We headed out of town to go visit family in Utah and go to a family reunion in Idaho. Jacob didn't have as much time off built up as we had hoped, so he worked through Friday, while we left Wednesday to drive up a little earlier than him. He flew up and joined us on Friday. Since I would be driving the whole time (unless Rachel chose to drive, in which case I still wouldn't be able to sleep), we split the trip over 2 days. Day one we made it to Kanab and stayed in an AirBnb. The kids are old enough that our road trips are finally low maintenance. The kids took care of themselves and did great.
We arrived in Provo on Thursday right around lunchtime. Mark's kids came over to play. Sadly Andrew's family got a stomach bug, so we missed out on playing with them until we were back from Idaho. 4 square in the street:
Hitty, pinchy, flatty, cutty, cow (or whatever order you're supposed to say that):
One of the favorite things the kids do whenever we're with Jacob's family is play the monster game. Each person draws a part of a monster, then passes it on until the monster is complete.
We dubbed the bench the orange bench since we all had matching shirts (or close enough). Rosie is super cute and the kids had a blast with her while we were there.
While eating dinner in the front yard Mark and Jesse started swinging the kids around. Even the biggest kids got a turn.
Ryan went front to back instead of side to side and went super high.
Friday we pulled out the water fun and everyone had a fun time getting each other wet and playing games together.
The teenagers (or near enough):
Dad arrived!
Saturday morning there was a balloon festival. We didn't get up early enough to see them launch, but Megan, Ryan and I headed out to see what we could see and were able to see lots of hot air balloons. We chased a few and found some as they landed, even seeing some deflate and lay down so they could be packed away. It was cool.
Later Saturday we headed up to Scera park to check out Colonial Days. We went to colonial school, saw a militia drill, got delicious ice cream. and checked out all sorts of booths teaching about life in the 1700s.
There was an oyster seller. Lena was the first to try an oyster (they cost a penny). After she tried them she tried to convince everyone else to try them. Megan, Ryan and Rachel all tried one. Apparently they taste like salt water with the texture of a boogar slug. So appetizing.
For lunch we tried to go to Tucanos (tradition!), but instead ended up at PF Changs since they could get us in more quickly.
The kids played hopscotch quite a bit while we were there. It was a go-to activity each day.
Megan and Rosie hit it off big time. Megan is a good babysitter, keeping Rosie out of the road and trouble in general.
How many girls can fit on Grandpa's chair? Looks like 5.
Saturday night the Stadium of Fire was having their fireworks show at the BYU stadium. Annette (Jesse's fiancee) invited us to park in her driveway and walk over to watch them close to her house. Before we walked to the field to watch them the kids had fun checking out her bunnies and hammock.
Annette came prepared with glow sticks for all the kids and candy and blankets. It was a good thing she was along, since we had to wait for quite a while and the kids would have gone crazy without her preparation.
The fireworks were pretty amazing and worth the wait. I'm just glad our kids are finally old enough to stay up well past their bedtime and still function ok. We got back to bed after 11pm, then woke up relatively early for church. We went to church with Mark's family since they had church earlier than Grandma and Grandpa, then we headed up to Idaho for the family reunion. (See other post about Idaho.)
Wednesday morning we left Idaho to head back to Provo. We pulled out the rubber chickens we had bought for the family reunion and the kids played the rubber chicken version of land-based Marco Polo. Whoever was it listened for the squeaking chickens to try and tag people out. The kids had a good time.
Thursday we woke up and started packing up for our return trip on Friday. We headed to a park to play for a while before heading back to eat lunch and get dressed for the temple open house. The kids had fun running from the lava monsters (Jacob and Mark).
We were glad to be able to visit the Saratoga Springs Temple open house. The temple is huge and everyone enjoyed the tour. The blues and purples inside are beautiful!
It was super hot outside, so we decided stopping for ice cream at Baskin' Robbins was warranted. It's been a while since we've eaten there, since the Baskin' Robbins nearby our house in Tucson has closed.
Back at Grandma's we pulled out the pool and water fun, including Megan's new reusable water balloons that she got for her birthday. The fun went on and on, and we ended up eating later than planned, but no one cared.
Andrew's family was able to join us for dinner, and we started playing Do you love your Neighbor? for a long time, enjoying everyone's company. It went for so long that we didn't end up going over to Annette's house for a game night like we had planned. Everyone had a good time, though.
We were able to get a family picture with everyone except Lisa and Breck's family. Hopefully we can get one with them when everyone comes together for the wedding in August.
The kids are always sad to leave Utah and look forward to the day when they can live there, maybe for college if we don't give in to letting them move out when they're just 12 years old. ;)
Thursday we woke up and started packing up for our return trip on Friday. We headed to a park to play for a while before heading back to eat lunch and get dressed for the temple open house. The kids had fun running from the lava monsters (Jacob and Mark).
We were glad to be able to visit the Saratoga Springs Temple open house. The temple is huge and everyone enjoyed the tour. The blues and purples inside are beautiful! 
It was super hot outside, so we decided stopping for ice cream at Baskin' Robbins was warranted. It's been a while since we've eaten there, since the Baskin' Robbins nearby our house in Tucson has closed. 
Back at Grandma's we pulled out the pool and water fun, including Megan's new reusable water balloons that she got for her birthday. The fun went on and on, and we ended up eating later than planned, but no one cared.
Andrew's family was able to join us for dinner, and we started playing Do you love your Neighbor? for a long time, enjoying everyone's company. It went for so long that we didn't end up going over to Annette's house for a game night like we had planned. Everyone had a good time, though.
We were able to get a family picture with everyone except Lisa and Breck's family. Hopefully we can get one with them when everyone comes together for the wedding in August.
