Utah Part 1

This summer the girls, the boy, and I headed to Utah for about 11 days to visit family. Unfortunately, Jim couldn't get time off to join us. The adventure began when we hopped in the car with Jim's dad for an epic drive. We weren't sure what to expect with a baby, but he did famously well. After eleven hours he was still smiling! Somewhere around hour fourteen that changed, but really, who can blame him after being strapped down for the better part of a day...

Our first stop was with my parents. One perk of having parents 3ish miles apart is that it's easy to visit all the grandparents in one trip. We visited the Bean Museum which recently reopened after an extensive remodel.

Aeryn was eager to pose with the giraffe, one of her favorite animals since she was a very little girl.

Ellie excitedly shouted "Take a picture of me in front of the hippopomotomus!" after which she proceeded to explain that her dad was sad when she learned to pronounce it correctly so she still says it incorrectly because he likes it.

We did have some rough patches. Ellie has a really hard time being away from her mom & dad and really hates both being alone and being in the dark. This made sleeping in "her room" at Grandma & Grandpa's house a bit of a challenge. The first night she ended up sleeping in my bed, but only after two+ hours of trying to get her to sleep in her own room. We figured it out after that and she and Aeryn often slept in the same room so she wasn't alone. I am thankful for that as I was hardly sleeping anyway just with Tate in my room.

The little dude was quite a charmer. He was smiling and agreeable pretty much the whole time. On the drive out he learned how to make spit bubbles and the last day at my parents' he started hiding his face somewhat bashfully (which we have since learned is him playing peek-a-boo).

We headed for a walk up the river trail and let the girls run amok. They had fun holding hands with Grandma and skipping up the path not unlike The Wizard of Oz. Tate was content in his wheeled chariot with Grandpa at the helm.

The girls were racing (of course) and if you know our family at all you will not have to guess who won repeatedly, nor will you be surprised that the rules continually evolved to make sure that outcome was certain.

Ellie took this picture of Aeryn & Grandpa. The girls each wanted to take a picture with the big camera and Ellie's turned out ok, but Aeryn's had a subject who wouldn't stand still for even a millisecond so it turned out quite blurry.

Even though you don't see many sets of eyes, this is my favorite picture from the trip. My Grandma is one of the most special people in my life and I love seeing her with my kids.

Some highlights of the time with my parents:
Swimming at the Lindon pool
Visiting the new Museum of Curiosities at Thanksgiving Point
Having a big family dinner at home
Great Grandma meeting Taters
A BBQ up the canyon
Me breaking away to visit a good friend
The girls playing with the neighbor kids - including late night movies in the park and outdoor games