On to Illinois

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After the conference we headed to Illinois. Both of my parents grew up in a small town in Central Illinois. My Mom's parents, my Dad's Mom, my aunt and uncle, and my cousin all live in that same small town. It is another very special place for all of us. We had a great time visiting with everyone and getting caught up. Kai got lots of attention and had a blast. Some of the highlights for him were being spoiled by everyone, playing with my youngest cousin Morgan, getting to go to my aunt and uncles house (to see the animals, corn, ride on the gator, and have an early birthday party), and playing with the model tractors (they weren't Toro, but they said Toro doesn't make Farm tractors). It really was a wonderful time. The worst part is always saying goodbye. Kai and I parted with my parents and sister at the airport to head back to Salt Lake on our own. He thankfully had another great flight. The only bad thing was our carseat and stroller didn't make it to Salt Lake. The car seat has now shown up, but no sign of the stroller yet. Sigh.........

San Diego to St. Louis

The San Diego portion of our trip concluded with my Dad's retirement party. He is now officially retired. YIPPEEE!!! The party was really nice and packed full of lots of people who had great things to say about my Dad. My Mom also made a super DVD that they showed at the party highlighting my Dad's life and career at Marsh. Kai got lots of attention at the party and had fun playing under the tables. We were busy videotaping so I didn't get any still photos- sorry about that. My Mom was taking some, so I know she got some good ones. After the party Kai and I took Lance to the airport for his flight back home. We were sad to see Daddy go.

Kai had gotten sick over the weekend in San Diego but was doing better by the party. Unfortunately, Whitney also took a turn at having a health issue before we left. That added some stress to all the traveling, but fortunately we were all healthy enough to get on our plane the next day to the Angelman Syndrome Conference in St. Louis. We had quite the traveling adventures, but that is to be expected with my family. Good thing we generally find a way to find the humor in such situations. Kai and Whitney did great on the flight. We were super lucky to have the bulkheads and an extra seat for Kai.

My Mom's parents, and my aunt and uncle met us at the Conference which was awesome. It was the first time they had ever gotten to see other Angel kids. These conferences are very special to our family, so it was a neat thing to get to share with them.

San Diego Portion

We have been enjoying the first leg of our 2007 World Tour in San Diego. Tomorrow is the R-party for my Dad and then Lance heads back to work. Kai and I will travel on to St. Louis and Le Roy with my parents and Whitney. We should be quite the traveling group. :) Her are some highlight pictures from my parents camera so far in San Diego. If we got any good ones from our camera we'll put them on when we get back home.

Happy 2nd Birthday Emmy!

Happy Birthday Emmy! We hope you get to do something super fun to celebrate. We also hope we get to see you sometime soon so we can do some celebrating with you. Have a great day!

Party All The Time

We had quite the fun weekend. On Friday the neighborhood field trip was to Fat Cats for bowling and arcade fun. Kai and Amanda spent about 1/3 of the time dancing to the music. It was super fun and now we want to go back with Daddy for some more bowling and dancing. Then, on Saturday night we went up the street to James 2nd birthday luau party. The party was really great. Special kid friendly food, yummy grown up smoked pork for the grown ups, and tons of games and toys for the kiddos. They really went all out. Then, we headed over to the Gardners for Brittney's 30th birthday party for more yummy food, new kids to play with, a pinata, and ice cream cones. Kai thought it was quite the night.

We've been slow on posting due to the fact that we are gearing up for our big trip which begins the end of this week. Can't wait! In other news, we are now officially using our new laptop to make this post. So far I love it! Our old one kept timing out so this is really quite nice. That's what happens when you use a computer for law school and two bar exams I guess. So happy day!

Happy Birthday Uncle Dave!

Happy Birthday to Uncle Da-f-e! Hope you had a great birthday weekend and maybe got to do some grilling on your super cool grill. We love this picture of you. You will be happy to know that in one of Kai's book is a picture of a boat, motorcycle, and bicycle. When Kai points to the pictures he says boat- Grandpa, motorcycle- Tyler, bicycle- Dave. Hope we get to see you guys sometime soon!

Tot Swim Class

Last week and this week Kai took a Tot Swim Class with cousin Kennedy. It was quite the learning experience for everyone involved. The class was M-Th for 2 weeks and the parents don't get in the water with the kids. The kids get in on some wide stairs and then can play for quite a distance away from the stairs in super shallow water- See how high it comes up on Kai in one the pictures. The first week both the cousins struggled a bit, but by week 2 we had a game plan that worked wonders. The secret was bringing toys and asking the teachers to not make eye contact with our kids until they were quite comfortable and playing in the water. As Kai liked to tell me "No, no teacher". Eventually they would warm up to the teachers some as you can see from some of the pictures below. The teachers were really quite sweet. I think the issue was just that they were strangers who came over from the deeper water and would take the kids 1 by 1 away from the stairs. Anyway, it ended up great. Before class everyday Kai and Kennedy would run to each other with open arms and after they would often walk away hand in hand. It sure is fun to have cousins that are so close in age and like to do the same stuff. Oh, and baby Jack did a good job cheering them on as well. It is fun to see him becoming more aware of his surroundings all the time.

Fire Station

The Friday trip today was to the local Fire Station. We were very excited about this fieldtrip as there is a lot of conversation about fire trucks at our house. Kai really enjoyed it until they had one of the Mom's put on one of their outfits. Those are a little scary. After that he was sticking a lot closer to me. Following the visit to the station we all walked over to the Sno Shack- a flavored ice place they put up in the neighborhood for the summer. Kai loved the little bit I poured in a cup for him.

A Happy 4th of July!

We had a nice middle of the week July 4th. It was especially nice because we got to spend the whole day together as a family without having any projects or to do's.

In the morning we went to the Sugarhouse Arts Festival. The neighborhood we live in is called Sugarhouse. There was live music, kids activities, several food vendors, and a row of booths to look through. It wasn't huge which was just fine by us. Lance was also an especially happy camper due to the fact that one of his favorite sandwhich places had a booth. Yummy!!!! Here we are enjoying some time in the shade after some lunch.





Then, we went over to the park to chase the ducks around some.







Later, after a nap. we headed over to grandma and grandpa's for a BBQ. As usual cousin Kennedy knows all the super fun stuff to do.





And finally we ended by watching the fireworks over the valley from the comfort of our car.

Old Friends

On Tuesday our good friends from Malibu came over for dinner. We hadn't seen them for a couple of years. They now have an addition to their family named Jackson who was super cute. It was great getting to see them and get caught up. We hope to get to see more of them over the next little bit while they are staying in the Provo area. It did make us a little homesick for all the our malibu friends from those days. Good times! Rachel got some better pictures so check out her blog here.





Jackson is sooo cute!

New Friends

Over the last week we've had the chance to hang out some with Kai's buddy Amanda and her parents. These two are so cute together.

Last Friday the Mom's took the kiddos on the neighborhood Friday fieldtrip to Thanksgiving Point for some maze and water fun.





Then, on Monday night we all went up Millcreek Canyon for some dinner, smores, and homemade rasberry ice cream.





Amanda is so fun!

Patrick Sean Woods

Congrats to Jen and Sean on their new baby boy. Jen and I have been friends since elementary school, so it is extra fun to see this new chapter begin for her. Patrick was born on June 30th at 6:47pm (Arizona time). His stats were 8lbs 1oz and and 19.5". Way to go guys- we are so excited for you!