There and Back Again

We recently went home to Utah to spend 16 days with our family. We played a lot, laughed a lot, ate a lot and relaxed a lot. It was sooo nice!

We had a very smooth drive getting there. It went by so fast! I think it went by so fast because of all the cool stuff that there is to see along the way. Our first major sighting was Chimney Rock. There is a road that you can take to get closer to it but we were anxious to get to Utah so we just stopped at the trail head to take a quick picture.



Chimney Rock

We saw several more places that we wanted to go see (Ship Rock and Angel Peak) but didn't stop at any until we got to Wilson Arch in Moab. (I have always wanted to go to Moab but it just not at the top of the list.) We did get out and attempt to climb up to Wilson Arch but we all had flip flops on which made it difficult on the slick rocks. I think that we will have to move it up the list and go back and do some hiking when we aren't in flip flops.



Wilson Arch

When we got to my sisters house we had some yummy Cafe Rio for dinner and then went for a walk at the nature preserve behind their house. When we got to the end of the path the kids wanted to throw rocks into the creek. They did that for a while until I showed them the culvert that went under the trail on one side and come out on the other. Then they started playing "Pooh Sticks". The littles thought it was so fun to see which branch would come out first.



Pooh Sticks

On Tuesday Chet had to go to work all week in Vail so the kids and I stayed at Lindsay's at night and Jann's during the day. It worked out great. We were able to spend lots of time with everyone that way.



Chet in Vail.
He actually did work very hard while he was there. Meetings from 7 am to 9 pm except on the last day when they got to play.

On Friday Chet left Vail and met us at the SLC airport and we headed to Disneyland! We had so much fun there because my dad came and so did my sister and her family. The cousins were so excited to do all the rides together. I was just happy to be with my favorite people at my favorite place. :)



The cute cousins waiting for Buzz



Everyones favorite ride Tower of Terror.
I love this picture! They all look like they are having so much fun.

Big Thunder with the Bigs. LOVE these kids!


We got to take the Littles on Small World while everyone else went on Space Mountain. They loved it! Aubry "danced" through the whole ride.



Sunday we were at the park by ourselves. It was a lovely day and we got to do all of our favorites.



My favorite ride, Splash Mountain. This was Liv's first time in the front. She was soaked before we even got to the big hill. She said it was scary but AWESOME!



Big Thunder is probably Liv and Harris favorite ride in Disneyland. Liv thinks it is funny to scream as loud as she can on this ride. I'm not sure why but it is pretty funny.



They had this cute photo spot outside of Toy Story Mania



On Saturday we took a break from Disneyland to go to Sea World. It was about 20 degrees cooler there than at Disneyland. It was so nice!



The Bay at the back of Sea World.



I know that I have said this before but Harris LOVES Shamu. He lights up when he gets to see him. I love to watch Harris watch Shamu. It brings tears to my eyes because of the joy it brings him. I hope that he always feels that way!



I have also said before that Harris' favorite show is River Monsters. He is fascinated by the enormous fish that the host, Jeremy Wade, catches. Needless to say, besides watching Shamu, the new Rivers section was Harris favorite part of Seaworld. The tank has 8' alligator gar, 6' red tailed catfish and will soon have arapaima. All of which have been featured on River monsters. We just sat and watched them all for about 30 minutes. The best part of that was when a little 3' alligator gar tried to take a bite of one of the giant silver dollars right in front of us! Harris thought that was great because we could see the gar's giant teeth.



The fish at the top is one of the giant Alligator Gar. You can't tell from this picture but that gar is between 8 and 9 feet long! The black fish with the white stripe actually has a red tail and thus is called a Red Tail Catfish, and he is about 5 or 6 feet long.

 We ended our day at Seaworld with another Shamu show, it was a great way to end a wonderful day.

After a very fun weekend with my family in Cali we headed back to Utah to be with Chet's family. It was a lot of fun for the kids because their cousins from Arkansas came to Utah to visit as well. We spent most of our time swimming in Papa and Grandma Wendy's pool but we did make time for a trip to the Dinosaur Museum and bowling at the new Jack and Jill's in Lehi. Chels and I even sneaked away for a little Anniversary Sale shopping. :)

Liv has always loved to dance with her Papa. It's not exactly dancing. It's mostly Chet Sr. holding Liv while he twirls and tosses her around.  On this trip Liv discovered that they could dance in the pool. It is really cute to watch them although Papa is usually exhausted by the end of their "session".





Papa and Liv "dancing" in the pool.




Harris "dancing" with Papa, Liv and uncle James waiting for their turn.

 We had a great time at the Dinosaur Museum. I mean who wouldn't have fun seeing giants, damming a flood and digging for fossils.



Liv is apparently going to be eaten by the Carcaradon Megaldon while Harris sits idly by...



All the cousins and uncle James trying to stop the floods.

 On our last day in Utah we took some family pictures with Chet's family. Which was our second attempt because on the first attempt Harris got really sick and was throwing up most of the night. Fortunately he got better and we were able to get some cute pics. Besides posed shots Wendy wanted wanted some candids as well. She decided that a water balloon fight with 200 water balloons was the perfect way to get those candids. Everybody had so much fun. Harris got Chet smack in the face and Liv, being the only girl, took quite a few shots as well. It was a blast to watch.



This pose was Chet's idea. He said it was like Splash Mountain. It's kinda silly but it turned out pretty cute. 




Uncle Nate got Liv good with the water from the balloons that popped in the bucket.

We had a great time in Utah and Cali with all of our family. I am so grateful that Chet is able to provide us with the ability to travel often. It makes living far away from everyone a little easier knowing that it won't be long until we get to see them again.