Harmon's Haven

Meet amazing dad Robbie, mother-in-training Jesika, 7 year old best big sister Bree, 5 year old boy in every way Gabe, 3 year old who thinks he's 10 years old who makes us all laugh McKay,
and 9 month old sweetest Quinn Marie...the Harmon Family!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

The end of June we were able to spend some time in Provo with the Harmons! It is amazing how when Robbie and I first got married we were CERTAIN we would never live in Utah. Well...now we are not too sure?! Horray for the RANCH! Our favorite thing. The kids (and Robbie and I) are in absolute heaven up there.
Grammy planned a fun scavenger hunt for the kids on the four wheelers where they went up through the mountains to find different prizes. So fun! We love the four wheelers!
(Robbie even let Gabe drive for a minute...and was slightly surprised at how fast they went until Robbie got control again!)
We got to watch Uncle Larry and the new bee hives. So neat! I have never seen how they pull out each comb to check on the bees and their progress. Fascinating. Robbie had the bee suit on and Gabe begged to put it on too!

Grandpa got Bree and Gabe slingshots...and they LOVE them! I was actually impressed with how well they could do them!

Also while up north we got to go to the Strawberry Days Rodeo (ye haw!) Gabe has been talking about "bunking broncos" ever since. He loved it! Then there was golfing for the men of course (that may be Robbie's favorite thing about visiting family...he got to go golfing three times while we were there!) The men were nice enough to take Gabe...and happy about it until he started throwing golf balls in the lake! Only one slight damper on their game: on the last hole Robbie's brother (I won't mention which one :) teed off only to watch his ball cruise down the runway, veer off to the right and hit a guy in the head who was on the adjacent hole 175 yards away. Yes, the man fell to the ground. Yes, there was blood. He was nice enough about it, but needless to say it put a damper on the golf outing!
We also went to the Alpine slide...talk about beautiful! Since we have been entertaining the thought of moving to Utah someday Robbie often talks about Park City, or Heber. And I have said sure, ok, but what about the winter time...but the summer beauty would make up for that!!  After all the years I was at BYU this was my first time on the Alpine slide! It. was. gorgeous. Honey, we can move there whenever you want :)


Grammy Robin loves taking the kids to the Bean museum on BYU campus (it is an animal museum, not a "bean" museum!), but since it was closed for renovations when we were there, we went to the dinosaur museum instead. It is a small museum just across from the BYU football stadium (go cougars!) but it was perfect for the kids! They loved it!
McKay loved the stairs there. Since he was feeling crummy I was just happy to see a smile on his face!
Grammy also took them to the splash pad at the RiverWoods, which is always a hit. McKay even loved it...which was nice caused he wasn't feeling well. (It was such a bummer he was sick most of the trip! Poor thing.)

Really Bree and Gabe just love anything they get to do with Grammy!

And of course one of my favorite things about being in Provo are the beautiful morning runs I get to go on. The hills, the Provo temple, the lovely homes, the crisp cool air, all fill my soul with a renewed energy and love for life. (Gosh do I subconsciously want to move to Provo?!)
And just like the end of our time with my family, our trip ended with a baby blessing. Robbie's brother Tanner and his beautiful wife Kassi blessed their first baby girl, Lee Kathryn. It was so fun meeting her for the first time, and such a blessing for us to be there for her special day. Yay for more cousins!! And the best part was the uncle Robbie got her to smile more than anyone! Yes, I think he is the best too Lee.

Thank you Mark and Robin for such a wonderful week! Sigh. We loved the month of June :)

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Summer Fun!

Summer is flying by thanks to the fun we have had thus far. I can't believe it is almost over and Bree will be starting kindergarten! She can't wait though, so that makes up for my end of summer sadness. In a nutshell:
 Quick trip to Lego Land! The kids had set several goals with Robbie a few months before and the end prize was a trip to Lego Land. (For example, Not saying "I don't like this dinner!" when you first sit down...even if you have had a several times before and ate it without problems. Or keeping clothes picked up after changing four times a day...you can guess which goals went with which child!) They worked really hard and were so excited to go. Our dear friend Nicole watched McKay for us and we played hard! Until lunch time when Gabe said he wasn't feeling very well :( He started coming down with a fever and kept saying he wanted to take a nap. WHAT?! You have been waiting and talking about this trip for months you can't be getting sick! Poor thing. So I took him to the hotel and slept for three hours (which honestly after the previous night with McKay...a whole other story...I welcomed the nap and slept the whole time too!) while Robbie and Bree continued to have a blast at Lego Land. That night Gabe asked Robbie for a blessing and then fortunately the next morning he woke up fine. We met up with our friends at the beach and then drove home that afternoon. Gabe was so excited and not nervous at all to hold the little sand crabs they were finding. So glad he was feeling better.

McKay was just happy to be in the sand...got a lot on his face cause he kept doing the sign for "water" when he would look at the ocean! We love the beach! And I love you Nicole! SO fun to get to see our dear friends!


Then a week later we took a trip to St. George for the Henderson Family Reunion! Wish I could post pictures about everything we did! We did a morning workout with my parent's amazing trainer, Mark.
Went swimming several times.
Did some canyoneering down a side of Pine Mountain I had never seen before! Had a boot slapping hoe-down in grandpa's airplane hangar...with BBQ and a square dancing caller and everything! So fun :) McKay was in heaven with all the space and the music!


The men had a steak cook off...Robbie proudly tied for first for place for "best taste" and yes it was so yummy! Traveled up to enjoy the beauty of Sundance where my sister Lizzy had the baby blessing for sweet Tille Rose. And of course, there was plenty of golfing for the men.

It was such a wonderful reunion. We are so happy to finally have some cousins...and before we know it they will actually be able to play with each other! But in the mean time Uncle's Taylor and Kurt and Aunt Sarah kept the children thoroughly entertained. Really I wouldn't rather be with any other people. Love my family!

More summer fun I still need to blog about...still to come!