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.

Vacation within a vacation

While we were in Utah, Eric had a week off of work, so we decided to live it up! We were going to spend a few days with my Uncle Steve and Aunt Carol at Island Park, but they had to cancel last minute, so we were up to our own devices. We had already booked a motel in Idaho Falls, so we decided to still head up there and then see where the road took us. Luckily, we have really great friends who have really great parents and they offered us their cabin by Greys River, about 45 mins. out of Alpine, WY. It made for a WAY better vacation than anything we would have come up with. But first, Idaho Falls...

Our zoo pass was reciprical with Idaho Falls Zoo, so we decided that it was a must do. Who can pass up free? The zoo was really small and really smelly at times, but it had some neat animals that we don't have at our local zoo.

The monkeys were by far the best (and the stinkiest!). They had several different kinds that were close enough to see and they were quite entertaining. We stayed at one window for a long time watching a baby monkey pull, pester, and jump on all the other monkeys. Kind of reminded us of Ian!

The kids really enjoyed brushing and petting the goats.

The "nest" ended up being one of the most entertaining things there. I'm not exactly sure why, but the kids loved it. They spent a lot of time playing in it.

I even got to "hatch" them. Good times!

After the zoo we met up with my Uncle Brent and Aunt Hevenlee at their house for dessert. Brewster, Jade, and their spouses came also. They had way more dessert than my poor little post-IHOP belly could handle, but I did my best! It may have been what prompted my Aunt to ask if anyone in the family was expecting.... We had a really nice visit and I'm so glad we were able to go.

On the way to Alpine from Idaho Falls we were told that we had to stop for the traditional square ice cream. Whoever thought to buy a square ice cream scoop was a genius. It's amazing how the shape can up the price so much, but the kids thought it was really cool.

The Scherbel's cabin was perfect! It was exactly what I wanted for a vacation. Running water and electricity with no one else around. Awww.... Kassie's parents were wonderful. They drove the hour and a half from their house to haul up four wheelers for us and let us in, then went back home to wait until they had to drive all the way back up to bring everything back home. They even provided towels, bedding, and all sorts of other camping accessories for us. Packing and unpacking is bad enough when you have the fun in the middle. They did it all for us without any of the perks. Great people!

We decided we wanted to roast hot dogs and marshmallows the first night, so we told Ashlyn to get to rubbing sticks - we needed a fire. She immediately obeyed and worked very diligently at her task.

Thankfully Isaac came along with some matches!

The mountains were so green and beautiful.

One of my favorite things to do in the mountains is build forts. Luckily the kids liked the idea and after some hard work and some compromises on my part (why can't they see my vision?!?), we had the best fort ever.

But by FAR, the kid's favorite thing to do was ride the four wheelers. They had a perfect field by the cabin where the boys rode and rode and rode.

They thought they were pretty big stuff.

I thought they looked like pretty small stuff on those big four wheelers!

One morning we went out exploring, Eric and I driving, with two kids each. We had a lot of fun spotting all the deer and wildlife, but were super excited when we spotted a moose.

Some of the roads were a little tricky, but we all came out alive!

We would stop and hike every now and again. There was a trail we really wanted to hike up, but this creek went right over it. There had been record snowfall, so there was a lot of water running swift and high. We never took a picture of the river, but it had no bank in most places. This little creek was running quite swiftly and was deeper than it looks. I wasn't about to cross it.

Trail or no trail, we were all loving the outdoors. We played around the creek for awhile until we found a fairly fresh bear track, then decided we should move along. That happened the night before, too, only that time it was a mountain lion track and our four wheelers were further away. I picked up a big stick for our walk down...

I thought Ian and Ashlyn would get tired of riding after a short while, but we were gone for over three hours and never heard a single complaint. I think Ian could have gone another three hours. He loved it! Eric showed him which button to push to shift and he became the official shifter. He got it right every time. We thought it was pretty impressive.

When Ian wasn't on a four wheeler, we'd find him in the garage on the tractor - if he could get in. Regardless of his poor broken heart, we kept the garage closed most of the time!

When we weren't enjoying the beautiful countryside, we read books, watched movies, played games, ate, and just loved being together. Thanks again, Scherbels, for making it all happen. We had a WONDERFUL time!

A little bit of BIG

Ian has officially decided that he's one of the big kids. He trucks around like he's king of the world and keeps us all laughing a good portion of the day. His most important duty, that he takes very seriously, is watering the garden every morning. He wakes up way too early these days, but if I try to ignore him and sleep on the couch, the morning goes south really fast. I learned that if we head out to the yard first thing we have a much better day.

Ian is not a fan of big swimming pools, but big puddles he loves! I'm slowly working him into bigger waters, but until then - thank goodness for monsoons!

These last few days we've been running him ragged. He's been missing his morning nap completely, and we really haven't even given him the opportunity for catnaps in the car. He just couldn't keep his eyes open for lunch. I think this might be the first time he's fallen asleep in his highchair. Poor tired baby! Of course we got a few laughs out of all his head bobs and "nobody's home" smiles.

He sure is a fun kid!

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July! We decided we should start the day's celebrations with a family bike ride. HOT - but worth it!

Eric had found some jumps in the desert out by our house that he wanted to take the boys to. After riding a few miles, taking a few breaks, and chugging lots of water, we found some jumps. Not the ones we were looking for, but fun all the same.

Eric showing the boys how it's done.

They were pretty excited to get some air with their front tires.

I was pretty excited to not fall off my bike! I don't have the bravest of hearts when it comes to these things.

Ian was loaded in the trailer most of the time, but managed to "smile and point" a ride out of his dad.

Ashlyn started out on her bike, but after only half a block, we decided to park it and throw her in the trailer, too. She didn't mind so long as she got out every now and again to play.

It was pretty exhausting! And did I mention HOT? Luckily we had popsicles waiting at home for us!

That evening we invited a few families over for hamburgers and fireworks. There were ten adults and twenty kids. A little chaotic, but a lot of fun!

Ashlyn was terrified of the fireworks last year, so it was a big deal for her to light one this year. She agreed only if Eric would swoop her away as soon as it was lit.

I was too busy enjoying the party to take very many pictures.

Here are all the kids, minus two.

We are so thankful for the country that we live in, for the freedoms we enjoy, and especially for the men and women who sacrifice their lives to secure these things for us. Happy Independence Day!