Sunday, October 25, 2015

Best Vacation Ever-Idaho

Our family loves to explore!  And we did a lot of that the second half of our vacation.  Grandpa took us to Devils Half Acre to go hiking on old volcano lava beds.  
Isaac of course kept trying to give me a heart attack by jumping the crevices!  Oh this boy!
Naomi did pretty good all things considered! My big girl!
Peter our super explorer...he kept exclaiming I bet I'm the first person to ever go this far!  Did you see that fossil?  Will we see any rattlesnakes?

Afterwards we stopped in at this random cave in the middle of a field.  Seriously I would never have known it was there!

And then of course what visit with grandpa is complete without some ice cream from the dairy for lunch?  Do you see the size of these "small" cones??  It's like a whole pint of ice cream.



 The 4th of July was a busy day.  Breakfast for Aunt Lara's birthday was first on the list.




 Then off to the local parade.
 We even got to see my brother in it.

 Peter entertaining himself with some streamers...
 cousins are the best!
 My hot and thirsty crew!
 Then the evening was at a park by the river for picnic dinner and fireworks.
 trying to get a picture with my little girl
 Issac and Calvin are the best of buddies...the hulk and spiderman!
 Yea for fireworks and glowsticks!
What a long and very fun day!  I believe all the kids fell asleep on the drive home!

Best Vacation Ever-Utah

The first part of June I spent getting ready for and serving at YW camp for our ward.   It was alot of work and even though camp got cancelled halfway through we still had a good time.  Thank goodness for my mom who came out to take care of the kiddos for me since Alan had to work!  Grandmas are the best!    

The boys did a little t-ball sports league in June which I don't think I have any pictures of but it was sure fun to watch them "learn" the skills of baseball!  

I spoke in Church for Father's Day this year...needless to say I am pretty sure I cried through most of it!  I'm so grateful for the wonderful husband and father that Alan is!  

The end of June we headed on our 2 week vacation!  I wasn't sure how we would do traveling for that long but it was honestly the most enjoyable trip we have made so far as a family!  We started the trip traveling to Denver where we stopped for the night and were excited to get our first glimpse of the mountains! 
Then on the way to Richfield we stopped Fruita Colorado for lunch and a visit to the Dinosaur Museum there.  The kids loved it!
This one roared and spit water at people...Naomi was so not a fan of this one, she wouldn't go near it!
Digging for bones.

We visited with Alan's grandma for a day and then headed to visit with my cousin and her family. We had such a good time visiting with them, playing games and just relaxing!  I wish they lived closer!! We also got to see my brother and sister.  One evening we spent some time at this super fun water park they have in Springville.




We spent a few hours one afternoon at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi and got some fun pictures of the kids.


We also visited their dinosaur exhibits...do you see a theme here?   This lady gave them some dinosaur bones that were only touched by the people excavating them...to they are the second people to touch them!

Blurry picture, but I love how tiny Isaac looks compared to this dinosaur's leg!

They had a fun water exhibit and Peter of course lined up all the dinosaurs he found...
Naomi was happy with anything she could climb on.  There were a few exhibits that she clung to me on so I'm guessing they were a bit overwhelming for her.

And the megaldon!  I can't even begin to tell you how excited Peter was to see this!  It made his day!  I am pretty sure there was an exclamation of this is the best vacation ever upon seeing this!  Which was actually a very common phrase on our trip!
Alan getting in on the action.
On our way to Idaho we stopped in at temple square and to see my Great Aunt Norma and it was so good to see her and Bob.  You couldn't find nicer more loving people anywhere!
 It was neat to see the recognition dawn with the boys as they saw places we see when we watch conference or have talked about before!

 How can you not love this picture?  Who better to look up to?!