Utah

It all stared here, packed into the Suburban at 6am headed to Richfield, Utah. 16 hours later we reached our destination. All things considered, there was very little whining, crying or fighting. . .thank heavens for the DVD player! The day after we arrived was Easter Sunday. A couple of my Aunts and Uncles and cousins came over for dinner, decorating eggs, and a quick easter egg hunt between downpours of rain.

My Uncle Steve (sown here teaching techniques) is an artist and decorating eggs with him was serious business. He showed up with two big boxes of supplies. The kids had great fun!Carter's favorite used a rubber band technique.

Syd's favorite used a feather brushing technique (my fav too!)

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very cooperative while we were there. We only got about a day and a half of good weather. . . the reast were cold and rainy. So we entertained ourselves with indoor activities.

A sing-a-long with Grandpa Russ (all my kids call him Grandpa Howdy). The favs were "Skinny Minny" and "You are my Sunshine."

Syudney got to spend an afternoon with Mackenzie at my Qunt Larisa's dance studio for a little private lesson. She also got to pick out a leftover costume from the closet there. They came back to the house and performed for us, it was so adorable! Kenzie is so great with my kids.

On the first day Olivia was leery of everyone and wouldn't let anyone but me hold her or help her. Kenzie walked in (she had been in Salt Lake and was late to the gathering) and Olivia ran straight into her arms. There must be some sort of bond from when Kenzie came to help me when Olivia was a newborn.

The kids spent hours playing "chicken foot," a domino game my Grandma Sharon taught them.

Finally, the sun came out and we got to play outside!

I've always loved their brick wall around their porch.

My grandparents currently lease their land to a sod farmer. It was gorgeous to see their house surrounded by 7 acres of lush, green grass. Plus, it was the perfect place for Carter to finally test out the golf clubs he got for Christmas.

Grandpa Howdy is almost 80 but he is still super fun for the kids to be with. He got out his side by side 4-wheeler and took the kids on some rides.
This thing can go about 60 miles per hour but as they were heading down the canal back to the house, they were going much slower than that.
I realized as they got closer, it was because Carter was driving! So fun!

Somehow, I got talked into making the wedding cake with my Aunt Bonnie. The bottom two layers were styrofoam so it was no problem but I had to make a top layer that was 6" tall that they could cut and feed each other at the reception. That proved to be difficult. I made cake 3 different days, and ways to try to get the perfect rounds. Luckily, it was covered with these Piroline cookies so it was very forgiving.

I thought it turned out pretty amazing all things considered. I can't take credit for the flowers, my Aunt Larisa did those, but the rest was me. . .hard to believe. It's not a trip to Utah without a horse ride. My Grandpa sold his horses recently, but luckily he sold them to friends who say he can come ride them any time.

Sydney loved riding and took several turns.

Carter also loved it and ended up trying it on his own without my mom leading the horse.

Derek prefered to ride with Grandma Julia.

Olivia just hated it. She kept telling me "He scares me, horsey."
In between turns, the kids played on this gravel pile. I love the look on Carter's face as he sleds down. Who needs toys? Just give them some sunshine and a bunch of space, they'll figure something out.

I couldn't get enough of Olivia in her jeans and cowboy boots. It was too cute!

This is where we ate lunch EVERY day we were there (between Taco Time and the cake rejects, I think I gained 5 pounds that week :) Carter even got to go there for breakfast a couple of times. Grandpa goes in to get the paper and throw out trash some mornings so he brought Carter and let him have crustos and Coke for breakfast. . .he's the great-grandpa, what can you do?

The last day we were there was the wedding. They did the reception the night before the temple wedding (weird, I know) but here are some pics of the reception.

They had a table with a bunch of cute clear candy jars all filled with black and red candies (the wedding colors). They also had this table of amazing cupcakes. The kids were in heaven!

The Manti temple is one of my favorites. It is so big and gorgeous, what a fun place to get married. My cousin forgot her marriage liscense though, so we all waited 2+ hours while they went down to the courthouse and got another one. I was not very patient and worried about my kids in the ansilary with Mackenzie but we all made it through and it will be a funny story for them to tell when they are old!