Family Vacay

Luckily we were able to find a small window of time that we could all take a quick trip up to Utah to visit family.  Although it was short, we packed it full of fun.  We slept in and took our time getting there, and even made a pit stop at the salt flats which we haven't done for a few years.

Matt picked up a free souvenir to take home....and a few someones just had to taste it to see if it was really salty.  Maybe a few licks by some :/

We made it to my parents house later in the evening on Wednesday. 

The main reason for our trip was to visit my parents but we also wanted to plan some fun things together since it will most likely be our only time to be all together before new jobs/promotions start.  We decided to take a trip to the local water park (something our kids have never experienced).

We found a seven peaks resort close to my parents house (it used to be raging waters, the same water park that I went to when I was in Jr. high)  They really haven't done much to upkeep it, and I was a little disappointed.  We hit the slides hard all day long.

Other than the occasional pit stop for water, we rode those slides ALL day.  Sadi surprised me the most, and was pretty fearless....she actually tried slides I was too afraid to go on. 

Later that night Matt and I had dinner with some friends I work with at SB (I neglected to get any pictures).  It was fun to introduce Matt and get caught up with all of them.  Thursday we headed to Gardner Village for the day.

It's such a cute little place with all kinds of little shops.  My sister and niece met us there for the day.  I had read about this fairy hunt that sounded like something Sadi would love to do.  Turns out it was pretty fun for everyone.

Hidden throughout the village there were 26 fairies in jars from A-Z.  The challenge was to walk around and find the whole alphabet.

We had fun shopping and fairy hunting all afternoon.

We found one of the cutest little fairies....

Once you had found all 26 fairies it was time to head to the wishing bridge.

You had to repeat the magic words as you tied your ribbon to the bridge, or your wish won't come true.

After we had made our wishes we headed to my sister's new house out in Herriman to spend the rest of the day.  My sister hosted all of my family (those who were in town) for dinner.  I again neglected to take any photos, I think I was just having so much fun visiting I forgot.

Chase and Sadi loved playing with little Knox and Aceleigh (Jake and Sierra's kids).

Since we were celebrating mine and Jake's birthday my sister planned a few fun games, and even made my favorite..cheesecake! 

Saturday was my birthday, and our last day in town.  I couldn't think of anything I really wanted to do so that morning I decided a trip to Hogle zoo might be fun for everyone.  Susan, Tori, Knox, and even Grandpa and Grandma joined us.

They were having some huge bug exhibit happening while we were there.  This might just be me biggest nightmare....

The zoo is a lot smaller than I had remembered it being.  Sadi was really looking forward to seeing some penguins...no luck.  We did get to see some other fun animals, including watching some bears playing in the water, and a live feeding of some owls (again I was so caught up in the moment no pictures).

 

I think we all enjoyed spending time with this cutie, and watching him get so excited seeing all those animals.

 

I love all these animals.....

 

 

It was the perfect weather, not too hot and even a bit on the cooler side.  We took our time seeing everything and even took in a bird show which was fun. And what kid can resist this huge water ball?

I'm not sure this is the original lion water fountain from when I was a kid, but it sure did bring back some memories.  Who doesn't want to stick their head in a lions mouth?

After a full day at the zoo we headed back to my parents house to drop the kids before heading out for a birthday dinner.  Susan and Luckie met  Matt and I for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.  Our waitress made sure I got a birthday recognition.

After dinner we headed back to my parents house.  We continued the birthday celebration with shakes in the backyard with Grandpa and Grandma (Grandma wasn't feeling well so she opted out of ice cream). 

As the party ended, so did our vacation and it was back on the road home the next morning.