Utopia in Utah

 The boys and I were able to spend 2 whole weeks in Utah which really was fabulous.  Tad was able to spend a week with us - darn work.  We made the dreaded 12 hour drive and it surprisingly wasn't half as bad as I thought it might be.  The kids did really well.  The drive up was a little rough for Logan because he had just gotten over the stomach flu.  He threw up in his car seat and we pulled off the side of the road and cleaned up as best we could with wet wipes...fun.  We made it to my parents house in St. George just as Logan had a huge diarrhea that leaked all over into his carseat.  Logan went in the tub....carseat cover in the wash.  Even with all of that...it was still not a bad drive.  I was able to visit with two of my best friends Kami and Lisa and their cute kids at the park (forgot my camera that day, of course) and went to lunch with most of my sisters-in-law on Tad's side for my sister-in-law Lynette's birthday.  It was such a treat to be able to hang out with them and laugh with them.  (Forgot my camera then too).  See a trend?  I got better remembering my camera for half of the trip.  We also had a picnic in the park with my parents and my brother Tyler and his family.

 One of the days we went to Lagoon.  We went with Nana and took cousins Ross & Kennedy.  I love this shot of Ross & Dallin.  They had such a great time hanging out.  Those two are like peas in a pod and love when they get to see each other.

 This was Logan's favorite ride and Ethan loved it too, so we of course had to go on it twice (despite the ridiculously long line). 

 One day we went to the Dinosaur Park with grandpa.  Poor Nana wanted to come too, but was home sick in bed.  We had fun looking at bones, seeing life-size dinosaurs, panning for gold, and hanging out with grandpa.

We headed to the gateway and played at the Children's Museum, which is such a cute, fun place.  Meet my construction workers....

....and my grocery shopper.

 How can you visit Utah and not go to Hogle Zoo?  Grandma, Aunt Chalyce and her boys Grady & Christian, Yui, and cousins  Elsee & Lukas joined us.  It was perfect weather...not too hot, and not rainy.  Since moving to Arizona, my version of "hot" weather has drastically changed.  If the weather is not 95 plus degrees, then it is perfect weather.  I'll even take rainy.  It was actually 68 degrees a couple of days while we were in Utah and I was FREEZING!  See, I'm acclimating to Arizona weather already.

 I remember loving this lion drinking fountain when I was a kid, so I of course had to get a picture of my kids drinking from it.  

On the drive back home, we stayed one night in St. George again.  We did a little bit of hiking.  We found the narrows or "Fat Man's Misery" and the boys and I shimmied up it and Tad watched Logan.  We also played at the splash pad.  Notice the intensity in Dallin's face as he is trying to squirt Ethan.

 On the drive from St. George to home we stopped at Hoover Dam.  It was definitely worth the stop as the dam is quite huge and impressive to look over.  They recently finished the bridge behind us and it is pretty with the boulders behind it.  Plus, we finished off the trip with some ice cream at the gift shop.  Who can argue with that?

We had such a great time visiting family and were able to see a few friends too.  The main reason for our trip was to attend Tad's parents 50th wedding anniversary.  I am going to do a whole post on that one.  It was nice to actually be able to DRIVE to Utah instead of paying LOTS in airfare.  We're excited to be closer and hope to be able to visit more often.