SUNDANCE and SUCKERS

Its a tradition we've done since before I can even remember. On a monday evening in the fall my Dad would load all of us kids up and take us on a drive around the Alpine loop. We'd stop and get out and go looking for our favorite colored leaves and put them in baggies and then we'd end up at Sundance where we'd all get to pick out one of their famous "SUCKERS". Actually I don't think they are famous at all. We probably just thought they were known for them because that's what we'd always get. But I loved that night in the fall so much. A few years we even took some of the sweet widows in our ward. Grandma Steinfeldt would come or Laverla White. Those were good memories. Now it's our turn to do the same with our kids! They love it just like I did. - This year i totally screwed up though…it was actually kind of funny. I don't know what I was thinking and I had Toby drive to the base of Provo Canyon to meet up with my family instead of the Mouth of American Fork canyon to drive the loop. What was I thinking?! It saws like meeting up at the end of a race. Totally weird. But we hurried over there and everything turned out just great. - Also these are just a couple of random cute pics at the end. Tate and Kemp are always together, doing the same thing, hugging…whatever it is. Its the cutest and I want to have it documented.

Celebrating Kemp at the ZOO!

I honestly don't understand how this happened. How in the world my baby boy turned 2 is beyond me. This child has brought us more joy and happiness than I could ever imagine. I mean the same thing happened with my other 3 so I must have known but at the same time it just doesn't feel like it's possible to love another the way you love the ones you have but then somehow your heart just grows and your capacity to love deepens and there you are…crazy in love with another little person. I felt bad that celebrating Kemp kind of got swept under the rug since we were out of town on his actual birthday. We didn't even really get him presents under than a couple little things we bought him at the mall in Arizona! We did however combine birthdays with a ton of others in the Down's family and we all went to the zoo for a combined Birthday party! The kids of course loved every second! The animals were all out and about and the weather was perfect and it was a great day. As cliche as it sounds I wish so badly we could freeze time with our kids ages right now. They are all so fun and at such great states and I just hate seeing this little boy getting older and older so i will try to treasure every second with this wonderful little TWO year old boy!

BYU vs ARIZONA

When we found out over a year ago that BYU was going to be playing Arizona State for their opening game in 2016 we knew that would be the perfect away game to travel too. We have quite a few friends and family in Arizona so we knew we'd have a place to stay and we also had a bunch of friends going so we knew it'd be a fun one for sure. It was!!! My biggest problem ALWAYS with traveling is leaving the kids. I just hate doing it. It's so hard for me. Especially leaving Kemp and when we found that the game was over his birthday…there was no way I was leaving that little guy behind. So he got everything he wanted for his 2nd birthday. A special trip all to himself with Mom and Dad!!! Honestly it was so fun to spend some one on one time with him!!! I'm not going to lie and say it was an easy trip with him because it wasn't. The flight was hard. Getting him to sleep was hard. Waiting in lines with him and going shopping and to restaurants with him were hard…but it was so worth it. He is such a little sweetheart and it was wonderful to just focus on him. We stayed with our friends Mike and Jen Sumko and can I just say we had thee most wonderful time in their home. First of all their home looks like it's out of a magazine. Seriously Jen has the most incredible taste.  She has such a flair for decorating. Every space she creates just feels so warm and cozy and just makes me happy. Just like her. That girl always  is smiling and just honestly sparkles from head to toe. Mike and Toby were roommates back in college so whenever we get together we just laugh our heads off at old memories. This time was no different. One night we laid on their bedroom floor watching a movie with them and another time we just stayed up in the kitchen for hours laughing and talking till like 2 in the morning. It was the best. We went to eat at the Cheesecake factory, toby took me shopping at Fashion Square and at Second Chance, we ate at Shake Shack for the first time and it felt so good to be driving around Arizona again. I had missed it. The BYU game itself was incredible. The Bruses, Sawyers, Jones and JD were all there. My Mom and Dad even came! It was so fun to sit with them at the game on Kempers Birthday.  They stayed with Aunt Jackie. We met up with her and Phil later right before we went home. But back to the game BYU played awesome and barely won at the last second on an awesome play. Seriously made it so exciting. And Kemp did surprisingly well at the game. I didn't even have to take him out once! Oh and I failed to mention before the game The Sumkos hosted a swim party/bar b que and it was fun to have a bunch of old BYU guys and friends over. We went home the day after the game but on the way to the airport we stopped at the New Gilbert Arizona Temple. What a beautiful Temple it is. It really felt so special to be there and I was thrilled to be able to see it on our way out. It wasn't a long trip but it was just what Tob and I needed. The perfect little get away.

Boyz II Men

Ah!! This was the funnest night!! My Dad is notorious for buying us all tickets and sometimes we have to laugh and the concerts or plays he gets them for but this time he nailed it! He bought all of us tickets to Boyz II Men. I can NOT believe how good they sounded. It took us all back to middle school and high school. I swear I remembered every word of every song. It was so much fun. I love outdoor summer concerts. We've already decided we're going to take a road trip to vegas together to see them again. Thanks Dad Bo!

Remember the Titans at Levell Edwards Stadium

What a fun evening! We found out that there was a showing of "Remember the Titans" going to be played on the Lavell Edwards field this night and that sounded too fun to pass up. I knew that Kemp probably wouldn't be too great to take to a late movie since they can't start till it gets dark so we arranged for grandma and grandpa to watch him and we took the three older kids and had the best night! Tob snuck them into the locker room and took them on a little tour then ran and got some food and snacks. We threw out blankets and a few pillows and enjoyed a fun night on the field that Toby used to catch footballs on. Super fun night with my crew.

Jordan and Kristee Get Married!!!

Well we could NOT be happier about this day. JORDAN and KRISTEE got married!!! Man we love this girl. Of course I think Jordan is as good as it comes and I crazy love him and I thought no one would ever be good enough for him etc etc but SHE is something else! She is so wonderful to my kids and so fun to be around. Such a fun wonderful girl and her and Jordan are so cute together. They really wanted to keep the wedding simple so that's what they did. A temple ceremony and a luncheon at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building after. And the best part? My dad was able to seal them. How neat is that? It was such a beautiful ceremony and there was such a special spirit in that sealing room. Kristee lost her mother about 5 years back and of course our grandparents have passed on and it's so amazing they were most likely in that room. It was a bit of a long day for my children. Tate and Kemp have seen better days but we all enjoyed the luncheon and again it was a beautiful day. So happy to add another sister to the Downs!

Tates "Almost" Surgery

About two years ago Tate fell off a little ladder in our garage and hit two of his teeth. It didn't knock them out but the Dr. was still concerned it might have done some damage to them. Two years later and they are both a tiny bit discolored AND they got little abscesses above them that were causing him so pain. The Dentist put him on an antibiotic and told me we were going to need to put him under and remove the two teeth…possibly 4 since you don't really take two of the front teeth without taking the other two so they "match". I was devastated. And really didn't want to do it which is why he we are like 5 months later. But I knew it needed to be done so I finally scheduled it. For some reason I was hesitant about him having it done the whole week leading up to it and especially the night before. I even told Toby i wasn't feeling super great about it. He and a bit of a cough that i had told his dentist about and also the hospital staff when they called to get him registered. But We said our prayers with him, gave him a blessing and the next morning I took him into Primary Children bright and early. He was super nervous even though he had no idea what was going on. He HATED the hospital pjs they put him in. That was actually quite hilarious. - Anyway when it was time for the Anesthesiologist to come in Tate coughed a few times in front of him and I was so grateful he did because right away he said, "you know what I have to be honest I'm not feeling good about doing this." and instantly I agreed and thanked him for being willing to say that even though we were there and had been waiting for hours and everything was ready to go. He had Dr. Johnson our dentist come in and he agreed that we put it off for a later time. I was so grateful. I was so thankful that Heavenly Father and heard my concerns and that these dr.'s were in touch enough to know it wasn't a smart thing to do with his cough. We packed up and headed home and Tate said "mom do I get my Legos now that I was so good during my surgery?" I tried to explain to him that he hadn't had it done but he was CONVINCED that he did and just being there was obviously traumatic enough so I caved and got him a smoothie and we ran to target to get a small package of Legos. I had to explain to him that he had to do it one more time and we dubbed that his "BIG Surgery" and said if he was good during that one he'd get even a bigger pack of Legos. I love this little boy. He's amazing.