Our Summer So Far

So we have been busy this summer! Right when Julia finished school and her graduation we hopped on an airplane and headed out west. The girls are at a great age for traveling at the moment so we thought we had better take advantage.

We first spent some time in Wyoming. We headed to a unique place we call the "clay hills." I have many memories as a child playing on these hills and it was great to see my girls enjoy it as much as I did. Julia was nervous that she wouldn't like it but the entire time we were there she enthusiastically said, "I was wrong! These are great!" She was like a mountain goat running from hill to hill.

Audrey even scaled a few and was so proud of herself. Becoming queen of the mountain is quite the accomplishment. I love her "far away" look in this picture.

I tell you what, sometimes Wyoming gets a bad rap. But there are few places with a more unique and beautiful landscape. the sunset as we were leaving was so beautiful. And you know what? Sagebrush can be beautiful too gosh dangit. I have a lot of love for my home state.

A little family picture. What's that? Bryan wasn't there? That's right he was working. Working nights. So I was having a great vacation while he was working 17 hour shifts. Sounds fair right? Thanks Bryan for being such a hard worker for our family. Now I got myself feeling guilty.

A family shot from atop the mountain, minus a few. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this place.

A huge added bonus was the yummy food. A face covered in sticky marshmallow mingled with sand and dirt is a happy face to me. My girls loved playing with their cousins and it's always great to be with family. This place always reminds us of our Grandpa Sylvester and I know he would have loved being there with us.

Next...

We headed to Utah to spend some time with Bryan's family. We went to a new park that had a great splash pad for the kiddos to run in. They all loved to snuggle with Grandma in between playing.

We also spent some time at Amanda's house with Alli and Ilene. The girls loved playing there. Audrey and Alli are just a couple of months apart and got along so well.

Phillip was also so good to my girls. I think he pushed them in this swing for a full hour. Now that is a dedicated uncle. And it was so great to have Christie and her kids drive to see us. Best of all we got to have Cafe Rio after the squirt park. They know how I need my fix every time I visit. We had a great time with the Palmers. They sure are good to us.

We were also able to squeeze a very short visit to the Hendrix family. It was little Will's first birthday and they had a bounce house and a snow cone machine! It was a great visit to say the least. It's been too long since I've had me a tiger's blood snowcone. It has also been 5 years since Barb passed away and it was great to spend some time with Whitney. She is becoming so much like her mom. You guys are like family to us and we sure do love you.

Our kids are almost exactly the same age, except I've been a bit slower with the third (like a year and a half slower).

Oh you think that's all? Why no it is not.

We next headed to Idaho Falls because Bryan had a job interview. I decided I had better meet him and see this place in case we end up for the long haul. Bryan and I are squatters. Once we settle we tend to stick around so I want to be sure we are picking a place that we will be happy. I'll tell you what. This has been an entirely new interview process. Usually you pay your ticket, get your own hotel, basically beg to get accepted and wait and wait and wait to hear anything. Not this time. They flew Bryan out, got him a hotel, a car, and took us to the nicest restaurant in town. When we arrived at the hotel they had this huge basket of bread waiting for us with toys for the kids.

Now we're talking! This is the kind of interviews I can handle! We really loved Idaho Falls and will have to see if that's the road life will take us in a year. Until then, Bryan has some more interviews and hopefully some more bread baskets. That bread was tasty.

Finally...we headed down south to Saint George for a little mini-getaway. Carli and Chuck came with us and we spent our time swimming, eating good food and catching the breathtaking southern Utah scenery. We haven't been back for a good visit since my Grandpa Sylvester died (like 15 years ago) so it was crazy to see how much has changed and grown.

We ate too much good food.

When we first drove into Saint George Julia commented on the fact that it was a desert. "I want to live in the desert because it NEVER rains!" Well after a couple of days and when the heat hit 98 degree she was singing a different tune. We headed out to Snow Canyon and I'm pretty sure at one point she was sitting in the road crying, "I am going to throw up it is so hot! I can't walk anymore! I am so thirsty!" So.....maybe the desert isn't the best place for us. But we sure had a great time swimming and visiting those places that have such wonderful memories.

Phew! That was a super long post. It was overall such a wonderful trip. I have to thank my mom for literally driving me everywhere and being so flexible. I have to thank the girls for being such troopers through it all. They handled everything so well and we really didn't have any bad nights. I want to thank the rest of my family for being so accomodating and spending time with us. We have been blessed with such an amazing family and truly love our visits back home.