Utah Part II – Family & Memorial Day

Thankfully the next day was Sunday and we could sit back and enjoy time with family. We all came back to my Mom’s after sacrament meeting and my Aunts and Uncle left for Kay's house in St. George.  Ray’s family came over for lunch and games and we were able to convince Brenda and her boyfriend to join us for a few rounds of nines when they dropped by. Val's son has moved out of their basement so we had the entire basement at our disposal, including the theatre room! We'd picked up a few movies at Redbox to enjoy that evening.

My Mom had a bird’s nest in her BBQ.

They’ve peeked inside every so often to watch the process from egg to naked freshly hatched babies to growing baby birds with feathers.  We hoped the kids would be able to take a peek so we all gathered around and as my Mom lifted the lid the birds flew out in a panic.  Actually we’re not even sure they could fly yet, but they glided away.

Whoops!  Hopefully the babies were old enough to take care of themselves or the mama bird was able to gather them up.  Val had quite the task cleaning up the mess they’d left behind.

Cammy picked up a little birthday cake so we could sing a proper Happy Birthday to my baby – who was now 2 years and 2 days old. 

He thought the smoke was pretty neat

We took a little walk around a nearby pond.  Drew was pretty excited about the ducks.

Ray suggested a great plan for our Memorial Day. We headed up north first thing Monday morning and met Ray and his kids at the newly renovated Ogden Temple. This was the temple nearest to me while growing up. Not only does the temple look entirely different, but the entire block seemed unrecognizable as well.

Drew was being absolutely adorable!  Do you see him resting his little hands on top of Justin’s head?

the west entrance

After a few pictures we caravanned to the Ogden City Cemetery to visit my Dad’s gravesite.  

Drew REALLY liked sitting on the headstone.

I sure love this little boy and those baby blues!

My paternal Grandparents and Great Grandparents are also buried near my Dad.

Next stop was Farr's Better Ice cream, a favorite of my Dad's.  Justin and Ray even got one of Dad’s favorite flavors - green pineapple.

Then it was lunch at Zupas, a first for Justin and the kids. It was a big thumbs up for everyone.

The caravan continued to Antelope Island where we attempted to rope cattle and roamed through some old ranch buildings and nearby woods.

Jayden was really close to roping the cattle

Who wouldn’t want to rope these two cuties?

“more”

We spotted antelope, deer, lots of bison, and a coyote.

Drew and Katie enjoyed driving with the windows down.

We hit a few stores (and three different eating establishments) on the way back to my Mom’s. Utah's plethora of shopping and food amazes me every time we visit! The girls got to stay up late playing games with me, Justin, and Grandma. We decided we wouldn't set any alarms in the morning and instead just got up and ready when the kids started waking up. We were on the road at 8am.

I wish I could say the long ride home went as perfectly as the ride there but by this point the kids were pretty tired. There was some whining, a few spatial issues (understandably so with three kiddos squished along the back seat) and apparently we didn't dehydrate the kids enough because we had to make four stops along the way.  One potty break at a rest stop also included a little family volleyball.  

I'm typing this as we are driving home and Justin wants me to include all the quantifiable facts so insert here how long it took us to get home we pulled into our driveway just before 8pm which means it took us just shy of 13 hours to get home.  Seriously though we can't complain. We've been blessed with great little travelers who thankfully don't mind being restrained for an entire day.

Thus ends the fastest trip to Utah ever! Totally worth it! We were so glad to be a part of Grandma’s 100th birthday celebration and we very much enjoyed the time we were able to spend with family.