Utah Trip!

We had soooo many adventures this summer!  Of course we had to fit in a trip to Utah!  On the way out I drove by myself.  I've done day trips before with driving up to 15 hours in one day.  But never have I gone as far at Utah by myself and the kids. It helped that I broke the trip up, and you may recall before this I already had stopped in Indiana and Iowa.  After leaving Iowa I stopped in Omaha to see my cousin Cathy.  My brain didn't click and even though I told her I was stopping by on Saturday I knew I was going to go through Omaha in Friday.  Needless to say, I completely surprised her as she wasn't expecting me till the next day.  Ooops! I enjoyed visiting with her and meeting her cute kids. 


Next stop: Sydney, Nebraska.  This was a good half-way point, AND the hotel we stayed at didn't mind 1 adult and 5 kids in the room.  YAY!  I thought this scene was funny.  Love it.


There was a tornado warning that night. I thought we would get stuck at Walmart, but thankfully we were able to leave after a little bit.  (Oh and before this we ate at McDonalds and I loved that my kids thought it was super awesome that we got to eat there.  What can I say, I love it when my kids express gratitude!)  We did have to sit in the hallway in the hotel for about 25 minutes though.  I have a bad relationship with tornado warnings.  I've grown up with them but nothing has ever happened to may home.  So whenever there is a warning it never bothers me, though I understand that something bad could happen at any time...I'm just too complacent about tornado warnings, sadly!


Thankfully nothing happened but a bad storm!  We had a fun time hanging out at the hotel, the kids swam, and we enjoyed watching cable TV while eating Italian Ice.

Cal snapped a picture of some motorcyclists.  It would be kind of a fun way to travel...but maybe just for a few hours.  I don't know that I could do that cross county. 


We had to stop at Little America!!! 


Keeping with tradition we also stopped at the second Little America.  Two ice cream cones in one day is kind of hard to handle!  The kids all made it on top of the buffalo! If they can't climb something themselves, tough.  We don't help them.  So nice, right?!


We made it to Salt Lake City around 6pm.  My parents are on a mission there at the Church History Library.  They have a sweet downtown location as their apartment is just West of the LDS Conference Center.  Since their apartment is there, they reserved a sweet parking pass for me too! I must say, nice perks.  This was a view that evening as I went back to the Chevy to get a few more things and straighten it up.  Such beauty.  I love temples!


Sunday was a great day, as always.  We met up with Roger and Brittany (brother and sis-in-law) at church.  After church they took all my kids to their house, and I headed to church with my parents.  I attended a combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting, and Sunday School.  Since I already had attended sacrament meeting I headed back to their apartment.  I was there for over an hour by myself which was a sweet break.  I read my scriptures, conference talk (still working on April....) and updated my blog. The grounds are so pretty on Temple Square.




That evening Roger brought my kids to my parent's apartment.  We had dinner together.  My cousin Heidi came too with her family which was so fun.


Fun with second cousins!  Kate with Haley and Shanna....


Marc and Cal......


Shanna took some selfies...


We had a nice Sabbath.  Though getting the kids to bed that night was awful....screaming, hitting, crying...ugh.  I had to remind myself that it was my choice to come on the trip by myself.

Monday morning we met up with my parents to get a tour of their mission work area at the Church History Library.  We met their boss.


Saw their desk area.


We also saw some neat artifacts downstairs, like one of the first copies of the hymnal, a first edition Book of Mormon, the Book of Commandments and some papyrus from the Book of Abraham...(I think....) It was neat because earlier that summer we had traveled to Joseph Smith's birthplace, and Palmyra where he translated the gold plates and had the book printed at the Grandin Print Shop.




We also went to the return room, where people return documents they used from the library. 




We also met Sister Anderson which was fun.  She actually is digitally capturing/archiving my blog which is available to read through the church website.  (I think that is what is is....)  Thanks Sister Anderson!  It was great meeting you!  Thank you for your service!


We then went to the COB (the Church Office Building) and enjoyed lunch at the cafeteria.  Very fun!




It was soooo hot out.  So not many outside pictures.  It was at least 99 or 100 this day.


That night Lee went on a bike ride.  He was able to get lots of bike rides in.  Such a pretty picture.


That night we stayed with Roger and Brittany. It was so fun hanging out with them.  They made a yummy dinner, and my parents joined us.  We stayed with Roger and family till we left Utah.  Tuesday morning after a run with Brittany, and getting ready, the kids and I headed to Salem to meet up with my parents.  Riley and Lexi came too.  My mom grew up in Salem.  We stopped at the cemetery where her parents and two brothers are buried.


This is the house my mom grew up in.  It's different than what I remember growing up (we would visit every summer) but the owners take great care of it and it looks terrific.


Not sure if this tree is original...I don't remember it.  I remember big rose bushes out front with pretty yellow roses.


We also got to see my Aunt Jenni, which was fun.  We headed to Orem to stop at Ripples.  Remember the Phone Call?  It's a classic if you haven't seen it! Watch it here. You won't be disappointed!




We spent a relaxing afternoon playing at Sheldon and Ciera's community pool.




Lee made himself this yummy dinner with a pepper from our garden. Sadly I basically forgot about our garden this summer....


That evening we had a yummy dinner again at Roger and Brittany's--kalua pork!  So good.  My parents joined us again that evening.  Roger and I watched Hockey Night, a movie we saw a few times growing up, and starring Megan Follows.  We got a good laugh out of the line "This chicken is special Alice."  So funny.  You need to watch it.  I think we found it on YouTube.

Wednesday afternoon we headed up to the Alpine area (or Brighton?) and went on an walk around a little lake.  The scenery did not disappoint and the kids had a great time too.














After our walk, we grabbed some food for dinner at Roger's then head up to Springville to go shooting with Sheldon and Ciera.  First we swung by my Uncle Steven's house.  He was the only one there at first, and right before we left Aunt Susan arrived home.  Growing up I visited their house often while we were in Utah and during college spent many Sundays there.  See, we have tall genes in our family!




Shooting up Hobble Creek Canyon was a lot of fun.  Elden was hesitant (and grumpy) about shooting, not sure why.  But he finally warmed up and loved it. 
























Sheldon and Ciera did a lot of preparation for the shooting activity, filling lots of recycled bottles with colored water.  Roger and family met us later too.  It was really fun.  When we left, Sheldon and Ciera took my kids for the night, and drove the Chevy.  They stopped for ice cream, took the kids swimming and then let them watch a movie and play games.  I took their car and drove up to Salt Lake to pick up Lee from the airport.  It was weird when I filled up their gas tank.  It was almost empty and when the pump stopped after putting in only 7 gallons, I thought it was wrong.  I started pumping more and gas started spraying out.  Okay, it must be full!  I am definitely used to filling up the Chevy which when almost empty I can add 25 gallons easily. 

It was great picking up Lee and having him join us!  We spent another night at Roger's and left early the next morning to go to the Provo City Center Temple.  My recommend expired in June but I had no idea because in July the Palmyra Temple let me in somehow.  After a few phone calls and a long wait I was able to get in.  Very pretty inside! So fun that there are TWO temples in one town!  AMAZING!  Soon Lima, Peru will follow suit.




A trip to Utah isn't complete in my books until we hit up the BYU Bookstore.  We picked up our sleepy kids at Sheldon's, then later met Sheldon and Ciera at the Wilkinson Center.  I admit, the older we get, and the more ability we have to save money for trips, makes it nice to buy things at the BYU bookstore!  In college I don't think I ever bought anything fun things or apparel there, except essentials.  At Rick's I think I bought 2 sweatshirts, one for me, one for Lee. I just didn't have money to buy extra items.  Even when we visited a few years back we were limited on what we could buy--just a few items.  Of course we don't have an unlimited budget, but it sure was nice having more buying power this time around.  While saving for our summer travels you better believe I had a line item for the BYU Bookstore! 




After the bookstore we swung by Hanna's for a visit.  We loved chatting with her, and getting a tour of her lovely home.  Hanna is Lee's niece.  Since Lee is the baby of the family I have to remind myself that the older nieces and nephews are my kids' cousins....not aunts and uncles. 


We had a great trip to Utah, and as always it seems to be too short.  But we're planning on going back next year!