Utahr.

So, back to our Utah trip.  We had a great time.  It was short (well, until the drive home that is) and really fun.  I have 2 sisters there, and Weston has 2 brothers and his grandmother there, plus cousins on both sides, so there are lots of family to see and hang with.

We drove down Thursday night and stayed with Weston's brother Jamon and his family.

On Friday we wanted to take our kids to the BYU campus.  First we passed by the Missionary Training Center and went to see the Provo Temple. 

Missionaries in training taking a walk; the Provo Temple

Then we went to campus.  We went to the Bean Museum to see all of the stuffed animals.  They have so many in there.  The kids loved it.

"Horton"; Good big brother Spencer keeping track of Jiles; Ezra checking out the sweet liger; looking down to the 1st floor at "Horton" 

We even got to see animals like the ones that came in our yard a couple of months ago: a black bear (like the one that was on our back porch looking in our kitchen french doors); and a bobcat (like the one that attacked our cat right in front of my eyes about 20 feet from our back porch).

Next we went bowling at the Wilkinson Center on campus.  Totally fun and they had great music: mostly U2.  Our kids have some pretty cool bowling techniques.  Ezra likes to throw it like he's doing a chest pass.

Kate's throws would send the ball towards the pins soooper slowly; yeah, look at that form!

Can you tell who won?  Haha!!  I'll give credit to Weston for one of my strikes that he got for me while I was on the phone. 

After bowling it was lunch time.  Jamon had invited us to come to his work for lunch.  Staci, Jamon's wife, met us there with there little boy.  That was fun; I felt like I was going to IKEA.  Everything was so hip and modern.  I also felt like I was still on a college campus.  His work has like 2000 employees, who I swear are all fresh out of college.  The cafeteria was super nice, had yummy food and a live band (like one that you would see in a college battle of the bands), and, much to Weston's delight, a ping pong table.

Weston, Jamon, and Spencer in the caf; Spencer's candid shots: Ezra's head, Staci, Zoe and I while eating; Jamon, behind the "iron" curtain, playing Weston in some pong.

The whole front entry way was glass, and on the way out, Ezra, who I think was spacing a little, smacked right into one of the glass walls thinking that he was walking through a doorway.  It gave Staci and I a good laugh. 

That afternoon we met up with my sister, Wendy, and her family at their pool.  That was so fun!  That was only our 2nd time going to the pool this summer (we don't get to the pool much thanks to our boonie living).  There were 2 really fun swirling slides that were really pretty high.  So fun!

Ezra, the puppy; Andy and Wendy; Staci and Liam; Cousin Zac taking Jiles on the "slow" slide

That night (Friday night) we went over to Wendy's house for some Friday night pizza.  My sister, Julie, and her family came over, too.  Yay, love them!

Julie and Drew; Jules with Zoe

Saturday we headed to Weston's brother Ammon's house.  We ate some quick grub at their house and then left to go to their fun rec center and pool.  So fun!  Huge slide, playground in the kiddy section, and a pirate ship in a different kiddy section.  Afterward we got some more grub, and then the girls went shopping, and then the guys went to play at a ping pong club. 

Leslie, Ammon, and Jaxon

Sunday, after church with A & L, we headed to Salt Lake City to go to Temple Square and to see Weston's grandmother.

Temple Square was really neat.  The kids hadn't been there for... a long time; they don't remember it.  I sure like that place.  Did you know that there are 44 languages that are/can be spoken there?  That's a lot.

Clockwise from left: on the roof of the LDS Conference Center;by the reflection pool; staging a picture like one on our wedding day in that exact spot (except without kids) ; inside the Conference Center (it can seat 21,200)

My favorite family picture right now.

Weston's grandmother (Grandma Great to our kids) lives just a few blocks from Temple Square.  She is an amazing lady!  She is 92 years old and doing awesome!  She still travels the world, literally.  She is somewhere on the Atlantic right now.  Iceland maybe?  It was really great to see her.  I hope that we weren't too much for her (our kids are pretty dern active).

It was a great trip and a much needed vacation for our family.  Even the breaking down twice on the way home part was sorta fun.  At least it provided us with some great memories.  (I don't, however, like the fact that I still feel like the car is going to break down every time I go somewhere.) Oh, the fun.