Utah Roadtrip

Tyler had his vacation week, so we decided to spent the thing in Utah with both of our families.  It was a wonderful trip, and so fun for the girls to play with our family in a relaxed environment.  They really warmed up to everyone this time around.  We started out driving Friday night, hit horrible traffic on the way out of California (like always!!) but finally arrived around 1am.  We spent Saturday morning at Grandma & Grandpa's feeding horses in their neighborhood.  Both girls loved it and were very brave!  Penny has perfected her "neigh, neigh" sound.

That afternoon, we headed up to Tyler's grandparent's house in Tropic, just outside of Bryce Canyon.  We spent Mother's day there and tried to get a cute picture, but Bridgette did not want to cooperate!  Ahh, the real life of moms!  I'm so grateful to have my beautiful girls here, my sweet angel baby, and a cute baby boy coming soon!

Gigi and Grandpa Mate live in kid heaven.  Next door was a field of lambs, across the street was the school and playground, and animals everywhere to wave to.

Monday, we headed to Bryce Canyon.  I was overly ambitious about how long the girls would last and thought they'd enjoy seeing the views before we hiked back down.  The first view was great, and everyone was happy.

The next was a disaster:

And kept going downhill from there.  We stopped for lunch overlooking some rocks, and both girls lost it at that point and were screaming and we hadn't even started the hike yet!  Within the first 10 minutes of the hike, Penny was bawling because she wanted me and was in the hiking backpack with Tyler, and Bridgette was crying because she was scared she'd fall down and didn't want to hike home.  I tried to persuade Tyler to turn around but he talked me into continuing on.  So very slowly and with lots of bribing, we made it down the switchbacks through the rock formations.  Once we were more flat, Bridgette did better, but it still took over 1 1/2 hours at that point.  FINALLY we made it and Tyler's grandpa was waiting there to take us home.  Whew!  I'm realizing that vacations with kids don't go like you envisioned!

The next day, was much more relaxed and fun.   We just did one short hike up to Mossy Cave and to a waterfall.  Grandma and Grandpa got to come and hike with us.  Here's Bridgette's cheesy smile inside the cave.

 

The girls loved throwing rocks in the river and having stick races.

I had to hold on tight to Penny because she kept trying to walk into the water to get more rocks.

We headed up to Layton that night since we found out Tyler would have to leave earlier than we thought to get back for a knee dissection course (Lame!).  Poor Penny learned to hate her carseat with all this driving and screamed the entire time from Spanish Fork to Layton- over an hour!  Poor little thing!

Wednesday we headed to the Hogle Zoo.  It was so fun!  Penny loved the giraffes, both girls loved watching the elephants and Bridgette reported her favorite animal was the ostrich, haha!  They loved climbing on all the animal statues they have there.  Bridgette was posing on this one, and Penny was screaming to get out of the stroller.

She has to do everything her big sister does!

The lynx was right up next to the window walking around and they thought it was so funny.  Penny really wanted to pet it!

We were able to stop by the cemetery on the way home to visit Amelia's grave.  Bridgette was super sweet while we were there and was picking little flowers from trees and the grass to decorate with.
Tyler and the brother-in-laws went to The Avengers that night- perfect so I don't have to see it!
Thursday, we tried to go mini golfing, but it was closed so we headed over to Station Park to play at their new playground.  We got together with our friends from Rochester, The Madsens and The English's for dinner.  It is always so fun to catch up!  Tyler left right after dinner to drive back home and I stayed with the girls 6 more days.  We spent our time playing in Grammy and Popcan's basement, throwing the ball to Bronco, and playing with cousins.  It rained most of the time we were there, so we didn't get much outside time.  Penny was obsessed with this car!

 Both girls discovered the amazing world of Pace Bars!  Mmmm.

I was planning on sharing mine with Penny, but once she had one taste she took it right from me and wouldn't let anyone else touch it!

 We went to Pizza Factory with my parents and the Mitchells and all the cousins got the giant lollipops.  The girls thought it was the best thing ever!

We also got to go see Emily's new house and play there, and visit with my Grandma Melville.  We always love seeing family and letting Bridgette and Penny get to know them!  We flew back on Wednesday without any problems besides Penny just being her wild 1 year-old self.