Utah

We decided that our lives did not have enough excitement in it..so we decided to drive to Utah very last minute. Nate woke up three Mondays ago asking should we do something crazy? At first I thought that he was going to take the day off work and we would go somewhere. His family was having their family reunion that originally we were not going to, but then we decided with his mom sick it would be good to go. We were going to leave it a surprise for his family. My parents we actually told, since they would be the ones that we would stay with.
We left on a Friday afternoon and drove 31 hours straight. Stopping a few times for bathroom breaks and that is it. We took turns driving through the night..that was actually not too bad. The kids did fairly well sleeping..as much as they could in the car. We stopped in Cheyenne Wyo for the night...but all the hotels were booked because of Sturgis (the big motorcycle thing). So we drove another hour to Laramie and stayed the night. Nate broke into hives from head to toe early Saturday morning and he was not feeling well from lack of sleep...so he laid on the bed as soon as we entered the room.
Needless to say it was up to me to get the luggage up and dinner for the kiddos. We woke up the next day and finished our 6 hour drive. I think we hit every single rest stop from Laramie to Ogden, silly kiddos. We spent Sunday afternoon with my parents and relaxed.
Monday we had a lazy morning and then stopped at Target for some things that we had forgotten. Then it was off to the Treehouse museum. The kids could have stayed in the place all day. Nate ran into one of our close friends from Taylorsville there with her two kids. It was great catching up with her on everything that was going on in their lives. She might be coming out to D.C. next month, so we might get to spend more time talking.
We spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Bear Lake with the McKinstry's. Thursday with my fam and we left about 10 that night. We drove straight for 22 hours, and stayed the night in Kansas City Missouri. Nate refused to stay in Kansas..so we had to at least make it just over the boarder. The second night we stayed in Kentucky. Nate added an extra 4 hours to the trip, without me realizing it until it was too late. He wanted to go I-70 home and go through Kentucky. We took I-80 to Utah and it took us 37 hours, coming back it took us 44 hours. Coming home always seems to take longer. We are glad that we did this insane trip.

Bear Lake

We surprised Nate's family by showing up at Bear Lake two weeks ago. They were having their annual McKinstry family reunion since everyone else was going to be in town. We were originally not going to attend because of getting time off work and the cost, but then we decided to. Nate's mom a few weeks ago found out that she was having kidney problems and ended up in the ICU for a few days. When Nate talked to his mom a few Sundays ago she did not sound that great, so the next day he woke up and mentioned driving to Utah.
Well we decided to spend Tuesday and Wednesday with his family at the beautiful Bear Lake. I love the color of this water. I did not have a camera with me when I came down the canyon, it is the prettiest color of blue. On Tuesday we went swimming and rented jet skis, the kids loved going on them. I feel bad that we did not get any pictures of Wesley in the water. He absolutely loved being in the water and splashing around.
On Wednesday we were going to go to a cave and it was going to be too long of a wait with little kids. We ended up getting shakes..I ended up getting the famous Raspberry shake..it was delicious. Then we had family home evening and took pictures. Nate's sister did a really cute FHE. She had everyone take pictures of their feet on pavement and then everyone had to match the two feet. Then his other sister had everyone fill out questionnaires about their kids and we had to figure out who it was. Chandler was pretty bummed out that we did not have feet up on the wall..since we were late deciding to come. They were nice enough to let us wear others shirts to get pictures in..since they did not order any for our family..coming late has disadvantages. We had a really good time seeing all of his siblings that are spread through the country.

August Birthdays

My parents usually do a birthday each month for all the birthdays that occur during that month. Since we were coming into town for a few days they did August while we were there. Wesley's birthday is in August, but he did not quite get that everyone was singing to him and my sister and sister-in-law. It was really good to be able to spend some time with my family. We have had some family issues and for the past few years there has been a rift between some members. So we have not all been together for about six years this fall. We were still missing my nephew, who was at Bear Lake with his uncle and young single adult ward.
We had a fun day planned with going to a local swimming complex that had a lazy river, splash pad, water slide, diving board, and slides for younger kids. My kids absolutely loved this place, Wesley was so worn out he fell asleep in my dad's arms. My younger sister and her family came and the boys had fun with their cousins. Then later that night my older brother and sister and grandparents came for dinner and cake. We had a big family picture and grandkid picture.