Day 4 - Salt Lake

Tuesday was a busy day! We first stopped in Lehi and visited my friend Kristi who moved there from Texas a couple of years ago. It was fun to see you Kristi, even for just a few minutes!

Then we headed to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. If you're not a member of our church, this is a historic and special place for our church and the kids had never been there. Our first stop was the Conference Center. Twice a year our church has a general conference where we hear from our prophet and leaders. It is broadcast all over the world and this is where it takes place. It is a HUGE building that is 1.4 million square feet of floor space and seats 21, 333 people (I just looked that up). Trying to get my kids to hold still when I'm not using the flash is pretty impossible. But here they are right below and in front of the pulpit and organ.

The building also has great sculptures and artwork. This is the original of a famous painting depicting a scene from The Book of Mormon. It is Christ visiting the people in the Americas after his resurrection.

"I Love to See the Temple"

The top of the conference center is an amazing garden representing the Salt Lake Valley. One half is forest and trees like the mountains and the other side is this...brush and prairie.

Our next stop was the Church Office Building. As we got closer Connor started asking if we were going into the world building. He had spotted this from far off. He loves maps and geography right now. This is on the outside of the building.

We rode the elevator to the 26th floor observation deck. The kids loved looking down on Temple Square.

You can't really tell, but we're all safely behind glass. This is Connor looking down at the top of the conference center. It's amazing how the garden roof really makes it blend in well with the landscape.

Landon was so mesmerized by this fountain that he absolutely would not turn around for a picture. Zach really wanted to collect all the money out of it.

Savannah made us stop constantly to take her picture in front of all the beautiful flowers.

The Salt Lake Temple. After this picture we walked over to McDonald's for lunch. Jacob couldn't believe how lucky we were to be eating McDonald's so often.

After lunch we went to the South Visitor's Center. They had this amazing replica of the temple, with the inside like a dollhouse so you could see exactly what every room looked like.

We stopped by the old tabernacle too. This was built in 1867 and was where conference used to be held until the year 2000. This is where I remember going to General Conference with my dad as a teenager.

Jacob took this picture of Dallin and I

We went to the North Visitor's Center. I was so excited for Connor to see this room and I had my camera ready. He loves space and was in awe. This was his favorite place all day.

The kids in front of the Christus statue.

Our last stop was at the Church History Museum. On the main floor we learned all about the pioneers. On the second floor they have exhibits about each of the prophets since Joseph Smith. I found Connor slowing spinning this globe to find Texas.

Zach loves museums and spent the whole time with Dallin asking all kinds of questions. Here they are by the Angel Moroni replica.

Also on the second floor is a great kids area that is all hands on about The Book of Mormon. Zach & Jacob went fishing off of Nephi's ship.

Connor & Savannah "building" Nephi's ship.

This was an area about different cultures in the Americas (I think). They had dress-up clothes and dancers on the big screens. Connor really got into it and could have stayed dancing for hours.

After all that we headed over to Liberty Park to let the kids play for a little while. Then we went to visit my Aunt Suzanne, Dan, and Emily in Draper. (We missed seeing you Melissa!) We ate dinner with them and had a fun time visiting. The kids were angels because they played Mario Party on the Wii the entire time.

Thanks for letting us visit. It was fun to see you all!

Day 3 - 4th of July

Monday, July 4th we started out by taking the kids and Zoey (the dog) to the park. The kids loved throwing the ball for Zoey and having her come right back. Our dog Lucy still has to be on a leash if we take her out or she'll take off.Landon cheered them on.

Alisha enjoyed having the older kids around to go chase after Rusty when he'd wander too far. They were very good about keeping t

For lunch we went to Great-Grandma Strong's house in Alpine. Our 3 youngest kids had never met their great-grandma, so this was a special occasion. They headed straight for Grandma's awesome tire swing.

Landon loved his great-aunt Natalie. He liked dancing and bouncing on her lap.

Dallin's cousin Kiersti and I have become blogging buddies over the last couple of years and it was fun to finally meet her in person. She just had her 3rd baby girl a few weeks ago.

All of us with great-grandma Strong and Aunt Natalie.

Landon playing with Daniel and Alisha

This was Landon's first experience crawling around on the ground outside. Because of the drought our yard is not as green and lush as usual, so I haven't put him on it yet. He enjoyed finding sticks to chew on.

Back at Daniel's house you could usually find Zach & Savannah under the table loving (tormenting) the cat, Cinder. We figured out the first night that Zach & Savannah are both allergic to cats, but that didn't stop them. We just gave them Benadryl before bed every night.

We bought some small fireworks to do after dinner. The little guys were mesmerized.

Rusty & Alisha

Landon's first sparkler

Alisha & Landon reading a book to finish off a great day!

Day 2 - Colorado

On Sunday we left about 8:00am and drove north through Colorado on the "Million Dollar Highway." It was a beautiful drive and well worth it. The kids and I get car sick, but we were all full of dramamine and it was worth the extra time it took. Thanks for the idea Steven!We arrived in Eagle Mountain, UT just in time for our sister-in-law Alisha to feed us an awesome dinner. We stayed for 3 nights there with Dallin's brother Daniel, Alisha, and their son Rusty. Rusty is 4 months older than Landon. They were great hosts and we really appreciated their hospitality!

Vacation 2011 - Day 1

Warning: This is our family's journal. There will be a million pictures and lots of details over the next 20 or so posts. They have not been edited because we're not home yet, so some aren't the best quality.

We have all been looking forward to this vacation for a while now. The kids have been talking about it for months. It finally started!

We left at 4:30am on Saturday, July 2. We turned Landon's car seat around to keep him happier.

The only problem was that he wouldn't go to sleep. He was way too over-stimulated. He did like watching the movie for a while, but then got really cranky. So we turned him back around and he's been happy ever since. It still took 3 or 4 days in the car before he would fall asleep without us doing anything to help (singing, etc.). Overall he has done so much better on this trip than I thought he would. And his first molar even broke through the first day.

Connor has been stuck in the back for the majority of the trip because his car seat is a barrier for whoever is sitting in the back. It doesn't stop the fighting, but helps a little bit.

Saturday we drove 14 1/2 hours to Farmington, NM. All of Texas and New Mexico was pretty dried up and dead because of the drought. That was sad to see. The kids LOVE staying in hotels. Even though all we do is sleep and eat breakfast and leave. Landon was so excited to be in the same room with people that we would not go to sleep. Dallin commented that it was like watching a dying bug struggling to stay alive. That's exactly what he looked like while he tried to stay awake for an hour or so.