Utah

We just got back from a 2 week vacation from Utah and Idaho! It was so much fun. There is something about letting your kids play outside all day long everyday in the Summer time. The person who thought up the idea of "summer vacation" from school was obviously not from 115 degree AZ. The kids and I drove up to Utah alone (they were perfect in the car...for reals!!!) and spent the first week staying in Fruit Heights. Dave joined us a couple days before we headed up to Island Park. I learned something valuable, that sometimes the best vacations are the simplest ones!! I had so much fun meeting up with old friends, staying up late getting schooled in pinball by my sister Sherri, playing a million games, and watching my kids just be happy to just play and play.

A rundown of our trip:

Cherry Hill water park! I used to go there when I was a kid, so it was so fun to take the boys and relive some childhood memories! (Addi was home napping with a sitter...sorry luv maybe next year!)



The Tree House Museum with the cousins!



School time... he's listening so attentively I know!
Austin's art lesson teaching us how to draw Sumo wrestlers.
Blake's beautiful water painting...


At the end of the day the kid's got to be part of a play. I was crossing my fingers they weren't going to burp or something on stage. We had a chance to get one picture in before my camera died at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. I thought it was such a neat experience for my boys to get to walk through the temple, to see what mom and dad do when they "go to the temple". It really meant a lot to especially Austin. Of course their favorite part was the 12 oxen "holding up" the baptismal font. It was fun to go their with my sister Stacy (cause there was an hour and a half wait!!!).
My sister headed up to Island Park a day early and I stayed behind to pick up Dave from the airport. Unfortunately within a couple of hours of her getting there with her family, her little girl Sydney fell and hit her head and got a 4 inch crack in her skull and was life flighted back to Salt Lake to Primary Children's Hospital. We were so sad for her, but she was well taken care of and after a day she was sent home! In between hospital visits at Primary Children's we made a trip to the Salt Lake Temple and Conference Center. Chase was so ornery he didn't want to be in the family picture...sorry bud, we captured you in it anyway.
The 4th of July was suppose to be spent in Island Park, but since we wanted to make sure Sydney was okay we waited to leave until the next morning. So we made an impromptu BBQ and watched 3 different firework shows from my sister's deck. Dave bought some fireworks of our own (growing up in AZ it was like a kid in a candy shop and he ended up with a huge sack of his own to light up the cul-de-sac with!) By the end of the show we a bunch of little neighbors gathered round!