Kate's Birthday

Kate turned 17 while we were visiting, and Chase could not wait to give her a birthday present.

Of course that meant he wanted to help unwrap it too.

It was a framed picture of Chase reading books with his favorite person

To celebrate more, we went out to dinner.  Chase fell asleep on the way, but that just meant we all were able to eat :)

And afterwards, we went to Temple Square to see the lights.

Chase loved this "biggest red tree"

Ty's there too, in Marcus' jacket 

Happy Birthday, Kate!

#K8isGR8

Cousins

Marcus' brother Paden and his wife, Rebecca, recently had a little girl, Lily.  I believe she's six weeks younger than Ty.  Our first little cousin for the boys!  We were so excited to meet her - Ty would just look at her (and unintentionally bonk her).  It will be nice that he'll have a little buddy at family events growing up!

Grandpa with Ty and Lily

Just the Two of Us

Marcus and I took advantage of all the family around who wanted to play with the boys and enjoyed a few hours here and there hanging out together.  We made a few stops to our favorite places.  

I don't have pictures from when we saw a movie and had Cafe Rio.  I also got a Rocky Mountain caramel apple.  I love those.  

In-and-Out - a must for us

Smart Cookie, one of our favorite places from when we were at BYU

And the Salt Lake Temple

We did miss our crazy boys while we were out, but it was amazing how much faster we could go in a restaurant or walk around a building :)

Shoveling Snow

When Chase saw the snow, even how little there was, he insisted on going outside.  He had a blast shoveling the sidewalk with Grandpa.

Once again, we watched from inside where it was warmer.

Chase loved everything about being outside and helping with the snow.  It was so much fun watching him light up as he played with the shovel and maybe cleared some snow.

Thanksgiving

Sadly I don't have many pictures from Thanksgiving.  We went to breakfast at Annie and Rea's house with Amy, Randy, their two boys, Margaret, my parents, Mimi, GDaddy, and Trevor.  And we had Thanksgiving dinner back at the Hardy Bungalow with Marcus' family, both sets of his grandparents, and our friend from NY Matthew.  All the food and company was wonderful.  We were grateful to spend the day with so much family!

Here are my four pictures from breakfast:

More pictures of Ty napping

Chase liked to play next to the bigger boys

Happy Thanksgiving!

Drumming

One thing Marcus was really looking forward to while in Utah was playing his drum set with Derek.  They made sure to find some time to play together.  I asked for some pictures, and they sent these posed pictures :)

I'm sure they had a great time playing, as loud as they could :)

Play Date

The second half of our trip was spent with Marcus' parents.  Chase was excited to see more of his  friends (especially Kate), and he enjoyed meeting a new friend, Rachel.  Cozette watches Rachel sometimes, and she became a perfect buddy for Chase.

Chase loves making friends. :)

At Gram & Pops'

We had a great time staying with Gram and Pops.  I don't think Chase ever stopped playing :)  Here are some random pictures from the week.

This was before the "put a towel on the ottoman before playing with the tracks" rule

Chase found a secret exit :)

Charlie is basically the big, floppy older brother

Some quiet time.

Ty took the best naps because he was held so often, although he looks a little contorted here :)

Checking out the roof with Pops' new ladder

Watching Dad measure windows

Climbing up the big ladder

More snuggly Ty naps

Trains with Trevor

Cheering on Chase (who needed to eat his dinner)

Sweet sleeping guy

It was really nice to spend a week with family.  Chase loved playing with so many people he usually sees just on Skype, and obviously Ty loved all the time he was held.  A fantastic first leg of our trip in Utah.  Thanks for having us, Gram and Pops!