We spent 10 wonderful days in Utah visiting family and friends. Our first stop was Saint George to visit Michael's parents. Jennifer's family (Michael's sister) was also in Saint George for a stop on their way to Salt Lake. Here is Ainsley attempting to share toys with her cousin Spencer.
We went to a slash park while in Saint George and at the partk was this crazy teeter toter, even the adults got into the fun.
This is at a different splash park in Saint George.
After a few days in Saint George we drove to meet my family at Cherry Hill for a little camping and more swimming. We didn't take one picture the whole time at Cherry Hill. We did have a fabulous time sleeping in tents, playing with cousins, swimming to our hearts content and staying up way too late. The food was delicious and a good time was had by all. After Cherry Hill we drove to Carrie's(my sister) house to continue our fun filled trip. Esther, Henry and Ainsley had so much fun playing with Roxie, Peter and their toys that we were able to get in a game or 2 or 10 of Dr. Mario with Carrie.
We did catch up with friends Debbi, Monica, and Melissa for a Sunday afternoon lunch, where again no pictures were taken. We also had the opportunity to visit Esther's birth grandparents, Tammy and Joe. Heather was not able to make it, we wish her well and hopefully next time.
Here Henry is enjoying an ice cream bar at Tammy's and Joe's house.
Here is Esther with Grandpa Joe. It is always fun to show off Esther and talk about family traits.
This trip we made sure we took in the sights by taking a drive through American Fork Canyon. The canyon is one of the biggest things we miss most about Utah, besides family and friends. Esther and Henry were scared at first because they thought we were going to drive straight up the mountain but, after we explained that there is a road and we were not going to fall off the mountain the crying stopped. We parked and had a wonderful morning hike to Bridal Veil Falls.
I forgot how cold the water is, my feet felt like they were going to fall off.
After the falls we had lunch at our favorite Utah place,ZUPAS. We just found out there is a Zupas in Phoenix.
I am not sure why this picture looks the way it does.
We had to visit my grandmother, Grandma Roxie. She turned 96 this last June, WOW
Because we were in Utah for the 4th we were able to attend the annual Russon family 4th of July sleepover at my parents house. It starts the night of July 3rd with dinner then a water balloon fight, followed by a movie outside under the stars in our sleeping bags.
A little cousin on cousin trampoline rolling before the movie.
Adults and kids stayed the night sleeping under the moon. The next morning we were jolted out of bed at 6am with an explosion from my dad's cannon, and I do mean cannon. Fred is the cannon's name and it is a real cannon. When Fred goes off the bang shakes house windows for blocks. We had to get an early start if we wanted to see the Freedom Festival hot air balloons.
We left Ainsley at my parent's house, didn't want to wake her. She slept in the basement and Fred, the cannon, didn't wake her up. After the balloons we convened back at my parents house for a pancake breakfast. After breakfast we said our good byes and headed back down to Saint George for fire works.
One last day at the splash park before we headed home. We found a great deal on galoshes at the outlets and Henry just had to wear them to the splash park because that is what galoshes are for, SPLASHING.
As all good things have to come to an end, we headed home a little more tired than we left. Can't wait for next year.
