I have more than 100 pictures that I want to post of our trip and that was cutting out a ton of pictures. (I did decided to just put one or two pictures from each event just to highlight it and then in my blog book I will add the rest.) It just want the kids to be able to look at this blog post and remember this trip like it was yesterday. That is the reason I blog...it's our family journal.
The kids and I left Iowa for Utah on July 16th at 5:15am and arrived in Utah at 8:40pm. We did have a road closure when we got to Rawlins, WY but it opened 45 minutes later. Grandpa and Grandma Jensen came over to visit us that night.
(We stayed at my parents house the whole time because Shawn and Jen are living with Kathy and Russ and there really isn't a whole lot of room.)
July 17th we relaxed and all my siblings came over that night to visit
July 18th we went to Get Air, a trampoline park, with my mom, Kristie and their kids.
Then we had dinner at Grandpa and Grandma Jensen's. We saw Isaac for the 1st time, he is a cute little boy.
July 19th My cousin Ryan was in Farmington at his in-laws and invited us to come pick apricots at their house so we went and spent some time with him. Then headed over to Max's soccer game. After we went to Jensen's to hang out and play with cousins.
Later that night my mom and dad took Savannah and I to the Conference Center to their Pioneer Day Concert featuring Santino Fontana (he is Prince Hans in the Disney show "Frozen". It was a really fun night.
When we went to pick up the other kids and Jensen's Savannah decided to stay the night there with Mikaela. They had a great time! Just not sure how much sleep they got.
July 20th we went to church with Grandpa and Grandma Gardner (except Savannah she went with Grandpa, Grandma Jensen and Mikaela) Then went to Jensen's for dinner and saw grandpa Dave.
July 21st my mom took Katie, Rachael and I with our kids to see the 24th of July floats. (Brandon's kids had started school so they couldn't go.)
Later that night we went out ice cream and Uncle Mark flew into town for a few days so we saw him for a few hours.
July 22nd we got ready to go up to Bear Lake. Aunt Wendy was in town and came to visit for a few hours. The girls went to Mia's birthday party. Then we drove up to Bear Lake that night. (my mom, Katie, Bailee and Jace met us up there)
July 23rd We went and played on grandpa Gardner's beach, canoes, played in the sand and swam.
We had fun just hanging out at the beach.
We went in Grandpa's cabin the kids had never been inside it and talked with Grandpa and Lois for a little bit. Everyone else came up that night. And of course we rode the 4-wheelers over and over again.
July 24th we went down to North Beach and had a great day. Austin skied for the 1st time he fell his 1st try but didn't even cry and got right up the 2nd time. All the other kids skied too. Savannah even tried with out the rope tied to the skis but never could get up (well she did get up for about 10 sec and I got a picture), but she got lots of credit for not giving up.
Rode 4-wheelers again later that night and bikes
July 25th we went to Ideal Beach and went swimming. (Katie and Spencer went home that morning because their kids were sick.)
And then we rode the 4-wheelers one last time.
July 27th we went to church up there, cleaned up and then headed back to Farmington and then over to Katie and Spencer's to watch fireworks.
July 28th we did a little bit of school shopping
July 29th we went over to Brandon's after the kids got out of school so the kids could play some more. Then went to grandma Jensen's for dinner.
July 30th I went to the Bountiful temple in the afternoon while my mom watched the kids.
July 31st I meet my friends at the Kaysville splash park were we let our kids play while we talked for a few hours. It was a lot of fun laughing and catching up.
That night we went miniature golfing at Cherry Hill with grandma Jensen, Kierstin and her kids, and Cole and Kailer.
August 1st we went to the Syracuse aquatic center with grandma Gardner, Katie, Bailee and Jace. It was a fun aquatic center with slides that my kids could go down by themselves. They wouldn't let them wear life jackets but they did let me catch Austin down at the bottom so he loved it.
That night grandpa and grandma Jensen had a big sleepover with all the cousins. They had a great time hanging out with their cousins and I had fun getting some shopping done.
August 2nd I picked up the kids around noon. Then meet up with grandma again and had dinner at Johnny Rockets with Reed and Kierstin and their kids. Then did some more school shopping with grandma.
August 3rd went to church, then later that night all my family came over for dinner then some of us went over to the Rock Church Open House to hear about the organization of Primary that happened their. It was really neat to hear some of the stories that I had never heard.
August 4th the girls went over the Kierstin's to play with her kids. Savannah had been begging me to call Katie to see if she could babysit Jace and Bailee so while Katie, Olivia, Madi and I went shopping at Tai Pan, Savannah babysat them and Austin. It was Savannah's 1st babysitting job besides her own siblings and she loved it.
August 5th my mom, the kids and I went out to Thanksgiving Pointe to the new Museum of Natural Curiosity. It was $2 Tuesday, very crowded, but really fun and the kids really liked it.
That night we went to grandma Jensen's for dinner again.
August 6th I went shopping with Katie again while Savannah babysat again. Then we went to Owen's birthday party that night and saw Grandpa LeCheminant and Brenda.
August 7th I really wanted to take my kids out to swim in the Great Salt Lake so that is what we did. Our van needed a new battery so I dropped it off and my mom and I took the kids out to Antelope Island. They saw an antelope and a buffalo and swam in the lake but it wasn't all that I thought it would be. They hated swimming in the lake, it hurt their bums in fact Savannah thought the burn "would never stop hurting" but they did love seeing that buffalo in fact that is all they talked about. But now they can say they have swam in the Great Salt Lake, I mean how many of their friends in Iowa can say that. :)
August 8th Jason flew in to town that morning so I went and picked him up while my mom watched the kids. She took them to see the buffalo and elk behind Lagoon, while Jason and I went to Ruth's Diner for breakfast up Emigration Canyon. It was fun to have him back with us and get to spend some time with us on vacation.
We went to see his family after visiting with my mom for a bit and getting the kids. Then we went to Costco with mom while the kids played with Jen and the kids. While we were their we saw Jared, Jason's cousin. It was fun to see him and his family again and catch up.
That night we had dinner at his mom's and then mom, dad, Jason, me, Shawn, Brandt and Kierstin went and saw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Jason fell asleep for most of it. It was a late night movie so it was nice to that my mom and dad had the kids and had them in bed when we got home.
August 9th Jason went golfing with Russ, Shawn, Cole, Brandt, Charlie and Dylan.
While my parents took me, my kids and Brandon, Kristie and their kids out to Golden Spike State Park. It was really hot but the kids had a great time learning about the history and what happened there, getting on the trains and playing some games. It was a good day to go because it was free of charge that day and they had a little festival too that day.
We also got to see Morton Thiokol (not called that anymore now it is ATK but they make rocket parts.) where my dad has driven out for a job for years but we had never seen it.
My parents dropped me off in Clearfield so I could go to an adult dinner with the Jensen's and they took the kids out to eat with Brandon's kids.
I meet Jason and his family at their house and then we went out to dinner and had fun hanging out with just adults.
August 10th we went to church with Kathy and Russell. Then later that night grandpa and grandma Allen, Dave and all Jason's siblings came out for dinner.
We slept over at their house that night.
August 11th Jason and I took our kids to the new Ogden Temple Open House. It was neat to go there since we used to live in Ogden and went to that temple often and now to see it all redone was neat to show our kids.
Right after that we drove up to Garland to see grandpa and grandma Spjut. Kathy, Russ, Shawn, Jen and their kids meet us up there. We had a great time visiting with them. The kids heard grandma do her Donald Duck voice which they love and then they also got to see her heart rock collection which they had a great time looking at. It was good to see them again. Grandma is on oxygen and is not doing so well but she looked great to me but you never know when the last time it is you are going to see them especially since we live so far and all our grandparent are getting older so we made sure we saw them all at least once and take pictures.
That night we went back to my parents and had a great dinner with all my family so they could all see Jason excluding Spencer he had a client dinner but Kathy, Russ, Shawn, Jen and their kids came too.
It was a really nice night but we had to say goodbye again. Hugs all around!
August 12th I had to get food for our trip home and return some items so Jason and I went to get some things done. While my mom took the kids to the Farmington Pool. It has kind of become an unplanned tradition for my kids that they do this while I pack and get things done. They love it and so do I. They had a great time! Madi and Savannah both jumped off the high dive, Olivia went off the low dive with no life jacket and Austin went down the slide by himself with his life jacket on.
We went back over to Kathy and Russ's for dinner and to say good-bye, my parent were invited for dinner so they came for a little bit too.
It is always sad to say goodbye but we did it again.
We had a great trip full of fun memories! What I noticed most about this trip is that the kids really enjoyed just hanging out, playing with their cousins and grandparents, which is what it is all about.
