This was our best trip yet to Utah. We love LeGrand and Becca and Bryan and Helga. They are our family, yes, but they are also some of the best and most fun people too. We also got to spend some time with their extended family, LeGrand and Bryan's in-laws, and they're awesome too! It was relaxing and fun.
We had our traditional waxing, somehow Tyler got away without participating this time. My nose is already hairy again so I think I'll need to invest in some hard wax!
They always have at least one fun new thing to try, this time it was catching whipped cream in your mouth. You squirt some on your hand, toss it into the air and then catch it in your mouth, or somewhere else on your face! It's a perfect after baptism activity to do while still in your nice church clothes (my niece Adelyn was baptised).
Sunday my new nephew Taysen was blessed and the next day was the 4th of July! We got to go to a parade in Provo, a LeGrand Laing family tradition. Tyler and LeGrand and a few other went early, really early, to get a spot. Becca and I crammed in with the kids and came along later. Gosh, no, of course we didn't really drive with 10 people in a 7 passenger van! This was a just for fun picture, we really took 2 cars.
This next picture may seem silly, but while walking to the parade we saw this, house? Micah stopped in front and said loudly, "I can't believe someone lives here, it looks like a broken down old shack!" There were windows open and a car in the driveway! I tried to rush him along and tell him we don't say things like that, it was someone's home. There was a couple and their child walking near us, and he said, "I was thinking the same thing." I said, "I think we all were, we just weren't shouting it at the top of our lungs!" I sometimes wonder at what age Micah's brutal honesty will take a backseat.
Becca's Aunt has a red hat tradition at the parade that we got to take part in, everyone wears the hat for a pictures and strikes a pose.
I got to sit by my guy.
After the parade we enjoyed another of Becca's traditions and went to her grandparents old house where her sister and new husband are now living. We had delicious food and a slip n slide competition. I felt like a kid again, a less daring kid, but still a kid. Ben got himself a nice huge slice of watermelon.
We went up to the Mount Timpanogos caves, one of my favorite activities this trip. It was a pretty good little hike up, especially carrying a 30 pound little girl!
I got so many amazing pictures I had to put a few in.
Helga's sister Heidi took a group picture for us, so she wasn't in it, but this was everyone else.
I like hiking.
I don't like carrying little kids that are perfectly capable of walking themselves, but I did anyway. I tried leaving her behind but she didn't care, she just stayed behind, so I carried her. Daddy was behind with the slower people in the group helping watch other kids and I'm not a slow hiker, apparently even when carrying an extra 30 pounds. Daddy did get his turn on the hike back though, don't think he bailed on me.
This rock is near the entrance to the caves, everyone touches it, and this is what happens when your oils get on the rocks, pretty cool, but you can't touch anything in the caves.
This is the heart of Mount Timpanogos, it is estimated to weigh about 2 tons and is 5.5 ft in length! I have dozens of pictures of other amazing formations too, but had to share this one.
Such an amazing view!
This is my nephew Taysen, he was so much easier to carry down than Miss P was to carry up!
Helga's sister Sonja has her own salon and gave Peyton her first haircut while we were there at Natalie's (another of Helga's sisters) house. I woke her up for the haircut and she was spazzing majorly. She later told Tyler that she "fussed a little bit at first" HA! I have video that proves otherwise. Sonja did a great job though and straightened her hair first and then cut off a few inches and layered it. So cute. She eventually calmed down and she liked her new hair.
While Tyler, LeGrand, Becca and I went to the Mount Timpanogos Temple (Provo was closed for cleaning), out to lunch at Zupas (yummy soup salad and sandwich), and to DI (my favorite thrift store ever) Tyler's Aunt Becca ( who has 12 kids herself) and some of her kids watched all of our kids. We also got to visit with Tyler's grandparents who live there now. Peyton even fell asleep on Moroni, and that is not like her at all. The kids LOVE the Burrows family and I'm so glad that got to spend some time there.
Movie time with Junior's Giants.
I ran into an old friend while getting new G's at the Distribution Center, it was Jan Budge! My old Bishop's wife. I am friends with her daughter in law who is in our ward! Small world huh?
On our last night there the boys went to Bryan and Helga's house and the girls and kids hung out at LeGrand and Becca's house. The kids had movie (Little Rascal's) and pizza (Litttle Ceasars) night while the girls (Me, Becca, Helga and Liz, Becca's sister) did crafts and ate Cafe Rio pork salads, I really hope they get one here someday, YUMMY! This is my very adorable and sweet niece Makyla. She is a lot like Peyton and she finally warmed up to me at the end. She even has the same cute little legs and feet that Peyton has, so they must come from the Laing side. I love my family and wish we were all close to each other geographically. Maybe someday we will be, but until then we will do our best to make trips to see them. LeGrand and Becca, thank you so much for housing us and feeding us and being the wonderful people you are, WE LOVE YOU!
We tried out our skimboard for the first time but we didn't have success, the beach was too sloped for us newbies to skimboarding. Maybe we'll have to try it at Avila or Pismo.
It was lots of fun sharing our chips with the amazing seagulls. If you look closely at the bird on the top of the picture you'll see he has a chip in his mouth. They were catching them quite expertly mid air.
I got to enjoy some relaxing time under our new umbrella with a good book.
One of the kids favorite things to do for vacation is to stay in a hotel, and we got to do that. After getting all sandy at the beach we got to relax in our hotel's gigantic hot tub.
The kids liked the sauna too. I prefer a steam room myself.
The second and last day of our vacation we went to the aquarium.
My MIL met us that morning and joined us for the day.
We went to a seafood restaurant where she treated us to a delicious lunch.
Peyton had spaghetti, can you tell?
I had a dish that was kind of like Jambalaya, it was fantastic.
There were life sized statues all over the place and I'm posting a very small portion of the pictures we got with them.
Lastly we went to our favorite park in Monterey, Dennis the Menace park.
Ben's likeness...
It was a fun trip and Monterey is a beautiful place!
