Our trip to Utah. Posted by the Mrs.

Well, our trip to Utah was so great but it went by way too fast! We loved spending time with our family and friends.

Brookie picked us up at the airport when we arrived. We had a picnic in the beautiful Utah mountains with the Richs and Brooke, where we got to meet babies Chance and Amelia for the first time! I had a cavity filled...wahoo!, wait that wasn't fun. My mom watched Duncan while I chilled at the dentist and Bobby went mountain biking. Then we got to meet my sister's special someone that we have heard all about, and we have to say he's as cool as his stories say he is. My grandparents made the drive from Clearfield to visit and we played a smashing game of ultimate at the park.

This is a cow.

Well, it's not just any cow really it's an Andy Warhol cow. This was taken at the Pittsburgh airport (Andy's from the Burgh). I've always loved this art.

Yay for a little boy that did well on the way there and back!

It can be stressful flying with a child, you know with the whole 'being in a small confined place with lots of strangers and nowhere to take an unhappy child' part but flight attendants are extra giving with the drinks and snacks in an effort to make the child as comfortable as possible.

Side note: the Otis Spunkmeyer blueberry muffins are truly amazing.

I always love seeing the crop circles from the bird's eye view.

Bear Lake

We had a great time relaxing by the water and spending time with family.

This picture was taken on the way to Bear Lake...Bobby was driving and yes, that is a cop car.

No, Bobby didn't get a ticket, we had a flat tire! We were glad it happened in Park City and not a few miles up in the canyon where there was no shoulder to pull off to. We did offer this nice man a chocolate Dunford doughnut but he was off to have Chinese for lunch and declined.

Having a BLAST on the boat!

Duncan and I chillin' on the boat.

Family Pictures!

Sorry your picture is B/W Jim and Joanne, I was playing around with it and couldn't get it to go back! Still looks fabulous though!

Thanks Pat and Coby for taking lots of pictures!

What a bunch! I can't believe how much our family has grown!

The Mr. and the Mrs.

These are the dish towels I made my cute sister-in-laws for their belated birthdays.

Better late than never I say!

Check out the beach! It's SO close to the cabin...

Duncan and Dad just takin' a little swim.

Family Picture time!

Please excuse all the awesome whiteness, we live in overcast central.

Honey with some of her Rich Royalty's

Duncan loves to give loves!

Playing on the beach.

When we got back from Bear Lake we raced over to my parent's house where we had a small friend gathering going on. It was so great to catch up with friends, there just wasn't enough time to chat as much as we needed to!

Also, my dad purchased this sweet little scanner and we tested it out on all my recipe cards. It was fast and sweet. Now, if my recipe cards ever get lost or burned (let's hope for sure not the latter) then I won't have to start at square one with meal planning again!

Monday we chilled at my parent's casa, met Brooke's man while eating delicious salmon, and then played some ultimate-Ultimate!

Tuesday, most of the sister-in-laws, Joanne, Aubs, and I all went on a blast of a clothing shopping spree. Having 6 of us in the dressing rooms tossing clothes back and forth and showing our finds off for the group review was great. I'm not sure why it is but shopping is just SO fun!

My mom, Aubs, Duncan, and I headed to Smiths Marketplace for one of my moms major deal days. This was Duncan's first time in the kid-friendly cart. As you can see he loved it...until his little bum rash got to him and he needed to run around.

Thanks Mom for the super deals day!

We loved all the family time!

Sorry there aren't more pictures but we were so busy during our vacation that we weren't thinking about grabbing the camera.

Thanks for the fun family...you guys are the best!

Maryland or Bust, get together with the Duncans by Mr.

We had a great time on our trip to Maryland with the Duncans and the Cramers. Pictured above is what our nights consisted of, mainly crafting for the women, the reason why Steve and i aren't pictured is because we had already wore ourselves out on the X-box kinect and are probably sleeping because they stayed up until the wee hours of the morning crafting.

Here we are at Cheeburger Cheeburger, don't ask me the etiology of the word because i don't know, but i do know that they serve one great burger! Thanks for treating us Duncans!

This is Sunday out in front of the Cramers abode before Olivia's blessing on Sunday, we unfortunately had to leave right after the blessing, but it was great to catch up with everyone and see our new niece for the first time.

Who the heck is Bob? Believe it or not, I've been asked this several times in my life. This sign was randomly located at Cheeburger.

We also celebrated Cody's birthday in Maryland, i'm not sure if Cody is happy in this picture, or if he is so happy he wants to rip open the package with his teeth, but i assure you he was a most happy boy that night. Happy birthday Cody!

Here is the "too cool" to be nursing group of cousins along with grandpa, who is also pretty cool.

Cody is sporting the birthday present that we got him.

Here is the "too cool" to be walking cousin that was the center of attention this trip. She's a great baby.

Here is the lookout point of Pittsburgh, shot just before we left to Maryland. The Duncans flew into Pittsburgh the night before and rented a car at the airport, and drove with us to Maryland.

Experiment on my passion for thrifting...posted by the Mrs.

We have this GREAT thrift store here in Pittsburgh called Red White and Blue.

Our cute RS President in the ward and I like to meet up there and thrift together.

Wednesday is "Senior Day" and she is able to give me her 50% off discount on everything that isn't newly put out that week (there is a color code system). Anyone who is there with a senior (or even asks a random senior if they will "sponsor" them) can get the discount.

It rocks to say the least.

I know that we save a lot of money by getting stuff there but I have been curious as to how much money. By doing a little searching on the internet I was able to crunch the numbers.

Alright here are the following 4 toys that I gathered to do this experiment on.

A Mattel-The Farmer says 'See and Say' toy (vintage according to Ebay :)

A Fisher Price ringer game

A plush bowling set by Schylling

A Playskool Poppin' Pals toy

Can you guess what was spent on them in total?

Your options are:

A: $4

B: $8

C: $16

D: over $50

And the answer is...

"A"

They are worth over $50, the thrift store was selling them for a total of $8, but with my friend Mary's Senior Discount these babies cost me $4!!

That's a dollar on average a piece!

Let's just say that I've inherited my mother's thrill for a good deal!

p.s. Just in case you were wondering, I do sanitize and wash everything really well before Duncan lays a finger on them. No worries.

Rich and Kate Plus 8...minus 5 = 3! (posted by the Mrs.)

Rich and Kate came to stay and play for a short bit because Rich was attending an Economics conference here. We ALWAYS LOVE to have company...hint hint to anyone out there who wants to visit... :)

They arrived around dinnertime and we of course took them to our favorite pizza joint called Rialto's. I told the manager (who was taking our order) that we were moving at the end of the year and asked him what the chances are of us getting the recipe for our favorite pizza. We told him we'd most likely be moving to the west and that it would probably be out of delivery range. He said to fax him when we move and he'd give it to us! I'm not sure if he was pulling our leg or not but we will most definitely be faxing him come January to try to take him up on his offer.

When we go home we played a fun game they taught us called "No Thanks" and then a few good rounds of Monopoly Deal.

The next morning Rich headed to his conference, we dropped Bob off at the church to clean, and Kate, Duncan, and I visited the Cathedral of Learning.

After that, Duncan had to take a nap so we headed home. While he slept, I prepared my YW lesson and Bob needed to get some studying in. Luckily, Kate came prepared for such an occasion and had a book she could dive into during those quiet hours.

The Pattersons so kindly treated us to a Pirates game while they were here and we all had a great time. It was pretty humid and hot so Bob and Duncan cooled off in the nearby water feature before heading to the game. Duncan could have played there the rest of the evening.

The Stadium has an amazing view of the city!

I'm glad Duncan's hot dog was featured in the picture. What's a ball game without a hot dog?!

He also did a fine job of finishing the entire hot dog by himself.

I'm going to need to brush up on my quantity cooking skills to prepare for this kid's teenage years!

Family Picture with a Pirates player...well sort of.

Duncan really loved having Rich and Kate stay with us. In fact, after Sacrament Meeting they left to make the drive home and Duncan starting bawling as they left the pew and headed out the door.

Family Pic by the river.

The whole gang.

We even had fireworks after the game that were set off by the river. It was a pretty impressive show, glad we could see some during the month of July! That was Duncan's first experience with fireworks and he seemed to like them a lot.

Proof that we've been to a Pirate's game.

Thanks for coming to visit Pattersons, hopefully we can get up to Ithaca to visit you soon!