Summer Vacation 2011 Part 3

Our group at Bryce Canyon National Park

Diane, Megan and Carina

Adin enjoys his S'more

Dinner at Camp

On Wednesday, we headed toward Bryce Canyon National park.  We were happy to arrive in time to drive around and view the canyon before dinner. At one of the most popular view points, Mitchell became the subject of the cameras of many Asian tourists.  They seemed to be fascinated with his blond hair and blue eyes, not to mention his adorable smile!  That night we had a campfire and made S'mores and told stories.  The girls slept outside under the stars.  In the morning, Stuart and I took a hike to watch the sunrise over the canyon.  It reminded me of the one other time we had visited Bryce, when I was 6 months pregnant with Diane.

Greg enjoys breakfast at Bryce

Tammy and me at sunrise at Bryce Canyon

On the Shuttle bus in Zion's National Park

As soon as we had everything packed on Thursday, we drove over to Zion's national park, ate a picnic lunch at a campground just outside the park and left the camper and Stuart's parents rig at the campground, loading us all in the van to enter the park and drive through it's famous tunnel.  Once we got to the visitor's center, Stuart's parents stayed behind with the dogs while the rest of us got on the 90 minute shuttle tour around the park.  The bus was hot and it was even hotter outside so we didn't get out until the very last stop. What is unique about Zion's is that you tour the park in the bottom of the canyon, while other the parks we were on the rim.  After Zion's we got some ice cream in town, then headed to the  North Rim of the Grand Canyon. 

Zion's Park from the Tunnel

At the last bus stop in Zion's

Jacob on the rim of the Grand Canyon

Me and Adin as close to the rim as I will ever get!

Carina and her mule, Leslie

Gregory rode on Ben

Diane

Chad

Stuart on Jackson

Me and Blue

Me and my best friend down in the Grand Canyon

Our Muleteer Group

We arrived in time to set up camp and make dinner.  Then we hiked over to the canyon to watch the sunset.  It was an awesome view, though not as impressive as the South Rim.  On Friday, we signed up to go on the 3 hour mule ride down the canyon. This was another of my favorite parts of the whole trip.  I'm so thankful for my in-laws who patiently took care of the little ones and the dogs so Stuart and I could go with the older kids.  Elijah was old enough to go on the 1 hour ride on the rim of the canyon, so the next morning, he and Grandpa went mule riding while the rest of us broke down camp.

Posing with some Pink Javalina's in Sedona, AZ

Taking a walk around Sedona, Az

After saying goodbye to Stuart's parents, who were  heading back home to Utah, we pointed the van toward home on Saturday. After dropping Megan off at her brother's house in Flagstaff, we found a private campsite in Sedona on Oak Creek to spend the night.  The creek ran by the property and the kids had a lot of fun sliding on the rocks and swinging from the rope into the creek.  We walked around the town of Sedona that night, it reminded us a lot of Park City, but with our gang, it wasn't much fun, so we went to a grocery store and got some ice cream and went back to camp where we watched a movie on the laptop. 

Our last lunch on the road, a rest stop north of Phoenix

Sunday was our last day of driving and we pulled into our home that afternoon. We were so happy to arrive safely.  It was a great vacation and really brought us all together.  Thankfully Megan and Carina were good sports and are still talking to us!

Summer Vacation 2011 Part 2

 Thursday, July 14, started out quiet, as we planned a day to do laundry, watch movies and rest.  I took the kids to the park for a picnic lunch where we met my sister-in-law, Jessica and 5 or her 6 kids.  The cousins enjoyed playing together so much that some of them went over to their house to play for a few extra hours before coming back to Grandma's house. Stuart helped Justin at USA Emergency supply, which is now located in a warehouse in Orem, Ut instead of our garage. That evening there was a beautiful full moon over Utah lake which we enjoyed standing out on Grandma's back porch.

Cascade Springs

Greg, Adin and Chad, Best Buds!

       The next day was Friday- 1 week since we left AZ.  We had another traveling day, this time we did the Alpine loop.  We stopped and hiked around Cascade Springs, it was so beautiful there.  The best part of the whole trip (in my opinion) was seeing Gregory and Chad getting along (so rare) as they made a 2-man carry for Elijah and Adin.
 
We then drove over to Sundance and Grandma and Grandpa took the 2 youngest boys and the dog home while the rest of us ventured up the trail to Stewart Falls.  I had never hiked up there before and it was so fun.  We were so hot on the hike, but once we got to the base of the falls, there was snow on the ground because it was so cold!  God's creations never cease to amaze me, and this one took my breath away.   We ate at Subway for lunch on the back and went to Heather's home for dinner and a movie (Nacho Libre with 7 layer Mexican dip- yummy!)

Stewart Falls

I picked up Diane, Jacob and Megan at 7 am on Saturday.  They were tired, but happy and we were so glad to have the family back together again.  We spent the day doing laundry, grocery shopping and packing for the last half our our camping trip.  That evening we made hamburgers and celebrated Jim Butler's birthday.  The cousins really enjoyed being together again.
On Sunday we attended church with Heather and Jim's family.  Then we had  spaghetti and meatballs for dinner over at Heather's house.  Saying goodbye to them that evening was hard, we sure love being with them.  When we got back to the Robert's home, Ellise, BJ, Phillip, Bree and Kevin Roberts were waiting for us. Their parents were out of town and Julia was with friends, but we also enjoyed their visit, not believing how much they have grown in the 2 years since we last were together.

Our big group with both campers in the background!

Arches National Park

On Monday morning, we packed up the campers and the cars and headed south once again. Our first stop was the town of Moab where we found a little out-of-the-way campground called Pack Creek Campground.  After setting up camp, we headed off to check out Arches National Park.  As we arrived at the visitor's center, it began to rain just enough to cool everything down. We did a quick drive through the park that evening, and watched the sky put on a lightening show for us as we walked around Balanced Rock, Delicate Arch and other famous structures.  It was beautiful, there was even a rainbow.  Had dinner at Wendy's that night.

Diane caught a lightening bolt on film!

The next morning we returned to Arches to visit some parts of the park that we hadn't seen the night before, then we got lunch and rested during the heat of the day, then drove over to Canyonlands National Park, which is where we lost our camera.  After that we had to use Diane's and Carina's camera.  Thank goodness we had downloaded all our pictures to our laptop before we left for the park.  Canyonlands was pretty cool, but we were tired out, so we didn't stay long.  We had dinner at the campground and listened to the rain and wind as we fell asleep. 

Summer Vacation 2011 Part 1

Our family summer vacation started out on Friday, July 8th as we pulled out of our driveway towing our tent trailer heading for Page, AZ, where camped near Lake Powell. All 7 of our children, plus D's friend, M.M., helped set up camp, then we went swimming and played on the beach.

The next morning, I got up just in time to see the sun rising over the lake.  It took my breath away.

Our dog, Tammy, on the dock at sunrise.

After breakfast, we packed up camp, took one last photo, and headed ourselves towards Utah.

 

Q and B

 After 8  hours or so, we finally arrived at my in-laws home in Saratoga Springs, Ut.  The next day was Sunday and we attended church with S and L, then went to my sister, G.S.'s, home where we visited with her family, my sister K, my nephew Q. and his fiance, B., and my nephew Z. and his wife E. and daughter L.

Me and M with E, L and Z

Me and my sisters, K and G

We had dinner with them, and played dominoes later in the evening.  G, E and A decided to spend the night with their cousins and the rest of us headed off to the airport, where we picked up our friend, C.C., who had just flown in from Germany to spend 4 weeks with us. 

Monday morning, we woke up pretty early for a vacation day and drove up to Provo, where we checked D, J, and M.M. in at EFY (Especially For Youth) camp at BYU (my alma mater).  They will spend 6 days there having lots of fun.  Meanwhile, the rest of us went to the Life Science Museum and toured other parts of BYU, showing the kids our favorite places.

My dear husband

C.C. "Goldilocks" and the 3 Bears

On Tuesday, we packed a picnic lunch and headed up to Salt Lake City with S and L.  First, we learned about the early settlers at This is the Place Monument and Utah Heritage Park.  We rode a train, toured some early homes, took a pony ride, went to school in a one-room schoolhouse, made some crafts, played hoops and had a wonderful time together.

On the train.

A rode on "Honey"

Utah Heritage Park 

With our Bingo Sheets at the Capitol Bldg.

After the Pioneer Park, we headed to the Utah State Capital Building, where the children played an Architecture Bingo game that we printed off ahead of time from their website.  We found everything on the Bingo page and received a prize. It was a great way to get the kids to look around and observe the building and not be bored as the adults looked around and read things.

Ready to work.

Learning how to can food.

Our next stop was Welfare Square, where we watched a video about how the church welfare program helps people all around the world to become self-sufficient. Then we were able to can some fruit punch at the cannery.  The kids enjoyed putting on the hairnets and aprons. 

Then we headed over to Temple Square, where we walked around and took some pictures.  After that, we headed to dinner at our favorite buffet, Chuck-A-Rama, where we ate a disgustingly large amount of food before heading back to Grandma's home for the night.

In front of the Salt Lake City Temple.

In the Tabernacle on Temple Square

Today is Wednesday and was another full day of fun!  S and Grandpa took the boys fishing on the edge of Utah Lake.  They didn't catch anything, but they sure had fun trying!  Then we headed up to Park City, Utah where we had lunch and then rode the Alpine Slide and the Alpine Coaster.  It was a long wait for a short ride, but we all had a blast.  Heading back home, we first stopped at Granny's Restaurant in Heber, where we ordered their famous thick milkshake. Then we looped around past Wallsburg to look at the home that Stuart spent 6 months of childhood.

Grandpa the Speed Demon!

C on the Slide

G loved the slide.

C.C., A, and S on the Alpine coaster.

C.C.

Going up on the chairlift.

Coming down again!

 Milkshakes at Granny's - a family tradition!

 So far, our summer vacation has been a blast, filled with so many great memories, and we still have more than a week left.