Fun in Utah

Although it was a quick weekend trip up to Salt Lake we made sure to pack in a ton of fun.  We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Smith and luckily cousin Tori is right next door!  She offered to watch my kids while I went to my reunion.  This girl is THE BEST.

I do not know how she did not get completely tired of my kids (seriously).  She played board games all day with them.  Chase found this old Stratego game and he could not get enough of it.

She even suffered through Monopoly with both of them...TWICE.  Do you know how long that game is?  Now pretend you are playing with a whining turtle.  That is what playing with my kids is like.

We busted out the old record player and played some of the old songs we used to make up dances to, does anyone else remember chicken fat?  That is so fun.

They both enjoyed listening to the stories on record too.

We took a trip one afternoon down memory lane...seriously "The Lane".  This is the road I used to ride my bike.  It has definitely changed.

We found some beautiful bushes lining the road, along with a ton of those red and black spotted bugs.  We used to call them fire bugs?  Chase said when you squish them they ooze green....okay.

It was kind of sad to see some of the old trees chopped back from the roadway.  As a kid I remember these shading the lane.

This is the field behind my parents that they are in the process of selling.  It will be sad to go back and see houses where we used to play in the alfalfa and play hide and seek.

This old milk house is still standing as well, where my Dad's aunt and uncle used to milk the cows.

My kids picked some of what was left of the alfalfa and took back to feed little red (the wild bunny my sister caught in her yard).

The last night we were in town we got together with everyone who was in town for a family dinner.  It was fun for my kids to see their cousins...even Jake was good enough to spend time tossing the ball with them.

Most everyone who lives there was able to make it.  We missed having everyone there.  Pretty good age gaps too...from 22 to 6.

I missed having Matt there, but it was nice to see my siblings and their spouses.

Just like our get togethers in the mountains it rained on our party, and so we all huddled in the garage until it let up.  Luckily it didn't last too long.

The next day we headed home and I was wishing like I always do that drive home was just a little bit shorter.