Utah Trip 2012

We just got back from a trip to Utah. It was a crazy, busy trip for us. I counted it up and we slept in seven different places and drove 1,290.37 miles in ten days! Bryan had a couple of job interviews that we squeezed in too. We interviewed in Twin Falls, ID and Morgan, UT. We are hoping that at least one of them works out for us so we can get closer to family. It would be so great!

There were so many pictures I decided to put them into collages to fit them all in. After Bryan and I finished in Twin Falls met my family in Burley, ID so we could see them participate in the Spudman Triathlon on Saturday. We had a good time watching them and cheering them on. They all did such a good job!

On Sunday, we headed down to Aurora to see Bryan's family. We took a family vacation to Lake Powell with them. It was the first time we had all been together in four years! It was an adventurous trip and everything that could have gone wrong went wrong- except someone getting hurt, which I'm grateful for. Our adventure included a broken boat trailer, people getting lost for three hours with my kid in the car and no cell phone reception, a boat hitting a rock and being out of commission for the trip, wind and lightning storms, broken steering on one of the boats while out tubing, a boat running out of gas due to the company telling us it was a 90 gallon tank when it was only a 50 gallon tank, getting pulled over by a ranger because the borrowed boat we had carried too many people in it (we loaded everyone in one boat to get back to the houseboat after running out of gas), trying to get the houseboat cleaned up and ready to go without the men around because it had to be in sooner than we thought, unloading the houseboat in the dark with tired and hungry kids, and finally,a dog peeing on my sister-in-law's purse while waiting to get into a hotel room. It was quite the experience! I'm very glad Bryan comes from a family of lots of boys who are mechanics who were able to fix and take care of all the boat problems. Despite all the trials, we had a great time and I think it will be a trip that we will talk about for a very long time! It was so much fun to hang out with the Masons and the kids LOVED being with their cousins.

The whole Mason crew. (Kels, I hope you don't mind I used your picture!)

Thank you Shannon and Ferald for a fun trip, great food, and wonderful company! We are grateful for all the planning and hard work you put into our family vacation!

After Lake Powell, we headed back up to Salt Lake so Bryan could interview in Morgan and then we headed up to my mom and dad's cabin to relax and finish up the trip. There is something about the cabin that is so relaxing. Every time I go up there all I want to do is sleep and just veg. My kids had a good time walking up the lane and finding animal tracks, riding the motorcycles, and seeing Mangy Moose. They aren't used to the mountains so they loved exploring and being in the fresh air.

It's always so much fun to be with family. I hope the next time we head to Utah it will be because we are moving there. I would love, and I'm sure the kids would love, to see grandmas, grandpas, cousins, aunts and uncles more than just a few times a year. We can only wait and hope for now.