That was a close one

Normally I'm not happy about my kids getting sick.  Especially when the sickness includes throwing up.  But this time I won't complain.  Why?  Because Soren started throwing up about 1.5 hours after we got home last night.  I am so glad that he didn't throw up while we were all captive in the van!  Can you imagine?  He's been a sleepy guy today, but he's happy and is going to be just fine.

The long road home

After arriving at their house late Saturday night, we spent all day Sunday with Jeff's brother, Jeremy, and his family in Colorado.  The kids, once again, had a great time with cousins we hadn't seen in far too long.  Unfortunately, we didn't pull out the camera until bedtime and those pictures could be used as blackmail so I won't publish them here!  Jeremy and Krista treated us to homemade burritos that equal anything you can order in a fancy restaurant.  Yummy!!!!  Then, as if that wasn't enough, we had homemade cookies-and-cream ice cream for a bedtime snack.  Just what we needed to gear us up for another day of fast food in the van! 

Our drive home on Monday wasn't bad as far as 1000+ mile drives go with 8 people in a van.  We drove through a fierce thunderstorm about 45 minutes from home, but we still made it home in good time to find everything as it should be.   Total trip miles:  4146.8.  It's good to be home!

Family Faces

Some of my favorite people from the cabin.

(The list of those not pictured is equally as long - this is in no way inclusive.  Some people are easier to photograph than others...)

It was hard to say goodbye.  Thanks for a great three days!

The Biggest Catch

Spencer loved fishing at the cabin.  Unfortunately there was no photographer on site to document the two huge rainbow trout from day 1.  Here is the big catch from day 2.  You can't really tell from the photo, but the fish is almost as long as Spencer's legs - somewhere around 20-22".  Way to go, Spencer.

The Cabin

The reason we drove to Utah was to end up at my brother-in-law's cabin for 3 days with the whole Martin clan.  This cabin is amazing!  We are having a great time.

Old Friends

We had a great day visiting our good friends who moved away from our little corner of the world 6 years ago.  Savannah was so excited to see her BFF, Augustine.  They were as silly and giddy as ever.  Can you tell how much fun these 2 have together?  It had been 3 years since they'd seen each other but they quickly made up for that!  Fortunately, theirs is the type of friendship where they can simply pick up where they left off.

Happy Birthday!

Sadie got to spend her 5th birthday at Uncle Steve's and Aunt Jenny's house.  Hard to believe my baby is five!  Lots of family came over in the evening to celebrate.  Later in the week, Grandma gave her a golden dress for her birthday.  She looks like a little Princess. 

Family

We said goodbye to Jay's family in the morning and Todd's family after church.  It was so fun to spend time with all of them and for the kids to see their cousins.  It's been 2 years since we saw them last!
 

Minersville Reservoir, etc.

What a fun day!  Todd temporarily has 2 boats so we each hitched one up and spent a great day on the water.  Jeff's youngest brother, Jay, and his family drove down to spend the day with all of us as well.  Sadie was thrilled to finally see her closest cousin, Ana.  They had so much fun together.  I was able to get up on one ski on my 2nd try, but sadly there is no photo proof.  I did capture Sam and Jeff up on skis.  The rest of the gang were on the other boat tubing.  They had a great time, but the camera was with me. 

The next photo was the last ride of the day.  Jay and Benson may have felt like they were riding a bull.  The weather turned nasty pretty quick and, while the picture doesn't really show it, the water was choppy to say the least.  It was one wild ride!  From the smiles on their faces, they don't seem to mind too much.

On our way back to Todd's, we stopped at Parowan Gap to see the Indian Petroglyphs and Dinosaur footprints. 

In the above photo, can you see the silhouette of an Indian face in the rocks?

In the center is a three-toed dinosaur footprint.  It looks like it's been cast because the rock formed in the print.  A great day!

Kanarraville Falls

After a day of relaxing at Uncle Todd's house, Jeff, Todd, and Debra took the older kids on an awesome hike to Kanarraville Falls.  I stayed behind with the youngest ones.  Much of the trail was literally through the river.  It looks like they all had a great time.  (I'm not sure I would have been too happy to have to climb up that makeshift ladder to get to the falls...)