utah trip part 2

Part 2 of our Utah trip. Evan loves playing with any kind of ball -- the bigger, the better!

Our last day of the Taylor family reunion was a big birthday party... for everyone! We had tasty barbeque and yummy cupcakes and lots of party prizes and presents.

Evan was in heaven seeing all the balloons. "Bah-oooooooon!"

For once, all the kids were supposed to blow out the candles!

Party girls.

Grandpa Taylor aka Uncle Scott aka Dad was a "human piñata" for one of the games -- one of the kids got to hit him with a foam water noodle and then he threw candy for all the kids to get. We saw a slow motion version of this moment and it was pretty classic.

We had a great time with the Taylors and can't wait until the next time we see everyone. Austin's aunt Lori and Grandma Carole did an awesome job putting everything together -- we only wish we could have made it for the whole week!

Breanna made a cute sensory bin for Brooklyn with some kinetic sand and Frozen characters. Instant hit.

We went to church at the MTC -- Austin's parents are assigned to a branch there and it keeps them busy throughout the week. Obviously they don't have primary at the MTC so we just went for sacrament meeting. No one was arguing about one-hour church!

After church we walked up to the nearby Provo temple. This wasn't the temple we got married in, but it was the one we went to most often the first few years we got married.

The kids loved watching funny videos with Grandpa.

Carter was a good older cousin...

...so was Brooklyn!

We met up with some friends that had been in our LDS ward here in Redmond a couple summers ago -- the girls had fun playing together and Evan was just happy to be in a pool.

We loved watching Brooklyn play with her cousins!

And we loved watching her play with Austin's little cousins Daniel and Nathan!

We did a family night game on Monday called Don't Eat Pete -- the kids had fun trying to eat as many Skittles as possible.

We did an activity making Maori-style masks for the kiddos to take to the airport the next day to welcome Braden home from his mission in New Zealand.

We went to a splash park in Provo -- Brooklyn was pretty happy about it.

We even let Evan guy have a go. He was loving it.

Afterwards we went to the BYU Creamery for lunch -- when we were just married and finishing up our last year at BYU, we'd often meet here for lunch between classes.

This little dude was so chill and cute! We loved seeing baby Klay!

Late Tuesday night we finally got to go to the airport to welcome home Braden from his two years of missionary service in New Zealand.

Grandma Taylor got the first hug.

Austin was so happy to see his little brother again! We have enjoyed being able to email Braden and read his letters every week, but it was so good to see him.

Brooklyn was very shy at first. We think part of it was the massive leis that the New Zealanders sent Braden with. And she's just been a little more shy with strangers in general lately. Finally we convinced her to give Braden a high five.

And once we finally broke the ice, she warmed up pretty quickly. :)

We are so glad to have Braden home and couldn't wait to let him meet Evan -- they were good buddies pretty much instantly!

Stay tuned for part 3 of our trip! :D