We enjoyed the first part of our trip and headed straight into the second part--Utah and Nevada! Like I mentioned in my last post, after Mt. Rushmore we decided to keep driving to Utah. We stopped at Little America that morning and of course bought ice cream cones for everyone. It's tradition!
And everyone made it on top of the bison. No parent help is allowed. If they can't climb it on their own, then they can't climb it. Clark ended up helping someone though, which I didn't mind, and he isn't a parent ha ha.
After stopping in Salt Lake for a yummy lunch with my sister Stephanie, we headed down to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. First we swung by my brother's place and visited my sister-in-law Ciera, then headed over to BYU. I love going to the BYU bookstore and try and make an annual visit.
We met up with our good friends the Dollers on campus at BYU. They used to live in Virginia and were in our ward, but have since moved to Utah. It was great seeing them for a little while.
I had pictures on my phone, but that night we met up with Stephanie, Andy, Maggie, Sheldon and Ciera in Salt Lake to attend a concert at a park right by Temple Square. While we were there one of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, and his wife walked into the park area. I told Shanna to go up and say hello. Elden and Haley tagged along too. We all shook his hand which was pretty neat! We all met up with my parents for ice cream afterwards. Downtown Salt Lake is always a lot of fun. Thanks Steph for your great hospitality! We enjoyed staying with my brother Roger and his wife Brittany that night. We enjoyed having a tour that evening of the house they recently bought.
The next morning, which was Saturday Lee and I attended the Draper temple and later Brittany and I went on a run. Last summer Brittany and I went running together twice and it was so much fun. I wish we could run together more often! After cleaning up, we all headed to our extended Bartholomew Family Reunion. My dad and his siblings take turns every year hosting a "day" reunion. We met about mid-morning, have lunch, then visit for the afternoon. It's not nearly long enough, but with our huge family and traveling and what not, it actually works out great.
I really enjoyed seeing many cousins, and especially had fun visiting with Chris. If I were to tell you who my best friend was in middle and high school, it would be him. In middle school we wrote letters to each other all the time. Sometime during or after high school I threw them all away because I figured I would never want them. Oh how I wish I had them! It would have been such a funny/treasured journal of our lives! I wonder if he has my letters I sent him. Hmm....I should find out!
The reunion was held at my cousin's pool and clubhouse. There were a lot of fun activities for the kids, like making and launching rockets.
Swimming too!
Roger and Brittany were awesome to get in the pool and play with a bunch of the kids. Here they are tossing their daughter Riley.
Cal doing a meditation pose.
Haley is quite good at snorkeling!
I brought a few clothes to give to Lexie, my niece. It happened that a pair of old shorts was similar to the ones Shanna and Haley were wearing that day. We pulled out the shorts and Brittany found a pink shirt. They enjoyed being triplets that day! After the reunion we went back to Roger and Brittany's to hang out with them, my parents, and Steph, Andy and Maggie.
Clark and Brittany always have a good time together. Clark has passed me up, but was the exact height as Brittany!
We had a nice, but brief stay in Utah. I am really glad I was able to be at the Bartholomew Reunion. I am not close to very many of my cousins, but it was still fun to see them, chat and catch up with a few of them!
After dinner we headed out again to our final destination in Ely, Nevada, and the main reason for the trip! Lee's parents have a great back yard. The tire swing is always a hit!
Cal had fun with the tire swing too.
Sunday we enjoyed attending church and Lee enjoyed seeing some friends. That evening Lee's parents made a yummy dinner and Lee's brother Kent and nephews Nathan and Seth were there too. (Nathan is staying at Lee's parents' house till his home renovations are done, which meant we were able to see him quite a bit.) Thanks Dad and Mom for the great beds and great food! One night Lee's mom made corned beef and my kids loved it. Great views practically everywhere here!
In addition to Lee's parents, Nathan really pampered us while we were in Ely. Nathan has connections almost everywhere in Ely. He arranged for us to receive tickets to ride on the Ely train. We've ridden it once before but it was years ago.
The conductor even came by and punched our tickets!
The light colored mesa-ish mound of dirt is a big mine outside of Ely. There are several mines in Nevada.
Right before we left on the train ride my phone slipped out of my hand, cracking as it landed on the concrete. Ugh.
After the ride Nathan took the kids to meet the engineers. (Hopefully my terminology is right.)
They enjoyed pulling the rope to sound the whistle.
After the train ride we enjoyed lunch at the park. Lee's sister Lynn drove down and visited with us for the day and next morning. We loved seeing her! Thanks Lynn! This park was great for kite flying.
After family home evening Nathan took the kids on a ride for "game" that night. I would love to get a yellow beetle someday! I think it would be fun to get one for the kids to drive in high school.
My kids adore Nathan. And who wouldn't like a cousin that takes you on crazy car rides?
The kids enjoyed playing around the neighborhood a little too.
We took advantage of the great trails practically out the backdoor of the grandparent's house. Lee took the kids on dirt bike and ATV rides. I took the kids on ATV rides. Lee also went on a couple of bike rides with his brother Kent. He also bought a bike from Kent, which we took home with us strapped on our van's roof.
Nathan also works on/maintains the classic vehicles that the railroad owns. We all loaded into this mail truck one afternoon for a drive!
There is a local drug store downtown that Lee's friends own. We had fun perusing and enjoyed an ice cream cone. Lee had a lime ricki.
We took a brief trip to the library too. There was a tween Lego club going on and Clark jumped in for the last few minutes. Nathan also volunteers there. The kids thought it was fun that he could check books out.
One of my favorite parts of the whole trip? The Soak n Suds Laundromat! Nathan owns the laundromat, which has a washing service. He treated us to a free laundry service! The ladies there treated the stained clothing and neatly folded everything! (We didn't send in our garments if anyone was wondering.) They even sorted by gender and size, putting girl clothes together and then boy clothes together. It was seriously awesome. Next time we are in Ely, I am definitely dropping off our laundry there. After camping and traveling we had lots of dirty clothes. I could get used to having a maid around even...
After a great visit in Ely, it was time to head home. In Green River Wyoming Lee's sister Sue came up with some of her family to see us. We met up at a park. Thanks Sue for coming! Our visit with them was too short, but still great.
We arrived home safe and sound on a Thursday night. I am always grateful when we arrive safely home after any extended trip. Well, for short trips too! But especially long ones. We done several the last few years and I am grateful for our safe arrivals home.
While we were away the weeds decided to take over! They were present when we left, but not this bad! Thankfully with all my kids out there working, we actually cleaned it up in about an hour! That's teamwork! Shanna asked why we hadn't sprayed it with weed killer, since we have weed killer. Lee also talked to me about applying weed killer to this spot. But I made the case that ours kids need some hard labor to do outside during the summer! So we will not be spraying this area. The kids will have to pull weeds out there every summer.
As always it was great seeing lots of family, seeing new places, eating ice cream at Little America, and listening to Fablehaven (though we don't ALWAYS listen to Fablehaven, ha ha). A perfect trip out West!
And everyone made it on top of the bison. No parent help is allowed. If they can't climb it on their own, then they can't climb it. Clark ended up helping someone though, which I didn't mind, and he isn't a parent ha ha.
After stopping in Salt Lake for a yummy lunch with my sister Stephanie, we headed down to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. First we swung by my brother's place and visited my sister-in-law Ciera, then headed over to BYU. I love going to the BYU bookstore and try and make an annual visit.
We met up with our good friends the Dollers on campus at BYU. They used to live in Virginia and were in our ward, but have since moved to Utah. It was great seeing them for a little while.
I had pictures on my phone, but that night we met up with Stephanie, Andy, Maggie, Sheldon and Ciera in Salt Lake to attend a concert at a park right by Temple Square. While we were there one of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, and his wife walked into the park area. I told Shanna to go up and say hello. Elden and Haley tagged along too. We all shook his hand which was pretty neat! We all met up with my parents for ice cream afterwards. Downtown Salt Lake is always a lot of fun. Thanks Steph for your great hospitality! We enjoyed staying with my brother Roger and his wife Brittany that night. We enjoyed having a tour that evening of the house they recently bought.
The next morning, which was Saturday Lee and I attended the Draper temple and later Brittany and I went on a run. Last summer Brittany and I went running together twice and it was so much fun. I wish we could run together more often! After cleaning up, we all headed to our extended Bartholomew Family Reunion. My dad and his siblings take turns every year hosting a "day" reunion. We met about mid-morning, have lunch, then visit for the afternoon. It's not nearly long enough, but with our huge family and traveling and what not, it actually works out great.
I really enjoyed seeing many cousins, and especially had fun visiting with Chris. If I were to tell you who my best friend was in middle and high school, it would be him. In middle school we wrote letters to each other all the time. Sometime during or after high school I threw them all away because I figured I would never want them. Oh how I wish I had them! It would have been such a funny/treasured journal of our lives! I wonder if he has my letters I sent him. Hmm....I should find out!
The reunion was held at my cousin's pool and clubhouse. There were a lot of fun activities for the kids, like making and launching rockets.
Swimming too!
Roger and Brittany were awesome to get in the pool and play with a bunch of the kids. Here they are tossing their daughter Riley.
Cal doing a meditation pose.
Haley is quite good at snorkeling!
I brought a few clothes to give to Lexie, my niece. It happened that a pair of old shorts was similar to the ones Shanna and Haley were wearing that day. We pulled out the shorts and Brittany found a pink shirt. They enjoyed being triplets that day! After the reunion we went back to Roger and Brittany's to hang out with them, my parents, and Steph, Andy and Maggie.
Clark and Brittany always have a good time together. Clark has passed me up, but was the exact height as Brittany!
We had a nice, but brief stay in Utah. I am really glad I was able to be at the Bartholomew Reunion. I am not close to very many of my cousins, but it was still fun to see them, chat and catch up with a few of them!
After dinner we headed out again to our final destination in Ely, Nevada, and the main reason for the trip! Lee's parents have a great back yard. The tire swing is always a hit!
Cal had fun with the tire swing too.
Sunday we enjoyed attending church and Lee enjoyed seeing some friends. That evening Lee's parents made a yummy dinner and Lee's brother Kent and nephews Nathan and Seth were there too. (Nathan is staying at Lee's parents' house till his home renovations are done, which meant we were able to see him quite a bit.) Thanks Dad and Mom for the great beds and great food! One night Lee's mom made corned beef and my kids loved it. Great views practically everywhere here!
In addition to Lee's parents, Nathan really pampered us while we were in Ely. Nathan has connections almost everywhere in Ely. He arranged for us to receive tickets to ride on the Ely train. We've ridden it once before but it was years ago.
The conductor even came by and punched our tickets!
The light colored mesa-ish mound of dirt is a big mine outside of Ely. There are several mines in Nevada.
Right before we left on the train ride my phone slipped out of my hand, cracking as it landed on the concrete. Ugh.
After the ride Nathan took the kids to meet the engineers. (Hopefully my terminology is right.)
They enjoyed pulling the rope to sound the whistle.
After the train ride we enjoyed lunch at the park. Lee's sister Lynn drove down and visited with us for the day and next morning. We loved seeing her! Thanks Lynn! This park was great for kite flying.
After family home evening Nathan took the kids on a ride for "game" that night. I would love to get a yellow beetle someday! I think it would be fun to get one for the kids to drive in high school.
My kids adore Nathan. And who wouldn't like a cousin that takes you on crazy car rides?
The kids enjoyed playing around the neighborhood a little too.
We took advantage of the great trails practically out the backdoor of the grandparent's house. Lee took the kids on dirt bike and ATV rides. I took the kids on ATV rides. Lee also went on a couple of bike rides with his brother Kent. He also bought a bike from Kent, which we took home with us strapped on our van's roof.
Nathan also works on/maintains the classic vehicles that the railroad owns. We all loaded into this mail truck one afternoon for a drive!
There is a local drug store downtown that Lee's friends own. We had fun perusing and enjoyed an ice cream cone. Lee had a lime ricki.
We took a brief trip to the library too. There was a tween Lego club going on and Clark jumped in for the last few minutes. Nathan also volunteers there. The kids thought it was fun that he could check books out.
One of my favorite parts of the whole trip? The Soak n Suds Laundromat! Nathan owns the laundromat, which has a washing service. He treated us to a free laundry service! The ladies there treated the stained clothing and neatly folded everything! (We didn't send in our garments if anyone was wondering.) They even sorted by gender and size, putting girl clothes together and then boy clothes together. It was seriously awesome. Next time we are in Ely, I am definitely dropping off our laundry there. After camping and traveling we had lots of dirty clothes. I could get used to having a maid around even...
After a great visit in Ely, it was time to head home. In Green River Wyoming Lee's sister Sue came up with some of her family to see us. We met up at a park. Thanks Sue for coming! Our visit with them was too short, but still great.
We arrived home safe and sound on a Thursday night. I am always grateful when we arrive safely home after any extended trip. Well, for short trips too! But especially long ones. We done several the last few years and I am grateful for our safe arrivals home.
While we were away the weeds decided to take over! They were present when we left, but not this bad! Thankfully with all my kids out there working, we actually cleaned it up in about an hour! That's teamwork! Shanna asked why we hadn't sprayed it with weed killer, since we have weed killer. Lee also talked to me about applying weed killer to this spot. But I made the case that ours kids need some hard labor to do outside during the summer! So we will not be spraying this area. The kids will have to pull weeds out there every summer.
As always it was great seeing lots of family, seeing new places, eating ice cream at Little America, and listening to Fablehaven (though we don't ALWAYS listen to Fablehaven, ha ha). A perfect trip out West!
