July 7th we packed up the kiddos and made the LONG drive to Utah. It took us nearly 13 hours. We normally try to keep Sunday media to church-related material, but desperate times called for desperate measures. We made it half the drive before we caved in and pulled out the DVD player. Part of the problem was both of the older kids in the back seat. Hayden teases Kyra incessantly, to which she screams incessantly. A recipe for insanity in confined spaces. I needed the other captains chair accessible to get back and feed Taylee snacks to keep her happy. Trade-offs I suppose.
Dax's attempt to keep peace: a mound of pillows. It was a good attempt...
Monday Dax went to help my brother Josh work on his basement and I went food shopping with Lauren for the meal we were responsible for. In the evening we went to see some of Dax's old roomies and their families. It had been years! It was fun to see them.
Our family, Devin & Katie Barlow, and Dave and Elisa Martin
Tuesday was the start of my siblings' reunion. Dax took some kids fishing early that morning. No luck. Not even a bite. Hayden was pretty disappointed, especially since he was woken up to go!
Here he is, bright and early...well maybe not so bright.
We went and had a treasure hunt for the kids at "the cove" in Herriman. The kids had a great time with it. Most of the adults played volleyball afterward, which was a lot of fun. After lunch we hung around Kim's house for a few hours and then went to a reservoir in Herriman. It was a lot of fun.
Taylee with the only other red-headed grandchild, Jane.
Taylee and Anna
During the treasure hunt
Taylee with Serenity, who is 2 months younger
Wednesday morning we went hiking at Mill Creek Canyon. It was beautiful and much cooler up there. After dinner our family went to see Bryant Hawkes, a friend of Dax's from college. We had not seen him in years, or met his wife. They put up with our kids for a couple of hours in their not-so-kid-proof house. :) The night was spent around the campfire roasting s'mores and playing 2 truths and a lie.
As long as this girl was moving she was in heaven.
Hayden requested a picture with Gable and Kyra popped in last minute.
Maia carried Kyra for quite a while like that, I was surprised at her strength!
Kyra and Savannah
The grandkids at the top of the hike.
Hayden climbed up this little waterfall and we about died.
Thursday after breakfast we played lawn games until people began packing up to go to Idaho for the Christensen reunion.
The kids slept nearly the whole way to Soda Springs
The reunion was centered around a highland games theme from Scotland and was so much fun. I did horribly with pictures. We canoed with Hayden and Kyra down the river. My uncle and aunt put in a pond with a waterfall and a sandy beach with a volleyball net. The kids loved the pond and sand. One cloudy morning they sneaked over and got in fully clothed!
Dax won archery and the stone put and I won the hammer toss and the caber toss(where you toss a big log). Really, no other women tried the caber toss, and all I did was try, I didn't succeed very well. Hayden won the sack race for 6 and under! It was so fun to watch him race.
Dax won archery and the stone put and I won the hammer toss and the caber toss(where you toss a big log). Really, no other women tried the caber toss, and all I did was try, I didn't succeed very well. Hayden won the sack race for 6 and under! It was so fun to watch him race.
We attempted to take the kids fishing, but other than a few bites we had no action.
The kids wanted silly pictures in the car while Dax got gas. He came back and surprised us with ice cream!
We took baths the night before we left for home, after the kids going a week bath-less!
