Utah, here we come!!

The kids and I decided to add more adventure to our summer by going to my sister's house in Utah.  We started out thinking that it would take us about 10 hours to get there.  WRONG, with a capitol W!  It took more like 121/2 hours!  We had such flat bums when we arrived!  We did have some traffic though, a semi-trailer caught on fire, on the highway, which delayed us for an hour or so in 110 degree weather!  Hot, Hot, Hot!! The stressful part wasn't the heat, all though the stash of gummy bears we had melted into gummy snot!  That was a little disgusting! The stressful part was that I was pushing the limits of the gas tank.  I was almost on empty when we got stuck on the freeway. I had no choice other than to turn off the car.  Which meant, no A/C!  By the time we got to the gas station, my shirt was completely soaked in sweat!  Nice!

We did pass beautiful scenery!  I believe this one was called the Dragon's Canvas (??? don't really know, my brain was fried about this time!)

The kids and I had so much fun!  Aunt B. took us to see  B. and F.'s lambs!  They are strong!! F.'s lamb weighs about 130lbs and got away from him. Aunt B. went to try to put him back into his pen and he ran her over!  I looked up just in time to see dust and legs fly into the air.  I have to admit, I did laugh a little, after I knew she was ok!

Aunt B. and I decided to take the kids to Zion's National Park. I think it was the hottest day ever!  Oh, what beautiful country!  It reminded me of home a little.  We didn't venture too much off the beaten path.  Aunt B. and most kids went on a little hike.  I stayed behind because K. had a horrible bloody nose.  We got it stopped by walking in a small creek.  The water felt very "pure".  I never felt water like that.  Fun thing was there were a ton of tad-poles swimming in it and the kids had fun chasing, looking and trying too catch them!  We were able to cool down more, by letting the kids play in the huge river that had a natural rock slide! Which made lovely holes in the kids shorts and swimsuits!  We had so much fun!!  A fun fact about Zion's is that the highest sand dunes in the world are in Saudi Arabia (I always got confused of the place,so if it is wrong, sorry!), the are 300 ft. tall.  The formations at Zion's are said to be made out of 3000ft. high sand dunes!!  I was amazed!

One of my favorite things I did was spend a day with just my sister!  We were able to attend a Pride and Prejudice play! Oh how we fell in love all over again with Mr. Darcy!!  We got such a big kick out of Mr. Collens! "MMMMMMMM...Mortified!"   They did such a wonderful job!  We even got to go to lunch at the Pastry Pub.  YUMMY!  It was the best sandwich and salad I think I have ever eaten!  Thanks B. for the fun day I had!

Aunt B. kept talking about this Green Show they do weekly there at the college.  So we packed up 10 kids into her Suburban and headed there.  It was such a darling show.  Dancing, singing, and cute skits!  "Why are there only 239 beans in the soup?....Because it would be 2-farty if we had more!" (hahahaha)  The kids had fun watching the show.  H.'s favorite was the lady dressed in purple! She told me that she was only going to look at her because she was the prettiest!  H. H.(who is not quite two) was so darling, she would dance and run and sing to the music!  It was fun to watch her feel the spirit of the music!  One of my favorite memories of that night was when we got back to Aunt B.'s suburban, and at first the driver's side door wouldn't open.  B. finally got it open but then it wouldn't shut.  I started to laugh really hard, i hope she was giggling with me.  All I could envision is her trying to drive while holding the door closed with 10 wild kids in the car!  Real safe!  She did find a bungee cord and bungeed the door closed.  Good news, when we arrived home, B. got the door to work again!  She is quite amazing!!

We celebrated K's birthday there.  Uncle B. was able to snag 3 tickets to Pride and Prejudice, so as a b-day and a thank you to the older girls we sent K, M, and B to the show.  They came home just as in love with it as B. and I did!  Thanks Uncle B for the tickets!  You Rock!!

One evening Uncle B. and Aunt B. took us all out to their favorite FHE spot in the mountains.  We had a weenie roast and made s'mores! They let their two dogs run, Lucy and JJ!  I don't know who had more fun, the dogs or the kids climbing on all the rocks!

We were excited to hear that my other sister C. was coming with 4 of her kids! We knew it was going to wild and crazy!  14 kids total and three crazy sisters!! I hope Uncle B. recoups after that! 

The kids had a great time at the little reservoir by Aunt B.'s house!  They played and played and yes, did get burned.  Weird, though, the sunburn didn't show up until after we arrived home.  We tried so hard to keep an eye on it and apply sunscreen lots, but our efforts were not good enough! I am quite shocked that R. got burned!! Look at all that sunscreen.  Amazing.   B. and I even braved the grassy water and swam for a minute!

We were there for July 24. Yep.  Pioneer Day.  My kids don't experience that very much where we live.  We may talk about it, play a few games and  then we are done.  Not there in Utah.  They have huge parades and park events!  The kids were pleasantly surprised that they got to ride on a float in the parade with my sister's ward!  Well at least the younger ones did. They were so cute dressed up in bonnets and bandannas!  I think their favorite part was eating cookies and drinking lemonade while riding on the float!  The older ones watched the parade through Uncle B's work window!  Except for D., R. and B.  They were standing by us.  My favorite part was when D. would cheer,very loudly, every float passing by so he could get candy thrown to him!  What a funny kid!  R. figured out that if he shouted "I want some candy" to the candy throwers that they would throw lots of candy at him!  Smart boys!!  Afterwords Uncle B. gave us a tour of his work.  It was awesome to see the behind the scenes of a radio station!

That evening we were graciously invited (yes all 17 of us) to a BBQ at Uncle B's friends house!  The kids had such a wonderful time.  She had a jump house, play structure, basket ball court, v-ball net, alpacas, chickens, a goat....it was quite amazing.  The food there was incredible as well.  Someone made a ton of pies...YUMMMY...(wild berry was my favorite) and homemade root beer!  Us three sisters had the clumsy, we each took turns running into plants, trees or getting hit on the head with basketballs.  We sure did make an impression!!  Funny us!!

Other things I'll never forget about this trip is the gallons of fresh cow's milk and cream,early morning walks, the many trips to the store for cereal!! Late nights making choc. covered cinnamon bears and making fun of Twilight!! Homemade clam chowder and the canning of chicken!  Wow!! That's a lot to put in one week!  Never a dull minute!

It was so hard to say good bye.  My heart was heavy with sadness when time came for everyone to get home and go about our lives again.  I am grateful for my sister and brother-in-law who were so wonderful to let us invade there home.  I am grateful for C. driving so long just to spend a couple of days with us.  I miss L. and her family and hope they can come next time.  We all have decided that we need to get together more often and spend quality time with just our families.  I sure hope this becomes a habit! I love my family and miss them when I can't be there with them.  May God always be with them and watch over them!!