Utah - Week #1

Temple Square

We spent an afternoon visiting Temple Square with Mark's parents. It was beautiful! I loved walking around the temple's grounds, no matter how many times I'd done so in the past. So did Taylor! She has now decided she wants to be married in the Salt Lake Temple.

Outside the Nauvoo Cafe, where we ate lunch...

The Salt Lake Temple...


The grounds of Temple Square...






The Conference Center...

The Christus...

The steps of the Salt Lake Temple...

We also visited the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the Tabernacle and Deseret Book. It all made for a really nice afternoon!

Lagoon

We spent an entire day at Lagoon, just the four of us. It was a blast! The kids surprised us both with their willingness to try the big roller coasters. We started on the small ones, but were quickly riding the big ones and only the big ones.

Ready and smiling for our first ride...


Riding our first roller coaster...

We eventually graduated to these roller coasters...


Riding the sky tram...


And the Ferris wheel...

And the train...


Finally, time for treats...



Not only did our day include hours and hours of rides, but also a lot of yummy food. Plus, we got wet! Very, very wet. We went on one ride that took us through a whole lot of water rapids. We ended up completely soaked. The kids loved it! What a fun day!

Salt Lake Bees game

We spent an evening with the entire Woodbury family at the Salt Lake Bees game and fireworks show.

Snow cones to get the game started!


The entire family, enjoying the game...

Grandpa and Grandma

Mark, Kris, Logan and Brenton

Grandma and JR

Shawn and Heather

Tyler and Emily

Ryan and Corbin

Laura, Talia and Eliza

Ryan and Carter

Cassie and Jack

Looking a little tired, but still all smiles!


The Bees won and the fireworks show was great! It was a VERY LATE night, but a VERY FUN night!

Fireworks

One evening, we had an impromptu BBQ at Ryan and Laura's house, again with the entire Woodbury family. It was yummy and fun! We finished the evening with fireworks and a sleepover! Taylor and Talia had really hit it off, so Talia came over to Grandma's and slept over.

Enjoying sparklers! (From these pictures you can't really tell, but I promise, they were!)


Taylor and Talia

Impromptu plans are sometimes the best plans! It was a great night!

Pioneer Day parade

On the morning of Pioneer Day, (Yes! We got to celebrate Pioneer Day in Utah, where they really know how to celebrate Pioneer Day!,) we went to the big parade in Salt Lake City! Everyone was there!

The kids playing UNO, waiting for the parade to start...

The boys chilling, also waiting for the parade to start...

My beautiful pioneer...

Watching the parade...

It was such a fun morning!

Slip 'n Slide

Later in the day, (still Pioneer Day,) we had a big family BBQ at Grandma's house, after which all the kids played on the slip 'n slide and with other water toys!


Spencer loved the water gun...


Cute girls...

It was a wet and fun afternoon!

Randoms

Taylor, Talia and Eliza...

Spencer and Corbin...

We had a great first week in Utah. Thank you to all of Mark's family for everything! We can't wait to do it again!

A few things we did that didn't make it into the post...

• Ate at Sconecutter - Fry sauce!
• Visited Grandma at State Farm - Free State Farm pencils, pens, mints, suckers, etc.!
• Played with cousins - Taylor and Talia took a little while to warm up to each other, but once they did, they had a blast together. Spencer and Corbin hit it off immediately and played like old friends. An hour or so after playing together for the first time, I asked Spencer, "Are you enjoying playing with Corbin?" Spencer asked, "Who's Corbin?" Too funny!
• Saw the final Harry Potter movie - So good!
• Played in foam - Long story...While Mark and I went to see Harry Potter, Grandma took Taylor and Spencer to see Aunt Laura, Talia, Corbin and Eliza. The seven of them went to a local park where the fire department had set up large blow-up water slides to play on. After playing for a while, the fire department then sprayed foam all over the field. The kids grabbed some goggles and played in the foam. I heard it was awesome and that the kids loved it.