Sedona Part Two

Patrick and I had a huge, jetted tub in our condo in Sedona.  I loved it.  Maggie LOVED it:

Caroline with her new shades hanging pool side:

My girls are STILL not swimmers.  Countless hours at the pool, plenty of lessons (including some from each parent), and still....not swimmers.  Maggie's solution at the pool was to tie a bunch of floatie tubes around herself.  Wouldn't it be easier to JUST LEARN TO SWIM?!? 

Running down the path from pool to condo: 

Despite her refusal to swim, Maggie does really enjoy the water.  Just don't ask her to stick her face in it. 

Patrick had a birthday while in Sedona.  The entire extended family let him pick the restaurant of his choice which was decided based solely on whether they had a good prime rib.   

Sedona Part One

Our annual McCarty family trip was to Sedona, Arizona this year.  We were also celebrating my in-laws anniversary.  We had such a fabulous time (as we always do on these trips) and wish we could see our family more often!  

Here's a sweet shot of all the cousins:

We had made plans for a fancy dinner to celebrate the anniversary.  Everyone was dressed up so nice and lots of pictures were taken.  Just not from my camera.  But here's a fun one that Maggie took in between the millions of pictures being taken with real cameras (as opposed to my cell phone):

A little ice cream trip to drink up the sugar and the gorgeous views of the red rock:

Cousin (and Uncle) sweetness:

We visited this a place called Out of Africa to check out the lions, tigers, giraffes, ostriches, etc.  Here's the family looking at an ostrich egg:

This guy put on an awesome water show for us.  Running, jumping, chasing.  Maggie was in heaven and took at least 60 pictures of this one tiger waiting for the show to start:

Utah in July Pt 3

A beautiful bridal shower for beautiful Meredith:

The amazing hostess Emily--everything was just perfect, and the mother of the bride Julie:

Grammy and Aunt Teri:

Some of the gang:

The girls found fast friends (and dress-up buddies):

Maggie's first photo bomb (she's also wearing a ridiculous wig from the dollar store):

Me with Meredith and Max:

After the shower we met at Pizzaria 712 to celebrate my dads birthday (Maggie is STILL wearing that awful wig!).  Max was awesome at caring for complain-y Caroline:

The birthday guy, his wife Rosa, and my sister Charlotte:

A darling shot of Meredith and Caroline:

The whole lot of us after dinner:

Utah in July Pt 2

So much time on this trampoline! Julie played with the girls:

 

 

I didn't want to jump because I was in a skirt but somehow Julie talked me into it:

And by the end I had found my groove and taken over:

Ruby babysat while I went to the gym.  They made masks.  What a fun cousin Ruby is!!

Caroline would not cooperate and put her mask back on for pics:

Utah in July Pt 1

After such a fantastic trip to Utah in June I made the decision to turn right around and come back.  My sister, Julie, had sold her home by then so she was staying at a neighbors home which is where we ended up.  Wow!  We had no idea we were walking into such a kids paradise!!  We had a GIANT backyard with a play structure, tire swing, full size sport court, outdoor living room, trampoline, ping pong table.  We were able to take over the entire basement of this house which was also chock-full of kid fun.  So. Much. Fun.

Our first order of business upon arriving in Utah was to get Randy to his bank and work out some financial arrangements.  This required loading Randy into his van which I had never done before.  Luckily, when we arrived at Randy's house my dad was there to take over and help get us there.  Unluckily, this led to the standard nasty bickering among the two men while me and my girls sat in the very back bench seat--kind of in shock.  They squabbled loudly the entire ride to the ban which was extra long considering my dad drives at a snail's pace.

Since I live in Colorado and don't interact with the men in my family often I had completely forgotten just how rediculous and downright comical this bickering can become.  My girls were totally confused (and probably a bit amused) by the back and forth taking place in front of us. I distracted them with selfies in the back:

 Next order of business for Utah was shopping.  Julie needed to find a mother-of-the-bride dress for Meredith's upcoming wedding.  We took the entire family to Nordstrom one day and ate at their cafe.  My sweet neices entertained my girls with this:

 

Ruby chillin' with the ladies while the rest of us shoe shopped:

 

And here's just a random picture of Caroline one morning while in Utah.  Just staring into space blankly...

Relaxing at home with a little game with the cousins:

I had a few hours one day to be off by myself and my kids.  This NEVER happens on trips to Utah which are usually just jam packed with family activities and such.  I took the opportunity to check out the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point.  It was amazing!

Digging up their own dino bones: