Utah Trip: Part 4 - Cousins

 Austin, Benson, and Brooks.  All born within 3 months.  These kiddos were goofballs! Austin loved playing with all his boy cousins.  I hardly saw him.

 We stopped by my Aunts house in Springville and all her kids were there visiting too.  Here is Cody with his older cousin Indy.  Such a cute kid! And a cute name.  Although he wasn't too happy about a picture. 

 Tyler's brother Spencer was in Utah that summer doing an internship with my brother in law, Brad, at Namify.  It was fun to hang out with him a few different times.  Cody's middle name is Spencer so these two have a special bond. haha

 Cody hung out a lot with Ella.  Ella is two months older but I do believe Cody had her by a couple pounds...

We went out to dinner at Cracker Barrel and they decided to play a game of checkers outside. Classic!

Utah Trip: Part 3 - Stadium of Fire

 My brother in law Brad hooked us all up with Stadium of Fire tickets while we were in Utah.  We got 2 babysitters for 12 kids and headed out.  Cody was lucky he got to come with us! and boy did he love it! He was glued to the show.  There were so many cool performances it was so much better than I even imagined!

 The firework show was amazing. Best I've ever seen!  I loved that they did the fireworks to music. 

 Still awake!

Carrie Underwood performed that night after all the pre-acts and boy was she good!  It took FOREVER getting out of the parking lot after and we made an illegal dash out of a gate but luckily got through.  Thank goodness Tyler was driving and takes risks like that. :)

Utah Trip: Part 2 - FOURTH OF JULY

 Since the Provo Parade was JAMPACKED the entire day before we decided to make our own parade in my sister's neighborhood.  Tyler went out and bought some supplies for the kids to decorate with and then loaded up the truck and headed out.  Jana texted her neighbors to come out so we could throw candy at them.  This was the BEST idea ever!  We got to be in the parade and we didn't end up with ANY candy leftover!

 We also shot off a rocket that day with baking soda and vinegar.  Jamie's attempt failed...

 So Bryson read the instructions and followed them to the T and Wallah! The rocket shot off!  Leave it to Bryson

 Lily made an animal balloon all by herself! I was very impressed.

 Hanging out on the front porch in the shade where it was actually cool! In the shade! I love this weather.

 All dressed up and ready for the parade.

 Sitting on top of Spencer's head.  Tyler's brother was in the Provo Parade for Namify earlier that morning and was the mascot.  So he was dressed in all black with this foam head running around.  The kids loved it!

 Pushing the kids in the parade

 

Everybody wanted to ride in the truck of course.

 Blake got to sit up front with Uncle Spencer!

 Austin rode his bike the whole way...twice! We were driving too slow for him apparently.  He'd ride way ahead and then loop back.  What a stud!

We loved spending holidays with the family!

Utah Trip: Part 1 - Utah

 We finally made it to Utah! Wahoo!!! Tyler and I both missed the mountains, but didn't quite realize it until we drove into Salem.  We got together with Tyler's brothers and two sisters-in-law.  The boys snuggled right up with Uncle Chan.

 We visited Tyler's grandparents, and the boys had fun playing in the trees in their living room.

 Swinging was fun!

 Grandpa Al and Grandma June.  It was so fun to visit with them and eat dinner with them just like old times!

 We finally got to meet Hazel! This is Cody's first cousin on Tyler's side.  And of course it was a girl! I think they will get along great.

Grandpa Al also passed on some of his woodworking tools to Tyler which we hauled back in a U-Haul trailer. Tyler has already put them to good use.

Utah Trip: MOAB

 We stopped in Moab to do some hiking and it was even better than I thought it would be! It was so cool! Well, the temperature was incredibly hot, but we survived.  Cody did awesome! He loved hiking and would smile at people coming toward us so we got lots of smiles from strangers.

 Tyler was a trooper carrying Blake a good portion of the way.  Blake's not quite the hiking type yet.  Austin hitched a ride too but not as much as Blake.  I think the sun takes a lot out of Blake.

 Resting after our hike to the Windows

 I love this picture! Tyler is wearing a piggyback rider and we got stopped by so many people to see what it was that he was standing on.  Tyler just found it online and it's so nice with it being so lightweight.  We even had people who wanted to take a picture of it.

 On our hike to Balanced Rock, Austin loved seeing all the miniature balanced rocks people had made along the way.  He started collecting rocks in his bug catcher and wanted to make his own balanced rock.  He's pointing to the one he built. :)

 Just me and my chubalub!

 Tyler and Austin are up top.  Austin was quite the adventurist climbing all over the rocks up high.

 Blake was a bit more hesitant, as you can see him scooting around...

 Jumping picture!

 More Jumping!

It would be so fun to come back to Moab when the kids are older and can do some longer hikes.  This was a great stop along the way.

Utah Trip: Part Two - Santa Fe

 We stopped at another National Park in Santa Fe the evening after Bandelier to hike a trail up to a waterfall.  It was in the evening and the cool weather was perfect for a hike!  It turned out to be too long to make it all the way to the waterfall, so we just hiked partway and let the boys have fun with their bug catchers!  Best $2 I spent on the trip

Cody was just learning to sit up so we always stacked pillow around him on the bed.  Austin loves playing with him so it was fun to capture this moment.

Utah Trip: First Stop Santa Fe!

 We started our trip to Utah in the evening on June 29 and after we spent the night in Lubbock and visited the Williams(friends who used to live in Fort Worth) we made our first stop in Santa Fe.  We got up early and rode a bus up the mountain to Bandelier.  Here we are in front of the visitor center

 It was a scorcher out! Sooo hot and there wasn't much shade as we hiked along the mountainside.  In Bandelier there used to be Indians who lived in cliff dwellings.  So you'd hike along the cliff side and climb up a ladder into a little cave that the indians had carved out and lived in.

 Here's Austin, Blake, and Tyler making their way up.  It was amazing how cool the cave was inside.  It was instantly 15-20 degrees cooler than outside.  Some were small. but some were large and we could all fit inside and stand up and walk around.

 The boys loved the hike back down over the creek and in the trees

 The  boys had bug catcher nets and spent a good deal of the time on the second half catching box elder bugs and looking for bugs on this rock.  We didn't mind stopping for a rest and sitting in the shade.

 On our way back on the bus ride

 On the bus after our hike

Here we all our inside a cliff dwelling.(out of order) The entire hike was just over a mile, and I'm so glad we brought lots of water!