Areya's trip to Utah 2011

The next morning Areya and my mom flew home to Utah. My parents wants to take the kids for a week each summer (once they are old enough) to spend a little time with them since we live so far away. Since Areya is the only one old enough to go this year she got to go alone. She was super excited to go and spend time with Grandma, Pa pa, Uncle Fat Head & Aunt Shaylee, Uncle Sam & Aunt Dawn and of course her cousins. She also got to spend time with some friends and got to do lots of fun things.

Grandma and Areya on the plane to Utah

There is a family in my parents ward who have pigs and rabbits which they walk every day. Areya was excited to help and had a fun time, she even came home asking for one of each.

Walking the pigs

On one of the days they went to the Zoo. This year they had a dinosaur exhibit with dinosaurs placed through out the zoo. Areya had a lot of un seeing the animals, riding the train, and playing on the toys.

She got to milk a cow at the children's museum in Ogden and spend some time with Uncle Sam, Aunt Dawn and her cousins. They also went to the Hill Air Force Base museum and checked out all the air planes.

Areya loves horses and was so excited when she got to ride one while spending some time with Uncle Tj and Aunt Shaylee. She also enjoyed watching fire works with them on the 4th of July!!

The next morning she got on an airplane and flew home all by herself. She was so excited and proud to be able to alone.

Her flight landed 30 minutes early. By the time I got a pass to meet her at the gate and got through security oh and run all the way to the gate she wasn't there. They had taken her down to the ticket counter where I started out. Oh well, every thing worked out and she had an amazing time.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for having her!

Tennessee 2011 day 7

Saturday morning we loaded up and said goodbye as we started on our 10 hour drive back home. With Matt, Amanda, the dog and mom in one car and Keilah and us in the other we headed out.

Saying goodbye to Tj and Shaylee, we had a great time with them and enjoyed see them again. Can't wait until we get to see each other again. We love you guys and are so happy you could come.

Driving..........

All our kids

Ready to be home already

Aniela being silly

10 hours and at least 10 to 15 stops later we finally made it home. I forgot what it was like traveling during the day and having young kids who need to stop so often.

Thanks to Kimmy and Mike for having us and for the great time. We love and miss you guys. It was a great trip and was so nice seeing so much of our family all in one place.

Tennessee 2011 day 6

Our last day there we went to the park and played a game of kick ball, girls against boys, then played on the toys. There was this really neat play house made out of wood and rope. It had a neat crows nest, rope course and swings.

Areya loving the kitten.

After some rest and lunch we got ready for the drive-in movie (made lots and lots of popcorn). Cars 2 and the Green Lantern were playing that night. Here are the girls playing in the back of the van while waiting for the movies to start.

Waiting for the movie to start.

The beautiful sunset

Cars 2 was super cute and the girls made it through the whole movie. Damian decided he wanted to watch the Green Lantern too so we stayed for it. Aniela only made it about 10 minutes into the movie before she was sound asleep. Areya made it a little while longer and I only made it about half way through the movie. I guess I'll have to watch it again some time to see how it ended.

Tennessee 2011 day 5

Thursday we went to the lake for a fun day of swimming. This was Taevin's first time in cool water and I wasn't sure how he would do, after a few minutes he calmed right down and seemed to enjoy himself.

After a while someone got the idea to jump off the bridge. I was all for it and ended up jumping off 3 times. Matt also tried it a few times along with my aunt, uncle, several cousins, mom and brother Tj. Here is a short video of a few of us jumping.

Tennessee 2011 day 4

On Wednesday we headed back up to Pigeon Forge which is like a mini Vegas for kids. It has go carts, mini golf, shops, rides, arcades, skating, Dolly World (Dolly Parton's amusement park), indoor sky diving, water parks, and so so much more.

After visiting a few shops, lunch and looking around we met up with some of our cousins and went on the go carts.

This is one of the cool building there.

On our way back to the house we stopped at a road side stand and got some really Tennessee BBQ and home made ice cream. Yummy!!

Tennessee 2011 day 3

The next day we went to River Rat and floated down the river. It takes just over and hour to go down once. There are places you can get off your tube and swim, rocks to jump off and a rope swing.
On our second time down Tj and Damian decided to try out the Kayaks. They said it was so much better then the tubes. We went down this same river that last time we went to TN and on our way down Aniela fell asleep so it was only fitting that she again fell asleep. Taevin and his cousin Beau stayed home with Grandma Great this day but had lots of fun playing and getting Grandma time in.

It was a fun day and after we got back to the house everyone went swimming in my aunt and uncle's pool.

Tennessee 2011 day 2

On Monday we drove to Pigeon Forge and went to Wonder Works. (click on the name and it will take you to their site) The building was built upside down, even the inside and was really cool. Inside we got to rock climb, experience what a tornado and earth feels like, lay on a bed of nails, do a rope course and many many other fun things. One other thing that was pretty cool was you could test how long you can keep your hand in the water that was the same temperature as the water the day the Titanic sank. It was super cold! I only lasted 43 seconds before pulling my hand out and I was the longest in our group.

We spent several hours going through, left for a quick lunch and then headed back to finish. There was so much to see and do.

Family Vacation 2011

For our family vacation this year we went to Tennessee to visit my Aunt & Uncle & Grandma who live there. All 4 of their kids + families made it from all over the country. (Alaska, Colorado, Utah and NY)

My Mom, Matt & his fiancé Amanda, Tj, Shaylee & Beau, also made the trip from Illinois and Utah. Along with us and our "Nanny" Keilah.

We left Friday night after Damian got off work and drove the 10 hours only stopping a few times for gas and potty breaks. It was nice missing most of the traffic (except for Chicago) and the fact that the kids slept for most of the trip.

After getting there on Saturday we just hung out, visited with family, swam and napped. The next day a group of us made the hour drive to Gatlinburg to the Ripley's Aquarium.

We got to see and touch sting rays and horse shoe cra

bs. They have a moving walk way that takes you through the shark tunnel. There was lots to look and we had a great time exploring all the fun ocean life.

After the aquarium we walked the street looking at all the neat shops. We got to watch fresh taffy being made and ate hand dipped corn dogs. After a few visits to the candy shops and seeing all the fun things that town had to offer we made the trip back to Greenback.

On our way back Aniela

needed a potty break and as we were looking for a place to stop a little dog ran across the street almost getting hit. We stopped to let her go potty and the little dog jumped right in our car. We ended up bringing it back with us.

Introducing "Monster" he ended up living with us for just about a month and we finally found him a nice home.