Goold Family goes to 'The Ranch'

The end of June we went on a Goold Family trip.  My brother in law Brett's family owns a ranch house in Grover, Utah, which is right outside of Capitol Reef.  They invited ALL of us down to spend a few days there and we had sooo much fun.  Each family got their own room so it was plenty big for all 34 of us. My sister Christy and her family go all the time and we always hear how fun 'The Ranch' is so I was excited to finally be able to experience it for myself.

I'm loving the fact that my girls are getting a little older and can just go off and play with cousins, which doesn't happen all day but for part of the day at least they went and played and didn't have to be right next to me like they did on our trip last year.

They loved the trampoline and thanks to cousin Max they kept showing off their trampoline skills by 'doing a ffflllliippppp!'  in their best Max impersonation voice.  Which meant falling on their bottom.

We went into Capitol Reef with everyone one day to play in the park there, go on a nature hike and then of course have some ice cream.

I love these pictures of my girls playing together. Their faces are just so cute to me.  They're just off playing in their own little world.

Then just we went back a 2nd day when the older kids went on a bigger hike somewhere else.  We saw Twin Rocks, which I renamed to Twins Rock cuz twins really do rock...most of the time.  We also went on 2 short hikes.

One hike Shane and I had been on when we went on a trip to Capitol Reef while we were dating so this picture is a re-enactment of our picture from 7 years ago.  Looks nothing similar and of course cute little Jaron wasn't in the original either.

We went to a fun park in Torrey one night as well.

The cutest part of the weekend was when all the older cousins put on the play Annie for us.  The property is owned by the Hale family as in the Hale Centre Theatre so they have a little summer theatre there and the kids used props and costumes to put on the 10 minute version of Annie, complete with Hard Knock Life and Tomorrow sung by them. It was so cute.

We might have even heard a personal performance by a cousin who will be playing Gaston in Beauty and the Beast international tour, who also just finished playing Javert in Les Mis at the Hale Centre Theatre which was AMAZING!

Overall we just hung out and had such a fun time spending time together as a family.  Thank you Brian family, such a fun treat to finally say we've been to 'The Ranch.'

Cousin Week

Christy and her family have been here all week and we've had a blast doing so many fun things with cousins. The girls have been in heaven going from activity to activity, although my house has been very neglected this week it's been so fun.  Whenever Christy is up here I usually have to work so this was my first time really being able to do all the fun things with everyone and I was soo happy I didn't have to work this year.

We went to the Monte L Bean museum which has been renovated and is so fun.  My girls loved looking at all the animals and probably don't realize they aren't alive but maybe their favorite part was the little slide/play area which is tiny but they love.  We ate at the Cougareat for lunch...memories.  I hadn't been there in sooo long.

One evening we went up the canyon for dinner and smores.  The girls loved throwing rocks into the river and they even survived going potty in a 'camping bathroom' of which I barely survived having to take them.

We went to the new Curiosity Museum at Thanksgiving Point which I think Jaron had more fun then anyone there.  Kidding, everyone had a great time but Jaron was in love with this water table and threw a fit when I took him out.  Then the little crawling areas they had he was in love climbing all over and even learned how to go up the steps and down a little slide.

I might have lost the girls once for about 3 minutes when they ran off to climb up a jungle thing with their cousins and I didn't see them leave.  I was panicked at the thought they were freaking out and couldn't find me but of course when I looked up and saw them up here they were smiling and waving and didn't know I had just run upstairs to the front desk wondering if anyone had 'turned them in'

We also went to Classic Skate water park.  The girls love the little pool and slides and it's so nice to always have a cousin there to catch you as you come down.

I even made it to a movie with my sisters to see The Fault in our Stars one night.  Loved it and luckily I only got a little teary, not the messy cry that I thought I would be.

Only once this week did Siena wake up and when I told her we were going to play with cousins did she say 'no cousins today mom, just family'  ha ha, she was more then excited to see the cousins anyways.

Tomorrow is one last family dinner before the Brian's head back home and boy is next week going to seem boring after the fun week we've had.

Siena's First Haircut

It was finally time to trim up Siena's hair.  I have been putting it off for a long time only because I don't want to cut off her cute curls at the end of her hair.  But it was looking scraggly and we were getting family pictures done so I broke down and cut it.  Here are her before shots...

Siena was soo excited to get her haircut.  She remembered when Aria got hers cut and she came home with a balloon.  So the days leading up to her appointment she kept telling me Saturday at 11 o clock I get my haircut and I get a balloon.

When we actually got there she wasn't quite as excited and was a little nervous but sat down and as long as I kept talking to her she was fine. The lady commented that Siena had more hair already then she has...yes she has thick hair just like her mom.

It was a little shorter then I thought it would be but it's nice to have it one length and there is still a little curl left on the ends as well.  It turned out cute and Siena was so happy to have her balloon.  And sure enough when we walked in the door and Aria saw the balloon, we immediately went to the pantry, pulled out a balloon and blew one up for her as well.

Father's Day

We made a celebratory weekend out of Father's day this year.  I got Shane a bike trailer to take the kids on bike rides with.  He had been looking at them since last year and we just never got one.  The kids love the rides and Shane likes taking them, as long as it isn't too hot.  The girls will be too big by next year to both fit in them for more then a ride around the block, so then it will be a father/son bonding time.

Shane and I also went to the One Republic concert Saturday night.  It was fun to get out for the night and my cute niece Ella babysat and did such a great job.  When we got home she had little frogs on the table and said I promised them a little frog if they went right to bed.  As soon as they woke up the next morning they asked me for their frogs.  Such a cute idea and they loved the little activities she brought as well.  The concert was good and I didn't realize I knew so many of their songs.

Father's day was spent at church and then a dinner at my parents.  I love the 2 dads in my life, my dad and the dad of my children.  They are both so attentive to me and our children and always look out for me as well.  I can say that equally about both of them.  I love them!

Jaron - 11 Months

The countdown to 1 has begun.  Jaron turned 11 months this last week and the only way to describe this month is he is on the go and busy.  He never sits still.  In fact his 11 month picture is the only picture I could get him still enough to take and not get a blurry picture of him crawling away.

Jaron is into everything!  He is a climber.  He climbs up on chairs, the girls little table, he'll use me as a step to get up on the couch.  I'm in deep trouble with him and his climbing. He's standing and letting go and he thinks he is so great when he lets go.  However, he gets so excited about it that he immediately falls.  He'll walk around with his walker or anything that will slide.

He finally learned to clap...it took forever but yay for watching a cute kid clap.  He loves to play with doors. He likes to swing them open and closed and a door can entertain him for quite a while.

Jaron got his first tooth this month!  It actually happened right after he turned 10 months.  So that makes it 7 month earlier then Siena got her first tooth.  Maybe we won't still be trying to get the Incisors to come in at 2 1/2 years old...sheesh.

He's been really good and flexible lately with his sleeping.  If we get home late or I need to put him down early so we can get him up to go somewhere he just goes with it.  He is rarely that unhappy about it.  And in fact we just took him with us to fireworks and he was up until 11pm and didn't make a fuss about it all, still the happy little boy we all know.  Everyone comments on what a smiley boy he is and he really is, you just look at him and he will usually give you a big smile.  He still has his sweet, happy demeanor and I hope it stays that way for a long time...or forever...is that asking too much?

He loves to feed himself and many times will swat my hand away while I'm trying to feed him his breakfast. He also gets so excited to see me still.  He can be totally happy and fine, playing or someone else can be holding him but if he sees me or hears my voice he gets so excited and comes right over to say hi.

I need to start figuring out how we're going to celebrate him turning 1. It's going to be a party for sure.

Brianhead Family Vacation

Last week we decided to take a last minute family vacation.  We rented a 2 bedroom condo in Brianhead for the weekend.  We packed up and headed out on Friday.  We made it a whole 45 mins before they had to go to the bathroom...haha...it did get better after that though.  Our new van came with headphones for the DVD player in the back.  I didn't know if the girls would wear them but they did and it was HEAVEN.  We turned on Frozen and didn't hear a peep from them.  Then we were able to listen to our own stuff in the front.  Love that feature!!

When we got there our condo wasn't ready...some mix-up...and wouldn't be for 2 1/2 hours...what?  I was not happy.  We made the best of it and played on their playground, then went and ate dinner.  We taught them to go down the curly slide together in a train, and they thought that was the funniest thing, they loved it. I had promised the girls they could go swimming that night so when we finally got to our room when it was exactly time for them to go to bed, we changed and went to the pool.  They were so tired when they finally went to sleep.  They still didn't sleep one minute past 7am however (they never do!)

It was a fun weekend.  We swam a lot!  The girls got so much more used to the water, which made me so happy.  By the end of the trip, they were both kicking their legs, and Siena was blowing bubbles in the water. Both got dunked under a lot and seemed to be ok about it.  Mostly they liked sitting on the steps and splashing us and giggling their heads off.  Jaron also loved the water and was so happy and content to sit in his floatie and splash.  He is a little water boy and is not phased by it at all.  It was pretty quiet at the resort so many times we had the pool to ourselves.

The girls thought it was so fun that there was a TV in their room so when they woke up each morning I would turn on Curious George for them and they would lay in their beds watching.

We went up to Cedar Breaks National Monument, which the kids could've cared less about but I thought was fun to see and very pretty.  They were not liking having their picture taken that day.  The one of them smiling was complete bribery (I had to carry them back to the car, both of them!)

They next day we found a mile round trip flat hike to a waterfall that we went on.  The girls did great and walked the entire time.  There were a few steep parts that I was worried they would slip and go down the edge but they were good to hold our hands.  Siena did slip once, scared me to death and loud scream did erupt from my mouth.  I caught her and she was fine but sheesh it scared me.  They loved the waterfall and eating their little snack by the waterfall.

On a little walk behind our condo...pretty huh?

On our way home we stopped by our favorite park in Fillmore that we stop at almost every time we drive south.  Here are the girls together in what we call 'their swing'  It was the first swing we put them in ever. Can't really see Aria, it's the best picture we got though. Click here and here for previous years.

It was a fun little trip and nice to get away for the weekend.  All the kids did so great and I was so happy that we didn't have any issues with any of them. They all slept great (well Jaron had one rough night) and were in pretty good moods the entire trip.

The Wheels on the Bus

Ever since my dad retired and moved up here, he got a job as a school bus driver. He loves it.  He drives kids in the morning, plays golf after that when the weather is good, and then drives them home in the afternoon.  Basically it supports his golf habit...he did get a hole in one last month so I guess it's all paying off.

My dad brought the bus home between shifts the other day to clean it out for the end of the school year.  So we made a trip over to check out a real bus.  The girls loved it.  We got to go on 2 rides, singing The Wheels on the Bus the entire time.  They got to push the buttons to open and close the door, and loved sitting on the seats with their cousins.  Now whenever we see a school bus, the girls always point it out and say 'Mom, bus, like Grandpa's'  Thanks Dad for making my girl's day!