Awesome Summer Adventures

This year as we were planning our summer I decided that I would go out to Utah before our Wills family reunion to spend some time with my family.  I planned to go out a week early and let the boys go to a BYU basketball camp and enjoy some family time.  As the time came closer I decided to head out a week earlier so that we could drop Mark off at BYU to start school.  This would make a total of 3 weeks that I planned to be in Utah.

Wednesday night, we were leaving Friday night, Erin was doubled over in excruciating pain.  She couldn't even walk without help.  Off to the ER we went.  After hours in the ER she was diagnosed with a ruptured ovarian cyst.  This on its own is very painful but it caused a couple other complications so she was admitted for observation overnight.  At this point I was wondering how we would get 2 boys out to Utah in time for school and still manage a sick child.  She was sent home with some strong pain killers ready for a long drive.  Turned out the pain killers were great and Erin slept for 80% of the drive.  As we hit the western edge of Wyoming Erin started to get very sick.  She battled nausea the rest of the drive.  As we were heading into Utah, Mark and Simeon informed us that they wanted to be dropped off that night to their new apartment.  At 11:30 that night we pulled into Provo and moved in 2 very excited boys.  We then headed to Sandy which had the closest hotel with a vacancy.  There Erin ended up very sick to her stomach all night.  (She was having a blast of a vacation.)

The next day we headed to Park City to enjoy a little family time before Dale headed back to MN.  Erin was a trooper, and although she was feeling better, she really wanted to just sleep.

The kids had a good time being goofy and looking around at the Olympic park.

    

After the Olympic park we went to the Aquarium in Sandy.

Trying to pet the rays was the highlight of the Aquarium.

The best part is when Jared finally was able to pet one it flopped around and acted like it was going to attack him.

We hiked to the Tempanogas caves.   It was a beautiful hike and the boys enjoyed the scenery.  We talked Aunt Danya, Anna, Aunt Carol and Grandma Westaway into joining us.

The boys loved spending time with Elaine.

Fun group photo inside the caves.

We had a fun visit at the Aerospace Museum in Ogden.  The kids all loved looking at the planes.  They all took turns taking pictures with my camera.  I had to do quite a bit of clean up on my camera after.  There were a lot of random pictures on it.

The kids all had fun looking at the plane that Grandpa Westaway helped develop weapon software for.

One Sunday the Thunderbirds were performing at Hill Air Force Base.  We all converged upon Chris and Carol's house to watch the show and then eat dinner.  It was fun to watch everyone's reactions to the stunts.

We picked a rainy, blustery day to go to the lake.  Although most of us older folks enjoyed just sitting under the canopy and chatting, the kids had a good time swimming and canoeing.  Grandma took Brooklyn, Trevin and Jared out to the little island and they hiked around the whole thing.  They also gave us a 1,2,3 Hello from the island.

Blustery days are the best for kite flying.  Uncle Paul and Uncle Shawn showed us some fun kite stunts.

One afternoon we picked up a bunch of cousins and went to the trampoline park.  Joe was amazing at the obstacle course.  He was very focused and determined to get as far as he could, shaky legs and all.

Some of the cousins that were at the trampoline park.  It made for a sweet smelling drive home with a car full of sweaty boys.

                                      

One afternoon we went up to Manatua for some 4 wheeling fun.  Uncle Shawn and Aunt Becky brought their side by side.  The kids had a great time riding with Uncle Shawn.

After the kids all got a ride, Shawn took some of the older folks up.  This was a picture of the beginning of our ride, back when we were young and innocent. 

I'm not sure the tire is suppose to look like that.

Several miles into the ride the side by side didn't want to climb a hill very willingly.  Turns out it was protesting the drive with a flat tire.

So what do you do when you have a flat tire, miles from camp and no tools to fix it?  (This would be a good time to point out that poor Shawn was stuck with his mother in law and sister in laws.  No pressure.)  Luckily we did have cell service so we finally were able to get a hold of Paul and have him drive the truck to us with some tools.  

The truck could only get so far, and we had to hike out to get the tools.  When you are in an awesome 4x4 the puddles of water don't look so big, but when you have to get around them they tend to swell in size.  It just added to the adventure.

Even with the right tools the tire didn't want to go back on the rim.  I got a lesson in creative thinking.  Shawn had watched a video on popping a bead and decided to give it a try.  After several failed attempts it worked.  It was quite amazing to watch.  If we had relied on my skills we might still be sitting there.

After our couple hour adventure we joined up with the rest of the crew back at camp to roast hot dogs and marshmallows.

One thing I love about visiting Utah is joining up with my sisters for lunch on a work day.  I never seem to get enough time with my sisters and I love downtown Salt Lake City.

My amazing sisters planned an all girls night.  This was one of the very fist things we planned when we started planning our vacation.  They had everything for us to do pedicures, crafts, amazing cheese trays and lots of fun snacks.  About 1/2 hour into our girls night I got a phone call from Grant.  I had talked to him the night before while we were in Idaho touring BYU-I.  He was at a BYU basketball camp.  He had been looking forward to this camp since Feb.  He had gotten a stomach bug and still wasn't doing good.  After 2 days of the stomach bug he was ready to come home and be with his mommy.  So I spent my girls night picking up my son in Provo, very grateful that I could get my son and comfort him.  One of my sweet sisters came with me. 

Jared was promised that while in Utah we would go to the zoo.  His favorite place in the whole world.  We picked a nice hot day to wander the zoo.

After the zoo we went down to pick up Joe from basketball camp and Mark so we could all spend the 4th of July weekend together.  This was family huddle time.

Zeus, Elaine and Tate's puppy was a favorite of all the kids.  They couldn't seem to get enough of him.

The 4th of July calls for a little tree climbing.

These 3 cuties had a great 2 weeks playing together.  Jared loved having kids his age to play with and cousins make it even better.

After a fun family picnic we had a great time at the Ogden Demolition Derby.

It was a long and hot day.  

The last day before our family reunion started we met some of the Wills family out at Jordonelle Reservoir for some fun lake time.  We rented 3 ski-dos and Uncle David brought his boat.  This is the only picture I took.  We all had so much fun playing.