Utah

We took a trip to Utah in the beginning of October. We spent about 4 days with Tom and Lory (Cory's brother and his family). The kids absolutely LOVED the time they spent with their cousins. I'm mad at myself because I didn't get 1 pictures of the boys with their cousins playing.

We left Phoenix Friday afternoon and drove about 8 hours to a little town called Filmore, UT. We pent the night at a cheap little hotel that served an amazing hot breakfast. The kids always get so excited about sleeping in hotels. They don't even care if the place is practically a dump .Our bathroom sink was leaking, so we had to use the tub for any of our water needs - washing hands, brushing teeth, washing bottles... It was FREEZING cold that morning, and I was grateful I lived in Arizona.

Saturday morning after breakfast we hopped in the car and drove to Tom's house (while listening to conference on the radio). Tom and Lori live in a really fun neighborhood where I felt safe just letting the boys run outside and play in the front yard without supervision. They also have a huge common area (the ravine is what they call it) that has a rope swing. That afternoon we walked down to the ravine and the kids took turns on the rope swing, and just running around in the grassy yard.

The next few days were filled with going to parks, doing crafts and playing at home and going to a pumpkin patch with Halle and Kiera's home school group (their cousins). One day the children decorated the basement as a haunted house and had the adults come down so they could scare us. I loved seeing my kids so enthralled in so much creative play. I got to spend a ton of time chatting with Lory and eating. I seriously gained a lot of weight on the trip. Lory just kept cooking and feeding us. My favorite was her AMAZING homemade granola. I still need to get that recipe from her.

Tuesday morning we packed up and let the kids play until lunch time. Then we started our drive back home. I really wanted to stop at the Jordan River temple (where Cory and I were sealed) and get a family picture. Christopher was asleep when we got there, so we decided to just get the other two that were awake out of the car for pictures. There's something special/different to be able to take your children to the temple your family was sealed and show them were it all began. I couldn't help but think about our wedding day and how they were present in spirit that day during the sealing, but now I had them physically here with me. How grateful I am for the temple and the sealing ordinance. It brings me great peace to know I have my family with me for eternity.

After the temple we made another stop at BYU. First we took the kids to the BYU creamery where I worked. We all got ice cream scoops. I LOVE their ice cream. It is so rich and tasty. They remodeled the place and tore down all of DT (Deseret Towers where I first lived). It was fun seeing how everything has changed. Next stop was at the actual campus. We ate lunch at the Cougareat (I know we had ice cream first and then lunch), did some shopping at the bookstore and took pictures. I was able to brainwash encourage Christopher into wanting to go to BYU. Now when you ask him where he wants to go to college he says "BYU, and I need to get A's to go there." I love that kid!!!

This was actually mine and the kids first time at a real pumpkin patch. We each got to pick our pumpkins straight out of the vine.

 My little dare devil. He's never content just doing things safely. I love this picture of him jumping on to the slide.

 Jordan River Temple and BYU