We had a wonderful 10 days together as a family, traveling to several places in Utah and seeing lots of extended family. It began early June 18. We drove the 11-12 hour drive to Utah via Pullman, Lewiston, McCall and Boise and thus is took 18 hours! It was a very long day, but the kids did really well in the car. We enjoyed time at a beautiful city park along the river, two 30-minute construction stops, and being stopped by a forest fire, among the "usual" travel stops. It was really interesting getting to see the helicopter pick up water on the right side of our car and dump it in the canyon on fire on the left side of our car. And even though it was definitely the scenic route, it definitely did not disappoint. So much beauty and variety everywhere we looked! We saw some truly gorgeous country.
We arrived at my sister, Alyson's, home in Alpine, Utah about 1:00 a.m. Friday morning. Everyone else had arrived previously, so it was fun seeing my entire family--and all the cousins--the next morning when we awoke. My kids were beyond excited.
Friday was our BYU and Family History day. We enjoyed touring the Monte L. Bean Life Sciences museum on BYU's campus, then eating lunch at the Cougareat, shopping at the bookstore, and seeing the spot (Maeser Hill) where my dad proposed to my mom. Then we headed south to Spanish Fork cemetery and saw many of our ancestors graves. (Mainly my dad's side.) We then drove west to Lake Shore and Palmyra, Utah, which my ancestors helped settle. These towns are right on the shores of Utah Lake and are still very undeveloped and rural. There is a marker where the old Fort Palmyra was where some of my ancestors lived. My grandparents also lived there for a time. It was neat to see.
Saturday morning we went to a small park/lake area near Alyson's home and had a great time kayaking and swimming. It was very peaceful and the kids loved it. Then we went and got all packed up and headed to Heber City. Since we like the scenic routes (wink, wink:)), we drove to Heber via the Alpine Loop. It was beautiful.
We then all descended upon a wonderful log cabin-style home in Heber City, where we spent the next five days. It was a wonderful home and we had a great time enjoying the time together. My mom did her treasure hunts for the grandkids, we played games, foosball, pool and air hockey, enjoyed the playground and lawn games, etc. We had a skit night, talent show night, FHE, family pictures night, went on a beautiful hike, and had a Minute-to-Win-It evening.
The girls spent an afternoon out: we went to Park City and walked through art galleries on Main Street then went out to lunch at "The Eating Establisment." The guys' afternoon out included lunch at a burger place in Heber, then hours and hours of air soft gun battles in the field behind the cabin. It was a lot of fun.
Girls' afternoon out:).
Pictures from our "Minute to Win It" activity:).
The lovely granddaughters (minus Katelyn, who is three) on picture night. Mikayla (17), Stephanie (12), Alysha (16), Kylene (10), Alaina (13), Rebekah (15)
Pictures from our hike to Stewart Falls in Provo Canyon, near Sundance. It was a beautiful hike and so much fun. Kyle got all the men--and several of the grandsons--to walk under the freezing cold waterfall at the top. Insane, but memorable:).
After looking through these pictures again, it's easy to see why my kids did not want to leave when it was done!
