5000 Miles of Fun: Duchesne

We arrived a couple of hours later than planned in Duchesne to a hot dinner waiting for us courtesy of Susannah. It was so great to see some of the things that have changed in the house since I was out last. The floors are beautiful and the new paint brightens everything up. I love the new bathroom that Dad put in and I can't wait to see how the new main bathroom that is in the process of being renovated turns out.

The kids were excited to see their youngest cousin Rebecca. Kaya especially adored her and took to calling her "Baby Becca". She was constantly touching her and talking to her. Rebecca calmly put up with it all, even if she wasn't sure what to think of all those kids. On Tuesday, we had the big cousins reunion that Susannah graciously hosted again. I know she put a ton of time and money into it and we are so thankful for all she did to make it a success. Unfortunately not very many people came, including some of those who were so insistent that there needed to be a cousins reunion in the first place. Go figure. But it was really fun to see all those who did come. I hadn't seen Toni Ann in forever! It was fun to chat with her and meet her darling kids. Kendall really hit if off with her oldest son. And Crystle and her little family came--their little daughter is so adorable. Then later Julia stopped by along with Janice and Guy and Jana and Lori. And Tim Cook came by too to show off his adorable 3 day old baby boy. We had super yummy food and a fun visit.

They had also set up a big swimming pool for those crazy enough to brave the frigid 50 degree water temperature. There were more than a few, including my own offspring.


Rebecca didn't get in for too long but she sure looked cute modeling her swimwear.

Rebecca's little floatie made the water bearable for Kaya since she didn't have to get all the way in.

Spencer hung out at the ladder and stayed in for quite awhile until the dunking started. Kalen thought it would be so much fun to throw all of our kids into the pool. Most of them handled it well, but Spencer was absoloutely furious and refused to get back in the water after that.

Once everyone was all dried off, we had a little fish pond that the kids could get some cool prizes from.

And Jonathan got out the three and four wheelers for some added fun. This is always a huge highlight of our kids' time in Duchesne.

On Wednesday, we packed everyone up and headed over to Vernal. The older kids watched the younger kids at a nearby park while Dad, Susannah, Kalen and I all went to the temple. I had never been to the Vernal temple before so that was really amazing. It's beautiful. We were able to do initiatories and endowments for several family members, so that made it even more special. Susannah went through for Grandma Bloodworth's sister and I went through for her mother.

The kids survived the hours we were in the temple and so to reward them, we went to the dinosaur museum in town. It was so much fun to go back there again. Taylor and Kendall remembered it from when we were there before but it was new to the younger three.

Kaya was still more impressed with Baby Becca than old dinosaur bones.

The kids thought it was pretty awesome to touch an actual bone of an actual dinosaur that actually lived on the earth at one time.

On Thursday we got up bright and early and headed to Lagoon for the day. We had initially tried to get out of going because we didn't want to have Dad foot the expense of our admission. But he insisted and we ended up having such a fun time. The kids absolutely loved it and are still taking about it and wanting to go back. Thanks Dad! Andrew and Marni and kids joined us for the day too.

In order to convince Jonathan to go along with us, I promised that I would go on The Rocket with him. In theory, I thought I could handle it. Then I saw the ride and knew there was no way I could do it. But a promise is a promise and Jonathan wouldn't let me back out. So I did it. Scariest. Thing. Ever. But super fun too I decided, once my heart rate returned to normal about a half hour after it was done!

We all rode the ferris wheel together.

The lines for rides were totally ridiculous so we didn't get to do near the rides we wanted but we did manage quite a few. The kids of course loved the kiddie rides. Kaya especially. She would be so ornery and uncooperative while we were in line but once she got on a ride, she was in heaven.

My favorite ride was Rattlesnake Rapids. The water felt so refreshing on such a hot day. We'd have loved to go again, but it was just too long of a line to wait.

Lady Bug Bop is the kiddie version of The Rocket. It was actually really fun for everyone except Spencer. The whole time he was screaming: "Get me off! I'm done!" Poor kid.

He was much, much happier on the more mellow rides like the cars.

And the boats.

And the carousel.

We also liked the train ride to see all the different animals and the log ride is always a hit. For some of us, the roller coasters were lots of fun. Lynnsey experienced her first rides on roller coasters and was hooked.

The only disappointing thing about Lagoon was that there were so many people there that there was even a line to get in to the water park. And since it was such a hot day, the people in the water park weren't in any hurry to leave, so we didn't get to go swimming. Oh well. It was a really fun day anyway.

After that, we parted ways and headed up north for part three of our travels.