Salt Lake or Bust

Vacation was great and I am so glad that we got a chance to go. 

We left home at 7:00 and drove through the night in 3-4 hour shifts.  It actually wasn't too bad and the kids slept a majority of the time.  We rented a condo in Ogden for a great price and it was a fantastic condo.  Living space and kitchen on the first floor, two large bedrooms and two baths on the second and a third floor that was a loft area.  It was a great space for the kids to run around in.  Much thanks to Chrissy for the referral of VRBO.com!!!!

After sleeping we ventured into Ogden on foot and walked around.  We came across the Salomon center which had indoor surfing, A huge game area with bumper cars, and a flying air tunnel that literally simulates sky diving.  It was soooo cool.  If we ever go back we are taking additional funds!!!!!

There was also a great place called the Pizza Factory, the food was outstanding and they had the best breadsticks!!

We also found the Ogden temple and wandered around their grounds a bit.

I love all the statues on the grounds of the temples, especially this one.  Hopefully this is Matt and I in fifty years.

But for now, this statue accurately represents my life.

It was daddy's turn to do double duty.  We thought about taking the stroller, but it would have taken up precious space in the van.

Tuesday we were back in the van and headed for Red Feather Lake, Colorado.  Truly in the middle of nowhere.  My aunt said if we needed anything we should stop in a town about an hour out.  She was right, between there and her house there were no establishments!!!!!  Their house is three miles up a dirt road.  And as if we didn't see enough snow this year, there was a ton there to keep the children occupied.

The purpose of this trip was to visit my Grandmother for what will probably be the last time.   It was great to see her!  She is a fantastic painter and we came home with quite a few of her recent paintings which means a lot to me.

We stayed through Wednesday and then left on Thursday after meeting Grandma's hospice worker.

My grandmother's name is JoAnne and  we named our daughter Sariah JoAnne after her.

Friday we spent the whole day at Temple square.  Tristan took his first steps in the Joseph Smith Memorial building while we were watching "The Restoration".    

We also ate at the Blue Lagoon.  A lot of our friends had said this was the best place to eat and they were so right!  We loved the food.  The menu listed a Big Burrito and then said if you could eat it all you would get a free dessert, so of course Matt, I , mom, and Seri all ordered it.  Yeah, we should have figured out that it was going to be beyond huge!!!  One of them alone could have fed my family!!  Matt made a valiant effort and ate it all with the exception of probably three bites.  We still got dessert though, thanks babe!!!

Sorry for exposing you to the bite protruding from Sariah's mouth, she was attempting to help Dad.

Not sure why Matt is boycotting the concept of smiling.

one tired cookie......

Saturday we all hung out around the condo watching conference while Dad went to the priesthood session.

Sunday, Serenitie and I went to the afternoon session.  She turned twelve this year and we want to take each of our children to a session of conference after they turn twelve.  It was amazing!!!!!  The conference center is huge, beyond huge!!!!!!!  It was a great feeling to be able to listen to our prophet in person with my daughter.

Of course there were protestors screaming that we were going to hell and the such, but what was nice were there were also members lined up on either side of the sidewalk singing hymns, quite the contrast.

I don't think I have ever seen so many members!!!!  It was amazing.  Have I already said that?

The condo had a garage, but the entrance was only a single car entrance so it was hard to get the van in and out of.  On one such entrance Matt completely scrapped the side door and chipped off some of the framing.  I would just like to point out that it was not me!!!

On the way back home I looked up just in time to see us go over a huge mass of something.  Matt ran over a deer, didn't hit it, just went over it.  The big mass of fur and bone that got stuck fell off in the driveway yesterday and I made him go collect it .  Our undercarriage is still covered in fur though.  turns out all the car washes in the area don't have undercarriage wash.

It was such a great trip. I am glad to be back home though.