Utah trip

Our trip to Utah was fantastic! Garret & Kira had lots of fun with their cousins and of course, Uncle Chris. Here is a review of our trip. Enjoy!

Our first Friday, Brent took us to Fort Douglas so that Garret could see "TANKS!" He was thrilled. Afterwards, he and Chris took a ride on Trax. Garret got to see tanks and ride the train. He was in Heaven. That evening we enjoyed a long swim in the Alvey's pool. It was great.

Saturday morning, we stuffed ourselves with breakfast at the Golden Corral. The food was good but the orange juice was bad. Claudia ate so much that she didn't eat again until dinner Sunday evening. Then we just hung around the house, hit tennis balls, mowed the lawn, and whatever else we felt like doing until everyone else arrived. Once the Pingrees came, all of the boys, Kira, Addie, and Gamme and Grandpa went swimming. And the big girls went to see the Police. Sting looks old and skinny, at least from far away. But he sounded great! We were kind of entertained by a lady that thought she was really getting down to the music but looked more like she was in an exercising step class. Weirdo. And of course, Cori was hit on. I think that happens everytime I am with her! Still waiting on pictures from the concert. I will post those as soon as I get them.

Kira loved the slide! And Rich loved taking her under water. I guess it's time to get her into swimming lessons.

Seth, Steve, Addie and Garret

Sunday was church. Most of us managed to get ready on time. There were 14 people all trying to shower that morning! Rich, Garret, and Kira had to leave before sacrament ended. Garret was really sick and running a fever. So Rich took him home and he ended up sleeping over 3 hours. It was so needed. Claudia taught the lesson in Relief Society. She recruited Jillana and Jennie to play a couple of musical numbers. They were great! Claudia was too funny teaching but she did a fine job. After church, we enjoyed a yummy dinner and a visit with Great Grandma. It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the heat and sun! Later we went on a walk down Bountiful Blvd. Rich and Chris did their usual throwing a frisbee across the street to one another. They came so close to some cars. Some people thought it was great and would stick their hands out of the vehicles and pretend to catch the frisbee. Others just gave them some serious looks. Luckily, the frisbee was over thrown and ended up on the golf course. While Rich and Garret headed to retreve it, the Bountiful police showed up. But they didn't stop because we didn't have the frisbee. Ha, ha. It was very entertaining.

Nancy, Kira, Jillana, and Addie

Great Grandma, Garret, Cayden, Seth, Chris, and Cori's back (that we killed at least 3 spiders on that evening)

Jennie striking a pose

Monday, Chris was very nice and let the boys play with his super duper flying V guitar. Garret kept telling me how much he "rocks." The boys loved it. Thanks Chris. That evening was the Yeates family reunion. Garret was still feeling pretty bad but Rich managed to talk him into staying by promising a game of baseball. The kids had a super time running around the park and eating lots of food. I had two peices of cake that weren't even that good but I just wanted the sugar. So bad! It was a fun night and great seeing extended family.

Seth and Cayden. Aren't they cute?

Garret rocking out!

Rich is trying to talk Garret into staying at the family reuion. He was still feeling icky.

Garret, Kira, Addie, Cayden, and Seth... Soooo cute!

Tuesday we went to Lagoon. It was a long day but lots of fun. It started out by Rich, Claudia, Jillana, Cori, and Chris all rushing off to a bank to open a new account so that they could get free Lagoon passes. I thought they were crazy at first but when they came back with the free passes, I was very glad. Garret and Cayden loved riding the rollar coasters with all of the adults. Seth loved the music express. Oh how I would have died on that ride. Motion sickness! The little girls even loved the rides. The first ride for Kira, Addie, and Seth was the merry go round. When the ride ended and I went to get Kira, before I could even reach her, she was swinging her arms at me so that I couldn't get her off of it. She was having so much fun. The little girls were too cute on the rides together. The scariest ride for me was the dumb sky ride. It's just like a ski lift but I hated it! The wild mouse was scary too. We all LOVED Wicked, except for Steve, who wouldn't even go on it! He preferred Music Express with Seth. We also played at Lagoona Beach. It was okay. The ground hurt my feet. Gamme was nice enough to take the little girls home that evening so that the rest of us could stay. Kira was so worn out that she fell asleep in the stroller on the way to the car! It was a great day! And even though I was completely exhausted, I still managed to stay up until 3 am with Jillana, Jennie, and Cori! I haven't been up that late in 10 years!

Addie and Kira

On Wednesday, Nancy, Jennie, Cori, and Claudia headed to Jonny's for a haircut. I think Cori's haircut is so cute. I wish my hair was like hers. Anyway, that afternoon, we ventured off to the Bountiful Pioneer Day Parade. We were all kind of dreading it but knew that the kids would enjoy it. Well, we all ended up having a great time. And for those of you who know what Bukoos is, they even had a float and were throwing stuffed animals out. I think that had to be Claudia's favorite float. We all just laughed our heads off when we saw that. The kids got tons of candy, mainly saltwater taffy. And Garret danced each time the bands played. After the parade, we popped our own fireworks. One of the tanks shot Steve. Brent loved getting the blow torch out so that he could light the fireworks with it. And Rich had fun throwing the flowers into the street. Illegal! Then we all settled down in the grass to watch the Mulluer Park fireworks. Then it was off to bed.

Thursday we went to a waterfall. The water was cold but that didn't stop Garret and Kira from getting in. Kira was wet up to her chest. All of the boys and Cori, climbed up the mountain and behind the waterfall. I thought the waterfall was great. That evening we went to the Bees baseball game. It was packed! There were so many people there. We barely got a place to sit on the grass. But it was fun and there was a great fireworks show after the game.

Garret
Rich, Garret, Steve, and Cori

Garret, Cayden, Steve, part of Rich, and Seth


Rich man handling Chris

Rich even enjoyed the slide

Friday morning, the boys went flying with Grandpa in his Bravo Whiskey airplane. It is always a treat to hang out at the hanger. They got rides on the go-kart and helped fix the runway lights. Rich put new brakes on the car and changed it's oil. It was a busy day down at the hanger. I was there with Kira for a little bit but she finally had enough. So, Steve took me and a very loud crying Kira back to the house. Thanks Steve. That evening we went to visit Great Grandma. The kids played with the train and we all visited the "scary" underground level in her house. Then we had dinner at Wendy's. It was tasty. When we got home, we all sat around and just talked. Claudia had taken her ambien. So during the conversations, she kind of started acting like a nut. She was seeing double and just talking crazy. It was really funny! I'm laughing now just thinking about it. So if you take ambien, BEWARE! It just might make you silly.

Saturday morning, Gamme and Chris took the kids off to the park while we all packed. It was a day of sad goodbyes. But I am so happy about the time we got to spend there. On the way home, we made a small detour and went to the Golden Spike. Garret and Kira loved seeing the trains. It was a pretty cool place. I will put pictures up in the next couple of days. Then we headed back to Washington. We got in at 2am. It felt great to lay down and go to sleep!

Thank you all for the great time! I can't wait to do it again.