Utah Vacation 2018!!

Enjoying Sugar House Park! Another amazing Utah vacation in the books!

We had an incredible time in Utah this year! So much so that I got severely depressed when we had to come home and it took me a week to get over it! That could also be because I came down with a head cold and I had to go back to work as soon as we got home, but honestly, I know it's because I miss Utah so so much. It was where I was born and where I spent most of my childhood. It was where I went to college and had some of the best years of my life dating, and living life to the fullest while I explored who I was and discovered my potential. It was where I met the love of my life and where we spent our first couple years as newlyweds. And now it is where we bring our children to vacation every year and show them all the wonderful things we used to do as children. I seriously become so reminiscent while we are there and my kids probably get so tired of hearing all of my stories everywhere we go. But I want them to know all about the life Josh and I had before they came along.

On this trip we mixed things up a bit and spent a couple days with Josh's brother, Nick, and his family. The kids had a BLAST running around with their cousins and Josh and I enjoyed the time talking with Nick and Jenn and watching our kids run around having the time of their lives with Brandon and Macy. It is so sad that their cousins are so much older than them because our kids worship Nick's kids but you can tell that his kids are starting to get older and are starting not take as much interest in their cousins as they used to. Brandon had friends to play with, but Macy was a champ and stayed home the whole time to play with Austin and Evie. My heart melted each day watching them :). She played with them in the hot tub, ran around in the sprinklers with them, bounced them on the trampoline, and so much more! On our last day there Brandon taught them how to make a slip 'n slide out of a boogie board and the irrigation water that had flooded the grass and they played for hours sliding around the yard :).

It's hot tub time! They had a blast getting cold in the sprinklers and then jumping in the hot tub to warm up :).

Time to run through the sprinklers!

I wish we had a trampoline so badly..... well I wish we had a yard like THIS so badly haha!

I can still hear Evie yelling happily, "MACY! Let's run through the sprinkles now!!" haha! I love how she called them sprinkles :).

happiness is.... :)

On our first night we went to a baseball game with the whole family and had such a great time! We got tickets in the outfield so the kids could run around while the adults talked. They've installed a playground out there since I last went to a Salt Lake Bees game so the kids had a blast rolling down the hill towards the playground and running around with their cousins :). We got Dip 'n Dots and Evie was hilarious as she went from each persons lap sampling all of the flavors :). We couldn't have asked for better weather that night which was a Godsend because there were storm clouds brewing. Seriously, everything about this night was perfect.

"OOHHH Take me out to the BALLGAME!!!" I can't believe Kate just graduated this week from high school! All the kids are getting so big! It kills me!

Uncle Nick was the fan favorite! Well, competing with Brandon as always haha! It was so cute watching him turn into a little kid as he played with our kids all week!

Evie meeting Buzz the bee! Austin was too scared (I don't know why he is scared of characters now)...

Evie had no problem going in for a big kiss! It was so funny because it looks like the Bee is eating her head! haha!

My Happy Place.

Just look at those smiles! The baseball game might have been the hit of the trip!

The kids had fun watching from the fence!

I'm just glad no foul balls knocked them out haha!

Catching up with Jenn :). I really did marry into the most amazing family and I love them all so much.

Day 2 of our trip was a Sunday and Nick's family had church so we spent that rainy day visiting my Dad and taking the kids to the Clark Planetarium and then met up with the rest of the gang later for lunch! Visiting my Dad was interesting as it always is. He looked better than I've seen him look in a long time though so that was good! We surprised him since he never answers his phone. It was raining so we sat on the porch and chatted with him while the kids danced in the rain and giggled with their mouths wide open trying to catch a drink :). It made my Dad smile which was good enough for me. We were only there for about 20 minutes because he started getting anxious and saying he had stuff to do today so we didn't get a picture with him, but he said we could come back the next day and come inside this time which was shocking. He is a hoarder and never lets anyone in the house anymore (too many years living alone had really messed with his head) so I was beyond shocked that he was inviting us to come back! So we kissed him goodbye with the promise to come back tomorrow. Honestly, I was happy to leave because I always feel so awkward around him now. I thought after his accident and after all I did to help him out, he would stay in touch and try harder to be the Dad and Grandfather I always dreamed he would be. But no, life went back to the way it was before and I had to learn to accept that the extent of our relationship would be a half hour visit once a year in the front yard. People ask why I even bother and all I can say is he wasn't always this way. Actually, he was a damn good father at one time. Perhaps during the most important time of my life... and I want my kids to know him, even if it isn't the version of him that I remember. I know he's a good person and I'll always love him, even though it hurts. BADLY. I always have trouble sleeping after I see him each year because it hurts so bad and I have to load up on Zquil or Benadryl to shut off my brain and emotions. But every memory I have in Utah that I try to recreate with  my children has my Dad in it and I can't just disregard that. So that's why I do it. That's why I torture myself when it is apparent that he is too lost in his own mental illness to be what I need him to be.

Anway, it was raining and it was too early to head back to Nick's house just yet. So we went down to the Clark Planetarium and had a blast teaching the kids about the planets and letting them explore the wonders of our world. We even bought space ice cream (Josh's favorite Planetarium memory) and let them each pick out a scientific souvenir from the gift shop :). The planetarium has a really awesome play area now that I don't remember them having before and the kids had a blast in that! It was nice because it gave  me some down time to sit on the bench with Josh, holding hands in silence so I could process everything that had just happened with my Dad. It's hard being strong all the time in front of your kids and I needed that time to think about our conversation and accept that it was short but it was a good visit.... unlike my dreams of playing ball in the beautiful green back yard like we did in my childhood and having a BBQ with homemade apricot pie :). I'm learning to accept that those will forever be beautiful memories and nothing more.

Exploring Mars! They had fun little robots that you could drive around with a computer like the real Rovers they have on the actual planet Mars! Austin loved that part!

Oh Evie, it drives me insane that she won't smile for a picture unless I am in it! It makes it so hard since someone has to actually TAKE the picture! But this is really cute of Josh and Austin :). Oh and Evie peed her pants at the Planetarium so that explains her bare legs....luckily I had an extra pull up in my purse or we would have been in big trouble! It's so hard staying on top of potty training while on vacation!

Learning about the stars :).

We went back to Nick's house happy and full of stories of our planet adventures :). We had a wonderful family lunch and then I went outside with the kids while the men took naps (the irony hahaha!). The rain had cleared up for a bit so I sat in the garden on a chair and read my yoga book while the bird chirped and the kids ran, squealing happily around me :). I had a good talk with Jenn later that day and I realized that this is the most she and I have connected in all 8 years of my marriage into the family! She's a hard one to get close to; mostly because she doesn't have a filter on her mouth and she makes a lot of enemies with her straight forward, tactless personality. But I've learned that she truly does have such a good heart and I admire so much about her. Her strength, her dedication to keeping herself fit and naturally beautiful, and her home and amazing children that she is raising. We are opposites in many ways, but I truly do love her.... even if I thought that day would never come earlier on in life hehe! After the men had woken up and before the rain started again, we all went outside and had a "family olympics" which was a blast! We played touch football, ultimate frisbee, and when the rain started again, we took it inside for video games and board games. The kids had a great time and it was a great idea for our own family to start doing :). We finished off the night with a family movie night in the basement (Jumanji) with popcorn and ice cream sundaes. It was perfect and again, I felt so grateful to be a part of Josh's amazing family. Especially for our kids to see what a functional family looks like (outside of our own). My family is so broken and everyone has so many problems that they allow to control their lives. I love them to pieces and they are amazing with my kids, but it's always nice to see how successful people live and make it work.

The next day we slowly packed up our stuff, had family breakfast and chatted for a couple hours, and then headed out to Layton to stay with Grandma Janis and Grandpa Steve! We stopped at my Dad's house as promised, but the weirdest thing happened. As we were getting the kids out of the car, he came outside with the dog and saw it was us and then walked back inside the house. I assumed he was just putting the dog inside since he barks a lot and scares the kids so we waited patiently outside for him to come back out.... but he didn't. I was so confused and I didn't know what to do. Again, this is the crazy family stuff I am talking about. The kids were confused too and kept asking me when they get to see Grandpa Helm. I felt the tears stinging the back of my eyes as I tried to come up with ideas for them to do while we waited. The rose garden was so lovely, so I walked over to the side of the house with them and showed them which rose bush was mine that I planted as a child and which was Sadie's. We spent our time smelling all the roses and deciding which ones to pick so we could take them to the cemetery (since it was Memorial Day after all). During this time of waiting awkwardly and letting the kids run around the front yard, I finally looked over at Josh and said, "I guess he's not coming out." I walked over to the fence and saw that he had left the back door open and I stood there debating on if I should walk in. But something was telling me that this wasn't a good day and I shouldn't push my luck. We had a good chat with him yesterday and I needed to leave it at that. I didn't want my last conversation with him to be an emotionally rough one. Then our neighbor Bill walked across the street! He and his wife Shelly had lived across the street my entire life and were there to watch me grow up! I was so excited to see him and chat about how they are doing! I felt like this was an act of God, helping me to at least get one good experience out of this crappy situation. Surprisingly we chatted for a really long time with Bill! I told him all about our lives in Nevada and he told me all about his retirement this year and Shelly's mental health issues. Shelly is a lot like my Dad in the mental health department so those two take pity on my Dad and keep an eye out for us. If they see anything strange, they call my Grandma Helm immediately. I told Bill how grateful our family is to them for doing this. I told him how hard this is on all of us; watching my Dad just waste away into non-existence... and that we are grateful to them for keeping in touch. I knew God had told Bill to come talk to me because in that small window everything felt like the good old days when my Great Grandma Thayer lived in that house and all of our neighbors adored her and came over to chat often. So even though my Dad was a great disappointment (shocker), I still left that house on 13th South feeling happy :). Later my Grandma Helm called and told me that she was so sorry for what my Dad did that day. I was confused as to how she found out and she said he had gone in the house and was on the phone with her while we were standing outside waiting for him to come back out. She said he had a panic attack and was asking her what he should do. She told him to go outside and spend time with his daughter and grandchildren but he couldn't get himself to do it. It was too painful. So he didn't. And this is my relationship with my father now. And I am learning to accept that.

Picking roses the roses my Great Grandma Thayer had planted (along with my help) so many years before. It was such a good feeling to see them thriving. The yellow rose bush was always my favorite because it smelled the best. And the purple one was the bush I picked out and planted. I remember to this day that it was called "Midnight Sonata" and I loved it for the name and lavender color.

Austin loved smelling them all and finding the "prettiest one"!

Evie liked wandering around in her own little world, oblivious to the pain going on in the adult world. For that I am so grateful. Children shouldn't know even half of the pain that my heart has held for my entire life. I only wish someone had shielded me from that, the way I try to shield my own children.

We stopped in Bountiful on our way North to Layton and got a whole different version of an emotion situation. Bountiful has changed so much since we lived there as newlyweds, but the most difficult part is that Josh's Dad is no longer alive to visit. Art was such a huge part of our lives and the pain rushes back fresh each time we kneel down at his grave. With it being Memorial Day, there were lots of people there visiting their deceased relatives. But it brought with it a sense of camaraderie and happiness as we all stood around the graves of our loved ones chatting about the lives they led and all the happy memories we had. Down the hill of the beautiful green cemetery on Bountiful Blvd stood a lone bagpipe player who played the most beautiful melody. It added a mood of reverie as we sat there in the grass talking to Art about what we have been up to lately as the kids ran around picking dandelions and pine cones and gently setting them all on his grave. Talk about pain. He wasn't my real father, but he was everything I wanted out of a Dad. Even down to the over protectiveness that I couldn't stand at the moment, but I now look back on with fondness. I could only imagine what Josh was feeling in that moment and all I could do was put my arms around him as we both silently cried. The somber mood was cut with Evie announcing that she pooped her pants and we all started laughing. I knew in that moment Art was standing right there laughing along with us. He loved stuff like that. He couldn't stand being serious for too long. He was the "buck up and get over it because there's plenty of fun stuff to do and good times to be had" kind of guy. We stopped by Nelson's Custard and got each of us a scoop of the "flavor of the day." The kids were excited to find out what the surprise flavor was and Josh and I enjoyed reminiscing about all of our Nelson's ventures when we lived there in Bountiful. Many of which included Art asking us to bring home a cup for him too! :). It kills me that we lost someone so special. Someone who loved us so much that he couldn't go two weeks without seeing us and literally had his own room in our house because he visited so often. And instead we are stuck with my Dad who can only tolerate us once a year for 20 minutes with out having a panic attack. Pain....so much pain.

Giving "Gampa Art" the beautiful roses the kids picked for him in my Dad's garden.

Daddy telling Evie stories about Grandpa.

Evie knew Daddy was sad and insisted on sitting with him for a while. I love how both of our kids are so in tuned with the feelings of others and I know this meant the world to Josh.

 Grandma Janis and Grandpa Steve were so happy to see us and it was nice to be back in the comfort of their beautiful home! Their home also houses so many wonderful memories; a refuge from the storm so many times in our life! Their basement is where I stayed with my brand new baby girl while my Dad was in the hospital and I spent months caring for him and seeing that he got all the help he needed. They were also the place we stayed when Art died and they watched our children for us so we could help prepare the funeral and figure out the crazy business of Art's estate. I feel a comfort every time I unpack our stuff in that basement. Like I've come home. And the most notable thing is the spirit there; it is so strong. I don't think I could ever be as devoted to the church like Janis and Steve are (mostly Steve) because it tends to take away from time with family, but they carry a special spirit with them that is felt so strongly because of their obedience to the Lord. I admire that.

Cudding with Grandpa while we all sat chatting in the kitchen.

Reading stories with Grandma :).

Grandma always has fun treats around and on this trip she made a bunch of cookies for the kids to decorate with frosting and sprinkles! Yum!

These are the moments Grandma lives for. She always loves to hold the kids while they sleep :).

Bubbles on the front porch!! :)

We spent the rest of the day playing in their yard, and every day after that. We did so many fun things but always started and ended the day playing outside in the yard. I miss that. Since we don't have grass or even a private back yard in Nevada, we don't get those special experiences and we wanted to soak it all up as much as we could! I even practiced yoga with Evie in the yard. I've been studying during any down time I got and it was so fun to have green grass and beautiful weather to practice in! Not to mention my adorable partner ;).

Teaching Evie sun salutations. She's such a fast learner!

Yoga, sunshine, and a cutie pie following my every move. Could this moment get any more perfect?! The answer is NO!

Austin was so excited to go to Utah for the fishing! We had such a wonderful time last year at the Cold Springs Fish Hatchery in Ogden so we made sure to to do it again this year! Austin's first fish broke the line because it was so big and Austin was so proud of the "shark" he almost caught! haha! After that, each kid caught two fish and they were beauties! We spent the rest of the morning enjoying the gorgeous scenery as the kids fed the fish. For a quarter you could buy a cup of fish food and we cleaned them out with all of our quarters! Austin was so careful to make every little pebble of food count, but Evie had a tendency to just dump it all in and ask for more haha! It was another beautiful memory to log into my memory as we all sat there in the shade watching the kids enjoy themselves. Another moment I didn't want to end. But eventually the fish food ran out and people were getting hungry. So we said goodbye to the fish that were alive and grabbed our fish that had been gutted and cleaned (such a cool experience for the kids!) You pay for the girl there to do it and you get to watch the whole process! When I was a kid, my Dad always did the gutting and I was happy to let him do it! But now I don't really know how to do it so I'm kinda bummed that I didn't learn. The best part is showing the kids the heart and how it is still pumping even after being removed from the fish's body! Austin loves this part :).

Grandpa Steve showing Evie how it's done! She was definitely more scared of the process than Austin was. Perhaps because the first fish she caught was her Mom! haha! It's funny to look back on now but I wasn't very happy about it in the moment. Note to self: don't give the 3 year old her fishing pole unsupervised....oops.

Austin's big catch! We were happy to have Grandpa do the unhooking part while we did the catching part ;).

Evie's first catch :). You can see it lying there on the ground. Such a beautiful moment.

Evie and Grandma had fun wandering around the springs feeding the fish :).

One proud Daddy :).

"Look how big it is Dad!"

Evie cautiously watching her fish get unhooked from her pole :).

"Okay Evie, now you can hold it!"

Mama helping Evie girl out with her next fish :).

Austin's second fish was really red! It was quite shocking! The lady said it must be from the protein in the fish food they feed them because you never see a red trout!

My happy place :). Helping my boy learn how to fish while my little girl hands onto the back of my shirt. :)

Watching our kids and feeling so grateful.

The whole experience was so engaging for Austin!

Time for Austin to pick up his red fish and put him in the bucket!

We sure do love Grandma and Grandpa! They're always up for an adventure!

Little cups of fish food.

Life couldn't get any better than this moment right here.

Sizing up our fish and watching the cleaning process! This is a family owned business and the girl working there is always so sweet to let the kids watch everything she does!

The beating heart. I love the anatomy lesson this part teaches!

How gorgeous is this scenery?! And how sweet are these two little buddies....

After fishing we stopped over at the Ogden Care Center to visit Josh's Grandma Millie LaFeber, Art's Mom and our children's Great Grandma LaFeber. Josh had fun telling the kids about all his memories with his Grandma but sadly, Alzheimers has stolen her mind and she didn't remember any of us. But she was still as sweet as can be and loved chatting with us! She's almost one hundred years old but she might outlive us all! Sadly she outlived her son :(. I remember this realization bringing her to tears at his funeral :(. Although she didn't remember any of us, she did have memories of Art and Janis so we told her we are their kids. She was so cute with the kids and although they were shy, they were intrigued by this sweet old woman. She didn't want to take a picture but we begged her since we wanted our kids to remember this moment. Who knows how much longer she will be around! We've experienced a lot of death over the past 3 years. After saying a cheery goodbye and promising to visit again next year, we drove across the street to Arctic Circle and got some lunch. The kids were in love with the giant raspberry shake we all shared and we happily chatted about our adventures that day. Yet another good day in the books!

Sweet Great Grandma Millie (LaFeber). Josh tells me she was a spit fire in her day and she and his Grandpa were always arguing over something, but you would never know it by her happy as pie demeanor.

We were feeling tired from all that fun, so the next day we took it easy and Josh and I went on a date! We had to take advantage of the free babysitting while we could! ;) We went to a matinee movie and then out to Olive Garden for lunch. We literally sat there at the restaurant for 3 hours talking and it was so therapeutic. We rarely get a chance to just be us without the demands of life, work, parenthood, church, etc to steal our time. So it was nice to just be together holding hands across the table talking about the past, present, and future. We cried about Art and my Dad, we laughed about our children and what a blessing they are in our lives, and we got excited as we dreamed up our future adventures. When we got back to the house, we took the kids for a walk to burn off all that pasta and breadsticks we had eaten and then spent the evening watching Austin do circus tricks for us in the front yard while Evie tried to mimic him :). This day was far more relaxing, but just as enjoyable as the rest.

Mom and Dad on our day date! I sure do love this man.

We also went to the dentist for the first time in 2 years (oops) and luckily our dentist is Uncle Nick! The kids did great and this was Evie's first time! She did so good sitting in my lap as the dental hygienist cleaned her little teeth. Austin sat in the chair all by himself this time which was impressive! It helps when your dentist is your favorite Uncle ;). They were overjoyed to pick out a toy from the treasure chest and get a new toothbrush with their very own little toothpaste :). After that we ate lunch at Zupas (we are all suckers fort their tomato soup) and then headed up the canyon for a day at the Hogle Zoo! Grandma and Grandpa met up with us there and we spent the afternoon watching the elephant show, saying hi to the monkeys, laughing at the polar bears as they wrestled each other and threw each other into the water, and learning about all the bugs and snakes that Austin was especially interested in! We saved the best for last (the water park part) because we knew the kids were going to get soaking wet and we didn't bring swim suits! And sure enough, they had a blast running around in the water and getting soaked when the volcano erupted! Janis and Steve left at this time because Steve was getting tired (he's been having some health issues lately) so Josh and I stayed and enjoyed watching the kids. I was in heaven watching them run around with other kids and having the time of their lives. Little did I know that Josh was getting stressed out about traffic or something stupid and our day was completely ruined when he had a panic attack and dragged us out of the zoo swearing and cussing us out for doing absolutely nothing. This had me in tears as I begged him to stop  because he was ruining our day and the kids were having such a great time. I don't know if it was hunger or the heat or what, but he couldn't stop. The stuff he said was beyond horrible and he couldn't even tell us why he was so mad. All I knew was my heart was broken and since we all had to ride in the same car with him, there was no way I could shield my babies from his insane outburst. I silently cried the whole way home and luckily the kids both fell asleep. But things were not okay between the two of us when we got to his parent's house and there was no way I was going to pretend that they were. So I took the kids outside and sat in the grass cuddling them and telling them that everything was fine. I wanted so badly for them to only remember the amazing parts of the day and to not let their Dad's emotional outburst ruin their memories. Janis wanted to plan the next day but I told her I wasn't going anywhere with Josh until he apologized for what he had done to me. To us. Of course Josh acted like everything was fine and refused to apologize. So we fought it out again in the basement, this time without the kids present. I cried and cried until he finally apologized and said he didn't know what had gotten into him. This is something you have to know about Josh. He holds things in until he can't hold it in any longer and then he explodes and you have no idea what he is exploding about. I asked if it was from visiting his Dad at the cemetery and he said that it probably was..... since the last thing we did with his Dad before he died was take the kids to the zoo.... that same zoo. Anyway, I'm happy to report that that was the only upsetting part of the entire trip and Josh went back to his normal happy self afterwards. But dang was it horrible. I still cry when I think about the stuff that he said to us. Men are so hard to understand, Josh especially. He struggles with anxiety and sadly his panic attacks happen at the worst times. But I still love him with all  my heart and I know that someday we will get past this.

Ready for a great day at the beautiful Hogle Zoo!!

The famous lion water fountain that has been around since as long as I can remember.

Both kids are suckers for carousels and they had fun picking out which animal to ride on!

Evie loved riding the polar bear!

Watching the elephant show! It was so cool!

It was also nice to sit in the shade for a little while.

Cheese!

"Gamma, look at the monkeys!"

I took the kids on the train ride and it was awesome! We got to see all the safari animals!

Our kids are obsessed with maps and it makes me laugh! They love to map out their adventures everywhere we go :).

more monkeys!

The zoo gang!

Monkeys visiting monkeys ;)

The fun water park!

The kids were so funny! They would all stand around the volcano and then run for their lives when it would erupt with water!

I have a similar picture in this very spot of me holding Austin when he was not yet a year old and him splashing us both with water when he stuck his hand out into this bucket. Man time flies...

Despite the bad ending, there were so many happy moments that trumped the day. So it was a win in my book!

We also spent a day visiting the Ogden Dinosaur Park! This is such a fun place that provides fun for all ages! Austin is obsessed with rocks so he spent a lot of time in the rock/gemstone section that had hundreds of stones and fossils on display. His face lit up and he started shaking with excitement when we found a mine that you could pay money to hunt for rocks in! Each kid got a bucket and a shovel and got the whole mine to themselves; keeping whatever gem stones they were able to find! It was so cute! We wandered around all the dinosaur bones indoors and then headed outside where Evie was so excited to play on the amazing playground! Austin was more interested in digging up fossils and made friends with a little boy who had similar interests. They sat there forever with their little brushes discovering bones underneath the sand. Then we met up with the rest of our group on the playground, walked around the rest of the park exploring all the dinosaurs outside, and then once more back to the playground before we left. It was a great day and the kids had so much fun exploring!!

Family photo with T-Rex! Grandpa had to work in the temple on this day so he wasn't able to make it.

Cuties exploring the dinos :)

Digging for gem stones in the mine!

Showing the scientist lady all their rock finds and getting to keep them in a cute little burlap bag :). The lady asked Austin if he wants to be a Paleontologist when he grows up and he proudly said, "No, I'm going to be a Geologist when I get big." She was shocked to hear that he knew that big word, let alone knew that he wanted to study rocks his whole life! It was cute and my heart swelled with pride :).

Digging outside for dinosaur eggs!

This playground really is amazing! It's no wonder Evie was obsessed with it!

Scientist Austin and his new buddy digging for dinosaur bones.

After that we headed up the street to a restaurant called The Greenery. It's a beautiful white building built on top of the river and it has plants inside that make it look like a greenhouse! After you eat you can wander around the boutique shops inside, looking at all the neat gifts and candies unique to Utah! We stopped here the last time we visited the dinosaur park and had just as much fun the second time around! Except this time Josh was with us! He used to visit this restaurant with his Mom and Grandma Jeppson almost weekly so it was fun listening to him reminisce with his Mom about the good old days :).

Austin being silly at lunch and eating all the limes while we watched his funny faces :).

We felt the depression coming on the last day we were there, but we tried to make the most of the time we had! We went over to Nick and Jenn's house to spend our last day with the whole family. We all went out to eat in Sugar House at a cute little place called Cubbies. Then we headed over to Sugar House Park and let the kids roll down the giant hills. When their tummies got upset from rolling after eating a large lunch, we walked down to the pond and fed bread crumbs to the ducks with Macy. We saw lots of baby ducklings and the kids had a great time feeding all of them! The weather was perfect and the company was great! When we ran out of bread, we drove back to Nick and Jenn's house for root beer floats and spent the rest of the afternoon in their back yard talking while the kids played in the irrigation water with Brandon. It was the perfect way to end the perfect vacation. We were so sad to say goodbye to our family that evening but we had lots of packing to do before our long drive home the next morning. After packing, we spent the rest of the evening playing in the yard one last time. 

Feeding the ducks in beautiful Sugar House Park.

Wandering around the pond barefoot with Cousin Macy and our bag of bread crumbs. They tried so hard to get the baby ducklings to come near them but the Mama duck was smarter than that ;).

Hanging out with the Greatest Mother in Law in the world while the kids rolled down the hill :)

Brandon brought a football to throw around... it's always about sports with the LaFebers!

The men :).

It's so hard to go back home after an amazing vacation like this one! Especially one that lasted 8 days!! We are so thankful to have such a wonderful family and support system. Blessed is an understatement :). And as I sit here typing up all these memories so we can keep them forever, I feel an overwhelming sense of happiness and gratitude for all that we have and have been given. I  might never be able to move back to Utah like I've always dreamed of, but we can always visit, and those moments are pretty dang awesome in my book!