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.

Flashback 1994

Last weekend I headed to Utah for my huh hum...20 year high school reunion.  What?!  It feels more like 5.  I hadn't planned to go because Matt and Kelsey both had to work and I didn't really feel like making the journey alone, but one of my besties (Diana Francis) from school texted me just a week before and said her hubby couldn't go and wanted me to be her date.  The closer it came, the more excited I got to see her (although we e-mail occasionally we haven't seen each other since Kelsey was like 2).  She was traveling down from Montana with her two boys.  We met up the afternoon before the first night's shindig, and it was just like old times. 

Then we were off to the park for the family night reunion.  These were my dates for the night.....

Getting there wasn't as easy as it sounded, we got stuck in traffic for a good 40 minutes on the freeway...I DO NOT miss this part of being back home.

We weren't actually sure once we arrived that we were at the right place, because there were so few people there...however there were a TON of kids, so I was pretty sure it had to be right.  I got to catch up with quite a few friends including this girl (Melissa Yeaman) who we reminisced about ditching school all the time to go to breakfast, even getting busted by her parents once while sitting in a restaurant.  We spent so many weekends in the summer water skiing together, her family was like a second family to me.

This was the majority of us that made it out with our families.  So weird to see so many familiar faces and find out what they all have been doing since 1994...one of these faces is even a bishop!

Saturday night was the official Reunion, and had a much better turn out.  It was held downtown Salt Lake City at the Little America hotel.  My friend and I got a room for the night so we could party all night like the old days.  It was interesting to see who showed up (many I didn't think would), and those who didn't (those I was sure would come).  There were a lot of faces that I did not recognize, but they remembered me...does that make me shallow?  I was constantly asking my friend "who was that?"  The girl on the left here was like a photo bomber...the whole weekend.  She kind of latched on to us and never left.  Neither of us really remembered her..again she remember us.  The girl on the far right (Tiffany Bawden) was a friend for a long time, we both had kids within days of each other and we talked about how they both just graduated this year...crazy!

We had dinner, found out who had the most kids, still lives close to home, who traveled the farthest, etc.  Then we broke into teams and played some games that was hilarious!   Each game gave the teams points.  I won the contest for our team in hula hooping...yup, still got it.  Fun to see who could still have fun including this guy (Rob Young).

There was lots of reminiscing about who did what, who dated who, and who looked good, and who didn't.  Notice that photo bomber again in all my photos?

I went to elementary school with this girl (Charlene Springer), she always had the LONGEST hair and super blond.  Funny to see her with short dark hair. 

This girl (Christie Montoya) lived by me growing up and we also did gymnastics together in middle school.  She married her high school sweetheart and you may even recognize her as being on America's Funniest Videos (they won the 100 grand).  I remember watching that episode with the kids and saying "I know her!"

This (Rochelle Butler) was my college roommate the first year of college.  We reminisced on all the stupid things we did (and I threatened I had pictures of most of them).  She always wanted 10 kids...she ended up with 2.  How the crap did I have more kids than her?

This (Jared Kilgore) was our MC for the night.  We also spent a lot of time together not going to class.  He was the fastest running back ever for G.H.S.  He now coaches pee wee football and says he hates it!

It was a fun night including dancing to all the old hits from the 90's.  I was glad we decide to spend the night at the hotel.  I had brought my old yearbook and also set up a memory table in our hotel room for us with some of our old dance photos.  We laughed at ourselves..and others.  It was fun to reminisce high school days.

We looked up people we couldn't remember, and those we did.  We pulled an all nighter just like back in the day, and laughed ourselves silly...ahh those were the days!  Miss you already buddy!

Fun Times

We had lots of fun while family was in town doing all kinds of different things.  We did spend a day (maybe two) hanging out at home.  Tori and Aunt Susan taught us how to make bubbles and bubble blowers.

The kids had fun doing this one afternoon.  Check out this big one...

We celebrated every one's birthday and Susan even hid plastic cupcakes all over the house for the kids to find (like an Easter egg hunt). 

Tori is always such a good sport to play with the kids and spent a good part of an afternoon playing Monster High with Sadi while Kelsey was at work.

Of course we played games and laughed a lot at night and we winded the nights down by "talking" to each other.....#getoffyourphone



Spa Night

We decided one night while my sister was still in town we would have a spa night.  We bought mud masks and nail polish.  I did Sadi's facial first and then she wanted to do mine.  I should have known when she could not stop giggling this might not have been a good idea.  Picture a 6 year old making "art" on your face and you will get the idea.

My facial turned out so "great" I told her she had to do Aunt Suzy's.  She was thrilled to be the master of the facials.

She did a good job...making sure she got all of her face.  Lips need mud too right?

Of course we couldn't leave Chase out so I had bought him a peel off mask so he could join the party.  He was excited to feel what smooth skin he was going to have.

I think once we started peeling it off he decided he really didn't ever need smooth skin.

There were also a few brave enough to let Sadi try out her new polish on them.  Those were some special pedicures let me tell ya.

By the time Sadi got to Kelsey I think she had it down pretty good.  Some of us still had some "wet" areas, but we all were pampered pretty good. 

Beach Days

We spent a couple of days up at the lake while family was in town.  I love our days at the lake, they are always so relaxing.  The girls spent a good amount of one morning building sand castles.

These two also spent a good amount of time chatting on the shore.

I think my kids enjoy all the snacking I let them do at the beach.  Chase was introduced to cheese in the can this summer, one word...love.

Sadi was pretty adamant that she was going to catch a fish with her little sand bucket.  She was getting pretty upset those fish weren't jumping on board with this idea.  Frustration...

We did however catch a crawdad.  Kyle was the first one actually brave enough to pick him up.

Of course we had to challenge him to let it pinch him, you know make a cool nipple ring.  It never really did latch on, but it was a good laugh for all of us to watch.  Nothing like watching a big tough teen turning into a screeching little girl.

It was a fun day visiting with family and relaxing with our toes in the sand.

Family and Fireworks

4th of July was such a fun/busy day.  We actually had overlapping visitors (definitely feeling popular this summer).  Uncle David arrived the day before and Aunt Susan and cousin Tori were arriving that day.   

We headed up to Virginia City that afternoon to watch the parade.  Kelsey had to head off to work shortly after the parade started so we found a place to sit not to far from her work so she could watch with us for a bit.

Some of us were getting anxious for the candy to start showering the street...which again this year they did not disappoint.

 I love this small town parade, and along with all our favorites, they had a few new entries this year.  This old fire truck complete with Dalmatian was one of my favorites.

 I also enjoy seeing the veterans honored in the parade. 

The boys favorite was watching the horse slip in the donkey doo...yeah that happened.  We also got to see our cute little friends cheering their way down main street.

After the parade we headed home to wait for Aunt Susan and Tori to arrive before we fired up the barbecue.  We watched the hot dog eating contest on t.v. and talked about how many hot dogs we thought we could eat.  We grilled up some dogs and ate (a few less than we speculated we could).  We visited, and some of us slipped in a nap...

Before sunset we headed back up to Virginia City to find just the right spot to watch the fireworks. 

 We lit up the night with glow sticks galore,

 and "oh snap" it was a good time.

Once the show started it was a bit slow going and we weren't sure when the finale was finally happening.  Kelsey was still working until halfway through the firework show, luckily all she had to do was walk outside to see it.  Perk of the job I guess. Another spectacular 4th!