Trip to Utah

 The last weekend in April we drove up to Utah to be with family for some fun events.

Wednesday:  Packed the car and picked up Brandon from work around 5pm and drove all night.  The kids were so good and slept just fine.  I helped drive for only a few hours - after 10/11p, I'm not helpful, so I got some good sleep in the passenger seat for the last few hours.  Arrived around 3:30am (Utah time = lose an hour).  It was FREEZING to us.

Thursday:  I went running to see how the elevation would affect my running, and I did ok - I should be ok at Ragnar, I think?  I also had a hair appointment and that night we had a Easter Egg Hunt at Hale's.  I should have taken more pictures, but I was too busy visiting and having fun.  Our only warm jammies that fit Andrew are Santa ones (sorry, buddy!) but I love the photo of them I got together with their Easter baskets and Drew looking like it's Christmastime.

Friday:  Woke up to snow.  Seriously?  I can honestly say that I think I prefer the weather in Arizona - at least it's somewhat consistent.  It's just hot for 9 months out of the year - no guessing game or unpredictability - just wear as little clothing as possible.  Rachel was thrilled for the snow and she and Brandon made a snowman.  For dinner we went to Golden Corral with the Thompson family to celebrate their actual 50th Anniversary.  Then we said goodbye to Grandma & Grandpy who were headed to Rome and Jordan and Israel on vacation.

Saturday:  Brunch with the Worthen's and Shumway's - too fun to chat about Chicago times and find out what everyone is up to now.  And their daughters are just too cute (Lily, Paisley & Ella).  Then I went to help set up for the parties.  We surprised Grandma & Grandpa Thompson with a 50th Anniversary party and then later that night Lauren & Pako had their engagement party.  Lauren's family (my mom's sister) live in Australia, so they are getting married there May 21.  My mom's sister, Sherri, was able to come to America for the parties and visit for a few weeks.  Rachel sung a solo at Grandma's 50th, "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" and it was last minute notice (Grandma's request).  I bribed her with gum and she did great - it was a little too silly I thought, but there were a lot of people there, so I was impressed at how brave she was.

Sunday:  The kids woke up sick (thank you, Utah - it's just part of the package, we get sick everytime) so we skipped out on church and relaxed a little bit.  We had brunch to celebrate Chad's birthday and hung out with the family.  We went to dinner at Chris & Kacie's and I got some pictures of Brandon with his siblings for something I was doing for Nancy for Mother's Day.

Monday:  My mom took Rachel to the Tulip Festival and other errands for a lot of the day.  All Rachel told me was that they saw lots of flowers and had good peanut butter cookies (nutter butters).  I also ran some errands to my favorite stores - Tai Pan & Rod Works.  We packed up the car and were on the road at 4pm.  The kids did great again and we had only one scary part where we had to swerve around a deer (my least favorite part of driving at night is worrying about deer).  Brandon was at work first thing the next morning.

It was a pretty short trip, but we'll be going back in June for a few weeks.

ROADTRIP!

Classic Andrew face & Classic Rachel picking her nose - gotta love these kids!

Flying a kite with Daddy

Rachel with cousin, Kennedy

Rachel loves to swim in Grandma's hot tub

End of April and it snowed just for Rachel!

An inside joke for the Hale Family

Rachel, Brandon & Chris

My cousin, Lauren & her fiance, Pako at their Engagement Party