To Utah and back

On our way to Salt Lake, we were staying a night in St. George. We were excited to see my brother Rob, his wife Cristi and their cute little baby, Cole.  We loved hanging out with them Friday night, and Saturday morning. We were so happy to meet their new baby. I don't know how I forgot to get a picture of them! 

So on our way from St. George to SLC, we drove though Vegas.

 The kids were excited to drive down the Las Vegas Strip on our way to Utah.  They loved seeing all the hotels and cool buildings!  Ally was excited to see the M&M's store.

 I love Utah, and how it's so green, and all the mountains are beautiful.  

It's fun to see snow capped mountains, which we don't get to see very often.

 The Mountains in Provo are sooo pretty. I LOVE it.  I have some good memories of Provo.

 We showed the kids the BYU campus, and went to BYU and the bookstore. We got the kids some Y shirts for souveniers.

 Mt. Timpanogas

 Bridal Veil Falls

We stayed with some good friends in West Jordan. It was lots of fun to visit, and the kids had a great time playing with their kids. Jumping on the trampoline with the sprinklers underneath. (and not 115 degrees). Thanks Sawyer's for a fun time!

 playing badmitton

On Sunday, we went to Temple Square with my friend Jen from Jr. High and High school. She also has 3 girls, and they got along great! 

listening to the Acoustics in the tabernacle.

My cute little buddy!

 

We also had a picnic, then a hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We hiked to a place called Donut Falls, where there is a beautiful fast creek that leads to a waterfall.  

It was very green and beautiful there!

 saying good bye to the Bergener's.

Monday, the 4th of July, we went to the W. Jordan Parade in the morning. It had been warm the other days, but that morning, it was cool, breezy, cloudy, and even a few sprinkles. It was perfect weather for a parade. The parade was awesome,and the kids had a blast! We hadn't seen a parade in many years.

MaKenna Sawyer hangin' around.....

waving to the parade....

I love the backdrop of the big mountains.

the clan

they had some "pimpin'" cars.... this one was on 3 wheels! haha

Please click  READ MORE to finish our Utah trip!!! Thanks!

Then the kids had fun playing outside... in the SUMMERTIME. Imagine that. It was perfect weather.

McKay pullin' his wagon.,

All fireworks were legal for the first year ever. There were DOZENS of fireworks shows for over an hour, in all directions. We just stayed at their house and watched fireworks. There were 2 shows going on just in their culdesac alone. They were all great, loud, big, and right over our heads.  The nice part was, that the little kids could all be asleep in the house! It was a great show of fireworks, and it was enjoyable to be outside and enjoy it!

We were down the road from the Ocre Temple, 

and I snapped a picture on our way back home.

I think that this was Panguich. I love all those little small farming towns as we drove though Utah. And it rained on us off and on much of the way home. The smell of the rain on the fields smelled so good!

Rain on the windshield as we drive through Jacob's lake. 

We saw a mule deer on the side of the road around here.

Stopped at the Bridge near Lee's Ferry to see the Colorado River. It's very magestic, and quiet and peaceful here.

Then as we approached Phoenix that evening, we drove into the remnants of what was one of the biggest dust storms here ever. It was really dusty and hard to see the road or cars. Here is a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKtgOanQ8bs&feature=player_embedded