Oh what a fun trip we had to Utah this summer! The original inspiration for the trip was my mom's birthday. This year was her 60th, and everyone wanted to make it special. My brother, Ryan and I were a surprise, as was the family reunion following her birthday. The one caveat was that we could not tell my dad. He loves surprises too, he just isn't the best at keeping them! Keeping it all from my dad was a challenge, especially since he was repeatedly rumored to be digging for information, but to no avail...we kept him in the dark!
We all met for my mom's surprise birthday lunch at a tepanyaki place near their house, and Ryan and I stayed tucked away at the table. Jen drove with my parents and then Laurie and Kayla came into the restaurant with them. When they turned the corner and saw us sitting there it was pure awesomeness! Ryan was an especially big surprise since his work schedule is totally insane still and he lives so far away. My mom just cried happy tears while she hugged us. I think my dad teared up a little too actually, and was truly shocked that we were there, and that we hadn't told him! It was such a great surprise and so much fun for us all to be together like that...it's been at least 3 year since that's happened. The lunch was just the originals...my mom, dad and the five siblings (the men had the kiddos at Cafe Rio). It was yummy, entertaining, and so much fun. I definitely have a cool family!
We met up with our families at Kayla's condo clubhouse to celebrate with cake, ice cream and a presentation of a special book of everyone's (kids included) memories with my mom. It was crazy bliss with everyone together. What a fun birthday party! My sisters all put a lot of work into it before we arrived and it was just perfect.
The next day we started up the DSP (haha...usually it's the LRP for my dad, but this year it seemed fitting to have it be my mom's) reunion. We all donned our blue reunion shirts (by Kayla) and headed up to the mountains for a great hike up to a waterfall. It was a hot day, but the waterfall was a hit. Asher and Beckett were soaked through after running under the freezing falls a few times. They had a great time. All of the little kiddos did great too! We were quite the train of people on that skinny trail, but the people were all very nice to let us pass by.
A picnic lunch in the canyon followed, and then we headed back to the clubhouse for swimming and more fun and games. Swimming was a welcome break from the heat, and the kids had so much fun hanging out together, as always. We cooked, did crafts, played, did sparklers and enjoyed the family time. I love it when we all get together for our reunions because it's crazy fun. I mean it's crazy, and it's fun!
The next day we were able to head up to Heber for a few hours to visit with Shawntell and Jared's family (Corey's sister). We haven't seen them for a few years as they've been back East for school and work. It's so nice for our boys to get to know their boy cousins on Corey's side. We had a nice lunch and visit with them and Jared even showed us around Heber, which is just the prettiest mountain town! I'm dying because I forgot to take pics up there. Next time we'll get some with the cousins for sure.
During the trip we stayed at Jen and Josh's for a few days, then with my parents for a few days. We had a great time at both places and are so thankful for the awesome hospitality. I think I stayed up late talking or hanging out every single night we were there.
For our last few days, and after the reunion was over, we played in and around Provo/American Fork. We watched fireworks from Jen's front lawn on the 24th. We played some baseball with Josh and the boys, which was a fun treat for my boys in particular. I was able to get my Kneaders fix. Yum. We played at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens in golf carts, which is something we've talked about doing for a while. That was a great way to peruse the gardens and the 1.5 hours rental was plenty of time. Those gardens are just spectacular. We also took the kids to the farm there and let them do pony rides. This was Dawson's first time and he wasn't afraid! He actually really seemed to enjoy it. We also hit the BYU campus and bookstore, and were able to visit the new Provo City Center Temple, which is beautiful, really. We even went to an Owlz game in Orem. Josh was the team manager of Mason's little league team and it was their teams night to be featured at the beginning of the game. He invited my boys to be a part of the team for the night and even gave them team hats! The boys LOVED it so much, and it was a perfect game night.
We had oodles of busy, exhausting family time fun and can't wait to do it again. Happy Birthday to my mom and thanks to everyone for the great time!
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