Summer Adventures: Part 1

My last post was in April???!!! Oh boy, so sorry.
Well, we sure have been busy, and I'll have to break this up into several posts so it's readable.

Just before school ended we went to the Schnepf Farms Peach Festival and picked peaches! So fun, and the ripe, sun warmed peaches were delicious like you couldn't believe. A fruity bite of sunshine, yum!

Standing in line for pancakes with peaches on top. Rowan wanted to try on my earrings :)

Beautiful peacocks, and they flaunted it for us.

Rowan with the pigmy goats.

She loved it!

Picking peaches! Big 'ol me in the background. 

Peaches!!!

So, after school got out, towards the end of May, Ben got a call from his brother Paul letting him know that if he would like a job for the summer, then he had work for him in Texas. Paul works in oil. Ben started gearing up to go out to Texas, but being an uncomfortable pregnant woman with a near-two  year old to take care of, I told him I could not manage alone in Arizona for most of the summer. So the family packed up that weekend and drove to Utah to stay at my parents house.

Mind you this is Labor Day weekend, and my due date was July 16th...and we'd be there for at least a month.The plan being to get back home about 2 weeks before the due date.

Ben left the following Monday and Rowan and my pregnant self stayed with Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Hermana Mary (Grandpa's wife), and Tiffani, at the home-sweet-home I grew up in. We had such a great time seeing old friends and catching up with so much family that live up there. I even got to go to Dalein and Lecith's ballet recital (my twin cousins), and Dalein's bridal shower.

Did you know that when you get pregnant and have a baby some of your brain matter comes out too? It's true. I know this because I can barely remember anything anymore. So, honestly I don't remember a whole lot about the first few weeks there.

I do remember that I ate lots of good food and got to see lots of my good 'ol friends! My good friend from high school Jessica Clegg met me for some delicious dinner at Zupas Cafe (if they don't get a Zupas soon in AZ I might have to move back to UT just for that ;). We also went to Subzero and had ice cream, and man was I full! Especially with my majorly pregnant self. But Jess and I had a great time catching up.  Rowan and I also met Andrea and her two adorable girls at the splash pad in Highland and had a great time there. Rowan played in the water a little at first, but seemed to like being wrapped up in a warm towel a little more. But Gea's (Andrea) girls really loved the water and were so brave about going anywhere to play in it! It was really fun. I got to hang out with my cousins several times and loved it. I also got to hang out with Cherelle (who I used to work with at Zion Ponderosa) and she even organized a get together with Becca and Courtney that we worked with as well. So awesome to get to see my old friends! Thanks for meeting up with me everyone!
Oh, and I can't forget that we also spent an evening with Morgan and her family, plus her in-laws. She was in Highland while her parents were out of town and we got to hang out :)
I know there were more people I saw and if I didn't mention you, I'm sorry. It's all getting fuzzy now. But thanks again, all the same :)

Rowan and Lexi (Morgan's little girl), and Rowan at the splash pad.

Rowan got pretty spoiled while we were there, it's true. And she loved every minute of it. Her Great Grandpa and Hermana Mary really doted on her and loved having her spunky self around. I thought surely they'd get sick of her from some of the tantrums she was throwing, but they still lavished her with attention and love. He'd take Rowan outside to the garden or to work on the yard. She would give Rowan whatever she wanted to eat or play with. And their enthusiasm at her presence was a gift in itself.

Great-Grandpa sharing his breakfast with Rowan, and Hermana Mary hiding in on the couch ;)

Of course Grandpa and Grandma (my parents) were the same as well. They loved having their red-head granddaughter there to play with and spoil. She got several new toys (mostly for the journeys we had to make in the car on our way back home). Rowan loved when we went to Uncle Mike and Aunt Mia's house to play with her two cousins Rebecca and Emma. Or when they would come to Grandma's house to play. Now when Rowan watches videos of her playing with them she says "Caca" (Becca) and "Amma" (Emma). I know she misses them. I got video of them playing together, but not pictures, sadly.

Rowan also got her first haircut while we were in Utah. Ben's Aunt Gail, who is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet, has a little salon in her basement and gave Rowan her first haircut. It turned out so cute! And Rowan did really well watching "puppies" (101 Dalmatians) during the cut. She also trimmed my and and put in some red and light brown highlights in my hair and it turned out perfect. Just what I wanted! But I didn't get any pictures of mine, just Rowan's.

While we were there Ben came to spend two different weekends with us, on his "time off." He had been gone about three weeks the first time he came back and since he'd been working out in the bush he had a ton of gruff on his face, like a mountain man, and Rowan was pretty distant with him, Hahaha. She still went to him after a little bit, but I don't think she talked to him at all that weekend. The next time he came for his time off she wasn't stand-off-ish, and talked to him some.
Of course she was back to normal with him when he flew back for Mercedes birth.
To be continued in Part 2...