Trip to Utah July 8-13

I went down to Utah for a week with the kids. It was a really nice trip and I got to see a lot of old friends. First of all I have to give props to my children who have been super good for me on two trips down to Utah in the car for four hours. So that makes 4-4 hour trips and Lilly didn't cry once! When we got down to Utah I went over to my grandparent's house and the incident with the ducks happened... I wish I would have taken pictures, the picture is Natalie by the rocks in my grandparent's back yard. My grandpa had surgery for cancer about a month or so ago, and his sister was over visiting and brought him some duck figurines that day. Well, my grandparents have this fountain in their back yard and they put the ducks out by it. Hailey and Ally came in and wanted to tell my dad a secret. Turns out the secret was that Natalie had thrown the ducks into the pond while they stood by watching. She had broken 4 of the baby ducks, one miraculously survived. Well thanks to the internet we found the ducks and I bought 4 replacement ducks. The girls all had to apologize to my grandpa, which they did not like doing, and got a little lecture about not touching other peoples things.

The next day we went to the Dinosaur Museum, a Utah staple for our family...We have had a Thanksgiving Point Membership for the last year which includes the museum, Farm Country, and Gardens. My college roommate Kristen was visiting her husbands family in Utah so we invited her to come along with us. Also my cousin Laura came with her kids. It was great to hang out with both of them. Laura and her family are moving to Texas at the end of the summer for 2 years because Doug, her husband, is in the Air Force. We also went over to the farm country and I got a picture of some of the kids feeding a donkey.

Then on Thursday we went to The Legacy Center, a big pool with slides and other fun things, with my friend Kim Davies. Our husbands were in Dental School together and they graduated a year before us. We were workout buddies and were due with Natalie and Kamryn on the same day. Once again loads of fun seeing her again. We also met up with them on Saturday night after Allan came into town. That night, not so much fun for me, I was feeling sick still, BTW, I hadn't had a voice for the entire trip, but I threw-up in their bathroom and mostly spent the evening laying on their couch. The kids had fun, and I still enjoyed talking with them. Sorry no pictures, so I threw in this one of Ally and Lilly in the back of Emily's car, you would think I would take more pictures now that I am blogging!

So back to Friday, I went over to "my dear friend" Emily's house and spent the afternoon. It was such a fun day and she helped me teach Hailey to ride a 2-wheeler in her "magic circle." The funny thing about this picture is I made her look at me and smile and then she fell off her bike because she wasn't paying attention. You can read more about the fun we had here. I feel like Emily is one of my kindred spirits. I just love spending time with her, and even when we don't see eachother for a long time we just hop right back to being great friends.
Allan came down late Friday night with his parents who were on there way to Arizona for a baptism. The kids and I were very excited to see him. On Saturday I dragged him out shopping with me to look at house decorations. We still haven't bought anything because I really just need someone to come over and tell me what will look good in my house...ANY VOLUNTEERS ARE WELCOME! This picture is a bouquet that I liked and kind of am thinking about decorating my great room in these colors. Then Sunday we played some games with my parents and got ready to go. We were supposed to meet Allan's parents at the airport and drive back up with them, but a monsoon came through Arizona and their flight got delayed and they didn't end up gettin to Salt Lake until around 11:00 p.m. So we took off a little earlier than that and just dropped their car off at the airport. We still didn't end up getting home until after midnight so I am glad we left before them. So even though I was sick the whole time, it was a really great trip and I had so much fun seeing family and friends.