A trip with Oliver

I'll be completely honest, my relationship with Oliver is a tad bit rockey. I am a super type A personality and he has some similar tendencies and more often than not, we really butt heads. He "does not like to be told what to do" (those are his exact words), and I have a hard time not telling my kids what to do. At any rate, I thought it would be good for our little relationship if the two of us did something really special together. So, last weekend we headed up to Utah. Just the two of us. It was good to give him all of my attention and to pay attention to his likes and dislikes. We had a wonderful trip and of course I love going to Utah because there are always so many friends and family members to see.

Oliver was a great travel companion. No complaining about lines.

He picked out a King Sized Hershey's bar for a snack. Never mind that said Hershey's bar ended up a melted mess all over the inside of his backpack.

First plane ride since he was a baby. He thought take off was fun and loved getting the drink and peanuts.

First stop, visiting Aunt Dru. We went out to lunch with Dru and my cousin Jen to Rumbi's.

Then we drove to Provo to surprise Logan at work.

And then we hit up Nickel City.

Oliver was in Heaven.

It was fun playing all these games with him.

He used his tickets to get a stuffed snake and some other small prizes. He loved it so much that he asked if we could go back every day we were there....we didn't, but I was glad he had such a good time.

Next stop was the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum on BYU's campus. It's free and so fun to walk around. There are so many animals to look at.

I was so impressed with how awesome this butterfly made out of butterfly's was.

Oliver was pretty excited about this two headed snake.

And this Kodiak bear was unbelievable. 

I told Oliver all about how students play the bells on campus and snapped a picture in front of the Bell Tower. We were able to hear the bells when we hike the Y on Saturday.

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and got the most amazing Piña Colada ever. It was not only beautiful, but delicious!

We met up with my cousin Emily and her husband Steven for ice cream and brownies at Rockwell's and walked over to the Provo City Temple to eat it.

Friday we met up with some friends who were in town from Phoenix. We spent the morning at the Provo rec center. Oliver and his friend Carson had a blast running around together.

Oliver loved this rock wall, jumping off the platform, and floating around in the lazy river.

These two cuties are both on the swim team together this summer.

Oliver was really excited to climb the rock wall on the way out. He had a hard time without shoes on, but I think we may have to find a rock gym around us so he can give it a go. 

We drove up to Bridal Veil Falls and Oliver hiked up a little ways. He was disappointed he couldn't go up the entire way, but between his flip flops and my pregnant belly, I felt like we better play it safe. 

He was bummed out obviously, but the weather was great and the falls were beautiful. 

We finished the day bowling at Provo Beach. And side note, Logan is a really good bowler.

Saturday morning we hiked the Y. It was Oliver's idea to put his arms in the Y shape, which I LOVE.

It was a pretty steep hike, and kind of boring compared to Squaw Peak.

Oliver made it though and I was super proud!

Then we went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity. 

Oliver was in HEAVEN!!

He spent a good 45 minutes playing with this water station and I finally convinced him we should go so we could see the rest of the museum.

We were so happy to have Logan with us most of the weekend.

Oliver really loved playing with this turn table and the sand. He has been making all sorts of plans of all the things you can do with a spinning table like this one.

Spooky!!

We fed some of the fish.

Oliver made it to the top of this super quick.

See-saw with Logan. 

We went from the Museum to Sugar House Park for a picnic with my aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids. It was a lot of fun to catch up with all of them.

And Oliver had a blast playing with the second cousins. You can see him in the red shirt in the back. 

Saturday night we stayed at my Aunt Dru's house and said goodbye to Logan. He was such a good host letting us sleep in his bed and hanging out with us. We had a great time with him. 

Sunday we spent with Tim's brother and sister-in-law Mike and Nikki and their family. Oliver LOVED playing with Max and Zinnia. This is a record number of times we've seen Davie cousins between their trip here in April and then seeing them at the family reunion at the beginning of the month and then again this trip. The kids had a great time playing and I got to grab lunch with Nikki and their two oldest girls. It was a great way to end our trip. 

Nikki gave Oliver a Lego set to build on the airplane. He was pretty excited about it.

It was a great weekend. We were able to do a lot of fun things and of course spend some good quality time with each-other. Love you my sweet Oliver boy!