U-T-A-H!

It's no secret--We LOVE Utah! And Blake was nice enough to let us spend almost two weeks there. We always get to do so much and it goes by too quickly. Here's some of what we did--

We finally got to go down and see beautiful Bountiful Pond and take a little tour from the master canoer and trivia king himself, my dad. We got a very thorough history of the pond, surrounding flora, and local fauna while paddling around the water. Max was a very good paddler, only losing his paddle once and using the paddle to help Grandpa splash (or should I say soak) Uncle Andy.
The whole family, minus Tony (where was Tony the entire time we were in Utah anyway?), met up at Kangaroo Zoo to see what all the fuss was from our trip there during the last visit. Boy did Kangaroo Zoo live up to its reputation and it sure was nice to have some other bodies help haul Max up the steep ladders. Jack was even big enough to get in on some of the action this time.

For Father's Day my dad got a special coupon for a Daddy-Daughter Date and he decided to cash in on it. I took him for a very special dinner at Del Taco (it was Taco Tuesday) and then to see Wall-E. We were going to get a treat after, but both of us were ready to go home. We're a good pair--two fuddiduddies. Right, dad? :)
We went down to Provo to visit Uncle Gage. We went to Rock Canyon Park to have a picnic and play on the playground. Max skipped out on most of the picnic, opting to splash in the puddles at the bottom of the steep hill instead, and then the playground was much, much, much too hot to play on. So, we headed over to campus so Gage and I could introduce the boys to BYU. I was happy Gage (the last BYUer until Caden 10 years from now) could be the one to help me show them around. After I explained to Max that this is where Mommy and Daddy went to school, he said, "Max go to BYU. Ride elevators." I guess he sees a lot of potential for elevators in all those tall buildings. Go Cougars!
My dad had the fun idea of going over to the elementary school field to shoot off rockets. Since Max is a big fan of pushing buttons, he was appointed the official launch master. He did an excellent job of counting down to blast-off and then pushing the button. We only lost one rocket (I didn't run fast enough) and even made time to go play on the playground by the school. And thanks to Aunt Bri, Jack was sound asleep by the time we got home.

We had to take advantage of Grandma's Zoo Pass, especially now that the new carousel is open. Our first stop was the train, but then on to the fabulous carousel. We walked right on, but unfortunately Max wanted to ride on the giraffe and that was already occupied. So, we waited for the next ride and ran to make sure we got them. We caught the bird show and saw the elephants, tigers, penguins, monkeys, and camels. And on our way out, we rode the train one more time.
And then, of course, there are the things I don't have pictures of--our daily lunch bunch, watching "The Chipmunk Adventure" (one of the best movies ever made), American Idol on the Wii, scrapbook shopping, Sunday dinner at Grandma's, playing with the Little People garage, and SYTYCD Party. We love being around family. Too bad we miss Daddy Blake so much. We leave early, early, EARLY tomorrow morning to meet him in Seattle. It will be a sweet reunion. Thank you family for the perfect 2 weeks!