Utah Trip

Our Utah trip is looked forward to all year long. The girls are always so excited to go on an airplane and they love spending time with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. This year it seemed to go by very quickly (which it seems like that every year). But this year we actually had a family reunion planned up in Bear Lake. So, we spent 5 days there and then another 7 days in South Jordan. However, 2 of those days were travel days, so it went by very quickly.

We flew Delta this year (nonstop flight with a good price tag couldn't be passed up), so we were on a smaller plane than usual. The girls loved having their own row:

 

Ian happy on the row with Mom and Dad:

 

We didn't waste any time. Luckily Ian had slept the majority of the flight, so we were ready to go once we landed. We arrived early afternoon on a Saturday and movie tickets had been purchased to go see Monsters University. My oldest niece, Brinley, offered to watch Ian. Here's one of the cute pictures she took of him while babysitting:

 

Sunday was then a catch up and recover day. We spent the day with family and even went to church. We enjoyed spending time outside in the early evenings. Utah summer evenings are the best! Ian really enjoyed wrestling Grandma's goose:

While everyone was packing up on Monday morning to head to Bear Lake, the kids played outside some more. The lawn was being watered and Ian quickly got himself wet:

Audrey showing Ian a roly poly:

Rachel had found Grandma's little scriptures and loved hauling them around. Here she is reading the scriptures as we drove to Bear Lake:

 

Once we checked in to the house we were renting, the kids and Aunt Natalie had fun playing Duck, Duck, Goose:

Later that evening Uncle Nate was a good sport to go in the hot tub with these 4 little ones:

Tuesday's weather was iffy, so we decided to make that day more of an indoor day. It actually turned out to be a really nice day, but we enjoyed our indoor adventures. We first toured Minnetonka Cave, which I had toured back in the 1980's with my family. From what I can remember, the tour hasn't changed much. They still say a lot of the same things. Kind of made me chuckle. We enjoyed the cave tour and everyone did a good job of hanging in there. We climbed up and down 888 steps. It was 40 degrees inside the cave, but it felt fine since we were climbing. Ready to go:

Isaac and Rachel:

Ian and Mommy:

Uncle Nate and Audrey at the entrance to the cave:

Some of the formations and creatures in the cave:

 

Audrey was lucky to have Uncle Nate and Daddy to carry her every once in awhile:

 

Ian was so good in the Beco. Every once in awhile when we stopped walking he got a little antsy. But giving him a tissue to play with solved that trick. I really enjoyed having snuggle time with him. It had been about a year since I had put the Beco to use.

 

 

I love how this family pic turned out:

Daddy and his girls:

The cave crew (the Hoglund family, Landon, and Papa had stayed behind):

We survived the hike and they're still smiling (although Ian's the only one with a genuine smile):

After the cave we drove down St. Charles Canyon and enjoyed a picnic lunch. We then drove to Montpelier (which is actually where my father was born) to go to a museum. Ian fell asleep in the car and we were waiting for the rest of the group to join us, so we played at a park for awhile:

Once everyone woke up we headed into the National Oregon/California Trail Center. This was the only bear we spotted while staying near Bear Lake:

We really enjoyed our little tour. I thought the museum did a great job of helping the kids realize what trail life was like. We prepared ourselves by going to a store, we rode a wagon, and we got to see some of the activities and chores the pioneers did. Audrey was more than willing to volunteer to help out with things:

  

On the wagon ride:

Typical camp each night:

Learning cheers to keep spirits up:

After our tour we then ventured into the basement. This part of the museum was actually free and quite interesting to me. The basement was full of local historical artifacts. My father's mother is a Kunz. The Kunz family is well-known in this area. Originally from Switzerland, hence the name Bern, Idaho. They were one of the first families sent up to settle this area in the late 1800s. It was neat to see some artifacts of my ancestors.

 

Cheese must be a Kunz favorite (my dad, myself, and Rachel LOVE cheese):

I also found my grandfather's (Michelson, Daryl W.) and other names of relatives on this WWII Veteran list:

On our drive from Montpelier to Garden City (where we were staying) I took a few pictures. Such a beautiful day!

 

Ian got another nap on the way home. Poor little guy slept a lot like this on our trip:

 

That evening we all gathered in the basement. Aunt Natalie had worked hard on making shirts for everyone and skirts for the girls, Aunt Amy bought matching basketball shorts for all the boys, and Grandma made pillow cases for all the grandchildren. Everyone was very excited for the unveiling of the gifts:

Ian loves clothes on hangers and he was very excited about his shorts:

We tried several times to get a few pictures of the kids. Our kids look decent in this picture, but nobody else was paying attention:

Here's another attempt, but obviously there were too many calls for attention and cameras snapping pictures at the same time:

A cute picture one morning of Ian and Landon looking out the front window:

 

Wednesday and Thursday turned into beach days. We would pack lunches every day and head down to the beach. Often the littlest guys fell asleep on the way to the beach, so they'd get their first nap then and another one on the way home from the beach. We spent our time at the South shore, since that was closest to where we were staying. 

Ian and Landon playing in the sand:

 

The water isn't' the warmest at Bear Lake, but the kids didn't seem to mind. They had plenty of fun playing down in the water building sandcastles and just playing in the mud.

 

 

 

Ian even enjoyed the water. He had no fear:

Muddy kids and Dad (I have a few pictures of myself just like this when I was a kid at Bear Lake):

 

 

 

Uncle Nate and Ian with his crazy sun screened hair:

On Thursday we rented a wave runner for a few hours and enjoyed that. Unfortunately there was a mishap with the memory card that had the photos of our family on the wave runner, so we don't have any photographic proof. But the girls enjoyed taking turns going for rides with Mom and Dad. Every afternoon we'd head back the house and get all cleaned up. We'd enjoy dinner together and playing games once the little kids went to bed. The womenfolk even did a craft one night. We also go to celebrate Julie's birthday while we were up there. One night the fire pit was used for s'mores. Our kids were asleep by then, but Andy and I joined the others for a bit. We were way to full for any s'mores. We had been enjoying raspberry shakes all week long and of course we had to get one on our last night there. We definitely had lots of fun at the house as well!

Here's a random picture of Ian and I in the backyard. The kids enjoyed watching the horses who grazed right behind the house.

 

Early Thursday evening we got in our matching shirts, skirts, and shorts and took some family pictures with Uncle Ken's camera:

The grandchildren from youngest to oldest:

The back view with their birth order numbers:

A random picture we took of Ian in between photo shoots:

Right before sunset we decided to drive down to the lake and skip rocks....okay, more like we hope the kids don't hit another kid with a rock...and say good-bye to the lake. Ian was already asleep, but we went with the kids and took Chase as well.

The next morning we had to pack up and head out. However, we couldn't leave the Bear Lake area without visiting Aunt Audrey in St. Charles. So, our family visited her that morning for a bit. This was the second year we've done this and it's definitely become a good tradition.

We know Aunt Audrey always has some new kitties around. Rachel and Audrey were pretty excited to help name some. Rachel named this particular cat Chloe or Henry, if it's a boy:

Next door there's some miniature horses. They actually graze on Aunt Audrey's property, but belong to her neighbors. One of these years hopefully we'll be able to arrange some rides.

We then headed for South Jordan, but before making it all the way back there we stopped off for a visit at Hill Aerospace Museum. The kids enjoyed checking out all the different planes.

Audrey's favorite was the one named after her:

 

Rachel was disappointed there wasn't an aircraft named after her. But after much deliberation she decided this was her favorite one:

 

 Our little pilots:

After exploring the inside of the museum when then headed outside. We didn't stay outside too long. It was a very hot day, but we did enjoy checking out some of the larger aircraft. Our one complaint was that we didn't get to go into any of the aircraft at the museum. It would have been fun for the kids if they could have gone in at least one cockpit...

 Just a random picture of Ian taken by me on our drive:

 

Once we got back to South Jordan it was close to dinner time. We decided to brave going out with our big group to Brick Oven. It was yummy pizza! After that we went to Cabela's. Ian enjoyed checking out the fish while Andy and the girls rode the indoor ferris wheel. We didn't have much time there as they were about to close. We were going to go back before leaving town, but never made it back. Our Friday was definitely a full day!

 

Saturday morning we just took it easy and waited for the Hoglund's neighborhood pool to open. It didn't open until noon. So, the kids played and Papa tried to take a nap and this is what happened:

We had fun at the pool. It was very similar to our pool here in Texas. There was a slide, lazy river, and beach front entry where little ones could play. Everyone had a good time.

Rachel and Presley getting ready to go through the lazy river with Uncle Kelly:

After cleaning up from swimming we headed to Taylorsville Dayzz. We walked around and checked out the booths for a little bit. We were going to ride some of the carnival rides, but then decided not to due to the long lines. The girls were thrilled to buy these princess crowns:

We then found a spot and settled in for the firework show. We were all very impressed by the firework show. Ian was quite interested (although he did get more antsy as the show continued on and on) and Audrey was terrified (but luckily she got calmed down 5 minutes in to it). The firework show lasted about 30 minutes. Audrey being cute as we wait for the fireworks to start:

Sunday was a nice chill day to spend with family and go to church. Although, we allowed Ian to actually get a nap in a crib that day, so he and I missed church. But the others went to church. Before and after church we kept busy with various things.

Andy, Ian, and Rachel playing the piano:

 

Brinley was so sweet to paint the girls' nails:

 

Liam and Ian playing in the toy closet:

 

Ian enjoying a ride in the wagon that holds the wooden blocks:

Later that evening a lot of the Smith family aunts, uncles, and cousins came over to visit and enjoy Root Beer floats. On Monday morning we decided to go to the South Jordan Rec Center indoor pool. The kids loved it! And I really liked not having to put sunscreen on. :) They had a lazy river, slide, and playground in the water. It was pretty neat! Once again Ian enjoyed the water fountains:

Liam in his float ring:

Cute Audrey:

Rachel practicing her floating:

 

On Monday night we went to a park in Draper to have a picnic and play. I like KFC and appreciate that we indulge once a year when visiting Andy's family, whether it's a picnic at a park or a picnic up in the canyons. Andy's not a huge fan, so we never get it any other time of the year. But once a year, while up Utah, I get my KFC fill. :)

The kids had fun playing, swinging, and doing the exercise stations.

Chasing after a ball:

 

Ian even enjoyed getting to know Bentley (the King family's dog) better:

 

On Tuesday morning one of my college roommates met me at a park. It was so much fun to see Holly. I lived with Holly for all 3 of my unmarried college years. I have so many memories of time with her. I was very fortunate to have her come into my life and be a part of some pretty important years. In the past, a few more of us have been able to get together but it was tricky this year due to it being a holiday week. It was hot, so after playing for awhile the sprinklers came on and the kids had fun running through the sprinklers. That's why Ian is naked in this picture, he was a bit soaked. Here's Jillian, Rachel, Chloe, Ian, Audrey, and Elliot:

 

It was fun to watch Jillian and Rachel become instant friends. They were even asking after each other days later. Too bad we don't live closer! Here's Holly and I:

 

Once the kids were all wet and tired, we decided to go to McDonald's for a lunch. The kids had some more fun playing at the playplace while we ate lunch. It was so good to see Holly!

That afternoon Andy and I were able to go to the temple. We try to get a temple trip in every year while up in Utah. It's nice to have grandparents to babysit and the temple is 5 minutes away. Kelly and Julie were able to join us as well. So, we enjoyed the afternoon in the temple. After that we decided to pick up some fireworks for our last night there. We introduced Ian to stink bombs and he was thrilled with those:

Checking out a roly poly with Grandma:

After we got Ian down for the night we did some more fireworks and sparklers. The kids had fun!

 

The next morning we headed to the airport to go home. The flight home is never any fun, but once again the kids did great. Our time in Utah went by way to quickly!!! We love and cherish the memories we make every year. There are still memories that my kids talk about from Christmas 2010 when we were up there. There's always a few things that seem to stick. And it helps to have blogs that turn into books to keep the memories alive. We love our extended family and wish it was possible to see them more often. But since we can't, we have also discovered that our time with them is sweet and precious!