Salt Lake City Adventure

We decided that to make a day trip to Salt Lake for some shopping and food, and since we had never done it, we decided to take the Front Runner up.  It is a new train system that goes from Provo to Salt Lake City.  The whole family went, minus Kelly and her kids, and our adopted sister, Jen even tagged along with her kids!  It was quite the adventure....reminded me of riding the metro in D.C.

All the kiddos

The kids were great helpers with Lauren and Clayton.  They had so much fun!  We tease Izzy and Josh all the time that they are going to get married someday, so we couldn't resist taking a "Pre" wedding picture at the SLC temple!  

The best part of the whole day was eating at the Cheesecake Factory!

The Food Coalition

My sister and her family and my mom and I volunteered at The Food Coalition one night.  We helped serve some of the less fortunate in the Provo area.  It was such a humbling experience...I wish my boys could have been there!

More Fun Times

We just didn't stop......Joshua made good use of his cousin's 4-wheeler and has decided that he wants to save up his money to buy his own!  Uncle Cory got a new motorcycle and took us all for rides!  (Notice his legs are whiter than mine, and I live in Alaska!)

Nathan couldn't legally drive the vehicles in Utah, so he made up for that taking everyone around in the  Rhino.  We even made time for a few hours at The Ranch for the kids to play in the water!

And we spent a day in the sun at the city pool....we don't have these in Alaska!  Nathan was dead set he was going to get a tan....he got a nice sunburn instead!

Temple Square

 All of my siblings and my mom and dad went up to Salt Lake City one night to eat at The Roof in the Joseph Smith Building.  My kids have never eaten there, so they got invited too....special!  It was really good and afterwards we walked around Temple Square.

Hiking

We did a lot of hiking while we were in Utah.

Hiking Y mountain was our first adventure!  It was a lot steeper than I remember, but the kids were troopers.  You have such a great view of Utah Valley and BYU campus from the top.

We also hiked to Stewart Falls, above Sundance.  I haven't done this since college, so it brough back great memories!  The kids took their shoes off once we got to the falls to cool off, but it was REALLY cold, so it didn't last too long.

Another hike was to Cascade Springs, up Provo Canyon.  I have never done this one before and it was SO beautiful!

Utah fun!

As you will be able to tell in the next few days ( I will be posting a lot), we had a ton of fun in Utah....

Grandma put Josh and Nate to work too: picking up pine cones and mowing the lawn.  Joshua also was busy making new friends with "Lola" his cousin's bunny and making forts in Grandma's trees!  Nathan was the popular one...all the little cousin's loved him and always wanted to be right by him.  He was a good sport!

Joshua's Horse Ride

Every year we go to Utah, Joshua has one thing on his to do list....go on a horse ride!  Grandpa Swenson, Jared and him went up Spanish Fork Canyon.  He got to ride Cody!  He wishes we lived closer for this one reason!

Great Grandparents

The kids were able to see their last 3 living Great Grandparents.

Jared and his Grandpa and Grandma Cardon

My Grandpa Swenson

Bear Lake

After we left Disney World, we flew to Utah.  We rented a car and headed up to Jared's family cabin at Bear Lake.  It was beautiful and much cooler than Florida!  Jared's parents and three of his sisters and their kids were there.

The kids did a lot of hiking!

On Memorial Day we all went down into Garden City and rented covered bicycles.  It was loads of fun, although Nathan, Grandma, Grandpa, Kennedy and I got one and we were so slow that Nate jumped out and ran behind us pushing...it was a lot of help!

What would Bear Lake be without Raspberry shakes....yummy!  They had a play land for the kids to play on...Nathan doesn't know the meaning of the word kid.  I don't think it means 6'2" teenager...he got a little stuck!

There is a stream that runs by the cabin, we all walked down and took pictures.

It was a quick but fun trip!

The Happiest Place On Earth

In May we took the boys to Disney World...and it truly is the "Happiest Place on Earth"!

We stayed on resort at the Beach Club and it was wonderful!  We had so much fun and are counting the days until we get to go again!  We escaped the snow in Alaska (we literally left with snow on the ground) and enjoyed the warmth of Florida.  It was nice for a week, but the humidity is too much for Josh and I!
Joining us was Grandpa and Grandma Swenson and Ben.  My Dad had a pharmacy convention there, so they arrived a few days before us.  Last summer Ben ( my sister Katie's boy), asked if he could go too.  His mom said if he earned the money for his plane ticket and park ticket he could go.  He worked hard for one year, saving every penny and earned enough....what a great learning experience for him, right!  I wish we were better parents and had thought of that too!

They had so much fun together.....

We literally ATE our way through the parks!  We had the dining plan and it was WAY too much food!  By the end we were eating, just to use it up!  We enjoyed and American Thanksgiving feast, German cuisine, Chinese and Italian, Soda from all over the world, and of course our Character breakfast at the Tusker House!

Josh and Nate were both in heaven!  Josh was HOT and barely survived!  And Nate barely survived without his friends...he was texting them constantly and finally we had had enough and took his phone away!  TEENAGERS!!!!!

It was so fun being with all our family!

We LOVED the African Safari!

And Rockin Rollar Coaster became our favorite!  It took some coaxing to get these two on it, but they finally consented.  I was the only one that would go with them.  Nathan and Jared finally got up the courage too and then it took them 6 times, before we could get them to stop!

Our pool at the hotel was awesome.  It had a water slide and lazy river.  The bottom of the pool was sand and that was the best part.  We would come back after a long day and relax here before heading to bed!

It was really hard to say goodbye, but our next stop was Utah, so that made it easier!

This truly was one of the best trips we have ever been on...well until our next one at least!