Utah Trip Recap

I have a million things to do but fear that if I don't catch up on blogging it will never happen. So here's a quick recap of our trip to Utah for my family's reunion.

Sunday - spent the day in the car driving to UT. The kids did great but were antsy the last couple hours of the drive. We made it to Steve & Meg's house where Joel & Ami were waiting for us and had a yummy BBQ together. We let the cousins play together for awhile and then chatted until way too late in the night. It was so fun to be together if only for one night. A big thanks to Ste and Meg for allowing us to stay the night with them.

Monday - Spent the morning with Meg and kids. Carter had all the little kids collecting snails that are all over their yard. They kept putting them in their kiddie pool and in the end probably had about 70 snails. He is such a boy and kept trying to get the snails from crawling out of the pool. He was very disappointed when he learned we wouldn't be taking any of them with us. (See the pile of snails there?)

The cousins together:

We met up with my parents and niece and the guys and kids went off to do some grocery shopping while my mom and I made a quick stop at Tai Pan (seriously, how awesome is that?!) I found exactly what I had in mind for a couple rooms in my house! We met up for lunch and then drove up to Cherry Hill where we were camping for a few days. My sister Nicole and her family met us there. What joy to be reunited with our family after over a year. After we set up camp we all took off for a half day at the water park. It's a cute little park, perfect for little kids.

Tuesday - Spent the day at Lagoon. I was a little skeptical about whether we would enjoy the park but we all had a great time. There were so many rides we didn't even have time to ride.

Addie got way spoiled being held by someone the entire week! Possibly my favorite picture from the entire week. This was on Rattlesnake Rapids which is a really fun water ride (right before we all got soaked):That night my brother and sister came up from SLC and we had a fun family dinner. Lulu meeting her uncle for the first time:

The kids played games and kickball late into the night. We stayed up late playing games and talking. Al and I even watch 27 dresses on the laptop in our tent (we really know how to rough it around here)!

Wednesday - Another waterpark day at Cherry Hill. We started every morning with a big, yummy breakfast cooked by my parents:

The kids did some crafts while we waited for the park to open. We loved camping at Cherry Hill where we could come and go as we needed to. We got smart and took our portable crib into the park that day and Addie got some great naps. A few pics from the day, on the lazy river:

Time in the kiddie pools:I think he was pretending to be the incredible Hulk here:One of my very earliest childhood memories is when my family camped at Cherry Hill as part of a ward activity. I was 4 and I actually remember it very clearly! The kids were daring as ever and we rode the big slides over and over again.

Thursday: We packed up all our camping gear in the morning and then went and played at CH for awhile again. The kids played mini golf and in their huge climbing gym structure:

We met up with my brother and sister at the Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch: (another family tradition) We drove to Provo and checked into our hotel and let the kids play in the pool for the evening.

Friday: Fourth of July, see previous post :)

Saturday: Cruised up to the BYU bookstore for some souvenir shopping. Everyone got new tshirts and candy at the candy counter. We went up to the creamery and had some yummy (and cheap!) ice cream. I took Addie back to the hotel for a nap and Al took the kids to another water park with my parents and sisters family. We met up later for dinner at Brick Oven. It was so fun to run into one of my former missionary companions with her family at dinner. We had lost touch a few years ago and were able to catch up and exchange contact information! After dinner the guys decided to hit a movie together so we took the kids back to the hotel and let them watch Horton Hears a Who. We bid a tearful goodbye to my oldest sister and her kids as they headed back up to SLC. (And, I did not take a single picture this day). My little bro stayed up late and chatted with us in our room.

Sunday: Woke up much later than we planned due to being up late the night before. Hustled through one last breakfast with the family and then said our goodbyes and hit the road. Had an uneventful drive back to AZ. I'm so sad though not knowing when I'll see some of my family the next time. We drove through Colorado City (where all the polygamists live) and we drove through the town - bizarre-o!

We had a wonderful trip and I'm so grateful to be part of my wonderful family!! I am still suffering from Post Vacation Blues but luckily we have had a busy and fun week.