Utah Vacation

This week we got home from Utah. And I have to say it was pretty much the best Utah vacation ever. Partly, this is due to the fact that my kids are getting older. For example, the plane ride was still not exactly relaxing, but nobody cried for 2 hours straight either. In fact, I actually whipped out my book for a few minutes here and there (though I'm not sure that Kip, who had Emma, did).

Also, this was the first year that we could actually do and enjoy some classic Utah things. We went on several hikes (Savannah skipped out on our most adventurous due to an enormous meltdown).

Adam's canyon with Auntie Shelle and cousing Johah pre-meltdown.

Adam's canyon waterfall without Savannah who went back with her cousin and aunt to watch Charlie and Lola in the car. 

Me and the kids behind a waterfall. Yeah, we're cool. 

Ensign Peak with my brother Jake and his dog, Charlie. 

Savannah didn't melt down on this hike. This picture makes me want to give her one giant squeeze. 

We went to Temple Square. Yes, the two youngest were losing it at the end, but the rest of it was pretty fun.

Mark took this picture. I think it's pretty cool. 

All of us and a bit of the temple. 

Savannah about 14 seconds after we got in the car. 

Also, although neither we nor the kids went to bed at a decent hour, the kids did (mostly) go to sleep instead of spending the vacation waking up hundreds of times throughout the night and finally sleeping in our bed kicking us in the ribs all night (although Emma had a few middle of the night crying bouts--still it was better than the usual). As if that wasn't dreamy enough, Kip and I got to sleep in several mornings during our stay while other people fed our children. Wow.

I never cooked a thing. Or swept a floor. It wasn't until I got home and had to (almost immediately) sweep the floor that I realized how pampered I'd been and to feel bad that I hadn't been more grateful and gracious about it on our trip.

And of course, we got to see our friends and families. We saw some of our closest friends. Mark's little male cousins followed him around in a worshipful way. Some kids might get annoyed, but Mark seemed to really enjoy it. We got to go to Kip's family reunion where I met several cousins I hadn't before and got to know some a little better whom I'd only met briefly at weddings. We hung out with our respective siblings. We dined in Kip's parents' gorgeous Eden-ville yard. We got to swim in Mom's pool and spend some relaxing time with Mom, which I really really enjoyed. The kids got to meet their Great Grandma and Grandpa Johnson (my side) and their Great Grandma B (Kip's side). That's right, the kids met their three surviving great grandparents all in one trip. Did we get pictures of any of these great grandparents with the kids? Of course not. Why would we think to do such an historically significant thing? I'm still a little broken-hearted about it. In fact, pictures of the regular grandparents were a little sparse too. Don't worry. We got significant pictures like this:

Nose picking at the reunion. 

Ice cream eating with Grandma cut off in the background (maybe if Grandma had been sporting such a chic forehead band-aid, her face could have been featured). 

Oh, and let's not forget this significant vacation picture. 

Oh well, hopefully history and grandparents and great-grandparents forgive us. If not, I guess there's always photoshop, right?

The weather was great the whole time.

The company was great the whole time.

I was tired and satisfied when we got home (at 1:30 am). And then, as if to taunt us, it was, like 103 degrees here in Evansville and our neighbor's dog woke us up yapping its yappies off at 7:00am (we went back to sleep thankfully). Then my kids had the nerve to want me to feed them breakfast. And I had to sweep the floor and do laundry. Lame. Lame. Lame.

We still haven't quite gotten used to going to bed on time and I felt a little jet-laggy for the first day or two (I think because of our late night/early morning arrival at home). It's improved since then. But it sure was a nice vacation.