Idaho July 2012

Our first full day in Idaho, we headed to Bear World. It was a fun place. You drive in and go along this path in your car and you can see deer, buffalo, elk and obviously bears. Kids loved it. Then you park your car and they have cubs you can see and a petting area with deer, chickens, goats etc.  They also have a few fun rides to go on. 

We spend several hours there and when we got home we just played outside. The kids were digging up  worms in the garden area.

Seriously these next few pictures melt my heart. Ryker is a sweet boy but doesn't like to show that side of himself as often as I would like. He found a cute little frog jumping in the grass and caught it. He was beaming and grinning form ear to ear. This boy LOVES frogs, snakes, sharks and turtles. He loves reading about them and really would like to own all of them. He named his from Hop and his wonderful Aunt Shantay found a box to make a home for him in. Greatest day EVER for Ryker.

Idaho Adventure 7/20/12

We had such a fun time in Utah (well everyone else did). But now my weird sickness turned into a cough and I had do voice. It hurt so bad every time I coughed, my chest felt bruised. But this point in the trip was when we had to say goodbye to Shaun. He headed back home to Arizona and we were headed North to Rexberg Idaho to spend 2 WEEKS with Abe, Shantay, Bristol and Kinnley. It was a 4 hour dive so I loaded the van and we were off. 

Idaho is just beautiful in the summer time. It is green and lush. The weather was perfect. We got there and were so excited to see everyone. They are renting a little house on an acre piece of property.

Here we are going to the duck pond.

The people they are renting their house from lived next door. They had their grandchildren living with them. It was so fun because it gave them more friends to play with. Grace had a good time pulling then kids around with the lawnmower.

Poor Kinnie and Riggy wanted a ride but they were to little.

Day 7 and 8 of our Utah/ Idaho Adventure

Day 7 of our trip was actually our 9th anniversary!!  9 whole years together and 3 crazy kids later. We had already had Lagoon planned for that day. I was yes.....still very very sick :(  But still not wanting to miss out on some fun I got up and got ready to go.  

Here we all are at the beginning of our day.

I only lasted about 3 hours and had to go home :( I felt awful and needed to lay down. I took Rigdon home with me. I put him down for his nap and thank goodness he slept for 3 hours because that means I did as well :)

This is the ride that Ryker remembered form 2 years previous, when we came to Lagoon for the first time. He loves this ride!!!

Everyone else had so much fun and got back later that evening. I was already in bed for the night when they got home. Not how you typically expect to spend your 9th anniversary but that is how life goes right?? 

Day 8: Wrapping up the week of fun, the kids went to a bounce house place. Yep I'm sure you know where I was.......still sick.  I really don't get sick often nor have I EVER been so sick like this before. I'm still a little sad I missed out on such a fun trip!! One that we had been planing for months by the way!

After the bounce house, Shaun took the kids to the Salt Lake Temple visitor center, since we didn't get to do it when we were there on Sunday.

Ryker, Amelia and Brekka

Day 5 and 6 of our Utah/ Idaho Adventure

So if almost losing my son wasn't bad enough........I got sick. I mean sick. I haven't been sick even with a cold for YEARS. Day 5 was on a Sunday so we had planned on going and visiting the Temple Square and then just hanging our at the rental home. I woke up with a killer headache and feeling like I had been hit by a truck. We got all the kids dressed and headed to the Salt Lake Temple.

Such cute girls. :)

By now I was feeling dizzy and awful. I just wanted to be in bed but I'm not going to be sick while on vacation. So we wanted to tour the conference center first. It was huge!!! It was fun to see where out prophet and apostles speak to us from.

The tour was 30 or 40 minutes into it and I was done. I couldn't walk without feeling like passing out and my head hurt so bad!!!! I told Shaun I wanted to make it to the top for a picture then I had to go home. So we had to leave without going to the visitor center at the temple. We were all bummed. I got home and got into bed. I slept ALL DAY :( 

I did get up once to see what everyone was up to and they were outside having water gun fights. I went back to bed and my now my nose was stuffed, my throat hurt and I was coughing. :/

I thought for sure I would be ok for Day 6.....Candy Factory and Girls day!!! I got tons of sleep but woke up the next day still feeling like crud. Once again, was going to force myself to have fun and go shopping. Everyone left in the morning for our 9:00am Candy factory tour. I stayed back with Rigdon and would just meet up with them.  I meet them at the mall in SLC had lunch and hung around a bit. The play area for the kids was the best!!

Then the dads and grandpas took the kids swimming at a really cool indoor pool while the moms went shopping. I knew I needed to go home and sleep but I had to go to my favorite store! It is the BEST fabric store ever. Missy and I both got this quilt kit :) That made me feel a little better ;)

 I got home and went to bed. Poor Shaun had to deal with kids all day and I missed out on late night card games with the adults. 

Day 4 of our Idaho/ Utah Adventure

I didn't even want to write about this day because it is the worse day I have had in my life so far!!! :( 

You will understand as you read further down.

So on day 4 we had bought tickets to go ride the Heber Creeper. Weird name hu?!? It is a train ride with a scenic route. We had to drive a ways so we thought we would have a picnic in an area close by. It was so green and lush. It was raining a bit but stopped by the time our lunch was over so the kids were able to run around and play. Not that the rain would have stopped them.

We get to the Heber Creeper which is in Heber Ut.

It was an hour train ride. The kids had a good time and they had a snack shop so of course the grandparents loaded the kids up with lots of sugar. 

So here is where the day went sour. As you know, when you are traveling with lots of people, the kids like to switch cars and ride with their buddies. So the previous day and on the way to the Heber, Ryker rode with his cousins Brody and Brae in their parents suburban. So we all went potty after the train ride and went out to the parking lot and had 4 different cars to pile into. We loaded up and we had Rigdon,Amelia and another cousin. We ASSUMED Ryker had got in the suburban with Brody and Brae. Shaun and I even looked at each other and said should we check on Ryker but everyone was driving off so we just followed. We were going to drive 45 mins.......yes 45 mins to Park City for dinner then home to Salt Lake. We got to the restaurant in Park City and we all got out of our cars and started to meet up with everyone. I saw Brody and Brae but not Ryker so I asked where Ryker was. I'm getting tears in my eyes as I type this because I will never forget the AWEFUL feeling of what happened next. Wendy said they didn't have Ryker in the car with them. All the adults said they didn't either and that is when we knew we had left Ryker back in Heber!!  I started bawling and Shaun and I jumped into the van and headed back to Heber. So you remember how long I said the drive was??? 45 mins!!!! Cari came with us and was trying to find the number to the Heber Creeper station. I had a prayer in my heart but was so sick in my stomach!!  I called the police and they connected me to the police in Heber. I told them what had happened and they were going to send a policeman right away. By now Ryker has been all alone for an hour. I couldn't stop thinking about him and if he was ok and safe! While waiting on the phone with the 911 operator as she was waiting to hear back from the cop, Michael called Cari and he had gotten in touch with a worker at the train station and said he was there looking at the toys and they were watching him. A few seconds after that the police man got there and said he was fine. We still had a 30 min drive and I was just so grateful Ryker was safe and waiting there with the police officer. Now all I could think about was how Ryker was feeling!!! Did we scar him for life, was he scared out of his mind????  We finally got there and I flew out of the van to get to him. I hugged him so tight and he started to get teary eyed. Probably because I was sobbing like a crazy lady. I thanked the police officer and we went on our way. The train station workers gave him a bunch of free stuff including a coupon for a free ice cream cone. Ryker was beyond excited about that. I think I was way more traumatized than him. I asked him what he was thinking as he waited for us and he said he was looking at the toys in the gift shop for awhile and went outside and noticed all our cars were gone and didn't see any of us. So he went back inside and kept looking at the toys. He wasn't too freaked out because kids have so much faith in their parents, he knew we would be back to get him. Well I have learned my lesson......first, ALWAYS listen to the Holy Ghost when he prompts you to check on your child and second, make sure your child is in a car when driving with many people. I love my Ryker-boy and I don't ever want to go through that AGAIN!!!

Our Utah/ Idaho Adventure Day 1-3

The day we have been waiting for ALL summer has arrived. We loaded our van ready for our long 3 week trip to Utah and Idaho. I had baskets full of activities for each kid, plenty of snacks and tons of fun tunes to listen to in the car. Goodbye Mesa Arizona. We were happy to leave the 115 degree weather.

We caravanned to St. George with Missy and her 2 boys. We wanted to break the trip to Salt Lake up a bit so we stopped for the night in St. George Ut. This gave the kids a chance to swim and have a little fun as well.

Eating Jack-in-the-Box on the floor in the room :/

We woke up the next morning ready to get to Salt Lake and meet up with our cousins. But before we left St. George we wanted to stop by the Temple there. Holy moly it was HUGE and BEAUTIFUL!!! I want to go back and actually go into the temple next time :)

Well we made it and a few hours later so did our other cousins. We were meeting up with Shaun's 2 cousins from Idaho, Wendy and Cari and their families!! Shaun's Aunt Rita and Uncle Glen got their late that night as well. Nana and Pa weren't able to come for a few days. 12 kids ages 11 down to 11 months.  We rented a pretty big house in Salt Lake and that is where we stayed for a week. We had planned out the week with so many fun activities.

It is a boy heavy group of kids only 4 of the 12 kids are girls. Here is Millie, Lexi and Brekka.

Cari and Wendy mailed our kids a special passport before the trip. I can't believe I don't have a picture of them. It had each of our days outlined for them and on the front cover they had a secret cousin. They had to bring 3 gifts to give them and put it in there special bag. The kids LOVED it!!!

Our first full day in Salt Lake we went to a place called Thanksgiving Point. It is defiantly a must if you are ever staying in the area with kids. Oh and yes we had the kids matching EVERY day.

Their is a farm, dinosaur museum, ice cream shop, restaurants, golf course/ gardens and a few other things we didn't get to.

Here is Millie and Millie the cow.  Our Millie obviously needed to go to the bathroom as well. Sheesh girl!!

Rigdon LOVES animals and wanted a closer look of the gigantic cow.

Horse rides for everyone. This was Amelia's and Rigdon's first time on a horse.

Rigdon was straight faced the whole time. He wasn't sure how to feel about this.

Then we went over to the dinosaur museum. It was awesome and the kids had a blast.

Ice Cream of course.

Then we went over the Golf course/ Gardens. It was so beautiful. You can follow a path all through it. It even has some man made waterfalls.

Rolling down the hills.

Favorite picture EVER. Even thought they are not doing this on their own, I told them to and I'm pretty sure I had to bribe them.

It was a wonderful day. The weather was great and we had so much fun!!