Ode to Utah

Although Eric being away for 3 months for his SLC peds rotation was stinky, we were rewarded with a month long vacation in Utah for his last month there. As soon as the kids were out of school (and cub scout day camp was over!) me and the kids set out to join Eric. His apartment was a one bedroom with very thin walls, so we spent most of our time out and about having a great time. Thanks to reciprocal passes (and a friend telling me about them...) we were able to enjoy the Children's Museum, Planetarium, and Aviary as much and as often as we liked - for FREE! It was great! We also spent alot of time at parks and seeing the sights. The weather was beautiful and I'd sigh in happy contentment as I'd see weather reports in AZ and then go about enjoying the outside without being in a swimming pool.

Being in a one bedroom apartment was not ideal, but the kids made the most of their air mattress bed in the dining room. I worried how they would do with Eric and I still awake right around the corner, but they were usually so exhausted from all of the day's activities it wasn't much of an issue. Especially since we generally didn't make it to bed until 9:30 or 10:00 most nights. Who can sleep with the sun still shining and a park right across the street?

Worse than the sleeping arrangments was six people sharing one small bathroom. But luckily, Ian kept even that entertaining!

Here is mostly a photo journal of some of our happenings in no particular order. I'm sad I didn't take more pictures of some of the things we did, but the pictures I did take are in no short supply!

The kids might as well have been on Mars by their reaction to Salt Lake City when we drove in. "This city is so beautiful!" "Look at all the trees!" We've only lived in Tucson for 2 years. Have they forgotten the Texas green already?

Eric took them (minus Ian) to Kung Fu Panda 2 right after we arrived and then they went and walked around the planetarium. Good thing they have soda on the moon!

Temple Square

The kids and I on top of the conference center.

The temple was beautiful and we enjoyed several walks around it. The kids would always see who could spot it first when we'd get close to downtown.

This is the Place Heritage Park

We met up with our friends from medical school, the Hadleys, and went to "This is the Place" park. Last time I was here it was nothing but a monument. When we pulled up, we couldn't believe how busy it was, then quickly discovered that it was a free day. Plus - didn't have to pay, minus - it was so busy it was hard to get the full experience. The kids waited in line to ride the horses for 20 minutes and then got one turn around the circle. They were still pretty happy with it. Sometimes ignorance is bliss - not knowing what you missed.

Ashlyn's favorite part was the school house. They took us in, shut the doors, and then pretended like it was the first day of school. The kids sat at the desks and they gave a short demonstration of what school was like in early Utah territory. When the "teacher" was finished, she dismissed us for "lunch." Ashlyn was really ticked that we didn't go back and finish our school day. "We were only supposed to go for lunch!"

Although everything was crowded and busy, we did get free icecream included in the day. It was a welcome treat after a few hours in the warm sun.

Ian really enjoyed it.

He kept making this squinty goofy face every time he wanted another bite.

The boys' favorite part was panning for gold. It was the much anticipated activity of the day. That's why we saved it for last! Most kids were having a hard time finding any gold, but Carter was a champ and found close to ten pieces. He was bitterly disappointed to find out that you had to trade it in for a piece of candy and couldn't keep it.

They had a train that we could ride around the park. Saved all those poor tired little legs.

Ian trekking along with the pioneers.

Why is it so hard to get a group picture?

Ashlyn, Ian, Isaac, Matthew, Carter, Ryan, Keira

We actually got to spend a lot of time with the Hadleys. They came up to SLC several times and we headed down to Spanish Fork for a couple of days also. We were lucky enough to be their for Ryan's birthday and went hiking.

Always a favorite - even with little kids.

A little licorice and a few waters bottles - Ian was in heaven for the ride home.

Discovery Museum

It was so fun to be able to say "yes" every time the kids wanted to go to the children's museum. They loved it. Ian would mostly sit around in the different cars...

...while the rest of the kids were busy in the construction zone. Carter, especially, took his job very seriously.

But of course, there were still lots of other fun things to see and do.

The giant dominos were also pretty cool. They'd line them, let the kids stand in between, then topple them all over.

Tracy Aviary

You can't see it well in this picture, but there's a bald eagle behind the kids. That and the golden eagles were the main motivation, for Carter at least, for us coming to the aviary. The bald eagle is his favorite bird, followed by the golden eagles, with peregrine falcons coming in at a very close third. It was quite disappointing that they didn't have the falcon, but they had a nest of them on the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, so luckily we were able to get on the live web cam to check them out.

Both of the boys got to help with the "Egg Smasher 2000" show. They padded a chicken egg to represent the nest, then stacked weights on it to see how much it could hold before it cracked. I don't remember the exact amount, but it was up around 70 lbs. I was pretty impressed.

I thought this was a bird zoo, not a monkey zoo!

Isaac got called up to help on the "Eat or Be Eaten" show another time we went. He raced a McCaw to see who could crack open a nut first. He got whooped. I actually got called up, too, and wore leaves on my head and held my arms out like branches for a bird to walk across me.

Liberty Park

Liberty Park was our favorite place to go and we spent hours there. One time the temperature was in the high 60s, but I didn't want my baby AZ boy to get cold, so I dressed him in long sleeves and pants. When we got to the park we saw mothers stripping down their babies to play in the fountains because it was so hot and they were worried about sunscreen. Made me laugh.

We spent a lot of time on this big hill - running, rolling, and riding.

They have these really cool fountains at the park modeled after seven canyons. We almost always waded in them and came in full-on swimsuits a couple of times. Ian wasn't very brave, but he eventually worked up the courage to put his feet in. He was very proud of himself.

One small section of the park had a few carnival rides. The kids begged to ride them every time we went, and we finally gave in on the Ferris Wheel.

Isaac was tall enough to ride on his own, so I think he went by himself just because he could.

Everyone loved their first Ferris Wheel ride - even Eric! We've been married almost 11 years and I never knew that he'd never ridden a Ferris Wheel before. Crazy. Heights aren't at the top of his list....

Can't forget Father's Day! We have the best Dad ever!

I can't believe we didn't get a single picture of the park across the street. We spent many, many hours there. It had a big hill, too, so we would take Ian's ride on toy for the kids to cruise down it. One time there was a summer camp there at the same time and I could tell all the other kids were really envious! They also had a secret hideout that they spent a lot of time in. They (especially Carter) would find all kinds of treasures and come home with their pockets full of snails, rocks, nails, sticks, etc. The funniest was when Carter and Matthew came running to us so excited because they had found a bag in the bushes with a blanket and a knife "this big!" We quickly stashed it back and washed their hands really good when we got home. It was pretty hard to convince the boys that it was a really bad idea to take the foot long knife.

We were really lucky to get to spend so much time with the Hadley's. We miss them! We were also able to meet up with the Killpacks, our fabulous friends from our early days in Laramie. You know they're good friends when you can pick up like you saw them yesterday, even though it's been nine years. We also met up with our friends from Temple, the Deshazers, who had just moved there. So fun!

One of my favorite things we did was visit the Salt Lake City Cemetery. It was across the street from our churchhouse and Carter would beg to go there almost every day. We finally made it right before we left. Most of the prophets are buried there and we were able to find their headstones and those of several apostles. One time when I was out with Ian during Sacrament Meeting we went and wandered around and I felt such a feeling of gratitude as we saw several pioneer headstones and I thought about all the sacrifices that they made. One of the ones we saw was of a man who was in Liberty Jail with the prophet Joseph Smith, was sealed to his wife in the Nauvoo Temple before it was burned, and crossed the plains with the Saints.

I loved all the history that was everywhere we went and the spirit that came with it. Hopefully the kids felt a little of it. I was so excited to share it with them. I'm so glad we had this experience. It was a FABULOUS month and one we'll always treasure.