For Adam's birthday he got tickets to the BYU vs University of Texas football game. Now Adam went to BYU and Texas is my alma mater so we thought it would be a fun time. There was some tribulation is deciding to go to Utah with or without the kids. Ultimately we brought them with us and I'm glad. My grandmother is turning 90 this year and has announced to all that she is going to die soon, although she has said this many times in the last ten years. She is blind though and finds her mind wandering and having short term memory problems. I felt it was important to share my family with her. We drove overnight and stayed in a relatively cheap townhouse rental for the week. My brother Jared watched the kids for us and we planned to meet my aunt Christine and my cousin Ollie to go to the game together. They were late in getting home so we started for the stadium, maybe a mile away. The weather was looking very ominous. Just as we got to the end of the street a hurricane force wind started blowing and I swear a tornado was going to drop out of the sky. Dust was getting in my mouth and nose and eyes. We squinted as we rushed down the street and ducked into a Subway on the corner just as the sky let loose a torrential downpour. We stayed there for almost a half hour til the rain was a little drizzle and then Adam ran back to our car and he came and picked me up. The rain continued, as did the thunder and lightening. The game was delayed for two hours so we got some pizza and hung out at my grandparents with my aunt. When the rain finally stopped we headed over to the game. I know Adam was super excited. He loved his college days and going to football games. Unfortunately for me though, my team got creamed!
Walking to the game. I swear the sky was green and the eerily still before it hit.
Of course I had to wear the proper attire. My Grandpa, a retired BYU professor and avid BYU football fan was disappointed in me, but I repented on Sunday and wore my BYU shirt after church. BTW, not a real tattoo.
Blurry, but loving it!
The rest of the week was spent taking the kids to do things I remember doing as a kid. Adam, who lived in Utah for four or five year had never done them either. We hiked to Stuart Falls, up in Sundance, on Monday. It's a two mile hike each way. Adam and I took turns carrying the baby. Ben walked most of the way there and then wanted to be carried. I used a bag of skittles to bribe him that far. Olivia whined at first about hiking but then she just went ahead and beat us there. I thought it was fun and super pretty. I really don't like Utah living-it's so crowded and everything is surprisingly so commercialized, but I do love that despite the urbanized valley, you can drive 30 minutes up the canyon and take a hike that makes you feel a million miles from civilization. And it's so pretty. Did I already mention that?
There was some whining about being tired on the way back but overall not too bad!
Tuesday we hiked the Y in the morning with my Aunt Christine. Definitely a lot more whining this time. It's a very short hike, 0.25 miles, but it's like a 1100 feet climb. The view is worth it though.
Later that day we went to Heber and took a ride on the Heber Creeper. The weather was a little muggy but not hot. I liked it, and it was green and beautiful and breezy with the windows down. It was Ben's first ride on a real train. It was nice and relaxing. There was a little entertainment with a "robbery" and later some tunes on the guitar by a talented lady named Crazy Annie. Afterward we stopped at Grannie's Drive in and had their famous milkshakes. I should mention that we went to the BYU Creamery three times on our trip and my Grandma always has boxes of ice cream. We ate a lot of ice cream that week.
OK, this post is out of control but I don't want to miss any of it. We hiked yet again on Wednesday, up to Timpanoogas cave. It had been closed the previous few days because that big storm on Saturday caused a mudslide. It is a mile and a half up a a pretty steep grade and we carried both kids the whole time. I can tell you by the end of this hike my calves were dang sore. I love caves. My dad took us to a few growing up, including this one. Olivia thought it was super cool and got to be the guides helper during the tour. Benji wanted to be held the whole time in the cave. The darkness and tight tunnels scared him. On the way down however he wanted to walk, or run that is, and I was afraid he was going to trip and go over the edge to his death. Geez! Afterward we drove a little way down the canyon and stopped at a park, built a fire and roasted hot dogs. I love the smell of a fire and nature and the sound of a rushing river! What a fun day it was!
Rachel loves to give kisses. Those two girls are so cute!
So
our last day we got to hang out with my brother and we had big plans to
go to Park City and ride the Alpine Slide and Coaster but the rain that
had been threatening us all the other days finally came down. Instead
we went to the Museum of Paleontology on campus, got ice cream and then went to
the Provo Rec Center that has a fabulous indoor water park. I guess they
have an outdoor one too for the summer time. Then we ate Vietnamese
food for dinner before saying good bye. The kids love him cause he's super fun!
Ben wanted nothing to do with the dinosaurs and sat in the stroller the whole time with the shade drawn.
This would have been a great video because a water bucket is dumping on them just as I took this shot. Pretty funny. This water park had a playscape, complete with slides for the kids, a small lazy river, a super deep pool that you can rock climb next to and fall or jump into the water and a "cliff" to dive into. Plus there were two big tube slides for the big kids. On top of that there was a small lap pool and a full size competition pool. There was a big hot tub but they won't let kids into it-lame! The gym was pretty sweet too.
Of course we saw my grandparents almost everyday to help the kids get familiar with them. I ashamed I didn't get enough pictures though. While my Grandma has trouble remembering recent things she remembers Adam as my knight in shining armor and can remember such detail from years before. I have loved reading their histories and hope to share it with my children as they grow. We had a short little cousin get-together too. I hope that my kids read this blog as they get older to help them remember.
Rachel has stranger fear let Grandma hold and smother her with kisses. I couldn't get Ben to sit still long enough to get a picture.
PS This post is so long you have to go to older posts to read another most recent post.
3 comments:
Fun adventure! Glad I got to be a part of it.
Wow! Is this the same Provo that we go too???? We never do anything cool like that when we go to Provo. My kids are looking at the pictures in awe. We seriously just "hang out with family" whenever we go. But I am going to repent. Next time we are down there (which is usually for a long weekend every few months) we are going to do Timpanogas Cave, and hike the Y, and the palentology museum and the Rec Center...well maybe not all in one trip. But that all looked like such fun. So sad we didn't cross paths with you. We were down there last weekend and Vanessa just happened to be there too. It was great!
I have no idea why, put this post had me crying by the end. Family is really what it's all about and yours is lovely! Hooray for taking pictures and blogging your adventures.
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