Part 4: Utah

After a pretty good night's sleep, we packed up the van and left the hotel to head to Utah. Another six hours in the van was starting to wear on all of us, but we made it, just barely. John arrived to let us all know that his ear has been hurting for some time. He went to an urgent care and sure enough...swimmer's ear! We're all glad he got it taken care of pretty quickly though.

We relaxed with family that Thursday and just visited.

We got up early the next morning to head out to West Jordan, UT for the second to the last day of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. It was so awesome! We did our best to try to explain to the kids what they would see and the importance of it, I hope some of it sank in! It really is a beautiful temple. The celestial room was especially bright with the morning sun coming in! At the end we got to sit in one of the sealing rooms and just take it all in. The irony is that some great friends will be getting sealed there next month. Cool, huh?

Once again, we forgot the camera during the tour, but we drove up next to it after we were done.

We came home, played games with John's parents, brother and sister-in-law and the kids played with their cousins.

Then, John and I got ready to go to his 20-year High school reunion. We rode with John's good friend, Chris and his fiance, Janelle (the ones getting sealed next month), to the reunion. It was held in Salt Lake at the Grand America. All-in-all, it was pretty darn fun. Easy for me to say, though since I wasn't the one seeing people I haven't seen for 20 years. I knew a handful of people that John has kept in contact with, so I didn't feel left out. It seemed to go on for quite a while since we didn't leave until about 12:30 in the morning. Lots of people did some catching up and reminiscing.

Here's a capture of some of his graduating class of '89 from Alta High. John's up near the top row with his friend, Chris to the left.

They played some games, relived some good and bad, laughed at old photos, and had some pretty good food.

Saturday was much relaxed with family; another of John's brothers, Trevor and his new wife, Kayla drove up from Orem to spend the day.

Check out the kids getting into the tickle tackle with Trevor!

We drove over to an aquarium nearby and saw lots of cool things with all the kids. An octopus, a couple different kinds of sharks, got to pet some rays, and see some big tarantula.

Sidney got up close and personal with the rays.

We headed back home for games and then a barbeque. Some more games out on the lawn. We all tried to show our best bocce ball game.

I thought this was a nice capture of our bocce ball game, mid-throw and everything. Here they are from L-R; Brittany holding Xander, John's dad, Allen, Ryan's in mid-throw, John's mom, Pat, John, and then Trevor.

The cousins had fun watching videos and playing with each other. It's nice they can be instant friends when they are together.

The next day was Sunday, so we went to church, had a nice dinner and visited and played more games with the family. It's really nice to have these times together, they are some of my very favorite.

Later that night we headed south to Lindon, UT for a mini-reunion of sorts. Some people that John grew up with in high-school that really were a tight-knit group and they all just seemed to fall right back into step with each other. Four girls and 3 boys that some had crushes on and some didn't, but they all just were a great group of friends. John had brought a video that they made while they were extremely bored one late evening in high-school and it was a riot watching with them to see the old styles and how much they have or haven't changed. The evening was a blast! Most everyone was able to bring their spouse (or future spouse) and their children, so that everyone could meet and get acquainted. Then each person took a turn catching everbody up to date of what they had been up to since graduating. The kids seemed to have fun, and I know the adults had a blast recalling funny moments and teasing each other. It was great!

Here's the crew: Marcia, Stanton, Chris, John, Kristin, then in the front, Leanna, and Stacey. They are a pretty unique bunch!

Ok, we are nearing the end...hang in there!

Monday...we went to .....Lagoon! The kids almost didn't earn the trip, but they squeaked by and got to go at the last minute. It was very hot, but pretty fun.

There was a new ride added 2 years ago called Wicked and so we got on pretty soon after we arrived. At first, Hayden said he didn't like it, but after 2 more times and some distance, he liked it well enough

We are far away, but here we are just before getting on Wicked.

Here are Hayden and Sidney on the Dinosaur Drop.

Then John and Sidney are on the Rocket Blast Off......they both seemed to like it...afterward.

Probably because it was hot, but that seemed like the longest day on the trip up to that point. Little did I realized that 11 hours in the van the next to drive home would seem longer, much longer.

We traveled many miles, we saw many people and visited some very fun places and got to each some great food. That seems to be a pretty good vacation.