We decided to break up our drive and stay the night in Cedar City with our fabulous friends Clay and Leslie Johnson. They have been our friends since we lived in Cedar and we wish we could spend more time with them. We spend the whole next morning with them-they bribed us with homemade crepes-yum!
Our end destination was Jared (Amber's brother) and Natalie's house in Bountiful, UT. We arrived there on July 3rd and were welcomed with a neighborhood firework party. And of course there was more fabulous food waiting for us. Are those kiddos so cute on the porch steps?-ketchup mouths and everything.
We had quite the party with our 4 kids and their 3 kids. The fireworks were quite the hit, and Camden and Kennedy were more than ready to get their turn at lighting them -they were quite the little pyros! Addie loved her little sparkler-but didn't quite get to hold it far away from her body-thankfully no one got hurt.
On Sunday we decided to take a day trip up north and visit Grandpa Van's grave in Fairmont, ID. The cemetery is in this tiny town in the middle of a field, but is such a beautiful setting. It made for a perfect picnic spot-in the middle of a field with mountains in the background. So we enjoyed some lunch and the kids ran around and explored the meadow. Our kids matched up well and played well together. 
Then we headed back down to Logan to see Amber's grandparent's grave and their old house. They lived across the street from the Logan temple. Jared and Amber have so many fond memories at that wonderful house-metal drinking cups for one. 
On Monday the Haddock family took us up the canyon to go 4-wheeling. We had the perfect little camp site, had lunch, and took turns on the 4-wheelers. The kids LOVED it, and the adults might have had even more fun. While the adults took turns, we would take the kids on a few different nature walks. Easton got extremly dirty, and decided to share his dirt with baby Will. Addie and Evan were cute little buddies and entertained us with their cute singing. 
That same evening, we went over to a friend of a friend's house, had a BBQ and took a few rides on their zip-line. Yep that's right-they had their own zip-line!! All the kids took a turn, and then of course the adults had to get in on the action too. Addie and Evan might have enjoyed the quad ride more.
The next day was our temple square tour day. Jared works for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so he was able to give us a "behind the scenes" type tour. We started at temple square and saw the visitor center, tabernacle, and temple. Those grounds are so beautiful and just peaceful to be on.
Then we headed down the street to the Beehive house (which was Brigham Young's home). We had a great tour guide who was great with the kids. Kennedy's favorite was the tiny wedding dress that one of his daughter's made. 
Jared then took us over to the Conference center. We were able to sit in the choir seats, touch the organ pipes, sit in the security chairs, see Pres. Monson's "between conference sessions room", and more "off the regular tour" type items. 
Wednesday was our happy valley day. It was so wonderful, because we were able to meet up with the Gooch family. Laura and Amber were roommates at BYU. So fun to see old friends and their cute family. Easton feel in love with Laura. 
Since it was Wednesday, when we passed the MTC it was wonderful to see all the new missionaries and their families going in. And then a quick jaunt up the hill to see the Provo temple. It was such a beautiful day. And of course we had to in-doctrinate the kids with a full BYU tour. We ate at the Cougar-eat and then we got a golf-cart tour around the whole campus. Everyone loved it! The older kids loved the campus and the younger kids loved the cart ride. So much has changed since Amber graduated 10 years ago-still so beautiful!! 
That night we met up with some more AMAZING friends-the Hall family. Travis and Amber have been friends with them before we were even married. Our kids matched-up well and had a blast playing together. Their oldest is a a girl only 3 months older than Kennedy-so they were instant buddies. And then Camden was thrilled to have a big wrestling buddy. Only wish we could hang with them all the time. 
Thursday was our Lagoon day-a local amusement park. We all had been looking forward to it for so long. It's nice to have kids old enough (or tall enough) to be able to have a ride buddy on the fun coasters. And now both Kennedy and Camden love roller coasters. Since we were so close to the Haddock home, we decided to take the little kids home for a nap. During naptime we hit the waterpark at Lagoon. In the evening, just Addie came back and we hit all the cute kiddie rides, and actually ran into some friends from AZ-the Foote's! We stayed until it closed and even got a private ride-we all had a fun family day! 
Friday was a chill day-thankfully! We needed one after our action packed week. Natalie and Amber went for a run together-Amber was excited that it wasn't at 5 AM. The kids loved their dog-Riley-Easton was saying "dogg-ie" all week long. And all the kids love Cohen, Evan and baby Will. Such a fun week with family and friends. 
We decided to make our journey home a "stop-and-go" let's see some of the MANY people that we know in Utah. We stopped first at Amber's uncle's house-Dave Johnson. His son and his family came over to visit (Landon and Debbie Johnson). Amber had so many wonderful memories at this house-it was fun to re-visit it and share it.
Next we stopped in Spanish Fork and saw the Liechty family. We have known them since Cedar City and they are some great friends. Kennedy loved their new kitty. Then we stopped in Parowan to see the Thatcher's-another wonderful Cedar family. We love and cherish these great friends that we've had for so long. Then we stopped in little LaVerkin and showed the kids Travis' old elementary school. And of course we stopped by our favorite uncle...Irwin-had to give him a hard time and say hi to him. It was a trip down memory lane for all of us. 
We drove past the Hoover dam bridge-which looks to be almost done. So excited for this to finally be finished-it will cut our drive time down. What a feat this is!!We had such a wonderful vacation and were so excited to see old friends and enjoy the beautiful Utah summer weather and those wonderful mountains that we miss being so close.
3 comments:
Holy Moley, Red! You guys were BUSY! I had no idea you'd been on such a super vacation when we got to see you. Thanks for making time for us to be a part of it. Seriously sweet of you. Such a happy family!
What a fun trip! We are so ready for a Utah trip too! My kids can't remember Temple Square...
Hey, if you ever do a Utah trip again, you must call. I am literally 2 minutes off the freeway and right next to Thanksgiving Point and I can get you in for half price :) I do know how busy trips can be, though! Sounds like you had fun!
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