Our super dear friends, Chris and Kerri, had a beautiful baby girl, Evie, in March. She is their fourth daughter (readers of this blog have seen Gracie, Mads, and Mils before) and we were thrilled to be named her godparents! At a routine ultrasound, they discovered some issues with Evie’s heart and she was subsequently diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). That gorgeous little rock star baby had heart surgery at only a few days old and is scheduled for another one in August. She is doing great considering and we continue to take each of her milestones as they come. I’m so proud of what a tough little cookie she is and such a strong fighter!

So, of course, I couldn’t wait to get out to Utah and meet this little nugget of fierceness. Once she had recovered from surgery enough to go home, we made our plans to head out west. As you can imagine, having four kids is a lot of work. Having four kids where one of them has major medical issues makes things even tougher, and, unfortunately, Chris and Kerri don’t have any family close enough to help out on a regular basis. They are grateful to have friends and family from all over the country who have gone out to visit and help out when they can and we were excited to take our turn there as well. Because I homeschool James, we have a lot more freedom in scheduling, so it worked out that we could be there for most of May. Since we were going to be there for so long, it made sense to drive out so we could have our own car and be able to take all the school stuff we would need to continue homeschooling while we were there. What’s 2,500 miles amongst friends?

James and I headed out on Monday, May 2 for our trip across the country, and arrived in Utah on Wednesday, May 4. Chris flew in from Orlando on the same day. He was only able to stay for about a week due to work commitments, but it was so great to all be together while we could.

In addition to meeting our beautiful new goddaughter, we were so excited to get to spend time with Gracie, Mads, and Mils again. Luckily for me, the timing worked out to go to one of my favorite things in Utah– the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point Gardens. I love to go and take pictures of the flowers, and the kids always enjoy running around together there. Good times had by all!

Love all these faces!

The lovely Gracie girl.

Monkey Mads swinging from a tree.

Little Miss Mils with those incredible eyes.

My beautiful boy. In the one moment he was not moving.

What he looked like most of the time we were there. Complete with tongue hanging out. Crazy kid.

We were lucky enough to see this very cool momma owl.

And her babies. Who aren’t quite babies anymore.

James and Gracie. I have pictures of these two walking hand in hand through this place as toddlers. Where does the time go??

Dinner with 3 of the 4 T kids. It was such fun hanging out. Thanks again for having us over!

Reuniting with his friend, Tess. Happy to be playing together. 🙂

James agreed to get a haircut if Ms. Melanie did it. He looks so old now!

Climbing trees with his oldest friend, Mirai. He was super excited to see her again.

They have been playing together since they were babies and always have such fun together! Cuties!

I have no idea what those faces are for, but they make me laugh. Check out the beautiful mountain and clouds in the distance. I miss that view!

These two are so cute and sweet and I just adore them.

I got to catch up with Bronze and Symoni as well. Always fun, always a lot of laughs. Miss you guys!