we officially survived our first road trip with three kids! i have been dreading the idea of 23+ hours in the car with my 3 rugrats since we first planned our vacation. mason and sophie are great in the car but brooklyn is a nightmare. a few weeks ago i had to drop mason off at a birthday party which was about 20 minutes away. b screamed the whole way there and the whole way back. i just knew this was a glimpse of what i was going to be dealing with on the way to utah. when all was said and done, i was shocked. b did so amazingly great!! we only had one or two crying episodes which didnt even last too long. and thank goodness we decided to go with a third row when we bought our car a few years ago. we would not have survived in a 5 passenger car. mason and sophie sat in the very back then i sat in the middle row with b to keep her entertained and fed. ahh. sigh of relief that the drive went better than anticipated. the rest of the trip was awesome too. we headed to st. george first and had swim/dinner get togethers with both sides of curtis' family. it was so great getting to visit with everyone, including family members who we haven't seen in several years. as usual the kids had a blast swimming. they are actually pretty good swimmers and brave with water so i just slapped on their floaties and let them go (with a grown up hovering nearby of course!).
this is mason going down the slide with casey.
mason, sarah, and me
sophie and grandpa
curtis and his dad were throwing the kids into the pool. they loved it!
you would think after two nights of swimming at james and michelles house we would be all watered out but no sir! we had to throw a trip to the lake in there too! it made me think of the times we have gone to lake powell with this great family. i miss those trips but this was close enough :) we ate lunch, played on the beach, went tubing and cliff jumping. it was so much fun! we are so grateful to the sullivans for letting us invade their house for the week and taking us to the lake!
mason, amanda and sophie
sarah, sophie and mason building sand castles
curtis and nathan
casey and sophie out on the boat
this is mason, sarah, esther and curtis out on the tube. this was the first time mason has been big enough to ride and he was laughing and smiling the whole time. i keep kicking myself for not getting a video of it. it was so funny watching how much he was loving it. it still brings a smile to my face when i think about it :)
out on the tube with some of my favorite girls, amanda and sarah
i didn't participate in cliff jumping this year but this is the crazy bunch that did.
eventually our time in st. george came to an end. we left the kiddos with curtis' parents for the night so curtis and i could attend my sisters wedding in manti the next day. i didn't get any pictures on my camera but it was beautiful! curtis and i got married in the same temple 7 years ago and we haven't been back since curtis' sister got married there a few months after we did. it was great to go back for such a special event! i have only met my new brother in law over skype once but curtis' family knows him and his family from years ago and I'm super excited for the two of them. they had lunch at the same place curtis and i did then we headed back to cedar for the reception. although there were some issues, everything worked out perfectly in the end. it was great seeing the two of them so happy and i got the chance to talk with lots of family and members of my parents ward that i haven't seen since i got married.
this is the kiddies with my mom and grandma
once we all recovered from the crazy wedding madness a few of us decided to take a mountain biking trip. usually i stay home while curtis goes with my dad and siblings. this time my sister was on her honeymoon and one of my brothers had gone back to missouri after the wedding which meant there was an extra bike for me! i was nervous and i just about died but it was so much fun! curtis and i even had a coyote run across the trail in front of us which was quite a surprise. i hope i can go with them again!
a few other things lacking visual representation:
curtis went shooting with his dad and brothers. he also got in a round of golf with an old friend.
we had a dinner with all the adults in curtis' immediate family
i went to lunch and a movie with my mother in law and sister in law
one of our good friends was celebrating her 30th birthday so we went to her party and caught up with our little group that we used to hang out with.
this picture pretty much sums up our trip. lots of adventures, to bed late every night, lots of laughter and love.
until next time, we love you all and thanks for a great time!!
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