Utah Trip; June 30 - July 9, 2016

At the airport on our way out of DFW. ....it's a little early.

We first went to Grandpa Rich's house to settle in (i.e. nap and play in the toy room) and then made our way to Great Grandpa Rich's house to visit him:

Yum.

Grandma and Grandpa Rich took us swimming at a fun indoor pool the next day with Mason. We had a great time and lunched together before parting ways. Naps for the two littles with me, and the Hill Air Force Base Air Museum for Jake and the rest of the kids.

My mother was in town because her father, my Grandpa Jack, was as well. We got together with my siblings and their families and a guy named Jay at a park for a picnic. It was a lovely summer evening. The kids get too excited to eat much and wanted to get to the spray ground to play for a while. This is when Gavin swooped in for the blanket buffet.

 These three. Oh my goodness, it doesn't get much cuter than this.

 They were so happy to be together. My heart.

 Ivy. I met sweet Ivy and cuddled on her as much as I could.

 Breanna got a hold of my phone and started snapping selfies, which I was so happy about! Hooray for cousin pictures!

 This is the only one we got of them all together, or even any with Dallen ...and it's blurry. Ppththth.

 Jolyn has the chicken Tessa made for her.

 We went back to Mandy's house to play with water balloons. At this point, Paige tripped and fell on the front porch stairs and scraped her face up. Just in time for family pictures a few days later. Poor kid.
Gavin probably popped more water balloons than anyone. He was having a ball, and I didn't have the heart to stop him. Plus, it was funny.

 Water balloon tossing. A family favorite.

 My mom, Grandpa Jack, and Gavin. I'm happy I got this picture. It's a good one. :)

 The next day we met at a place called Toad's to play. Sadly, Mandy was MIA, Dallen had to work, and Grandpa headed to a more grandpa-friendly environment, but the rest of us had a great time with each other playing laser tag, go carts, and amassing as many tickets as we could from the arcade for lame/awesome prizes.

Back at Mandy's for lunch:

The next day Jon, Chelsy, Mandy, Jay, and the kids came to Dad and Sandy's for dinner and to hang out one more time, for which I was very grateful. I get one time a year to be with these yayhoots, so I soak it in the best I can and hope they will be accommodating. Because, come on, THESE GIRLS:

And these babies:

I think there is supposed to be a balloon there, but whatever. Nate is wandering in the background.

Bopus after church:

Cole and Mason in the play room:

They played so well together. What a fun duo.

This is at the HOT Kaysville 4th of July parade before we headed to Salt Lake to be with the McBrides:

I love me some salt water taffy. Work it kids!

We played with the face swap app at the McBrides and laughed ourselves silly with the outcomes. My favorite was Jonathan's:

Here we are on the Fourth of July with the McBride cousins. Abby and Kanon are leaving on their missions in the fall, so this get together and picture meant a lot to us all.

They are adorable.

And hilarious.

Beeeeeeautiful!

Gavs and Gramps.

Fireworks in Holladay:

Peter Breinholt was there playing on the stage. Talk about nostalgic. He was big on the college scene in Utah when I was at university and so many lyrics stumbled out of wherever my brain had stored them.

Oooh, Paige was mean and so, so tired. Thanks to Uncle Matt and his patience, Paige got a quick nap. What a good uncle.

Hiking! Hooray! Jake, Tessa, Cole, Jon, and I went to Donut Falls to hike. This was the kids' first hike, and they loved it. They did so well.

It's not easy getting up to the actual falls. We were really proud of the kids for doing it. The best thing was how proud of themselves they were. The photo says it all.

Having Uncle Jon with us made the hike even better.

Grandpa McBride was in the show Big River this summer at Hale Centre Theatre playing Mark Twain and the doctor at the end. Tessa and Cole were old enough to go and watch it with us and had a wonderful time doing so with Grace and Simone too.

Great job, Steve!

Here is "Tom and Huck" who were sweet to the girls. They were a little star struck. Which is hilarious.

We had another fun picnic with the McBrides. Here's Gavin giving Grandpa kisses:

That was another memorable Utah trip in the books. We are always so grateful for the hospitality, fun, and time sacrificed to come and be with us.
I was also able to meet up with Krista, Katie, and Adena for lunch, Jake had lunch with friends, we went and saw Grandma and Grandpa D. for a day and had lunch and a little shopping in Logan. We got our family pictures taken. We really try to fit as much into our schedule as possible to make the most out of our trip. It's exhausting, but well worth it.