because I bet she would have chosen him if he had known them. How cool would that have been!? It was amazing regardless, and we are so lucky we got to go!

Just a snippet of Let It Go. My phone was completely dead, and Dave's had 5%, so we were trying to be conservative about what we recorded.

For Good - completely acapella. She is amazing!

Phoenix. Allegiant Air has great deals out of the Ogden airport to Phoenix, and so Dave and I decided to take advantage of one more flight down to visit Preston and Amy before Lydia turned 2 and we had to pay for her seat as well. It was so fun to see my other brother and to have Lydia play with her other cousins. She missed Garrett and Jane so much, so it was nice to have another trip to see cousins come up so soon. We love going to visit Preston and Amy. We always have such a great time when we go down to visit, plus - you can't beat the weather in Fall! So nice!! I flew down for a week, and Dave flew down and met us for the weekend. It was so nice to be able to have him be there for part of the trip this time!

They  have a great park just outside of their house, and we took advantage of it lots of times. Lydia became quite the expert at shoveling sand. 

London trained Lydia to love Peppa Pig. They are only a month apart, and so it is always so much fun to see them play together. They were the cutest little friends.

Amy watched the kids one morning while I got to go with Preston to the homeless shelter in downtown Phoenix. He is one of the board members there, and the scouts were going down there for some of them to work on their service in the community merit badge. I got to help sort donations, and I also worked behind the counter to help people as they picked out clothing items and hygiene kits. It was really humbling and felt so nice to be able to get out and do some service for some people who were really in need. They were so grateful for things like shampoo and soap. One lady found a relatively nice comforter for a bed and said, "Can I have this!? It's my birthday today and this will be the nicest birthday present I've ever had!" Seriously. The things we take for granted. 

  

We went to the Phoenix Zoo, and had a great time walking around and seeing all of the animals.

It was pretty darn hot, so we had to stop and take a Splash Pad break.

We went to dinner at San Tan Flat, one of our favorite Arizona places. They come make you a fire pit right by your table, so you can roast s'mores after you're done with your meal. They have a live band that plays and a little dance floor in front of the band. Lydia loved dancing with her daddy and her cousins. 

We made monster sugar cookies one day. They were so fun!

Preston got a new awesome boat. It seriously felt like I was on a yacht. It was such a nice boat, and we had so much fun riding in the tube. Dave got to wakeboard for a bit too, which he loved.  Usually the only wakeboarding he gets in is once a year at Bear Lake with his family. 

I got to take the babies out on a ride. They were just laughing their heads off the whole time. It was so much fun!!

We played games at night after the kids went to bed. One night we played Killer Bunnies and at one point Dave had 8 bunnies (including the Heavenly Halo bunny) and the Minilith!!! It was insane! If you're a Killer Bunnies fan, you'll know what we are talking about. If you're not, you'll think I'm on drugs or something. :)

We spent one of the other days at the Children's Museum. It was HUGE and really crowded. The little kids were getting completely mowed over by bigger kids! It was kind of a zoo, but I think the kids still had fun. Autumn was such a cute little helper and protector of the little kids.

Wheeler Farm.  We went to Wheeler Farm and met up with our good friends Hannah and Landon. They just recently moved to Utah and we are THRILLED! It's so fun to be able to hang out with them more often. We just walked around and saw the animals and looked at the pumpkins. Hannah took some fun pictures of Lydia, and then we went to Melty Way for dinner. A simple, low-key night with some great friends.

I just love her. She's my best buddy!

Halloween.  For Halloween this year, we all dressed up as characters from Monster's Inc. Dave was Sulley, I was Mike, and Lydia was Boo. She looks just like Boo from the show in real life, so her costume was really easy. She also LOVES that show, so it was fun to dress up as something that she actually liked, and something we could all be together. It was fun to dress up as a family. Lydia went trick or treating for the first time. We only made it to a few houses, because she didn't quite get the concept yet. She just kept eating all the candy immediately, and refused to put anything in her bag. She wanted to carry it all. She was so funny. But she loved saying trick or treat! Hers sounded like "tick tee!!" but it was so darling anyway. After we went to a few houses, we came back home, made some yummy soup, had a Harry Potter themed meal and watched Monsters Inc. with Lydia while we answered the door for trick or treaters. After Lydia went to bed, then we watched Harry Potter. It was a fun night!

Lydia's big haul. Haha.

Dave's pumpkin - Oogie Boogie

My pumpkin - Mr Darcy!

Our Harry Potter dinner. Mrs. Weasley's Stew, Butterbeer and Cauldron Cakes. Yum!

Lydia went on a daddy-daughter date!  Dave took Lydia out on his own to do some of her favorite things! He took her to a pumpkin patch (she was OBSESSED with pumpkins during the month of October!), and to the Hill Aerospace Museum. He'd always wanted to go, and so he decided that might make for a fun activity with Lydia. She LOVED it, and still to this day talks about "daddy aiwpay". She remembers their fun date and every time we drive past an airplane or she hears an airplane she says, "Daddy aiwpay!" They had so much fun together.

 Lydia got to sit in a forward facing car seat!!  This was a big day for both of us! She loved being able to see everything head on, and I loved being able to look back and see her cute face. She was so tall, and she had to sit like a frog for forever in her tiny rear-facing car seat. She was ready for the change and she LOVES her new seat. It's so much better!

And that's how the Egbert's spent their fall. It was so much fun to watch Lydia learn and discover new things and get so excited about every little new thing. I love the change in seasons that comes with living in Utah. 

Thanks for reading!