Plodding along...and posting about July.

Dang, I got all geared up to catch up on the blog and then went to July's pictures only to remember that we took our massive family vacation that month and now I feel overwhelmed and a little tired.  But seeing as how I already took my mini nap today I really can't justify another one.  Plus, travelogues are my favorite - I wish I had a slide projector and an audience with undivided attention! Actually I would love an audience of all versions of myself, it would be super validating and interesting to every single person.  I can just see myself in 40 years sitting and reading my blog books and reminiscing and having a grand old time.
So apparently a serene sleeping Jonah is a novelty because I keep finding pictures like this on my phone.  We will call this, the calm before the storm - a lull before the flurry! I love vacations!

I tried not to think too much about the vacation.  There's no use in freaking out about it so I really didn't think a lot about it until the week or two before.  We had an Oscarson Family Reunion planned in Bear Lake but as summer broke here in Houston I realized that I really didn't feel like sitting around and baking/melting/dying in the heat and figured there was nothing keeping us from going and just hanging out with sisters and cousins for as long as we could in a milder climate.  So I (with a small amount of insanity) decided to drive the kids up by myself and Clark would just meet us for his two weeks that he had off.  Luckily for me (and my sanity) my mother in law decided to go up and spend some time with her family, thus catching a ride herself and providing me with a second driver/kid-keeper-under-controller.  It worked out quite nicely.  All I had to do was buy matching water bottles and duffle bags and I felt organized and ready to take it on!

That is, until my lovely friend Caroline dropped off a ten pound bag of candy to wish us well.  Then I got kind of scared again.  I rationed out an appropriate amount of sugar for the car ride and we were off!

We hit the road early in the morning and made it to Denver in one long day.  We were able to stay with family which makes the night on the road so much comfier and easier to get going well-rested the next day. 
PS Jonah is just as cute in Montana as he is in Texas, in case you were wondering.

The kids did great and we only heard minimal (ish) whining from Haley about how long her legs were and how riding in the car was especially uncomfortable.  Take a number Haley, says this pregnant woman.

Stop ONE was Utah, to hang out, relax, do nothing, just have fun with my sisters, my parents and the cousins.  Utah pictures are all clumped together because it was Stop ONE and THREE.
It was quite significant that ALL of my family was there - every sibling, in law and child.  The entire time we were there we kept thinking "we need to recreate the picture of the three June 2012 babies" and yet it never happened! It was a challenge to find a time that all three were happy at the same time and so finally we just did it, crying Jonah and all.  Stinker.  We'll try again in another few years I guess.

This was actually from the third part where the reunion was over and we were saying one last good bye on the roof of my parents apartment.  The evening was delightfully pleasant but the looming goodbye was very difficult.  You never know when another opportunity like this will come along and it was something special for sure.
Here we are, "the three youngest" and our youngests, that's a word, right?.  All in all we have five, three year old cousins but these three were all born just two weeks apart.

One of our first activities in "hanging out" was a visit to pioneer village in Salt Lake.  It was a joy to let cousins chat and roam and play while the adults strolled and chatted and relaxed a little.
I like watching my children doing chores and being grateful that their chores now are a whole heck of a lot easier. That field isn't going to plow itself!

The kids and I (and later Clark) stayed with my sister Carrie.  It gave Jonah a chance to bond with cousin Ollie, who consequently, could be his twin.  Two toe heads.

I really can't be bothered at this stage in the post to organize all the BYU pictures together but needless to say, our family doesn't do small get togethers.  If there's one, there's twenty.  We were those BYU alumni that show back up on campus during the summer with their hoards of children...doing things like eating in the Cougareat and squeezing ourselves into offices of hardworking BYU employees like my beautiful sister in law and my brother who both work on campus.

Next time you're on BYU campus I suggest you take in a movie at the International Cinema - I hear the folks in charge of delightful.

As a college student that enjoyed solitude and quiet, I was cringing watching my own crew during lunch.

In addition to visiting the International Cinema, you should also learn some Swedish or comparative literature.  It's a good time (though I admittedly never took a Swedish class from my brother, unlike my sisters and own mother, because I heard it was a hard class.  Slacker.)

The girls discovered their love of long boarding while staying with my sister.

And we enjoyed every minute of playing with cousins who live much too much too far away.

The first night we were there we had the opportunity to attend a Pioneer Day Concert at the Conference Center put on by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Needless to say, my Mom's calling right now comes with some perks - the seats were fantastic and the concert was amazing! I loved every minute of it.

It needs to be documented that I love my sisters for a myriad of reasons, one of which is that this particular one eats popcorn with a spoon.  It was delicious and entertaining.

Hazel took over Mo's job for a minute.  It was grueling.

The cousins spontaneously become dogs and kitties at any given moment.

In addition to eating popcorn with a spoon, sometimes she wears crinoline skirts spontaneously - but just for a moment.

The kids were thoroughly wiped out on a nightly basis.  It was delightful.

And Utah always lends us the opportunity to meet up with dear friends that we love! I didn't get a picture of our Kirkham visit, but we had fun with our other friends the Soderborgs who were in town from Virginia too.

My brother in law, Todd, indulged my kids and husband in a couple of fishing trips.  Abby had the privilege of accompanying them on a night fishing trip one evening.  I think they had fun - I was at home in my pj's, which was fun too.

We can't go to Utah without popping in to visit Grandma Green.  She tells good stories and feeds my kids ice cream.  If I can look half as beautiful at 80-something, sign me up.

This was one of my favorite afternoons - after our visit with Grandma, we headed over to the Bountiful cemetery to see where my Grandpa Green was laid to rest and then met up with a bunch of the family in Pleasant Grove where Papa shared family history stories and then showed us the sites of our Great Grandparents farm where they settled after immigrating from Sweden.  Those apple trees behind us up there were planted with his own two hands.

Another favorite was an evening spent with my Mom and Dad and the eight oldest cousins at the Salt Lake City temple.  It is so gorgeous.  Every time I am there I cannot comprehend the sacrifice and time that went into it's completion.  It is unbelievably amazing.

And an extended cousin picnic to catch up with so many that we don't see often enough.  Taylor put on one of his classic magic acts - some of his tricks still freak me out.  He really is magic.

Part I complete, now isn't that somethin.