Utah in June

We went to Utah for my brother's wedding!  I'll post the wedding stuff in another post... we had a great week with my fun family.  Every time, I come home to Utah, it still feels like "home".  I wish I could somehow simultaneously live in Utah and Arizona.  ha!

I drove up with the kids sans Ben (he had to work, but flew up later for the wedding weekend).  This drive to Utah is now pretty easy for us.  It's not our favorite way to spend a day - in the car for 10-12 hours - but it's so worth it!  We have 3 pre-planned stops, and we try to stick to just those- First stop is Kingman for fuel and a potty break.  Then either McDonalds or Wendy's in St. George for lunch... I got the kids all happy meals and they were like "wow!  we NEVER get happy meals!"  haha...

The last stop is Fillmore - there is a Mavericks gas station there that has good bathrooms and a little playground and some grass to run on right next door - it's a great pit stop find!

I miss this Utah scenery...

We rolled into Sandy around dinner time and were welcomed with 68 degree weather!  It was a breath of fresh air!

We enjoyed our time outside as much as possible - eating on the back patio...

Canyon exploring with my mommy...

Helping grandma plant flowers...

One of my wonderful friends from my home ward put together an impromptu Hogle Zoo outing... It was so fun to see Lisa and Natalie and their fun kids!

This was our attempt at taking a picture of all the kids together... haha...

That night some of us took a field trip to see Aaron's work in Orem - he works for Qualtrics, and their office space is very unique and fun!

There was SO much food and treats in all the different drawers throughout the offices.... yum!

The pride and joy of the office is the new Coke machine...

Throughout the week, Aaron and Stefani were busy with wedding prep - Aaron tried on his new suit and bow tie for us to get our opinion.  I love my handsome brother :)

Quirkle and Banangrams are family favorites...

Mom, Stef, and I were discussing the value of the side ponytail :)  haha...

So, I have a Lowell Observatory season pass (in Flagstaff) - I got it for just 25 dollars for our whole family - and with it we can get in free at tons of different science and children's museums throughout the country... including the Arizona Science Center, and the Discovery Gateway in Utah - score!  We went TWO different times while there... cause it's free and awesome!  :)

My mom is SO fun with the kids - she actually plays with them and is super funny and silly... 

having fun with the green screen....

The next day we visited my Grandparents in Salt Lake - they are wonderful people!  And the kids LOVE to play in their backyard and with their toys.  :)  They also fed us a delicious lunch...

I wish I had some of these old fisher price toys...

The backyard is beautiful...

I love my Grandma and Grandpa Smith!

After seeing Grandma and Grandpa, we went back to the Children's Museum again... they got to spend more time in this area with these large foam tinker toys - they built a fort!

Mom was a good sport and got in the tornado machine with the kids!

That evening I got to have a sister date!  We went shopping for some last minute wedding apparel items and got some dinner at the Blue Lemon in City Creek.  We loved the food!  I will definitely go back!

Hanging out in the sky bridge...

On Thursday we took some lunch to Wheeler Farm...  that lasted until the geese started to attack us... pretty sure they ate one of their cousins in nugget form  ... ew... sorry about that goose

I feel like the kids were extra happy being in such lovely weather and seeing so many trees and rivers!  ha!

So many memories at this tree house...

After our Wheeler Farm exploring we hopped back in the car and headed straight to the airport to pick up my Grandma Szymanski and my Aunt Julie and Aunt Jan (My dad's mom and sisters).  They live in upstate New York, and although I've been out to visit them a couple times since getting married, it was always without kids - so this was the FIRST time these lovely ladies got to see their grandkids/nephews/nieces.  It was wonderful to get everyone together!!  I love my New York family!!

Thursday evening we had our family wedding dinner - but I'll post that separately with the wedding goodies :)

The next morning, I got to go pick up Ben from the airport! We were all sooo happy to finally have him with us!  For lunch we took a picnic to Storm Mountain and ate and played...

Claire loves her new found aunts...

A crazy family picture - it sums up our family quite well actually :)

In the early evening we went to Wheeler Farm again, because somehow Ben had NEVER been - I don't know how it's possible that I've been 50 times and he's been none times :)  We had to remedy this... by feeding some crazy geese...

That night Sarah and I went to Stefani's bachelorette party.  Her sisters did a wonderful job and spoiled us with goody bags for pampering and delicious treats!  We did face masks and painted our nails.  :)

The next day was wedding day!!!  But we couldn't not squeeze in a visit to Family Fun Day!  The Stake has been doing this for years and years- it was fun to bring my kids and watch them play some games and get snow cones.  :)

Photo Booth...

We then hurried home and did the girls hair all pretty and hurried ourselves over to the Draper Temple for the 1:00 sealing.

In between the wedding ceremony and the reception, we had some time to kill... so we looked through the Blickenstaff's toy store in Provo and also picked up a wedding gift for the happy couple (but not from the toy store.. haha).  We also met up with Ben's parents who were also in town for the wedding, and we visited Nana (Ben's grandma) who is currently in a rehabilitation home - and we made a stop to see the family cabin in Provo canyon - it's getting a major lift with lots of construction projects underway... but we hope to get to use it next summer! 

Wedding post is next!