Utah Trip: Part 7

I really took thousands of pictures while I was in Utah.  I'm trying to narrow them down and only adding my favorites.... but that still means there will be a whole lot of Utah posts.  

 I cut Peyton's hair into a fohawk.... and I think he looks soooooo cute with it!!!  New favorite hairdo for him.  We called it his shark fin.

 Reading is tough work, but someone's got to do it.  Sadie's new favorite thing to do these days is to choose a book, snuggle deep down in the covers with Peyton and I in my bed and read books.  It's only taken 18 months to enjoy reading, haha.  But it sure makes me happy!

 One evening while we were sleeping there was a horrible lightning storm.  It struck the mountain by my mom's house a few times.  So when we woke up, the mountain was on fire.  This same thing happened a few years back while everyone was at grandma's camp.  Mom had been home alone and asked to evacuate.

 The helicopter flew right over my mom's backyard.

 And filled up his bucket at the neighbor's pond.  We sat in our backyard for hours mesmerized by the helicopter making its circles.  Peyton is now on a huge rescue team kick that includes helicopters.... of course.

 Probably my most favorite picture of the whole trip!  My mom had bought some costumes at a yard sale!  I love this age.

 We went to Nibley Splash park one day with everyone.  The mountain was still on fire and we needed to get out and do something.  All the way up there at the park, the smell of smoke in the air was strong.  Unfortunately I didn't get to enjoy the park long...... I kept feeling so anxious that I needed to be back at the house.  Just in case the fire came down too far.  So we didn't stay long.

 When we had returned, it had indeed gotten a lot worse.

 So they launched a reverse fire line.  There is a deer fence up on that mountain and they created a distinct fire line so they could manually start their own fire that they could control so that the two fires would meet in the middle and diffuse.

The fire went long into the night but their plan worked.  The fire was out come morning.  The process was so exciting to watch though.  There were cars parked all along Hollow Road to get a better look until the firefighters ordered everyone to stay home.  It really just reminded me how easily things can be taken away from us.  Imagine if that fire had reached my parent's house.  In a matter of hours all of their possessions would have been taken.  I think it's sooooo important not to get overly caught up in buying all the newest and greatest gadgets for our houses, not putting all our money in materialistic things.  Even made me think that when Eric and I build a house...... my dream house is going to be drastically different from the one I've been dreaming about.  Going simple is sometimes the best.  And that's just my opinion for you.

Utah Trip: Part 6

We do some many fun things while we're in Utah, and we usually pack it into a 10 day journey.  Well, this trip we decided to stay for a good month.  So just think of all the things we were able to fit in, in that time frame!  There was a family reunion for the Martineaus!  It was held at a park in Smithfield.  There were crafts, a treasure hunt, a creek to throw rocks in, food, and of course lots of family!

 This kid is one meticulous painter.  Everything he does, he does it with precision and a steady hand.  He's always been this way.  He even eats this way.  So even though I didn't cover him up with a painter's shirt, there was only a pinprick of paint that made it to his t-shirt.

 I dub these girls, the techno gals.  I kept teasing them because everytime I would walk by their table, every single member of their family, including Uncle Lyle had their phones out texting or facebooking or something.  haha.  It's the reality of this day and age, but thought I'd give them a bad time about it anyway.  Love them

 One day, Aunty Em brought her whole family over to Whitney's and we made up a bunch of freezer meals for her to get through the transition of having Hyrum.  While Aunty Em and Whitney were cooking up a storm, Uncle Michael and I took the kids to the splash park nearby.

 It was fun being able to enjoy some time with Uncle Michael and wrangle those kidlets together.

 After a long exhausting day in the sun, all the kids were more than happy to turn on some TV and get personally served chicken nuggets for lunch.  Now that's the life!

 It was off to the zoo one day!  Willow Park zoo is like the dinkiest zoo that ever lived but I enjoyed it a lot!  Peyton loved the monkey the most and really enjoyed feeding the ducks.

 Monkey face!  Remember, the monkey was his favorite?  We ended our zoo excursion with a little picnic at the park.

 While we were in Utah, Levi had a birthday!!!!  Ihop was first on our agenda!  I had soooo much fun in the car ride there with Levi.  We cranked some music, we danced hard, singing at the top of our lungs.  Those are the moments I never want to forget.  This kid is one CRAZY fun kid to hang out with.  I think we are nearly 13-14 years apart in age but I'm telling you.... it matters not!!!  We have such a great time together!  I love to give him a hard time while I"m there.... always refer to him as the big baby.  Well it's the darn truth.  He is teh baby of our family and he IS getting bigger.

 Levi chose to go to the Rock Haus in celebration.  Good choice I say!  I had never been rock climbing, and neither had many of us.

 It was soooooo fun!!!!!!!!  I thought I was going to be horrible at it, but it turns out I've got pretty big guns!  Levi was like a little monkey and it didn't seem like anything was a struggle for him.

Utah holds soooo many memories for us!  We do so many fun things while we're there, all spent with teh ones we love the most!!!