Friday, January 7, 2011

A wedding, a birthday, and just plain old fun with the people we love in Utah!

Park City, Ut

Bracken and mom on the ski lift, heading up to ride the Alpine Slide in Park City

Look how happy I am...before I did my auto-mom-kid-count and looked behind to see a small blonde child had been left behind at the bottom of the lift. That's right, I left my 2 year old alone at the bottom of the ski lift. She just stood there by the ski lift operator (though he didn't notice) watching the rest of her family ride up the mountain. Cooper and Spencer were on the chair ahead of us with Tate, I had Bracken, Kelly had Abbie, and Justin had...the camera? It was no one's fault she got left but it was totally terrifying because I knew that by the time we got to the top of the mountain and over to the slide, plus the time it would take to get back down, that it would be at least 35 minutes that she was alone. By the time we realized she wasn't with us we were up too high to jump off the lift but we still had a long ride up the mountain. Thank heaven for cell phones because we started calling anyone we could think of, Alpine Slide security went to voicemail (honestly, what's the point of having an emergency number that goes to voicemail?), I panicked and called Jessie (she wasn't even with us so I don't know how that was supposed to help), and finally the Marriott hotel that's on the mountain. The hotel immediately sent their security over to look for her. I felt a little better once they assured me they would find her. However, when we got to the top of the lift, Justin and I jumped off at the first possible chance and he took off running for the slide while I talked to the lift operators (teenage idiots) at the top. They spoke to the guys at the bottom via walkie talkie and told them a little girl had been left at the bottom and that "if they happened to see her to tell her her family would be down soon". WHAT???? This isn't like leaving a water bottle at the gym guys!!! Two year old's don't know to just hang out and wait for their parents. Clearly these guys had no grasp of the correlation between age and capability levels of small children. Exasperated, I took off for the slide also. By the time I got down to the bottom Justin was already with Ruby, Marriott security had found her standing nearby watching the carousel riders. When Justin got to the bottom she was standing next to a big security guy with her head hung low staring at the ground. I think he made her a little nervous. Terrifying experience but all's well that ends well.

reunited

After the slide fiasco we headed to the Alpine coaster, which we had never done before, soooo fun!! Tate and Cooper loaded in and ready to go.

This time I kept her with me!

Nothing like being with family. It was the night before the wedding and it was such a fun night!

When we are in Park City we HAVE to stop in at The Rocky Mountain Fudge Company for our favorite gourmet apples.

What a poser! Literally. Bracken quickly realized that he could get great reactions out of his uncles when he acted...well...fruity.

My lost duckling eating a chocolate and sprinkles covered marshmallow

brothers

thank you smart phones for allowing us to order our sushi in SLC from Park City

Four little Allen's sitting on the steps...only Emily (the bride-to-be) was missing

Wedding Day

Justin toasting Emily and Tinoa at the breakfast on their big day

beautiful bridesmaids (Jess and I made the bouquet's and the brides bouquet below)

the bride, groom, and proud father (aka grandpa)

what is this pose?

what a big girl

Tate and Spenc

Bracken and Spenc

Taters

outside the temple waiting for Aunt Emily and Uncle Tinoa to finish pictures

Tate's birthday

Tate's birthday was the day after the wedding

presents at Aunt Jessie's

Yes! A new sword! Just what we needed, another sword.

Daddy got Tate roller skates, just what he'd asked for!

swords and skate, quite a combo

Bracken's turn started out a little rocky

better

how ladylike

i guess this turn was tricky for everyone

ouch

buddies

wow! woody! thanks grandpa lee!

hurry mom, get him out!

Brody and Nancy...I mean Abbie

having cake at my aunt nancy's

everyone stop singing (he hates being the center of attention)

seriously, stop

folded arms

wait, what just happened here?

grandma, I love that lady!

sweetest girl

Some of the most amazing women I know! Two of my mom's sisters, three of my beautiful cousins, me, and Jess. I love them all!

nice lady shades Spenc

From one party to the next, celebrating Tate's birthday at the Park with the Allen side. Good times!

It looks like grandma ad grandpa knew just what would make Tate's face light up, Spider Man.


Splash Pad

The next day we headed to the splash pad in Alpine and had a great time.

How is she not falling over? Weird.

Three bikini babes

my guys

we love it when daddy's with us

oh, hi mom

mr. b, king of the rock

Lee-Lee

washing his hair?

Brody loves Lexie, maybe a little too much

kissing cousins

what? is this wrong?

getting a leg up on the teenage years, getting ready to sun bathe

summer girl

hmmm, obviously I was there with the camera but it seems that this is quite dangerous and maybe I should have been pulling their faces out of the water

Wheeler Farm. New day, new adventure.

farm boy?

abbie in the treehouse

it was a really hot day and lexie had had enough

red-faced, hot, and glad to be back in the car

done

we headed straight to the gym to meet jess and brody and go swimming

aunt jess sprang for ice cream

love

This is the house that I fell in love with and stalked...well technically it's Jessie's dream house, which I stole and made my dream house. It's directly across from the Draper temple up on the mountain with beautiful city views and a big pool in the backyard. Justin and I went back several times and walked all around the outside. It's a vacation home to a family that lives in Switzerland. One night when we went back the front door had blown wide open and the alarm was going off, it took all my willpower to not do a walk-through. Someday you can all visit me here.

uh, is this a carpool?

clown car?

4 comments:

Jessie and Taylor Miller said...

So fun to see my baby all blonde and tan! Can't wait to reunite him with his cousins in 2 weeks

megan&steve said...

Tates Birthday was a huge highlight for my little Jake. Those two totally bonded. That was the last time I saw grandpa at my moms when he wasn't sick. I have it all on videotape too. The moon bounce at Jessies was super fun & she is great at spoiling the kids with ice cream treats.
I remember you telling me the Park City story just after it all happened. Too bad those teenagers weren't as helpful as they could have been & so glad you were reunited.

abbie said...

#1- did i mention that i love that you're blogging again?? you're inspiring me!
#2- so many cute pics of your kids in this post
#3- i totally would've done a walk through of that house!
#4- SO SCARY about ruby being left behind. ughhhh. my parents had a similar scare once in the reverse. everyone was a little overzealous about getting off the lift and left my sister who was like 4 at the time on the lift to continue up to a like double black diamond alone. luckily some man on a chair behind us saw what happened and somehow jumped off his chair, got my sister too, and skiied her down at the next stop. good times!

Bob and Carolyn Allen said...

What a FEAST! Those darling little people and their mom and dad belong to THIS GRANDMA! Love you guys ... and miss you every day! Looks like theres' room in the dream home for a family reunion when there's more Allen cousins :0)