Utah 2015: Miscellaneous

Now that I've caught up on my kiddies' monthly updates, lets wrap up our Utah vacation! There are just a few unshared photos and unmentioned moments I want to add.



First, why didn't my mom take this photo vertically? If she had, you could see more of her GORGEOUS flower bed. Seriously. She and my dad have the BEST yard in all of Utah, maybe even all of the US. My dad runs the backside (rock gardens, heirloom farm equipment and desert flowers) and my mom runs the front, which looks a lot like a lush green jungle. Those two work so hard it makes me tired.

One night my mom took Reid, Nell and I to the movie theater. They loved it, because they each got a little box of popcorn, a soda, and a treat. I think they also, sort of, enjoyed the movie (Inside Out). But really it was the experience and the food that made them happy. When we are out and about and see any marketing or characters from the movie they'll say "That's the movie we saw with Grandma. And we ate popcorn and a pop!" It's too cute.

They played pretty well at my mom's house. Her toys are new to them, so that's always exciting. The backyard has a trampoline and plenty of space to run around. Reid spent about an hour one morning helping my dad harvest his potatoes. They really enjoyed our down time in Delta.

I just love how often they spontaneously hold hands. Melts my heart. Reid tries to take such good care of Nell, and she just loves to be around him and try to act all grown up like him (except when she wants to be a baby, she's really good at that too).

Is this photo of Daddy helping his little boy get all dressed up just not the cutest thing ever? I'm swooning.

What a good looking man. Sorry ladies, he's taken!


One day, while my parents were at work and the cousins were at school, we decided to take a drive out to the old mud fort in Deseret. It's really not much to see, but when you get up close and personal you realize how fragile it really is, making it's 100 year old remnants all the more impressive. Especially considering the regular beating they take from that desert wind!

Ben wanted to detour out to Clear Lake -- where there really isn't anything to see, and then we just continued on to Filmore. Because Costa Vida. Anyway, as Ben and I drove the kids around the valley he commented that BLM land was still so bizarre to him. My retort was "The fact that our city is covered both North and East by two giant lakes and all we have is one tiny little public beach is SUPER bizarre to me!" Actually, I'd use the word irritating. My kids are growing up less than a mile from a ginormous Midwest Lake and they will never know it's wonder. They will never bike to it's shores and spend a relaxing day with friends. As a kid I was two miles form a (pretty gross irrigation) reservoir and I spent hours there! Nearly all of the reservoirs shore line had public access, and the beach could have supported the entire community for a night of fun.

And don't even get me started on camping. Westerners have no idea how lucky they are to have all that public, fee free land.

There was a Senior Missionary Couple in our congregation a while back and I remember the Husband telling us that he would never complain about the Federal Government owning so much land again, and he'd try to convince his friends and family of the same, because surely having the Government own public land was better than there being no public land at all. He was amazed. "We had to drive for half an hour along the lake before we could even get out of our car and see it!"

Anyway, here's some photos from our plane ride home.

We reached our front door after 7:00, and my sweet Visiting Teacher (Mormon thing) had this yummy dinner all made up for us. It was so nice of her and such a great compliment to end our wonderful trip, that I just had to snap a photo of it. After a full day of traveling, we were all excited to see a hot home cooked meal. My life is truly blessed.