I decided kind of last minute to go to Utah with the girls. Our summer has been a long, difficult one and I got over my hate for driving Wyoming and left. The girls were very excited since we don't get to spend much time with my family. The drive over couldn't have been more perfect. The girls were awesome and I didn't get sleepy once. Occasionally I would get tired of a movie blasting behind my ear and no one to talk to but other than that it was great!
The first 3 days we spent with my mom, sister, and my two brothers families. Friday we all went up to Bear Lake and spent the day up there. It's nice to just be lazy and sit around and not worry about the millions of things that need to be done in a day. After Bear Lake, we did our ever famous tradition of going to La Beaus for dinner and shakes.
Mom, my girls and McKayde (sorry Shauna, I know it's spelled wrong)
Day 2 we went up to Tony Grove and walked around the Lake. Later that day Natalie and I attempted a "hang out" moment. It ended up with me trying not to vomit due to the migraine that was building and her texting all her friends. We gave up and I went to moms and drugged up and she took off to play with her friends. It made me feel old and so very uncool as a sister.
Mom, Natalie, Girls
Monday, I headed down to Kaysville and spent the day with our good friends the Hyde's. Love them!! We have high hopes of their oldest (Kade) and Mikayla getting married one day. We have devised many plans and maybe one of them will work. Of course, Mikayla is not pleased with us but she sure had to look right before seeing Kade.
Mikayla and Kade
Hyde kids and girls.
That evening, I went down to my Aunt Linda's house in South Jordan who I haven't seen in years and spent a few days playing with them. My girls loved Jessica who was 14 and way more exciting then my Aunt Linda or I. It was so wonderful to see them again and maybe next time I will get to visit with my Uncle who was gone with the Scouts. I also got to visit with my Aunt Annette who flew in to Utah from visiting her son in North Carolina. That was fun to see her too.
Jessica, Aunt Linda, and girls
Living Planetarium
Greta and Katie being fish
Girls touching the sting rays.
Again, uncles are always suckers!
The last day was spent with my Brother John and his wife Heidi. We went to two IMAX shows and later that night we went to a Laser show. The laser show was so disappointing because it was not really a laser show. It was so different from the ones I use to go to when I lived in Utah.
Our fabulous moon picture!
All in all though, our trip was so much fun and it was good to spend some time with my family. My girls miss them a lot and as always it was hard for them to come back. But, they desperately missed their daddy and wanted to see him again. I was so proud of myself for taking the step to leave Spencer and go. He did an amazing job of everything while we were gone and Matt was such a good friend to check up on him every day. They also did some things together and Spencer enjoyed that a lot! It was really good for me to be away from him because living with him I don't see the changes that are occurring. When I came home, I was so amazed at how much had actually been changing. It was also very good for him because it gave him confidence to know that he could do everything on his own.
The Mammoth site was quite impressive! Katie and Greta helped with one of the demonstrations by holding the bones for all to view.
Custer State Park:
Mt. Rushmore! What a site and so much better to see in person! It makes you really appreciate where this country started and the freedoms we enjoy. When we arrived at Mt. Rushmore, the weather was overcast. When we left, Mt. Rushmore looked much different.
At Thunderhead Falls, you climb through a cave to an underground waterfall. It was cool to see but a total waste of money.
Rushmore Cave was a totally different experience. It was pretty awesome and we endured the 400 stairs we had to climb.
Storybook Island was a ton of fun. I thought the park was a very clever idea and kids love it!
We saw a sign by our hotel pointing the way to Cascade Falls. We decided to check it out. When we arrived, it was at a rest stop. We just laughed because we couldn't believe that we drove to a rest stop. Once we got out though, we realized there were some paths that let down to the falls.....very small falls. As we got down there, we ran into some Europeans who were taking a little swim. They started to leave just after the kids went in the water. In all my mom glory, I told the kids they could get their feet wet but to keep their clothes dry. HA, HA, HA!
That evening, we went to a Chuck-Wagon Dinner. It ended up being a great experience for the whole family. The girls got to shoot guns, drink birch beer, ride ponies, pet animals, watch a fun shoot-out and eat a fabulous meal with entertainment.
