Utah Trip- Week Two

The girls and I had been wanting to hike to the Y, and Wednesday morning was the perfect opportunity.  Grandma and Grandpa joined us for a beautiful morning climb.  It was wonderful weather and the views were stunning.

Later that day, we went swiming at the SCERA- Luke stayed with grandparents and so we were really able to enjoy our older children which is such a treat.  That night we had to venture to the fairy house (a little secret place in Dad and Pat's backyard).  The little girls danced with the fairies and we all sampled fairy food.  Very magical!

By now, our other cousins were trickling into town, and it was so good to see everyone and enjoy being all together in one place!

Cole got to go with Grandpa Kirk in his truck to the dump.  For this boy, there was nothing better, and I'm pretty sure it was the high light of his entire trip!

On Friday, we took off early for Helper (my mom's hometown).  There is nothing like going to Helper!  For me, it is such a nostalgic place- full of concrete memories of people I love. I have such happy childhood memories of being there.  Even though my kids haven't been there very often, they also love Helper.  When we are around the Mascaros, it's like they just know that these people are my mom's family and we are all connected.  It also helps that the Mascaro's are absolutely hilarious and so fun to be around!  We hung out at Grandma Betty's house and went swimming at the Helper pool:

 Here are 7 of Betty's great grandchildren (babies in the strollers):

We all LOVED seeing darling Audacee:

And meeting baby Cael for the first time:

Another shot of the "greats":

I love my Aunt Jodi, Uncle Kirk, Heele and Dooder so much:

Being at Gram's house was comforting but also made me miss her even more.  It was fun to see so many treasures.  Cole and Regan got to ride on the old famous white horse:

Of course, the four wheeler came out:

Then we went to picnic at the park next door and we got caught in this amazing downpour!

After, some kitties were drowning in the puddles so Uncle Kirk set to work rescuing them.

Before we left, we had to take some pictures on the couch.  We always did that same pose whenever we were at Gram's.  Now there is a whole new generation in the pictures.

Our day in Helper was probably one of my favorite days from our whole entire trip.  There is just something about going back to your roots.  Next time, we definitely need to stay longer in Helper!
On Saturday morning, we met some dear friends for breakfast at the park.  We met the Hamilton family when we moved to Iowa 10 years ago!  We have stayed in touch as we have both moved around...and we were thrilled to learn that our time in Utah would overlap, since they currently live in South America!

When we were first friends in Iowa, there were only 3 children...now there are 9, plus cousin Savannah was with us!!

We love this great family and I am so thankful for Laura's friendship- I miss her and can't wait to see them all again!

Utah Trip- Week One

I guess it's time...we have been home for over 2 weeks now, so I need to finally post about our amazing summer trip.  I guess I've been putting it off because if I post about it, then it is really over...and summer is nearly over, too which seems so hard to believe.  And kind of sad....but, we did have such a great time and I need to record some of the memories before they are gone!
We left Iowa early on July 3 (2:30 AM).  Everyone was so excited.  Our trek was relatively uneventful which is always nice!  We arrived in Provo just in time to get in on the Fourth of July Festivities...such a blast from the past...no better place to be on the Fourth.
Parade Time:

Love to see cousins meeting for the first time- Luke (3 months) and Haven (7 Months):

Then it was time for water games, baseball and a barbecue in the "shadow of the mountains":

After dinner, the girl cousins put on an amazing play about Thomas Jefferson.  It was "directed" by Jaden and even featured period clothing and memorized lines.  Pretty neat!

That evening, we had a perfect view of the fireworks from up on the mountain.  What a fabulous way to celebrate our country!
The rest of the weekend was kind of "recovery" from our cross country travels.  This little guy was SO good, although he didn't want to get near his car seat!  And of course, we couldn't get enough of him!

It was so nice to just relax and enjoy being together- we took a trip to the BYU campus and bookstore, picnicked at the park, and loved spending time with Mel and her girls.  Gram Patsy took Ashton, Jordan and Maya on a date, and I got to go shopping with my Dad.  We snapped a few pictures before church on Sunday.  What a treat to go to church with grandparents and sit together as a family!

The next day it was Regan's turn for her Grandma date.  She was so excited and had such a good time all by herself.

While she was gone, we headed off to see our dear Grandma Mary.  How we love her!  It was wonderful to spend some time with her.  We also stopped by the cemetery.  It is so important to me that we always take some time to stop by this place.

 I don't have any pictures but that night Pat took us to the outdoor play  "The Sound of Music" at the Scera.  It was absolutely wonderful and the girls just loved it!
During our last several trips to Utah, we have wanted to go up to Logan but it just hasn't happened.  This time, we made sure to make it a priority!  So on Tuesday, we got up early for our trek up north.  It was such a great day...to show our children where we used to live, and to think about many happy memories.  We were so young then and just starting off.  We could never have imagined the adventures we would experience and the 5 children we would have!  I'm sure we will be saying that same thing in another 10 years (minus the 5 more children part)!  It was especially neat for Ashton to get to see for the first time where she was born and spent her first year of life.
Our first Logan apartment:

Here we are at one of the schools where I taught 3rd grade:

We loved spending time on the Utah State campus.  Tod loved his time there as a student and even though I never attended school there, I love Logan and Utah State.  We are hopeful that someone in our family will be an Aggie!

Aggie ice cream is a must!

I think Logan is one of the most beautiful places in the world.  We have always said we would move back there if we ever had the opportunity.  It seems unlikely, but you never know!  On the way back to Provo, we stopped in Bountiful at my favorite restaurant, Robintino's and we met 2 of our favorite families for dinner- the Castillions and the Lorenc family.  They both lived in Iowa for several years as students and we grew to love them like our own family.  We have missed them so much.  It was so great to see each other again.  Iowa just hasn't been the same since they left!

And that is a look back at week one of the Snarr Family Vacation 2013!