Trip to Utah- Week 2

We spent most of the second week in Utah in Provo. We got to stay at the top of this building in downtown Provo. It was awesome! It felt like we were far away in a different town -- like we were really on vacation in some new place like downtown Manhattan.

The view from one of the bedrooms

Jacey enjoying a bubble bath
Karissa got married on August 14, 2008. This was right before we went to the temple -- her first time!
Brooke, Karissa, and my cousin Denice

The happy couple before their endowment

We had lots of fun relaxing at the Roneys. They were so nice to us and we got to visit and the kids got lots of play time in with their kids.

Jacey saying, "This is the life."

Jared and Ariana

Going down the slide

Jaden going off the diving board. He has become quite the swimmer this year. So nice.

The amazing view from the pool.

John and Jaden

Jaden getting thrown

Funny Karson. He walked around like this -- with all the goggles on him -- for a while.

We have to take our tradional trip to BYU. In the Cougar Eatery.

Jared says- "They have ice cream at college??? Cool! I'm going to college."

We have to stop at the BYU Barber for haircuts.

We always take a picture here in front of the library.
Here's the shot from 2 years ago.

And Now

Playing with 2nd cousins

Out to dinner at Chuck-a-Rama -- Karson

Jackson -- happy boy

Aunt JoAnn and Uncle Rich

Wedding day -- just out of the temple

Karissa and Mik

The other happy couple

Hanging out during the pictures

More hanging out -- Look how tall Kody is!!

Karissa and Mik at the luncheon -- I love this picture

Kody with Apple -- the bride and groom's baby

At the reception

Jackson enjoying a waffle cone

This water looks so neat.

Beautiful!

Jaden lost his first tooth while we were gone.

The tooth fairy brought him $3.

We were supposed to make one more stop in Cedar City to spend the night with some friends in a cabin, but it didn't happen. We had a great time, but we were so exhausted. Our patience was wearing thin and everyone was getting grumpy, so we skipped that last part. Darn. This picture is of John and Jacey on the side of the road in the Mojave Desert. Jacey insisted she had to go to the bathroom, so he pulled her out of the overflowing-with-stuff van and stood out in the heat, but she wouldn't go.

Does he look frustrated and ready to get home?

This little boy was such a good traveler. Other older kids -- whose names I won't mention -- cried way more than this one. We came home with one day to get ready before school started. We need a vacation from our vacation -- just parents though this time. :)

Our Annual Trip to Mecca

We were able to go to Utah for 2 weeks in August. I admit I was nervous about going- 2 weeks in the car with 4 kids, driving 2000 miles, staying in 6 different places. But we really wanted to go, visit family, see the sites, escape the heat so we (I) bucked up and went for it.

Our first stop was St. George. We were able to attend Kenny's court of honor. It was amazing! What a great, GREAT kid. We also got to attend Tuacahn's Les Miserables. John's brother, Ross, plays in the orchestra, so he hooked us up with comp tickets. It was an awesome show. My favorite musical of all time. Thanks to Mari for babysitting the kids.
Boy Scout Cousins

John and Jackson- I followed Jackson as he army crawled through the hallways almost the entire program.

Jacey, Ethan and Jared

We left there and headed up to South Jordan to stay with John's mom. We stopped in Beaver at the Cheese Outlet for ice cream and ended up hanging out for almost 2 hours. We took our time driving from St. George to South Jordan. The 4 hour drive ended up taking 8 hours!! It was fun though with stops in Beaver, Nephi and the Mona Cemetary to look for ancestors.

Cute Jackson

Isaac, Jared and Ethan in Beaver- pretty landscape

More playing and hanging out

We were able to attend the temple 3 times during our visit. The first time was at the Jordan River Temple

Jackson at Grandma Simpson's house- their yard is gorgeous!

Playing on the trampline- trying to wear Jackson out

We decided to take a trip to Park City. We hadn't done this as a family before and thought it was time to ride the Alpine slide. Here we are on the ski lift.

This was everyone's favorite part except for (temporarily) Jared who is visibly upset in this picture. He had placed his ticket on the seat for the picture and it blew off. He was still able to ride the slide.

A view of the Roller Coaster we went on.

Jacey having a ball.

Part of the Hamblin Family- missing 2 kids

In line for the Roller Coaster- happy!

Going up the coaster

After Park City, we traveled to Hooper, Utah to stay with Adam and Lisa. They have a beautiful home and we had fun hanging out, eating junk and watching the Olympics.

The kids had the bright idea to make the stairs into a slide.

Jared

Isaac and Jacey

Saying goodbye

These kids were so nice to Jackson. I think they need a baby sibling. :)

Emma and Jackson

Ethan wanted his picture with Jackson too

Jared's piano lesson with Grandma

We went to dinner at John's cousin's house in Sandy.

Carol, David, John, Lisa