Ten Days in Utah

Friend Jill and me in Cedar City

 WHEW!  I've been home from Utah for a few days now, but just barely getting back into the groove of life.

We had a really great time visiting family and friends for ten days in Southern Utah.  Everyone took such good care of us, since we were Mike-less for this vacation.  We really missed him, but he managed to keep himself quite busy in our absence.

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One of the first days we were in Cedar City we met up with our dear friends, Ben and Jill, to celebrate their son, Luke's birthday.  They have four of the sweetest boys ever; the oldest, Seth and Kate have been friends since birth.  Seth says he's going to marry Kate (in the temple) and have five children.  That's down from 100 children, so that's a good thing!

This is the best picture we could get of all our kiddos.  They sure do love each other!

 At Grandma's house, Kate, Dylan and Lydia shared their very own kids' table for Sunday dinner.

 It was so fun being in Utah for the 24th of July.  When in Rome, right?  We celebrated Pioneer Day with a ward breakfast, parade, and dinner at our cabin.

 Dylan and Kate loved the marble game at the cabin.  Another generation enjoying the fun.

 Sidebar: Someone (I think it was Leslie Ann) said that Dylan looks like our cousin Frank W.  I totally think he looks like him in the picture above.  Maybe the goofy smile? ;)

 Sassy-pants Kate, enjoying a cool evening on the cabin porch.

 We took a walk with Leslie Ann.  It was a good thing too, because Kate fell and skinned her knee.  Her dramatics earned her a ride home in her aunt's arms.

 We bounced back and forth from St. George and Cedar City during our visit in order to spend time with as many of our family and friends as possible.  

While in Cedar we spent lots of time at Park Discovery, an awesome park with lots of toys.  Hey-- anything to wear the kids out each day!

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In St. George, a very special treat!

For her birthday, Uncle Derek and Aunt Lisa gave Kate a ticket to see Aladdin at Tuacahn.

It was so much fun!

This was Kate's first big play, and boy did she ever feel important!

We hung out a little after the show to meet some of the cast members.

We had told Kate that there was a flying carpet in the show, that comes out over the audience.  It was cool.  But Kate wasn't fooled.  She leaned over to me and whispered "Mom, that carpet isn't really magic.  I see the wires."

 We spent another day in St. George with Lisa, Derek and Lydia.  It was super hot one morning but that didn't stop us from walking to the pond to feed the ducks.

The ducks apparently weren't interested, so the kids ate the popcorn themselves.

 We spent the afternoon cooling off at the St. George City Pool, where the hydro-tube was the biggest hit of the day!

 Great-Grandma Grady had breakfast with us at Lisa's one morning.  She is such a beauty, at nearly 92 years old!  We love her.

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Back to Cedar City later in the week.

We took the kids to the Greenshow, part of the Utah Shakespeare Festival.  Gosh, I love it!  It brings back many memories of cool Cedar City evenings, dates, hanging out with friends and family, etc.

 We visited the brand new pool in town.

Lots and lots of rules in place which were pretty annoying but the facility was cool and the kids had a blast!

 Poor Grandpa.

He tended all the kids one night while Lisa went to her 15th class reunion and Mom, Brian, Leslie Ann and I went to see Les Miserables.  They got all settled in for a party in the family room, but sadly it didn't last long.

Blake cried the entire time and the other kids didn't go to sleep as planned.
It turns out Blake was all out of sorts because he got his FIRST TOOTH!!!  Little bugger has not been happy for a few days.  I keep waiting for more to pop up any minute.

Meanwhile we thoroughly enjoyed Les Mis.  It was a fantastic production.

 Even though we tried to keep the kids entertained, as usual they ended up entertaining us most of the time.

Grandma gave the girls these fun skirts, which they loved.

Always wanting to be part of the group, Dylan too demanded a skirt.

Hello blackmail picture below:

One night the kids and I made chocolate chip cookies.  It was a little much having so many helpers in the kitchen.  But it made for some fun pictures.

Followed by baths, of course!
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Other highlights from the trip included:

Visiting our dear friends, the Ruesch family.  We love them!

Digging through boxes to find all my and Lisa's old Barbie dolls.

Reading through my old Sweet Valley High books that I also found during the box ransacking.

Late-night caramel corn and baby-name research at Lisa's house.

Derek schlepping our carseats from one car to another during the entire trip.

Morning walks with Mom, Leslie Ann, and Blake.

Cabin naps.
Snow cones with Brian and Leslie Ann and Mom.

Jewelry hunting at a local flea market.

Hair cuts for all with Vickie.

And many many more...

But for now it's back to Texas, the heat, back-to-school preparations... you know... real life.

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