Trip Part 4--Lagoon

The kids were so excited to go back to Lagoon this year. We went last year with my family and they talked about it all year long so we were glad to take them again. It was threatening rain, but thankfully, it stayed away...at least until the drive home when we got caught in major thunder, lightening, and hail. Fun...anyway, back to Lagoon.

We split up into groups with older, roller-coaster-riding kids/parents, and the younger kiddos with the non-roller-coaster-riding moms/NaNa. :) Megan was excited toward the end of the day to see if she was tall enough for this monster:

The Wicked

Here is Daddy and his girls walking toward The Wicked. I had followed along to see the height requirement in case Megan wasn't tall enough and I had to take her back with me. Well, she made it and was THRILLED! No way was I getting on that thing so I left them there to stand in line forever. Megan loved it. What is it with my girls--sweet, gentle, quiet, happy things that they are (of course, all of you who know my girls are rolling your eyes and laughing right now). :)
Me and Brooke hanging out with our friends Vicki and Cindy. Ben knows these beautiful ladies from growing up in Michigan. Carli and Megan. I have the most pictures of them because I was with them all day. They had such a blast on all the little kid rides.

My favorite shot of the day

Megan and Carli

Bumper cars--Kate, Brandon Carli, Megan (left to right)

Kate smiling and Megan bumping into her.Cindy and her kiddos taking a breather.

Brooke was soooo good all day. She is such a doll!

One of my only pictures of Brandon.

Brandon, Ben, Carli, and NaNa.

Trip-Part 3 Swimming

The Cliff Lodge at Snowbird has a fabulous outdoor pool with beautiful views. We only went once or twice, though, because it was still pretty cold up there! The kids spent most of their time in the hot tub. Here are some fun photos from our swimming trip.

Brandon and his buddy, Michael, who stayed the week at Snowbird, too.
Megan's toothless grin. I love the messy swimming hair, too. :)

She had fun playing with her crocs in the hot tub. The water would just pour out of the holes. Quite entertaining. ;)

I think this photo is so fun with Kate's legs and arms all askew from the water. Isn't that cool?!

Kate in her goggles enjoying the hot tub

Look at this handsome guy!

Look at that dimple! :) Another of my handsome man, Brandon, one of the only pictures he would give me a smile in.

Here's his pouty face. I told him and Michael we weren't going to the game arcade room that day. Stinker.

Kate and Amy (Michael's sister) having a blast in the pool! Silly girls!

I don't think Carli went with us that day because there are no pictures of her! I think she was smart and stayed in the warm room rather than venture to the chilly pool!

Trip Part 2-Snowbird

Saturday evening we arrived up at Snowbird and Ben's parents arrived a little later. It was wonderful to see them! They live in North Carolina so we only get to see them a couple times a year. They are great and we love being around them! Here's what the kids did when we got there:This hot tub is their favorite part of the lodge. It is right outside the door on the balcony of the room. Isn't that great?! So, every time the kids want to hop in they can just open the door and get in. Makes it so easy for us.Brooke just enjoyed being thereMonday we headed down to Salt Lake City. We stopped first at the little log cabin right outside the Church History museum. Here is NaNa (Ben's mom) with Kate, Megan, Carli, and Brandon trying to jump out of the way before I take the picture. Sorry Bud, too slow!Beautiful flowers outside the cabinNaNa and Brooke in the interactive children's areaCarli taking care of her "baby" in the interactive area. This place was really fun. There were all kinds of activities for the kids to do. Since the Primary theme this year is "My Eternal Family" they had lots of displays and activities that had to do with families.Kate helping Brooke touch President Hinckley's walnut treeI thought this pioneer blessing dress was so precious!Then we headed over to Temple Square. There is little in this world that can stand up to the beauty of one of the Lord's temples. We stopped in the Tabernacle for a quick peek. It still amazes me how the pioneers made such a beautiful building without all the tools we have today. These pipes are so inspiring.Brandon with PaPa in the TabernacleTime to stop for a quick snack. We had some dear family friends staying with us at Snowbird as well and a couple of the kiddos are in the picture with my kids.

Brandon, Adam, Kate, Carli, Megan, AmyNext stop was the visitor's center.

Ben, Carli, Brandon, Kate, Adam, Megan, NaNa, Amy, PaPa, BrookeIt all started with me and BenAnd this is the result! What a crazy beautiful family. ;) I have pictures of the growth of our family in front of the Christus from the time we were engaged. I will find them all sometime and post them. Don't hold your breath...it won't be anytime soon. :)A quick photo op in front of the fountain.

Amy, megan, Kate, Brooke, Adam, Carli, NaNaWe walked around the grounds of the temple over to the reflecting pool. This shot of Megan with PaPa is so precious to me. She loves to snuggle and PaPa is such a sweet man. This one needs to be framed. :)Kate saw some other kids pretenting to "swim" in the pond. Here's her interpretation. lol! She's so fun and imaginative.One last shot of the temple! Can you find the bird? (hee, hee...)

Trip Part 1--Arizona

On our way to Utah this year we took a little detour through Mesa, AZ, where Ben's twin brother and his family live. We had a great time with them! They have 3 boys and just added a sweet baby girl to the family last week. Unfortunately, she waited to be born until after our visit, but that's ok. We loved seeing James, Lybi, Sam, Joey, and Adam.

Here are Brandon and Sam playing video games

Here's our attempt at getting a picture of all the grandkids together. Brooke was sleeping so she's not in the photo and we're also missing another important cousin, Ryan (who lives in NC), and the newest addition, Danielle. These were their funny faces.

Brandon, Kate, Carli, Megan, Joey, Sam, Adam

These were smiley faces, more or less. Megan was not happy about taking pictures, the stinker.
Here's Kate munching an apple. I love the one eye open, one eye closed in this one.Kate and Carli. They seem to look the most alike of all the kids.

After Arizona we headed up to UT. We stopped in for a BBQ with some old friends from Ohio that I grew up with who live just north of Pheonix and had a great time with them. We left a little later than we anticipated and still had a 7-8 hour trip up to Cedar City, UT, to spend the night at my parents' house. Ben thought maybe we should go around Cedar mountain so we wouldn't run into any deer, but I figured since it was the middle of the night deer wouldn't be a problem. Don't they say the biggest danger is at dusk and dawn? Well, I was sorely mistaken as we saw more deer than we cared to that night. As soon as we hit the canyon road there was a large group of deer just hanging out on the side of the road, one or two walking across at the time. We hit the brakes and at 2 am it sure woke us up as we were both quite tired. We were on the alert the rest of the hour drive over the mountain. We saw at least 20 deer that night, but we were surely protected by our Heavenly Father and not one deer made the mad dash into our van. They were docile and still, barely turning their heads as we passed by. Blessings in disguise as the deer kept us awake on that twisty canyon road.

We did finally pull into Cedar City at 3 am and thankfully had lovely beds to rest our heads. That afternoon we headed up to Snowbird to meet Ben's parents up at Snowbird. Next post!