Timpanogos Cave

On our last day in Utah, we met up with Grandma Diane, Dayna and kids, and Danielle and kids, to hike up to Timpanogos Cave.  I hadn't been in yeeears and thought my kids would love it.  It turned out that Dieter is scared of dark, tight places, and Finnley reeealy had to go to the bathroom in the caves and just wanted to get out.  I won't tell you whether or not she made it to the bathroom. At least the hike up and down was fun! 

Remi really wanted to get down and walk, so I let her.  Unfortunately, she fell forward and landed on her face and ended up with a nice big road-rash on her forehead.  That is the story of her life these days.  She always has some sort of scrape or bump on that cute little face of hers.

This picture sums up our time in Utah.  This boy was wiped every. single. day.  He'd nap in the car and then fall into bed at night.  We had a blast, and soaked up every minute we were able to spend with our family and friends.  Until next time....

Solitude...

e did a little Solitude skiing in, solitude.  Mitch's parents were nice enough to let us head up the canyon early and do some skiing, just the two of us.  It was nice to ski hard and fast, and my legs were on fire.  The rest of the Duckworth crew came up after lunch, and we had fun skiing with the Kringlens that afternoon.  Dieter really improved, and was skiing down all by himself.  I had the best time riding up the lift with my little buddy, and playing "hot-lava" on the way down.  Remi hung out with Grandma and Grandpa and Harper in the Lodge.  She came out for a bit to play in the snow with D-bop.  We finished a perfect day with dinner at Porcupine Grill.  I don't think we could have planned a more perfect day.

Trip to the Zoo...

We have been fortunate enough to be in Utah the same time the Browns make their twice-yearly visits. We overlapped for a few days this trip and had a blast with the "Virginia cousins". We spent one hot afternoon at the zoo, although the Virginians thought the 100 degree heat was nothing compared to heat with humidity like they have back East. The kids were pink-cheeked and sweaty, and we all sought out the misters and fans.

It has been so much fun having Mitch around this week. He has had such a crazy schedule this summer, the kids would go from Monday to Thursday or even Friday without seeing him. We have all been spoiled with "Mitch Time" that I'm afraid to go back to California. Luckily, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and hopefully things will start to calm down a bit - If Mitch lets them. ;)

Thanks for the fun day at the zoo!

Kringlen Cousins...

On Easter Sunday, me and the kids headed up to Mitch's sister Dayna's house for a yummy Easter Dinner. Afterwards, we wanted to get some cute pictures of the cousins playing together. Why is it so hard to get four kids under 4 to look in the same direction at the same time? Sheesh! Carter's face below absolutely kills me. I die laughing every time I look at it. These four are such good buddies and they are lucky to have each other.

Finnley, Reese, Dieter, and Carter

Gymboree...

Finnley's cute cousin Carter does Gymboree. He loves it! We signed Finnley up for the Month of December so they could play together. She has been twice, and has such a fun time. She loved trying to catch the bubbles.
She got one!

This little girl wouldn't stop giggling during parachute time. It was the cutest thing to watch.
we're so glad we get to spend time with our cousins. Thanks Carter.

UT v. San Jose...

We made the 6 hour drive up to San Jose to see the Ute's play San Jose State. Mitch definitely misses going up to Rice-Eccles stadium and cheering on his team, so he wanted to see them while they were "kinda close". His sister Dayna and her family decided to make the drive from UT so we were able to see them and spend a few days driving down the coast and enjoying Disneyland. We were also thrilled to see our newest fellow Californians the Christensens! Spencer accepted a job in Sacramento so they made the two hour drive to see the Utes play as well. We hope that we see them more often now that we are living in the same state (even though we are a mere 5+ hours apart).

Reese...

Mitch's sister had a little girl back in April - Reese Jordan Kringlen.  Dieter met her last night for the first time at the Bee's game.  I couldn't get over how sweet she was...and, HELLO, how freakin' huge my little guy is.  Can you believe she is 4 months and he is 6 weeks???  They had the same size feet, hands, heads, etc.  I'm sure these two will be little buddies - just like their big sibs Finn and Carter.

Utah Recap...

I didn't take NEARLY enough pictures of our two weeks in Utah. I don't know what I was thinking, but I didn't really pull my camera out until the last day. Oh well. We did have a great time. It was so nice to see Mitch relax, sleep in, and have some time to do the stuff he loves (fishing, shooting, riding horses, etc.)! I was also glad to hear him say that he actually missed UT! Wahoo! He didn't say that at Christmas, and I was getting worried he'd never miss it and he'd never care to come back. We spent a lot of time with both families, and Finnley got to see a lot of her cousins. So, here are some pictures from our last day, and a couple from earlier in the week. Next time I'll be more on top of the photo taking!
On our last full day, we woke up and headed over to the Life Center to swim. It ended up only being Mitch, Finnley, Mark and Carter that got in, but it was still fun and entertaining. Mitch had to show off the new trick he's been perfecting with Finnley (thanks Brady for teaching him this one). After swimming, we headed over to see grandpa Matt's horses. Finnley got to see a lot of horses over the two weeks we were there. We saw Mitch's horse twice (which is most likely knocked-up), grandpa Matt's, a few random horses off the side of the road, and of course Thanksgiving Point. It was fun to see her warm up to them, and eventually feed them.

After the horses, we headed up the canyon for a quick hike near Mitch's parent's house. We had been wanting to do a hike for a long time! Finnley was a good sport and walked the whole way back.

"THE ORIGINAL FANNY PACK"

As you can tell, Mitch kept us hydrated!

One windy afternoon, Finnley and I met up with Courtney and Myka at Thanksgiving Point to see the animals and go on a pony ride. We had fun chatting and feeding the animals.

We loved spending time in beautiful Utah. It was fun to catch up with friends, hang out with family, and of course laugh! I had a laughing session with my Mom, sister Amy, and her daughters that I won't soon forget! Oh...good times. Thanks for hosting us and keeping us entertained. We love you all!

Reese Jordan Kringlen...

Mitch's sister had her little girl, Reese Jordan Kringlen, on April 16. She is an adorable 7 pound 8 ounce little girl. We are so excited to welcome her to the family!

More Fun with the Kringlens...

We met up with the Kringlens for another fun day together...this time at Disneyland. This was Carter's very first time, so it was fun to watch him take it all in. He loves "Mit Mouse" so we made sure he got to see him and Minnie along with a few other characters. Our first stop was the Carousel, then Dumbo and the Tea Cups. Finn LOVES the Tea Cups and kept asking for them.

Next, we headed over to Toon Town to find Mickey. Finnley was loving playing in Mickey and Minnie's houses. She would climb up into all the chairs, play the piano, eat at the table...everything! Of course when it came time to see Mickey or Minnie she held on for dear life and wouldn't be next to them. Oh well.

We put 50 cents + a penny into one of those smashing machines for Finnley. We thought "What a waste of money this is..." but in all actuallity it was the best purchase we could have made. It entertained Finnley the rest of the night. She would hold it, use it to manipulate things, take pictures with it??, and just loved putting it in and taking it out of her pocket.

"CHEESE!" Carter is such a happy kiddo. He and Finnley had so much fun together - besides the fact that Finnley was always in his face. She wanted to hug him, hold his hands, talk to him, and say "DUDE" right in his face. Poor guy. He would just shrug her off and look at his parents like "can someone help me?"

Finding Nemo...Finnley's favorite movie, so of course, one of her favorite rides. Hey Kringlens...it was so much fun hanging out with you guys! We hope you come back to Sunny California again soon - even if it is just for another medical convention!