We went on Vacation

W just got back from a vacation in Utah and Idaho to visit our family and a few friends out there.  We had a great time, but we are SO glad to be home.  I’ll start with our preparations for our trip.

I made pillow cases for us so we didn’t have to sleep on uncomfortable and not our pillows.  And they got to be fun pretty pillows too.

We left on Saturday, and drove all the way to Great Grandma W’s house in 19 hours. The boys traveled like champs. They did absolutely brilliantly. Matthew even started playing with toys, which he hadn’t done before then. He fell asleep with the rings in his hands.

We spent Sunday at Great Grandma’s, and my brothers drove up to hang out with us. I was so glad we got to see them. Did I bother to take any pictures of them? No. I didn’t take any pictures of family. I really didn’t take many pictures at all.

So, Monday we went down to Salt Lake to see where we used to live and eat at some of our favorite places. We ate at Ming’s Garden for lunch. SO good. Then drove by our apartment, and went to the Trax station were we headed downtown.

Spencer had a blast on the train. We knew he would, but we’re always a little nervous doing new things with him. We walked around Temple square and went to explore the city creek center.

This is us by the reflecting pool in front of the Salt Lake Temple. No, that isn’t the building you see behind us. We were on the wrong side to get a picture with the temple, and we didn’t want to walk all the way to the other side for a picture. So, we have the Church offices in the picture behind us.

After playing for a while, we headed back to our car in South Salt Lake and had dinner with a couple of my former roommates and their families. There are quite a few more of us now. 🙂

The next day (Tuesday), we ran some errands and went down to Provo to hang out with my brothers again. Mark insisted on washing my car at his carwash, and we were happy to let him. We got to go to dinner with him, and it was great to see where both of my brothers live.

On Wednesday, we headed up to Rexburg for the Jeppson family reunion. We had a great time being able to hang out with and see all of Adam’s siblings and families again. There are quite a few of us, 46 as of Matthew’s birth.

Thursday morning, Adam, bent on keeping up his running (way to go sweetie!!), ran up to the Rexburg temple and back to our hotel. While he was up there, he snapped this picture. Great shot isn’t it?

Spencer also got to go to a theater for the first time and see a movie. They saw Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. Spencer came out saying he didn’t like it, but he’ll tell us now that he did. Apparently, there were some parts that made him really nervous.

On Friday, a bunch of us went on a hike up “R” mountain or the buttes. We weren’t sure if Spencer would want to go, so we weren’t even planning on it. But he surprised us and said he wanted to go. So, we went.

He got scared going up when it was really kind of slick, and he was afraid he would fall off the mountain. We made it to the top without too much trouble, and Adam thought to take a picture of us.

Can you tell Spencer was a little nervous?

Going back down was a lot harder for us, especially for me with a baby strapped to the front of me. I actually fell on our way down. Fortunately, I fell backwards and whacked my elbow so hard that my hand went numb for the remainder of the trek down and didn’t have much grip strength until we got back to Adam’s parent’s house. After my fall, Adam didn’t take any chances. He would walk Spencer down a hard spot and then come help me down too.

Saturday, we had a family picture. It was a little crazy with all the kids and the grandkids, but we were so glad we were able to do it. We forgot Adam’s shirt that I had planned to have him wear so we had to make due with a t-shirt. Not so bad in the group shot, but in our little family shot less lovely. Oh well, what can you do when you forget stuff?

We headed back to Great Grandma’s house after lunch on Saturday. We got us a Papa Murphy’s pizza and enjoyed it. We got both boys to smile for the camera while we were eating it. Spencer, as always, is a little goofy about it. 🙂

Sunday, we came home and made it in a little over 18 hours. It was a great trip and we were so happy to see everyone, but we are super happy to be home again.