Road Trip

This July we went on a crazy road trip with my parents to a family reunion in Bear Lake, Utah. It was a super fun trip, but also a super exhausting, frustrating, and miserable trip. Sorry. Babies on road trips for that long is just no fun at some point. Ellie got to the point were she would just scream the whole time we drove and cry whenever we brought her even near the car. And after a few days of spoiling, traveling, and being off-schedule, Jude became bratty and overtired. I was pretty much done and vowed to never do this again. But I know I will. In the end, the good always outweighs the bad, in my opinion.

Mormonmobile, loaded up

First we drove down to LA to meet my parents. Many hours of traffic later (5, I kinda hate you) we arrived and got a few hours of sleep before getting up to set off on our big trip. The first day we drove straight through to St. George, UT. We stayed two nights in a hotel and enjoyed the 4th of July festivities. And man, Utahns sure do love their fireworks. People were launching them right and left all over the city, and not just little sparklers; we're talking the big giant explode up in the sky ones. When it came time for the actual fireworks show to start they launched from THREE different places around the bluffs. It was pretty cool, even if it did scare Jude at first.

Enjoying the pool in ridiculous hot St. George

bonding with Grandpa

We also spent out 4th at Zion's National Park. We hiked up to the river, and a little into the Narrows, and had a great time in the cool water. We even got a visit from a very friendly squirrel.

Tried as we might, this squirrel would NOT go away. 

Obviously, it was very comfortable with people.

Hiking up the Narrows

...without Mom who had to watch Ellie :(

Happy 4th!

fireworks over the St. George Temple

After two days in blazing hot St. George, we took off for Salt Lake City. I actually really like visiting Salt Lake. Even though I've done all the Church history sites and Temple Square many times, I still love visiting them over and over. We only had a quick night in downtown, but it was fun. Jude rode the "Papa see see train" (Trax) a few times and we checked out City Creek. Around 11pm, we went on a late night walk to the grocery store and ate pints of ice cream on a bench in City Creek, which made for a fun little adventure.

The next morning was Sunday, so we went to church in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. My parents, Lizzy, and Great-Grandma got to go to Music and the Spoken Word and hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (I was a little jealous, but little kids can't go). Instead, our family went to church, which it turns out does not have a nursery or primary (classes for the kids) and has reverse block (sacrament meeting last), so I had to drag them through the first two hours. But we all survived and enjoyed a wonderful Sabbath day in Salt Lake.

That afternoon we headed up to Bear Lake to check into our giant cabin for the big reunion. This cabin was AMAZING. Not only was it huge, it had slides between the floors and off the deck, as well as a huge downstairs playroom, complete with trampoline, playground, putting green, and basketball court! It was the perfect place for our reunion!

Stay tuned for more on Bear Lake!