Utah 2009

We took our annual trip to Utah this last month and had a blast! Thank you to all you who put up with us for the 3 weeks we were there.

The past 2 years we have flown back for our vacation, this year we decided that we wanted to drive. With the ages of the kiddos and their lovely personalities (namely Kade) we knew the only way to make it was to drive through the night. We left about 4:00 (AR time) in the afternoon and arrived about 1:00 (UT time) in the afternoon. Overall, the drive went really well. Greg drove the majority of the time, but I was able to relieve him when he really needed it. I think the hardest time were the hours after the sun came back up. At that point we just really wanted to be at our destination. The last 4 hours from Cheyenne Wy, to Evanston Wy, are the longest EVER! (Next year we'll have to leave earlier in the afternoon.)

Our first stop was my parents cabin, which is about 30 minutes south of Evanston. The mountains were beautiful and we really started to feel like we were home. The days at the cabin were awesome. Lots of relaxing, 4 wheeling, wild flower picking, BB gun shooting, marshmallow roasting, fort building- fun. I believe this post's story is going to be told better through pictures than words.

{on our way to Lily Lake}

{stopping to pick wildflowers}

{Lily Lake}

{Kade fell asleep on the way home}

{Bryn and Nana}

{roasting marshmallows}

{shooting the BB gun}

{Tanner and Nana}

{Kade and Nana}

{in the fort}

On Friday my sister, Casi, and her sweet family were going to come up to the cabin to spend the rest of the weekend with us. And since Park City is set just perfectly half way between us we couldn't let that opportunity go to waste. So, my mom and I met her at the outlet mall and had a fantastic time catching up. I think it should become an annual tradition!

{roasting marshmallows with cousins}

{brynlee, mallory, lily & tanner}

{jared, casi, amy & greg}

{four-wheeler trip near millcreek}

Saturday was Brynlee's birthday and she was so excited to be able to have it in the mountains with her cousins. She was a spoiled little girl. I'm not sure what I would do without this little girl. She is so fun to be around and her sassy little personality definitely keeps me on my toes. She has a very tender heart and loves to 'mother' anyone or anything younger or smaller than her. She is a girl, her feelings can be hurt fairly easily, but a hug is the best medicine for this sweetheart. It seems that a hug can heal anything from a hurt feeling to a paper cut. She loves to play with her dolls, follow her brother around, do arts and crafts and help me with any project I'm working on. I thank my lucky stars each night that she is mine.

{bryn gets to help ice her own cake}

{lily, mallory, brynlee}

{happy birthday brynlee!}

Sunday we headed to my mom and dad's house where we were going to spend the rest of the week. On Monday Greg had to fly back to Arkansas to work (darn paycheck) but before he flew out we were able to get together with some good friends, the Hutcheon's. We packed up both families and headed over to Cabela's so the guys could shop and the kids could be entertained. I think it worked well on both accounts. Even though Tanner was 4 and Bryn was 18 months when we left it was so fun to see how the kids picked up right where they left off.

Later that afternoon after I dropped Greg at the airport I went back to Hutcheon's to visit some more with Janis and Heidi was able to come along as well. It was great to see you two! Thanks so much for fitting us into your schedules. It is always so much fun when we get together.

{kade, porter, tanner, dallin, weston, brynlee}

{meeting up with the Hutcheons}

Tuesday was spent catching up with Grandma Denney. We were able to spend a couple hours at her house as she entertained the kiddos with whoopie cushions and the pet turtle. We love you Gram!

{Gram Denney and some of her grand & great grand kids}

Tuesday afternoon I was able to catch up with my friends and roommates from Snow Becky Hill (Dumont) and Carrie Wageman (Hinck). Becky has been through the battle of her life with Breast Cancer this last year, so it was a sweet reunion and good to pick up where we left off from. I loved the idea of leaving the kiddos behind and hitting a restaurant. We'll have to remember that for next year! You Girls Are Awesome!

{carrie, becky, amy}

Wednesday was another girl’s day out. Gram Merrill and my aunt Mary were able to come and wrestle the kiddos for the day while Mom, Casi and I hit the shopping trail. Just like to good ole days, except I think Casi and I finally out-shopped our mom! We didn't think that would ever happen.
The rest of the week was full of family as the entire family was able to get together for more birthday parties, a trip to the Bean Museum on BYU Campus, family pictures and swimming. Friday morning I was able to go for a 20 mile bike ride with Dad. It’s his usual thing to do on Friday morning, but the first time I was able to go with him. I had a great time watching my Dad zoom around the trail and trying to keep up with him. Thanks for sharing Dad! Friday closed off when the girls’ were able to go dinner at Applebee’s and “Hello Dolly” at Hale Centre Theatre. What a fun night! It's good to be reminded how wonderful it is to be surrounded by family.

{a bunch of the cousins}

{casi, lewis, nana}

{ready to head out on the trail}

{lily, bryn, mallory, kade}
{at bean museum}

{scott, dad}

{more of the cousins @ bean museum}

{marianne, casi, amy, mom, hannah}

{getting ready to see "hello dolly"}

Greg flew back into SLC Saturday afternoon where he was whisked away to family pictures and from there we headed down to Fairview for the last week of our trip. As we pulled into the driveway Grandpa Ralph was on the tractor and had Kade completely engaged in any movement he made. Tanner hardly waited for the truck to stop before he was out the door and almost knocked Grandma over with a big bear hug, and Bryn close behind. They quickly became reacquainted with their favorite spot of the farm, Bryn and Kade fed the horses so many apples, I am sure it wasn't good for them. Tanner blazed a nice trail around the yard with his four-wheeler. Tan, Bryn, and Kade were able to ride the horses by themselves. And on our last day there Tan graduated and was able to take the horse out of the corral into the pasture and ride by himself. The week was a full one with lots of cousins coming to visit, lots of horse rides, go-cart rides, four-wheeler rides, Toby the dog, tractor rides, swimming, catching snails, four-wheeler rides with Toby, trips up to the mountain (lovely 20 degrees cooler), family pictures, Pioneer Day Parade and luncheon, and just plain a TON of fun.

{snail hunting at the mountain property}

{going}

{going}

{going}

{gone}

{this is how it was all week}

{tori, brynlee, spencer, garrick}

{pioneer day parade}

{cooling off}

{tanner and scooter}

{grandpa ralph, kade, scooter=heaven}

{brynlee and scooter}

{erin and brynlee}

{abby and kade}

{kade pushing carson}

{group ride}

{tanner has graduated to riding in the field by himself!}

{grandpa ralph and kade on the tractor}

{toby time}

{brynlee, erin, abby, tanner}

{grandpa ralph and kade}



It was so hard to say goodbye and head back to Arkansas. I tried to talk Greg into another day, but we really did need to head home (darn paycheck.) We truly are blessed to have the families we do and we cherish the memories we make while on our vacations back to Utah.

Mount Magazine

The weekend of May 15th and 16th we headed down to Mount Magazine. The weather was supposed to be a bit iffy, but we were all so excited to go that we thought it would be worth the risk. We left the house around 1:00 and the kids quickly fell asleep. The drive down was beautiful. Arkansas is definitely a beautiful sight in the spring. Everything is full and very bright green. As soon as camp was set up we decided to get some time in on the four wheelers. Greg was able to borrow a four wheeler from a friend so the whole family was able to get out on the trail at the same time. And let me tell you we had a blast! This is on our way over to the trail head.... can you see the excitement? Although Kade is only 19 months old it is very apparent he knows what is going on and he knows he is supposed to be excited for it!

Do you think I could get all 3 kids to pose for a picture? No way! Kade was way too interested in what Dad was doing.

About half way into the ride we ran into some water that ran through the road. Needless to say we spent quite a while here. By the time we were finished I was soaking wet! Good thing it was a nice warm day!Kade loved every minute of it.


Tan is behind me and Bryn is in front. The whole time Tanner was screaming because he was having so much fun and Bryn was begging me to go slower.

Some of the beautiful scenery we came across. The tree in the middle of the river is blocking a pretty cool waterfall.

This is us, and this trip will be remembered as some of the most fun we've had since we've moved to Arkansas!

This is what the trail looked like. The trees and undergrowth are so thick. There were reports of black bear around our camp ground. Half of me was hoping that we would see some on our ride, but the smarter half was grateful we didn't encounter any on the trail.

There was one point on the ride when Greg and I both had reality hit us. We were deep into the trail and out of no where there is an old house on the side of the trail with an old woman and her dogs sitting on the porch. Just as we are passing the house we pass another four wheeler. The driver of the four wheeler was an old hairy man wearing white overalls without a shirt on. After we passed him Greg turned around, looked at me, and I knew what he was thinking... what do we do if we run into some 'crazys' out here?! The setting was pretty perfect for my imagination to start running. It didn't take too long before I convinced Greg we should turn back and start heading a little closer to the area of the trail head.

These pics are just random things of what the kids loved to do. Tanner was amazed by the fire and was watching everything Greg did to get it going. In fact, before we even had the tent set up Tanner had kindling gathered and a 'tee pee' built to start the fire.

Bryn was so content just to sit in her chair and enjoy herself.

Kade would have nothing to do with sitting still. He was constantly on the go and loved every minute of it. I just had to take a couple pics of the kids completely zonked out! They played so hard all day long that they slept so well. We had a pretty incredible storm come through during the night. Pretty intense thunder and lightening. There were times it seemed like someone had a spotlight on the tent. Greg kept waking me up asking me if I was nervous. Nope, I was SLEEPING! At least I was until he asked if I was nervous about sleeping underneath such a huge tree with the strong winds that were going on outside. Then all I could imagine was a huge branch breaking off and piercing through the tent into one of us! Then, I was nervous. But the kids slept right though it all!

The next day the rain teased us most of the morning. But at least it was warm. To pass some time, the kids hunted for rocks, cleaned them up, then painted them to make their new favorite pet.

Bryn painted a butterfly.

Tanner painted a spider.

This was our campsite.

When the rain let up for a bit we went for a short hike to "Signal Hill" the "Highest Point in Arkansas"

Big rock. The kids had to have their picture taken here.

So... 2,753 feet, huh? Saratoga Springs, where we moved from is 4,500 feet. The funny thing about this is Tanner keeps telling everyone that he hiked to the highest point in Arkansas, and he makes sure to add that he 'walked the entire way!' I just let him tell the story and try not to remind him that the hike was about half a mile. :) I love that kid.

The Bench Family on the highest point in Arkansas!

By the time we were ready to head back down the trail the clouds had started to settle back in. The kids always talk about what it would be like to jump in the clouds. This was their chance, so we spent the hike back down jumping in the clouds. Who knew that childhood dream would come true!

Last of all, I'll leave you with a video of Kade. This pretty much sums up what he did the entire time we were at the campsite. There was no slowing him down!