Y mountain

One other thing I really wanted to do was hike the Y with the kids.  I did not remember it being as hard as it was, to think that my first night at BYU my friend Tyler and I just decided to hike it at 9:00 at night and just headed up there straight from campus is crazy, but of course I was in much better shape back then and wasn't walking with a 5 year old!   Sam and the 4 older kids made it up pretty fast, but Tucker had a harder time.  We stopped a lot but we made it and the older kids thought it was really fun and of course everyone felt accomplished when they made it to the top and enjoyed the view! We took a lot of pictures from a lot of different angles!

On the way down, the little kids searched for the perfect walking sticks.

Sometimes Tucker would just stop in the middle of the trail and sit and say that he couldn't go any farther but he eventually always got back up.

And just for reference for those of you unfamiliar with the Y, it is up on the mountain in Provo by the BYU campus.  These are pictures I found online to give you an idea of it's size and how high up it is on the mountain!

So here was are sitting at the very top of the Y.

 After we finished, we made a stop to visit Sam's childhood friend.  They haven't seen each other in person since they were kids but had reconnected on facebook and Sam had even had him speak to his classes via skype while he was teaching at the Art Institute.  Gaven works for Disney doing video game creations so it was also fun for the kids to meet him and hear what he does and I had fun getting to know him and his wife and hearing stories from their childhood.

Here comes the pretend bride....

This was so funny and cute it needed to have a post all on it's own.  The kids planned a pretend wedding that they would be having for 2 days.  Bailie and Tucker were the bride and groom. Tucker's name was Clark Kent and Eden was his sister and the flower girl and Brady was their dad.  I think Bailie's name was Blair and Brek was her brother and the ring man and Jordan was their dad.  Kolby was the butler, the uncler, the buff guy and brave and everything else they needed (according to Tucker as I type this!).  They set up the whole scene and the bear was the minister.  They even had some dolls and Hello Kitty as guests if you look closely in one of the pictures. They even had music playing on Jordan's ipod and gifts on the table to look at after.  They even remembered the pretend rings and then they announced that "you may now blow kisses to each other!" It was so funny to see how they orchestrated all the details and how excited they all were to have "the wedding!" These are in order so you can see the progression!

Hanging out in Utah

Of course, one of the best parts of our trip was just hanging out with Deveren and his family.  Jordan made these signs and we were going to take them with us when we hiked but we forgot them so we took a picture in front of Deveren's new house instead.  The say "Thank you Grandma and Grandpa" because they gave us this trip as our Christmas gift this last year.   We are thankful because we had a really great trip.  

The cousins had fun playing together, the little ones of course, but even the boys got in on the playtime sometimes.  Jordan was playing ring-a-round the rosie with them.

We found the boys still watching the barbie movie after the little kids went to bed but they didn't want us to get their picture so they covered up with blankets but kept watching!

We made sure to get a couple of dates in too.  We went to Tucano's before the temple. They all couldn't believe I had never been to a Brazilian BBQ so we had to go there and it was good!

We were able to do a session in the Timpanogos temple and Sam's aunt Sue decided to meet us so it was nice to do be in the temple all together!

We made a stop at the Creamery after the temple (Kiara was sad she missed it with us the day before and had been wanting to go ever since!)

On the last night, we decided last minute to run over to Los Hermanos for dinner.  That was a trip down memory lane for me because one of my BYU roommates in particular went there it seemed at least weekly so I couldn't help but think of her and my BYU years.   After dinner we came back and played a Newlywed type game and Sam and I won...I guess it helps to have been married longer!  There were lots of laughs and a tiny bit of naughtiness as tends to happen when Sam and Deveren play games but it was a lot of fun, I only got one picture that evening of Sam and Kiara.  We are so glad we got to spend time with them and thankful they let us crash their new house!

Wordless Wednesday

Utah family

Of course we can't go to Utah without seeing all the different family in the area!  I know I posted the picture above on the BYU post but it also fits here!  Really, there was so much family to see that we didn't even have a chance to schedule to see many friends that are out there.  I wish we were there longer so we could see everyone!   We were able to meet up with my aunts and cousins in Salt Lake and have a nice visit.  It was a little loud and crazy in the food court, but it was still nice to see everyone.  And for a little excitement at lunch, Sam was outside on a phone call and noticed President Uchtdorf walking around so Kiara went chasing after him and got to shake his hand!

We also did a night with Sam's side at Deveren's house.  It was mostly the Farley side but we did get a couple of cousins from the Borgia side as well.  It was really fun to catch up with everyone!