We recently got back from a wonderful West trip.  We hadn't been to Nevada for two years and wanted to see Lee's family.  For the big Bartholomew reunion this year it centered around my Grandma's 90th birthday.  We decided to make it all one big trip, going to the reunion and to Nevada.

We were off on our trip at 3:31am and stopped first in Colorado to visit Lee's brother Keith and his family.  We enjoyed our visit and Maddy made some amazing brownies!

They have two dogs.  Elden loved them both! 






The next day we were early again (though not as early as the previous day) and headed into good ol' Utah.








I love the desert canyon views.  Breathtaking!
 



We stopped at Cove Fort, Utah.  Ira Hinckely, grandfather of Gordon B. Hinckley's (former prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was asked to go and build/settle Cove Fort.  My mom told me (which I told my kids at Cove Fort) that my great-grandpa would go to Cove Fort when he was 10.  He was on his way to sell/trade vegetables and would spend the night there.  Only 10.  All by himself.  I don't think my kids fully took in the story.

Cal in the house Ira Hinckley lived in.  The house was somewhere else in Utah, but they moved it down to Cove Fort for display.


The Fort!








The senior missionary gave us some apples from the apple trees.


Ira Hinckley's house in the background.


The next day was the Bartholomew Reunion.  Her is my lovely grandma.  Happy 90th birthday Grandma!


Family meeting, my cousin Greg and my amazing Aunt Anna Lee.  She cares for my grandma right now and she does a fabulous job!  My siblings would be proud...the meeting started a 1/2 hour late.




The oh-so-cool Gerlas!


We had a silent shoe box auction.  We have a family fund and just about every year there is some sort of auction to raise money for the fund (which is used for missionaries, weddings, etc.) This year it was a shoebox auction...put together some items in a shoebox.  Darrell and I (mainly Darrell!) did a travel shoebox, complete with a GPS, pocket atlas, Hot Wheel cars, goodies, and a word find.  There was actually something else or two in it but I can't remember.

My bro Sam with Kent and Cindy.  We spent the night at Kent and Cindy's prior to the reunion.  They have such a great yard and a cute house.  They went all out to make us feel like PAMPERED guests. What a great couple they are!


I need to work on my posture.  Shawna's is great!


The wonderful new couple!


My cousin Stacey thought of the neatest activity.  She had clothespins hid all over the park/clubhouse area.  When a child found a clothespin he/she could redeem it for a prize.  They loved it!




Lee couldn't resist. 


Actually, Haley was really hungry and wanted something to eat.  Awww..what dad's will do for their girls.


Cal got one too...though I am not sure how, exactly.




Water balloon toss.  We definitely lost.


The weather was gorgeous and we had such a great time!  Linda, Stacey, Dana, Sylvia and anyone else did such a great job with everything and the lunch was so good! 

After the reunion, yep--on the road again, we drove up to Ely, Nevada.  We caught basically the last half of the 2nd session of conference on our drive.  As soon as we got there we dropped Lee off at the church so he could go to the Priesthood session of general conference.  I needed to get some milk for Elden so we swung over to the grocery store.  Cal had to go to the bathroom so I just made it a family affair.  Right after Cal was done he conveniently threw up in the toilet.  Poor kid.  I am glad he timed it right! When we arrived at Lee's parents' house, a yummy dinner was awaiting us.  Lee's sister Sue drove five hours to say hello to us, and she of course was already there.  Our kids had a great time together!!!  We enjoyed a few family dinners and conversations together with Kent, Saundra, Nathan and Seth.  It was great seeing all of you!

The much loved cousin Nathan works at the Nevada Northern Railway and gave us and then the guys a great tour.

Nathan's biggest fan. 










They do haunted trainrides every weekend in October.  That sounds like a lot of fun!  Check it out: http://nevadanorthernrailway.net/


The private tour....




From what I heard, this is a big snow blower-remover type thing.  It's huge!










That night Lee took me and then Clark and Shanna on rides around the neighborhood.  Clark LOVED it.






We wished we could have seen more people in Ely, but our biggest regret was not seeing the Jacobsons.  Hopefully next time!

After a couple of days in Ely we headed over to Utah again. 




We met up with my friend--the first sister I trained on my mission at Temple Square.




Cal in front of the Salt Lake Temple


Cal in front of the replica of the Salt Lake Temple.  Wow, that replica is amazing!


All of us in front of the beautiful Salt Lake Temple. Check out temples here: http://mormon.org/videos/.  Click on Temples on the side bar, then click to the 2nd page of movies for a clip on "Blessings of the Temple".


My first hija!  She survived me!  I loved seeing you Kristin!





The Conference Center where many functions are held, such as General Conference.




Next stop, Provo.  We had a great time visiting with Steph and Andy. Steph even used precious vacation time and took a day off to spend with us! They spoiled us!








YUM...the Creamery on 9th!




BYU Bookstore.  Oh so fun!


Our second full day (and last) in Provo we ran into Damon while we were out on campus. He tagged along with us to the Cougareat while we ate our lunch (thanks for the yummy food Steph!) and then we walked over with him to see where his upcoming class was located. We had a fun visit.






A picture for my friend Kristi.  I was nice and didn't get one, ha ha.


A cute landscaped area close to the bell tower. BYU is one of our favorite places to visit.  We loved just being there. Besides, we need to show our kids their future university, right?!








Steph and Andy opened their home (one very cute apartment, by the way) to some of Lee's nieces and nephews.  We invited them over for dinner and enjoyed more great family time!


Lee and I swapped turns and went to the Provo Temple.  Lee got to walk by the room where we were married!  After I went to the temple, I realized I forgot my earrings in a locker.  While I was waiting for a sister to get a master key (the current locker occupant was off doing temple work somewhere) I saw some sister missionaries.  Not a big surprise as a big Missionary Training Center is across the street from the Provo Temple.  Two of them were going to Kirtland, Ohio to be missionaries at a visitors' center there, and the other two were going to be missionaries in Los Angeles and at the LA Temple visitors' center!!! How fun!  That is where I served my mission!

This temple has a special place in our hearts!


Time in Provo, and everywhere else for that matter, was too short.  I wish we could have seen more family and friends. Hopefully next time we can see you! The only thing that was long was Clark and Cal missing seven days of school....

We stopped at Little America in Cheyenne, Wyoming for an ice cream cone.  I stopped here many times as a child as we journeyed in our 15 passenger van from Wisconsin or Minnesota for the yearly Utah trip to see family.  Cones way back when were only $0.25. 


The bathrooms.  I wished they still had the powdered soap.  Oh well.


Remember how you walked in and then to your right the short hallway led to a cafe type place? No more. Unless I am remembering the other Little America on the other side of Wyoming...


Our last stop was Sam and Shawn's in Colorado. We've never been to their condo, until now of course.  Shawna had a great dinner waiting for us and Sam spoiled the kids.  We had a great time there!


Clark loves the wii.  Not sure if we should get one because of that!


Shanna loves Uncle Sam and Aunt Shawna!


We had a great trip back and forth and arrived home safely.  Our van has several thousand more miles and our family has more great memories and pictures to look back on.

We didn't know that Knob Noster existed in Missouri.  Too cool.


We wish the trip could have been longer.........