Day 4 - Trip to Utah

Day 4 - Trip to Utah
June 29th, 2009

On Monday morning we woke up and were deciding on
what to do in SLC for the morning. I got on the church
website to see about the Joseph Smith movie because
our kids wanted to go to the Legacy Theater. While I
was on the site I was reminded of the Oquirrh Mountain
Temple open house. They still had tickets so we got
ready and drove to South Jordan. We made it with
about 3 minutes to spare, but it was amazing and the
kids really enjoyed getting to be inside the temple. It is
such a beautiful place. Here is an article that shows
pictures from inside the temple for any of you that didn't
get a chance to go. I love the beautiful windows and
crystal chandeliers. I love the sparkles and the white.
It is a little piece of heaven on earth.

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/57353/Media-tour-Oquirrh-Mountain-Utah-Temple.html

Then we stopped at Marianne's and got to visit and see
her cute new house. I loved it! And this awesome
picture above her fireplace. :)

Kids making snow cones.

Marianne and I :) (Love you!)

Then we went to see Ty & Nicole's apartment and
went to dinner with them at Red Robin.
(Love you guys too!!)

Jacie in the Parking Lot

Attempt at getting a picture of the mountains.

And the sunset in the canyon.

We got to Logan pretty late so we went to the Inn
where we were staying for a few days and met my
parents there. We had a fun day and the kids all
went straight to bed that night. :)

Day 3 - Trip to Utah

Day 3 - Trip to Utah
June 28th, 2009

After a great night's sleep we woke to a beautiful
Sunday morning in Vernal.

We went to church with Jeff and Dana before
heading to Salt Lake City.

When we got to SLC we checked in to the
Plaza Hotel across from Temple Square.

Then we headed over to Temple Square. My brother
Tyler and his wife Nicole came to meet us and take
some pictures. I love, Love, LOVE Temple Square.
There is no place on earth quite like it. It is so
beautiful and serene. We spent as long as the kids
would let us there. Here are some of our pictures...

Meeting my brother and sister-in-law.

Inside the North Visitors Center
I love this one... you should click on it to see it bigger. :)

By the reflecting pool in front of the temple.

Amazing

Angel Moroni

The House of the Lord

Beautiful

Brothers having a contemplative moment...

Josie by the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Girls

Julia

Josie

Treven

Jacie

Talden

All of us by the Relief Society Building

Another great one Ty

Our Eternal Family

Attempt to get one by the fountains... the kids were
getting tired... Julia kept trying to lay down on the
cement to take a nap. So we went back to the hotel
and visited for awhile before going to bed.

Day 2 - Trip to Utah

Day 2 - Trip to Utah
June 27th, 2009

Getting a family picture at 3:30 in the morning. :)
(BTW Amme, we had all the kids shower the night before and get in their
PJ's... then we packed everything out to the van so when we woke up
they just got dressed and everyone grabbed their own blanket
and we left with one bag in hand! It works great. Our kids were troopers!
They were all half asleep and they slept for 3-4 hours as soon as we hit the road.)

My attempt to get a picture of Mt. Rushmore
as we drove by... The video worked a little better.

Driving across Wyoming. Yes, I always think of the
Pioneers the entire time we are driving across the
long, long state of Wyoming.

Stopping for breakfast at Perkins. We love that place!
I love any place with all day breakfast!

Finally in Utah! Driving South from Wyoming
to see Flaming Gorge and our friends in Vernal!

Who drives a $250,000 Ferrari down Main Street
in Vernal?! Who drives a $250k car period?
(I for one have way too many things I
would rather do with that money!)
But it was a fancy car and it was brand new.

We made it! Talden and Dakota playing Risk.

Cute, cute house! Loved it!

Jez visiting while our hosts were busy cooking us
dinner... which was fantastic. They spoiled us!
Thanks Jeff & Dana!! We love you guys!

Josie cooking Nemo for dinner...

After dinner our kids played until we made them sleep
then we stayed up and had Root Beer Floats and
visited until we could no longer keep our eyes open.
We are so grateful for good friends!

Day 1 - Trip to Utah

June 26th, 2009
Day 1 - Trip to Utah

We spent two weeks on vacation this summer!
We left at 5 am so we could get in a full day.
The kids were so excited!

This is the highway that takes us from our house
to Southern Minnesota. It is so beautiful here.
These pictures don't do it justice.

Leaving Minnesota...

Driving across South Dakota...
yep, it looks like this the whole way!

Passing the Badlands. Jez loves this place.
We didn't take the time to do the scenic loop, but
we got to see them a little bit from the interstate.

Driving into the Black Hills of South Dakota.
They are beautiful too. Both times I have been there
there were thunderstorms. There was a severe
thunderstorm alert as we were pulling in to Keystone.
It is crazy... the thunder is so loud and you can hear/feel it
as it crackles and ricochets through the rock.
Our family will remember when it did that while we were
there for the family reunion a few years ago.
It is amazing and makes you feel so small
against the power of the elements.

We stopped at the Cosmos Mystery Area on the way
to check in to our hotel even though it was pouring rain!
Jez and Josie waiting for the tour to start.

Watching a ball & water run uphill.

Talden standing straight...
while leaning about 45 degrees.
Jez hanging on to Josie.

Us falling over outside of the barn. :)
(Notice the tricky camera work... you can see
how straight the photograph is by looking at our feet)

Josie taking a break from all the crazy gravity.

Supposedly the left side makes you short and the
right makes you tall... what do you think?

After Cosmos we went to check in to our hotel.
We found this awesome one a few weeks before we left.
Everything was either booked or super expensive
($240 for 1 room at the Super 8)...
this hotel was a best kept secret for sure.
I came across it on a tourist site for the area and
they had a "Family Suite" which slept 8!! And it was
under $200 for the night. That is not easy to find,
especially there! We loved it and highly recommend it
if you are ever in the area. It is the Rushmore Express.

Note the dining table that seats 8! We ordered pizza!
I know it seems silly to be so excited over a hotel room,
but seriously it is so hard to travel with our family.

View of the President's Alpine slides & Helicopter Tours.

We walked over and took our kids down the slides.
They had a blast. Jez and the kids had never been so they
were nervous/excited, but it was fun. They all wanted to
go again, but it is too expensive to do more than once!

The helicopter pad for the tours was between our
hotel and the slides. Our hotel is the lodge in the
background. It was a perfect evening.

My attempt to get a photo of all my kids
together at Mount Rushmore.

Ha! This was the only picture I got of Josie's
face the entire time and it was because I
tricked her! Oh well, what can you do?

It was a really fun (and long) day.
After Mount Rushmore we went back to the hotel,
had pizza, got ready for bed and slept until 3 am...
then we got up and hit the road by 3:45.