The Big Utah Trip

Okay, this is the worst part of not blogging for so long. Now that I'm finally getting around to posting about some older events, I can't remember all the details. And this blog is supposed to be our family journal, so that's kind of important. At least I took a lot of pictures, so I'll try to recreate what I can of this monumental, 2 week trip.

First of all, our warmest thanks to Kim & Lindsay Moore of Provo, UT for putting us up... the entire time! Yes, they are the bestest friends ever. And a big thanks to Marcy Wilkinson and Lori Young, for being willing to put us up for part of this - somehow it never worked out and we just stayed and stayed in Provo. Alden still tells me 2 or 3 times a week that he misses Lauren and Ella. Well, we did make a lot of good memories with them. I miss all the Moores too, even Kim. But I'm so glad we did this - because by now, I think the Moores have actually relocated to Virginia, where Kim has a new, fancy job. And I think that might be too far for a road trip for us. But hey, we'll save our money for plane tickets.

Amazingly the trip up went pretty well. I drove alone with the boys, and they were much better than I anticipated. Thank goodness for DVD players. Even Emmett seemed interested for a minute or two. Once we hit Provo the fun began and we went to a BBQ with the Moores at Salem Lake. The boys had their first canoe ride, which was all of 5 minutes long - but good enough. Emmett cried the whole way because he didn't want me to hold him but I wasn't about to let him down. During that first week we spent time with the Youngs in Orem. Alden loves those boys and would follow anything they did. They jumped on the tramp, rode bikes, and played in the water. All while I tried to keep Emmett out of trouble and enjoy visiting with Lori. We also spent a morning with Shannon, her sister Marcy, and their 5 girls. Very fun, but kind of weird. Considering Shannon and I hadn't seen each other in 9 months, we should have had a lot of catching up to do. But since we talk constantly on the phone - we didn't have any new stuff and we just picked up where we left off. Except I was the one pregnant - and she is super skinny now. I love her newest, Lucy, whom we had never met. Emmett was quite taken with her too - as I posted previously, with a very cute picture. Alden and Callie get along much better now that they're a little bit older, and their boy/girl differences are much clearer now.

Meanwhile, at the Moore's, we played in the sprinklers with our old BYU roommate, Molly, who was in town with her two girls. And the next day Molly's clan joined us again at the Wilkinson Center for a little more bowling. I swear this is the part of our last trip Alden talked about most. We had fun with just the Mom's this time, and Lauren had the high score. Of course, we topped this outing off with kid's hamburger combos at the Creamery on 9th. Mmmmm!

And the last day of our vacation sans Aaron we spent at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. Kim even took the day off from the bar review and came along. I wish I could say it was worth it. First of all, the zoo is approximately 679 miles from Provo. And hard to find. We wandered for quite a while and called for directions 3 times before we finally found it. And compared to the Phoenix zoo, this one is pretty small. But the kids enjoyed it, especially the white alligator. And the train, which is always Alden's favorite part.

Thanks goodness Aaron flew up after only 4 days, but I gotta say - if Lindsay were around all the time life would be easier. She watched kids while I took naps, helped discipline, feed, etc.

Our first family outing was the Childrens Parade down Center Street in Provo. This was so fun! So many kids and families; dressed up, decorated bikes, wagons, and everything. I posted about it in my last MMSM post - Alden had a wonderful time pedaling his trike the entire way.

After a favorite (Tara's) El Azteca lunch on Saturday, and a not too eventful sacarament meeting, we spent Sunday afternoon and dinner with Marcy, Shannon, & families. Aren't we so cute, all paired up! I swear Shannon & I are not holding hands.

Thanks you two for the wonderful dinner of pulled pork, Shannon's homemade refried beans (which we really miss), and all the good fixings for burritos.

The next day, Monday, we headed to the new Utah Ikea for breakfast and shopping. Marcy & Shannon brought their babies, and Lindsay even skipped swimming lessons and brought the girls. We had fun showing off our favorite store to the newbies - and lamenting the differences between the restaraunts in UT and AZ (AZ is better). We couldn't buy much, having to get home and all - but Marcy sure seemed interested in a lot of things. She'll have to bring a moving van next time to pick up all her new stuff.

Monday was also July 2nd, and Lindsay's birthday! We had a little girl time (shopping) together and I made her a cake. Yes, that is a pink peep on top - and yes, they do light on fire. Ask Lindsay.

The next morning (Tues 7/3) we tried to go the the hot air balloon festival, but missed it by an hour. This was the only time all trip that we put the boy's sweatshirts on. We continued the party with breakfast at Cracker Barrel, a Carpenter favorite since Florida. The food was good, the kids (ours) were decent, and Emmett ate his first cigarette butt. Yes, ate it. Well, mostly. My poor baby had smoker's breath for hours, even though I wiped out his mouth with a wipe.

We got together with Aaron's sisters, Rachel & Sally, and their families for picnic that evening. Alden loves playing with his cousins and we really enjoyed visiting with everyone. Alden like kickin' it with Jarren too! Gotta love all the BYU apparel from last trip.

Ahhh, the 4th of July in Provo! And being only 2 blocks from the parade route! And having friends who saved awesome spots and provided a yummy breakfast! Obviously the parade was lots of fun - Alden enjoyed it tons, being his first parade of rememberance. His favorite part was probably the group of Star Wars costumed people who walked in the pre-parade. Yes, this is a real thing. The costumes were pretty awesome and Alden couldn't stop talking about it. Too bad Aaron missed it - he stayed home with Emmett until after morning naps. We would have skipped the naps, but Emmett woke up with a pretty good fever and was obviously not feeling well. They did make it for the parade and Emmett was happy to sit on my lap a watch, a testament to his illness. Alden also liked the "soldiers," of which they were many kinds, and the flag. He waved to everyone.

The whole vacations kind of went downhill from there. Emmett got worse and worse and after two days of sitting on my lap crying and us cancelling plans, I took him to the doctor, who diagnosed "raging" ear infections in both ears and put him on the expensive antibiotics. The pharmacist told me not the break the (glass) bottle or spill it because it was like $100 retail. We just sat around a lot after that and Aaron & I took turns doing some fun stuff - golfing for him, more shopping for me. Poor Alden was stuck at home for a few days, and he and the Moore girls started getting on each other's nerves. Thanks goodness we left early Saturday morning - giving everyone a much needed break.

Man, what a trip. I know this post was super long - it took me like 9 days to write about it. Thank goodness for autosave on Blogger.