Whirlwind Weekend in Utah

So... we went to Utah a few weekends ago and I'm just now getting around to posting about it.  It was a quick but wonderful trip.  It started with a loooooong drive.  Don't worry, Jilly only drove for a couple hours. 

 The girls were awesome- we left at 3pm so by 9 they were both out for the night and with a few Dr. Peppers, some snacks, and a great book it was smooth sailing.

After a few hours of sleep we were ready to hit the Beehive State.  First we stopped to see my cousin.  Her darling twin boys are 20 months old but I hadn't seen them yet.  We had so much fun catching up, and looking at this (blurry) picture it's clear we've really grown up and have our hands full!

 Next we went down to "The BYU" as Jilly calls it to see my sister Jenn.  We got Cafe Rio for lunch then had some time to walk around campus.  I love that place so much and was thrilled to be back with our girls (even if it made us feel ancient.)

 I went into near-panic mode when I didn't see the Tree of Life Statue.  Doesn't BYU know they can't move things around without alumni permission?  Luckily we found it.

 Bryan spent many many many many hours in the Clyde Building.

 We met up with Chad and Kylie once they finished class/work and went with them to the race expo to pick up the guys' packets.  Then we got some dinner and headed home so they could get lots of rest before the big day.

Bryan had to leave for the race at 3:30am so he could catch a shuttle to the starting point up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  Here are Chad, Bry, and Jeff waiting in the cold.

 While Bryan started running we hung out at my Grandma's house.  I loved these toys when I was little and it's so wild to see Jilly playing with them now.

 We met up with Kylie at Mile 23 to cheer the guys on.  It was great because Bryan wasn't expecting us at all, and I think it gave him a little boost to get through those last 3.2 miles.  Right after we saw Bryan we piled in the car and drove to the finish line and were able to see his triumphant finish.  It was so, so exciting!

So glad to be done!

The rest of the day we just hung out at my Grandma's house and let Bryan rest.  My wonderful roommate Britney stopped by, we always love to see her.  And my mom got back from dropping my sister off at BYU-I; we were thrilled that our visits to Utah coincided.  That night we went out to eat with Jeff, Chad, and Kylie- the boys savored every bite of their dinner.  (So did I, even though I didn't have any pre-burned calories to enjoy.)

Sunday was another busy day.  We went to visit my Grana Anderson in the morning.  

 Then we went to church and had dinner at my Aunt Diane's house with most of my mom's side of the family.  Mattie was happily passed around and Jilly loved playing with all my cute cousins.

On Monday we packed up, said goodbye, and made the awful trip home.  If only Nevada wasn't so big, we'd go to Utah much more often!

The rest of Utah

This was seriously a marathon trip- I can't believe how many things we did in our two weeks in Utah.  And yet, there are so many people we still didn't get a chance to see!  Here is a photo dump of the rest of our Utah trip.

On Pioneer Day we hiked to Ensign Peak.  Bryan hadn't arrived in Utah yet so my Uncle Scott volunteered to carry Jilly.

I love this hike and the great view at the end

Always living on the edge- Jilly's favorite thing to do was climb back and forth under this railing.

We went down to BYU to see Bryan's brother Chad and meet his cute girlfriend Kylie.  It was so fun to watch Jilly run around campus.  Hopefully she enjoyed it so she'll remember to head back there in 17 years.

One night at my Grandma's house I was giving Jilly a bath and it looked like so much fun so Tyler ran and put his swimsuit on and got in.  Jilly loved having her fun uncle in the bath with her!

 Seven Peaks- we went down this slide approximately seven thousand times

 We went to Snowbird one day and took the tram all the way to the top of the mountain.  It was an amazing view, but very stressful because Jilly was dying to run around and I was having visions of her tumbling 11,000 ft down the mountain.  Finally we went inside the lookout room so she could be free.

 There were also some fun bouncy toys up at Snowbird- the older kids took turns going down with the Jillster.

Bryan made some awesome friends his freshman year, and we were lucky enough to get together with a lot of them on this trip.  We had a barbeque up in the canyon then came home and put the kids to bed and stayed up until 3am playing games- that's something we definitely hadn't done since college!

Cute Adelaide and Jilly had so much fun playing together

We went up to my cousins' cabin in Midway for a day.  There were lots of wild 4 wheeler rides.

 Jilly and my cousin's daughter Abilynn had a blast playing in the dirt together.  They were covered in dirt by the end- the bath water was disgusting.

 My Aunt Jodi put together our very own Olympic competition.  These three were the weightlifters.

 and their weight turned out to be Abilynn!  The poor girl was a good sport.

And that's the end of our vacation re-cap.  We're already counting down the days until we get to see all these people again!

Park City

Our Rice Family Reunion was in Park City this year.  It was so fun to be with my whole big family for a few days.  The guys went biking and golfing, and the girls went out to dinner and shopping.  We all hung out at the pool a lot and spent one day at the rides.  

 Jilly was a popular girl and could usually be found surrounded by cousins

 matchy matchy swimsuits

 poor Jilly fell and got a fat lip one day

We were all feeling the Olympic spirit.  We had fun watching together each night, and during the day the hotel had its own competition.  

Ty competing

All the grandkids plus Jilly (the only great-grandchild)

We're only missing Ryan, who's on his mission in the West Indies.

It was such a fun week, we can't wait to be all together again next year! 

Cool Kids

Long ago, my summers often included a trip to see family in Utah.  I was always excited to be back with the "Cool Kids Club"- the cousins my age on my dad's side.  We had so much fun making midnight runs to Wendy's, playing Phase 10, buying matching clothes, performing skits for the family, dancing in the car, creating synchronized swimming routines, playing pranks on each other and strangers, and just being crazy kids.

Now we're all grown up with our own families and we sadly don't get to see each other very much.  But we were all together at my Grandpa's funeral so we decided to get a Cool Kids picture for old time's sake.

Ashley, me, Stephani, Brian, and Joseph- the coolest kids around

Utah

When I was little I looked up at those huge Utah mountains and proclaimed that the state was ugly and I hated it.  Then I lived there for 6 years and I fell in love with those mountains.  They are beautiful in their own majestic way, and provide so much entertainment for us!

Jilly and I were excited to visit Utah.  My family was there so Jilly had lots of fun playing with her aunties and uncle.  We also visited lots of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  I have 72 relatives living in Utah (I realize that I exaggerate a lot, but this is no exaggeration, I counted.)  We traveled all over the state seeing most of them.  To my Utah Friends- I am so sorry I couldn't see you, I didn't have my own car nor my own schedule.  We were at the mercy of the group and with 72 relatives to see friends had to get the cut.  We'll have to make another trip soon to see friends.  We love you!

While in Utah we:
- went up the canyon for a hike, picnic, and roasting s'mores
- got to be there for my cousin Josh's homecoming
- spent a day playing at Seven Peaks Salt Lake
- walked around Temple Square
- visited some adorable 3 week old puppies (our dog's half siblings)
- went to the zoo for Jilly's first time
- went on a hike up to Cecret Lake
- saw The Help while my saintly dad watched 9 little kids
- went swimming in my cousins' pool

Welcome Home Josh!  Can you tell that we're all on our toes trying to look taller?  Even on my toes I'm the shortest. 

Jilly loved hiking with her Grandpa 

My aunt and cousin fed Jilly a piece of cake- obviously she loved it 

Checking out the elephants with Auntie Jenn

She loved the monkeys and as I watched them I realized she is very much like them!

This puppy and Jilly just stared at each other for a while and they were both making the same squeaking noise at each other, it was so funny

at the Christus statue