5000 Miles of Fun: Logan (and surrounding areas)

We arrived in Garland, where Kalen's sister Sherrie and family live, very late after our Lagoon trip. Originally we hadn't planned on getting there until Friday but since we were so close after Lagoon and we didn't want to drive all the way back to Duchesne to turn back around again the next day, we opted to arrive the night before. This was fine except that everyone already had plans for Friday. So we spent the morning catching up on laundry and then we drove into Logan for the afternoon. There is something about that place. I only lived there for three years, but everytime I drive into town after a long absence, I feel a sense of homecoming like I don't get anywhere else. It is such a fantastic place and I have such (mostly) happy memories of my time there. Anyway, we decided to cool off at the aquatic center. The kids had been dying to go swimming and hadn't had much opportunity yet.

Afterward we treated ourselves to Aggie Ice Cream. Mmmmmm....Best ice cream on the planet for sure. Chocolate English Toffee and Chocolate Cookie Fudge. Is your mouth watering? Spencer had fun too even though they don't do dairy-free ice cream so he had to settle for a bag of Swedish Fish.

The next day we went into Logan again. For some reason our visits to Logan this year were expecially nostalgic. We had an urge to visit places that were significant to our early relationship. So we took everyone, including extended family, to A&W restaurant to get rootbeer. (We came here following the symphony on our first date.)

Later that same day we journeyed up to Preston, ID for Kalen's cousin's wedding reception. It was so much fun to see his aunts and uncle and cousins who we haven't seen in forever. Upon arriving however, the kids were drawn immediately to these railings along the sidewalk. There were no warning signs alerting us to black paint that rubs off on anything that it comes in contact with. There should have been. Most of the kids had to head immediately to the bathroom for a clean up.

Think these two might be related? Kalen's cousin J.J. and Kendall looked strikingly similar. Maybe it was just the glasses. Maybe genetics.

The "big kids" all hung out at one table. Oh, and just in case you think that Justin Bieber is joining them, that's just our nephew Tyson. He gets that all the time.

Casey and Elise and their adorable baby Avery. Cute, cute family!

It had been awhile since Kalen had seen his dad too. We were glad he could come from Las Vegas for a quick visit.

The cute couple, Tyler and Shaylie.

On Sunday, Lynnsey's tooth fell out. She was so excited. She was playing and bumped into a couch cushion and out it came.

Kaya was still drawn to the drum set and we heard several interesting performances.

We took a trip up to Logan Canyon on Monday while Todd had the day off of work. We canoed and ate at First Dam.

And the kids had a ball jumping off the bridge.

And drying off afterwards.

Kalen and I snuck away for a little while and headed up to Spring Hollow. We were going to all go, but the kids were having so much fun and Todd and Nikki offered to watch them for us, so we opted to just go on our own. We first met at Spring Hollow nearly 17 years ago on a hike, so this place definitely brings back memories. It is so absolutely breathtaking there.

That night we all headed down to Ogden for a free concert in the park by The Nashville Tribute band. We ate pizza and visited and enjoyed some really good music. (The drummer was a great friend of Kalen's brother Eric when they were growing up.)

We had to say goodbye to Grandpa Oswald at the end of the night. It was a short but fun visit and we're really glad our kids got to see him. He had never even met Spencer or Kaya.

On Tuesday we went back to the USU campus and met up with Andrew and Marni and their kids. Marni had generously offered her camera talents to us and took some family pictures. (We'll post a few once we get the disc she's sending!) To thank them, we all went back to Aggie Ice Cream and treated them to ice cream. Mmmmm....

When we weren't going on outings the kids spent an enormous amount of time on the Anderson's trampoline while we visited and played games.

On Wednesday, we headed to Idaho again. This time we visited Red Rock Pass that Kalen has fond childhood memories of.

It was pretty awesome-- but I dont' know if it was 173 stairs awesome!

The kids definitely thought it was fun though.

After that we went to Franklin to visit with Andrew and Marni some more and they took us over to the house of Misty Porter, Marla's sister who also roomed with me my freshman year. It was such a fantastic visit! She hasn't changed a bit. She has a gorgeous home, and I mean GORGEOUS as in a dream house. And she has two beautiful kids with another one on the way. We were able to visit for awhile and catch up and reminisce. So great. And as you can see, Misty is as miniscule as ever. I always feel like the Hulk next to her!

Then we headed back to Andrew and Marni's for a delicious dinner and playtime with the cousins. Our kids absolutely adore Lilly and Grant.

Kaya especially.

The next day we had fun visiting at Todd and Nikki's for the day. They had set up a wading pool that we told the kids to "wade" in since we didn't bring extra clothes. Yeah. That lasted about three seconds.

Breckon had a soccer tournament so we saw two games and some great saves he made as goalie.

We stayed late and visited and had dessert since it was our last night to see Todd and Nikki. The goodbyes are always the worst part of visiting--especially Oswald Goodbyes. They are epic. But this one wasn't as awful as in years past.

The next morning while we packed up the van, Sherrie had the kids occupied making straw crowns. They turned out super cute.

Kaya refused to take hers off for quite awhile.

And after another round of goodbyes, we were on the road again. It is unbelievable how fast that trip went. Stay tuned for one more post about the ride home...

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.