Salt Lake Days

We had a great time with family for the three days we were in Salt Lake. We decided to stay in an RV park since we really didn't want to park this thing in front of someones house. No cable or Internet.....and I'm still alive! We could get local channels and Nate and I were cracking ourselves up since we found ourselves watching The Price Is Right every morning. It's like you can't help but become instantly old when you are in one of those things! The weather was pretty okay. Once again, as soon as we left town we woke up to a gorgeous day! We couldn't seem to catch a break with the weather this time. I had fun getting pedicures and shopping with my mom. I went to Tai Pan with Nate's mom. Last time I was there, I heard rumor that they were going to open one in Phoenix. Keep you fingers crossed! When we got back to Kristy's house after Tai Pan, this is what we saw. In late May! You know what they say about the weather in Utah; if you don't like it, wait five minutes.

On Friday night we went up Millcreek Canyon for a wiener roast. Nate was saying that you don't know what you have until it is gone. Too true about Millcreek Canyon. It is beyond beautiful. We had our wedding rehearsal dinner up there because it is so pretty.





After the canyon, it was time to drop the girls off at my mom's house to say goodbye until Disneyland. Boy did they cry! I did really good. I may have let it go too long, but I couldn't help it.

I didn't cry until we were driving out of the valley. The girls have called me 17 times today! Nice to know I am loved! As usual, our trip went waaaaay fast. We had a great time every day and I feel very grateful that we didn't have any problems and that we were able to have such a great time with our family members!

MOAB: The Finale

So on Monday morning everyone pulled up stakes and headed back to Salt Lake. Except us. We opted to stay for one more day. It was a little weird around camp and town. Everywhere it was packed, but now it wasn't. I kept looking for family members around camp. We took it easy all day. We went to the rock store. Sammy loves the rock store. She collects special rocks, so we always have to go there. It smells like B.O. from the old stinky archaeologist that works there. Then we headed to Main Street and hit the shops there. Of course Megan wanted a WebKinz. Number 15 people! But they gave her free banana spray with her purchase. Can it get better than that? Next up, the snow cone shack. Yummo. More relaxing. That night we decided would be a good night to celebrate Fathers Day. Since the girls will be in Salt Lake when that holiday comes around, we thought we would celebrate early. Since we had presents with us, Sammy promptly informed our waitress that it was her dad's birthday. Way to go sweetie! Free ice cream sundae! You could say it is his 1/2 birthday, maybe. Since we had presents we got away with it.

A Bocce Ball set!

A tear. Nate and I have a competition on who can pick out the chessiest cards for each other. The longer the poem, or the bigger the tri-fold the better. Here Nate is trying to hold back the emotion.


Horseshoes! Now we need to dig a pit in the backyard.


We played a lot of card games that night. Sometimes after hectic days it is nice to just relax, you know?
Up early on Tuesday to get ready to head to Salt Lake. Let me just say, today in Moab was GORGEOUS! By far the best weather day we had. Just our luck. It was unusually cool and blustery the whole time we were there. It is usually a 4 hour drive, we thought we could do it in 5 since we were such a big load. Nope, we did it in 3 1/2! Awesome! We hit our new trailer park in town. Yeah. Not as nice as the one in Moab for sure. Now I am at my moms house doing 4 loads of laundry. Fun!!!! You may be asking yourself, how could Jen be doing that much laundry? They weren't gone that long. When your kids go through 2 or 3 outfits a day, they quickly run out of clean clothes.
We had dinner tonight with my parents at Sampan. It looks like my dad still has flowers to plant, so I am looking forward to that. Planting flowers is something I miss so much! Hopefully he won't do them without me. I am happy to be here! Looking forward to Gardners Village, pedicures, and maybe TaiPan.

Just so you know, I guess this is the proper stance for playing Bocce Ball.

More MOAB

One of the best parts of coming to Moab is meeting up with cousins. Unfortunately, Sammy was handcuffed by Ian. Perhaps not the best part of being with cousins. (See crazy Uncle Jeff in the background?) We had a great night going into town to eat at Eddie McStiffs. I think they have fab steaks there, plus they have beer battered onion rings which I LOVE! We headed over to the T-Shirt Shop after dinner and let the girls pick out their customary t-shirts.
Megan's shirt says Go big or go home, and Sammy's says Silly boys, jeeps are for girls.

Another t-shirt surprise I got was from my brother. A couple of months ago, we got a hold on a slightly embarrassing picture of my brother Jeff. So I came up with the brilliant idea that we should put his picture on a shirt. Well, payback is a you-know-what. Unknown to me, my mom stole my 6th grade school picture when she was visiting us for Sammy's baptism and gave it to Jeff. So of course he had it made into a t-shirt. He got comments all over town. Yeah, '87 wasn't a real kind year to yours truly. It's all good. I just happened to be wearing my shirt with HIS picture on it.
We had sleepovers two nights in a row. My kids are in heaven!

Sunday was a fun day. We did a 2-3 mile hike that followed a river, so most of the time we were hiking in the river. The scenery here is unreal. We saw a lot of Indian art on the mountainside. It took a good chunk of the day, but we went with my sister and her kids, my brother and his fam, and my niece. Good company=time flys!


A Captain Morgan moment!


These petroglyphs were all over! They are amazing to see!

We found the Cowboys Bathtub!

Afterwards we were all starving so we headed over to Pasta Jays and stuffed our faces until we could hardly move.
After dinner we headed over to the sand hill. It is HUGE! And it has the softest sand you can imagine. Jeff was smart enough to bring little saucer sleds, so we spent a couple of hours sliding down the hill.

My poor brother was innocently cruising down the hill when out of the blue Nate tackled him!


The kids were so filthy when we got home! I say again, this hill is Gi-normous! And you get 12 feet up and you are exhausted. The kids don't seem to notice. Up and down, up and down. We had sand where you don't want to imagine. Sam even had it in her teeth!


















And I love this picture of Kaylee. She is a little sweaty, and it looks like she snuck into her moms make-up and colored her eyebrows!

For the perfect ending to a great day....head over to Kaleidoscoops for some bubble gum ice cream!

MOAB *Dancing with the Tards*

This morning we had our second annual "Dancing Competition". Last year my sister Mindi and nephew Zack were the only ones to enter. It was pretty serious stuff. This year we had a few more entries. Mindi and Megan, Zack and Scott, Ian, and Kaylee. You might not appreciate the pictures, but it was pretty fun. It is all the better knowing that we all suffer from lack of rhythm. I mean, seriously, no rhythm at all.I think I would declare Kaylee the winner for her Napoleon Dynamite impression.















Ian wanted to join in on the fun. He had some pretty good moves, I must say. But NO music!!! He insisted on that.

Mindi had Megan join her team for the dance this year. They didn't practice before and you couldn't even tell! Yes you could. But it was fun.















Finally, the reigning champion from last year, Zack and his dad Scott joined up today. They did a great job.















I'm not sure if anyone was crowned the winner. You can see we had some pretty serious judges.

The more check marks you got, the higher your score. I'm just not sure how a person would go about earning the check marks. I know Zack announced that if you have danced two years in a row than you must retire. I guess the pressure is getting to him. We'll see who will join in next year. I kind of would like to see Nate up there.

MOAB! part 1

We left home about 4:30 in the am on Friday. It was still raining where we are. This is what we encountered in Flagstaff. Can you believe it is the end of May in Arizona!!!!


We filled up with gas in Cameron, and the pumps shut off at $100. When we got to Moab, we filled up again. This is where the pumps shut off here. Luckily we were almost full at this point!

It is a lot of fun to ride in the motor home. It's really nice when you leave early in the morning and you can sleep! I will say, this baby rocks like you wouldn't believe. Poor Megan gets car sick really easily, but this time it really got her. Last night when we went to bed, I still felt the movement! Nate will testify that it is truly priceless to not have to stop for bathroom breaks. Riding with three females, he always has to stop more than he wants to! :)
We got our rented Jeeps last night! We did a favorite trail called Fins N Things. I wish the pictures would do it more justice. We are in the red Jeep and my brother is in the Yellow.

There are times when you are literally going straight down or straight up. It can be nerve wracking! When we went yesterday Sam wouldn't stop screaming that she was going to die, but she was the first to raise her hand and ask to go again today!

After we jeeped that trail, we took a hike trying to find a fun place named The Cowboys Bathtub. There is a lot of fun trails and water holes here to play in. We didn't find what we were looking for, but that's okay. I wish I could bottle up the smell in the air here. It is so yummy and fresh!

The boys took the Jeeps out again this morning. I guess Nate and Jeff were feeling a little spunky as they were racing down the trail. Nate bottomed out and bent up a shock. Good thing it's a rental! He did say it was awesome!

The girls headed over to the park where there was an art festival going on. Fun stuff! We found these bubble sticks for sale...and we enjoyed homemade ice cream!








Nate is out Jeeping again. Gotta turn that in tonight. Hope they don't notice the shock....kids are running around, having fun with their cousins. I love to come to Moab, but it is so great when my whole family can be here together! It has been great fun to see everyone, catch up on news and tease each other!

*UPDATE* Nate tried to go Jeeping again this afternoon. Until the shock completely snapped. So the poor guy is out there right now replacing it. I'm glad he is handy and can fix things like that! I would hate to see how much the rental company would charge.