Fun in Kaysville

Continuing on...

While we were staying in Kaysville, after our return from Illinois, we were able to do many fun and relaxing things. Kevin and Dad got to go on a long bike ride to Salt Lake to drop dad off at work (I believe it was somewhere around 20 miles). After that, Kevin rode around for hours before deciding to come home. He probably did 60ish miles all together...but if I am wrong I'm sure he'll correct me! :) Brooklyn had more attention than any one child should ever receive... and she enjoyed every second of it! She especially liked playing with Uncle Craig and her Grandpa (who she preferred over me after we left).
The new pool table also provided hours of entertainment. Kevin and Craig were constantly competing and Brooklyn loved army crawling under the table and trying to catch people's legs before they moved to the next ball.
Mom and Janna took me out on a special trip to help me get some clothes that fit me. I lost 25 pounds over the summer, which brought me below my pre-pregnancy weight; however, my body magically changed shape throughout the process of pregnancy and even though I weigh less, I still can't fit into the clothes I wore before. THANKS MOM AND JANNA! You both have way better taste in clothing than I do.
Although we all had a BLAST! in Kaysville, I think Brooklyn got the most out of the visit. While we were there, she had unlimited attention, learned that mommy is not the only person in the world, got her first piano lesson from Grandma, learned how to stand up and sit down from Grandpa, and how to crawl on her hands and knees from Grandma and Janna! What a lucky baby she is!

Now that we are home, one thing is for sure...It is soooo nice to be around family again! We loved every second we spent with Brian, Natalie and Wes before we left Chicago, and every second we spent with the rest of the gang when we got back! Thanks Everyone! We sure love you guys!

The Long Trek West...

Wow! So I guess its been a while since we blogged...But no worries, we're settled in now and ready to go! So here goes!

On August 16th, we helped pack up the rest of Brian and Natalie's stuff and then we drove them to Ann Arbor, Michigan where we helped them unload and got a quick tour of the campus where Brian will be spending every second of every day for the next 2 years!


Then we drove back to Schaumburg, picked up our stuff, and headed toward Utah! We drove out of Illinois, through boring corn-infested Iowa, boring flat Nebraska, boring cow-infested Wyoming, and into Utah where we immediately went to the airport and met up with my brother Jake who just got back from his mission!

The trip wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Dad Hanks flew out and helped us drive back, which enabled me to sit in the back with Brooklyn and keep her from crying. She even helped navigate. Jennie's Atlas was her favorite toy and provided hours of peace and quiet for the rest of us!

On our way back, Brooklyn exploded just when we ran out of wipes. Dad was nice enough to use up all of the wet wipes at McDonald's to get her clean before we got back in the car. Ewww! It was quite the process.

We eventually got home to Kaysville, where we would spend the next two weeks, right on time to say happy birthday to Grandpa Smith and eat all of his cake and M&M's. Woohoo! What timing.

Grandma Smith even got a little play time in before we went to bed and surprisingly enough, Brooklyn handled all the new faces quite well for having spent the whole summer with just her mommy.
Well...we spent the next two weeks, as previously mentioned, in Kaysville where we made a hideous mess while living out of suitcases and driving back and forth between Kaysville and Provo in order to clean all of our stuff out of our old evil apartment. Lucky for us, mom and dad Hanks were very patient and never once mentioned or complained about our slovenly state of being. Thanks mom and dad! For letting us stay and helping us get home!

More to come later...we got really behind!