Summer Vacation

Jeremy and I have had our family vacation planned for several weeks now and with much success, we have been able to pull it off without letting the kids in on our little secret.  The kids, especially Allyson, get very excited and anxious about upcoming plans and so to save our sanity, we waited and told them Friday night what we were planning on doing.  Even Friday seemed a bit early, for the fact that Allyson had a hard time falling to sleep she was so excited and she was up early on Saturday to pack her and Lottie's bag, so when Sunday came we wouldn't be waiting for them!

 

Day #1 - Idaho Here We Come

 

So our initial plans for our trip were to leave Gunnison mid-afternoon to hit up Springville in good enough time make it to Idaho not too late.  Tyler knew that his ward was getting a new bishopric, so he at least knew he wanted to stay for sacrament before leaving town.  One phone call and we had a quick change of plans.  Tyler called me Thursday to say that the Stake President called him last night to the position of 2nd Counselor in their new bishopric.  With that being said, we no longer could just sneak away after sacrament.  Which now, looking back I am glad we were able to share this experience with Tyler.  We were able to be there with him and his family, my mom and dad, and Ashley's mom and dad for the special day for Tyler.  It was quite a spiritual experience to hear Grandpa O bless Tyler into the quorum of a High Priest.  The spirit was so strong and it was such a beautiful blessing for Tyler.  Afterwards, he was set apart as the 2nd Counselor.  I think he was a bit overwhelmed, but I know there will be blessings beyond waiting for him as he takes on this new challenge in his life.  Afterwards, they had a nice lunch prepared for us so we could go eat and hang out with the Grandparents before we were off on our vacation.

Our first destination was Pocatello, Idaho.  This was about 45 minutes north of Lava Hot Springs, but we thought it would be fun for the kids to see the new movie "Minions".  So once we made it up to Pocatello, we were able to let the kids get out and relax before it was time for the movie to start.  We all loved the movie, afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to Lava Hot Springs.  This kids could hardly wait to get there to see our hotel, there is something fun about sleeping in a hotel that the kids are actually excited to get to bed, so with a big day ahead of us, we all were able to get to sleep.

Day #2 - Lava Hot Springs

 

Today was the day the kids were most excited about.  After showing them the pictures online and sharing my childhood memories of Lava Hot Springs that the kids could not wait for the pool to open.  Because the pool opened at 11:00, we had several hours to kill before we were able to go swimming.  We were in walking distance to the Hot Springs and across from there was a park.  We were able to let the kids play at the park, take a ride around town before the 11 finally rolled around.


 

So the time arrived and the pool was finally open.  We were one of the first groups in line, so we were able to get in and set up our spot without a large crowd.  Once our canopy was set up, to the water we went.  Everyone just played and played, the only time they would come back to get something to eat or drink.  We brought in cooler of food and water, so we were able to break up our day and get out of the sun on and off to just relax and enjoy.

 

 

 

We stayed until the pool closed at 8 pm.  Afterwards, the kids were starving and ready to get out of the sun.  Before we left the pool, we bought a combination pass so we could go to the Hot Springs later this evening.  We went back to the rooms, ordered pizza and just hung out for a while.  As it got darker, we walked up to the Hot Springs, where were  went and tested each of the different Hot Springs. The hottest spring there was 112 degrees.  It was so hot and amazingly, Jeremy, Tyler, Ashley, and McKenna were brave enough to put their entire bodies under.  The rest of us went and enjoyed the spring that was 105 degrees.  That one was great and you could actually but your head under in that warm of water.

 

 

 

Day #3 - Lava Hot Springs

Portneuf River

Tuesday morning we got up and got ready to ride the river.  This is something the kids really had never done before, so they were looking forward to this fun day.  We rented several rafts for four hours.  Initially, we were planning on riding the river and then cleaning up and head back to Utah today, but the kids had so much fun yesterday at the pool, they wanted to go back after we were done riding the river.  After making sure we could reserve our rooms for one more night, we had another full day to play here in Lava Hot Springs.

 

 

 

 

Everyone had a lot of fun riding the river.  Ally, Lottie, Erin and I were the only ones that stayed back and watched, we were the ones responsible for dropping everyone off and picking them up at the bottom.  As a kid, I rode this river and it terrified me for life.  I was probably Allyson's age when we came here as a family and I rode a single raft all by myself.  I will never forget how scared I was and to this day my dad tells me we probably could still hear the echo of my scream if we listened close enough.  Even little Tara rode the river, she liked it the first time down,  but on the second trip, she and Tyler wrecked, hit heads, and then they were done.  So it was good we had plans to go to the pool because that pretty well finished it for all of us!

 

 

One nice thing about this trip is that we were able to get nice tans from two full days in the sun.  We laughed because Trey looks like a really tan Ethiopian kid.  He needs some meat on those bones!

 

 

Once again, we stayed until the pool closed at 8:00.  The last couple of hours before closing, there were not very many people there so the kids were able to go off the slides and diving boards of their own choice without any wait time at all.  This was so fun, the weather was great, and the company was wonderful. 

 

Trey and Cannon pretty much did their own thing for the last two days, they had so much fun going off the slides, diving boards, and just swimming in the shallow end.  McKenna kept us adults going, we all took turns going down the slides, diving boards, platforms, and the steep slides with her.  She and her dad spent a lot of time together doing this bigger and better things that the little kids didn't really like to do.  Allyson and Tara played really well together.  They about wore the little white slide out, they were constantly going down and back up and in line again.  Lottie was a little more hesitant, she liked the shallow side of the water but she liked Jeremy or I with her.  What she liked the very most was the awesome splash pad.  Not only did she like the slide, water falls, buckets, etc., but the water in the splash pad was so warm, that it made it worth it for all.  All four little girls had a ball there and we ended up spending a lot of time in there over the past two days.

 

We got back to our room and decided to walk to the Thai food restaurant for dinner.  We brought the food back and ate at the picnic area at our hotel.  Afterwards, we walked to the ice cream shop down town.  It was fun to see this small tourist town and enjoy good ice cream.

 

Day #4 - Idaho to Utah

 

Wednesday came quicker than we wanted and no one was ready to go home today.  We decided to stop and grab a few pictures on our way out of town.  This kids spotted this big bull statue when in came into town on Sunday, so we told them when we went to go home, we would let them stand in front to get their pictures.   Then we didn't want to pass up the moment to get a family picture near the Lava Hot Springs bridge / slide as you enter into town.

  

Goodbye Lava, thanks for such a memorable few days!  We all can't wait to come back!

On our way home, we decided to travel a different direction.  We finally made it to Preston, Idaho and once there, Tyler googled Napoleon Dynamite.  The town of Preston was where this movie was filmed, so thank goodness for Google, Tyler found Napoleon's house so we could drive past for the kids to see.  They were disappointed that we wouldn't stop and let them get their picture out front, but actual people live there and we thought that would be a little awkward.

 



From Preston, we drove right to Logan where we found a nice park for the kids to play and hang out.  We still had several hour in front of us driving, so we were able to kick back, eat, and relax before we hit the road again. 

 

This ended up being a really fun family vacation, not too short and not too long.  This kids really enjoyed playing in and out of the water with their cousins.  It especially made this trip that more fun and memorable for the fact that we made so many fun memories with Tyler, Ashley, Cannon, Tara, and Erin.  Thanks to Tyler for the fun suggestions and putting enough pressure on me to get something planned to go and do together.  Can't wait to do this trip again!

Cheyenne Frontier Days!

This year, as a family, we decided that we wanted to go to the rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming for our summer vacation.  We were so excited when Tyler, Ashley, Cannon, and Tara decided that they would like to join us for the fun trip.  So in early May, the dates were set and the tickets were reserved.  Once this was decided, it was nothing but pure anticipation for everyone as we waited for July to finally get here!

 

~ July 24th - Day 1 ~

 

Well the day had finally come and the kids were so excited to finally get on the road.  They have had their bags packed for several days, so it was just a few finishing touches and we were ready to go.  We ended up leaving early enough in the day that we could stop to let the kids relax here and there to break up the trip.  Our first official stop was in Heber, here we bought some treats and a couple new cds to listen to on this long road trip.  It is trips like this that I am especially grateful for modern technology and Disney!  When you are in the car for almost ten hours, it is nice that we can turn on a movie and keep the kids quite and happy for the majority of that time.  Everyone does appreciate a break when Lottie falls asleep, because we at least get to listen to the radio and not another movie!

 

After several hours of being in the car, we stopped at a Little America out in the middle of nowhere.  Here we were able to get fifty cent ice cream cones and  let the kids play on the playground.  This gave the little girls a chance to get their wiggles out!  After a while, the kids spotted this green dinosaur out front and couldn't help but go climb all over it.  Not only did they have fun, but I think it made for some cute pictures!  After this stop, it was Laramie bound we go!

 

 

 

It was nearly 10 hours after we had left Gunnison, that we finally made it to Laramie at about 8 pm that night.  We were all anxious to finally be there.  We went and grabbed a quick bite to eat at Wendy's and then we headed back to the room so the kids could swim.  Trey and McKenna had fun swimming and playing around in the entire pool, while Lottie and Allyson didn't leave the stairs of the pool.  Each of them had fun and none of them wanted to get out!

 

Afterwards, we went up to the room and got ready for bed.  It was about 10pm that Tyler and Ashley showed up and we had a fun visit with them.  We made our game plan for Thursday and off to bed we went!  Yay, so excited for tomorrow!

 

 

 ~ July 25th - Day 2 ~

 

Our game plan for this trip was to take in as much of the festivities as we possible could.  So our first day, our plan was to attend the Grand Parade.  We got up early, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then we headed off to Cheyenne.

The Grand Parade is a long time tradition of the Cheyenne Frontier Day festivities.  With over 100 parade entries, 300 plus horses, and military men and women, it is no wonder that this is something that has been carried on and on for over a century.  There are people from all over the world that take in the sights and sounds of some of the top marching bands and horse-drawn vehicles in the country.  This was purely amazing and loved by all!

 

 

After the parade, we loaded up and headed towards Frontier Park.  Since the rodeo started at noon, we had an hour to roam the park.  Trey and Jeremy were scoping out the cowboy hats at the Boot Barn when McKenna caught their attention to Patrick Smith, who was signing autographs.  We were all pretty excited to see him, get his autograph and the kids picture taken with him.  Patrick Smith is a World Champion Team Roper, he is the heeler for Trevor Brazile.  So to the kids, he is pretty important and so fun for them to see him in person!

{Trey and Patrick Smith}

{Allyson, Patrick Smith & McKenna}

 



After getting Patrick's autograph, Trey saw two guys in their twenties, roping a dummy.  Jeremy told Trey that he should to go ask them if he could rope.  You could see a little hesitation in their eyes as they looked at this punk looking kids wearing shorts, balls shoes, and flat brim hat wanting to rope.  One of the boys agreed to let Trey rope with them.  It was pretty funny how they handed the rope to him, handled it like Trey had never held a rope before.  Once Trey took control of the rope and fixed his loop, he swung a loop or two and caught the head of the dummy.  Those guys were pretty surprised, so  Jeremy told them to turn one for him, and with no hesitation,  Trey caught two heals.  Those two kids were shocked that Trey was as good as he is.  One of the boys handed his buddy his phone so he could have picture of him and this nine year old kids roping together.   They both wanted Trey to come back and rope the dummy with them once the rodeo was over.

"Now that is a good trap!"

Trey's exact words when he saw this picture!

 



It was now time for the rodeo to start.  We headed towards the opening gate, wandered past thousands of people and to our seats we went.

 

"Daddy of Em' All"

A cowboy tradition since 1897.



This is our view of the grand stands across from where we were sitting.  Quite an amazing site, the arena is huge and there are people everywhere.  We by far had the very best seats in the house, we were center so we could see the bucking shoots really good, as well as the boxes where the ropers came out from. 

There were cowboys / cowgirls riding into today's performance that we had seen at prior NFR's, cowboys like Trevor Brazile, Luke Branquino, and Wes Stevenson, to name a few. 

 

The rodeo was awesome!  It was three and half hours of pure entertainment.  However, three hours is a long time for these three little girls.  Tyler, Ashley, and I ended up at the south section of seating to let these three run loose.  It ended working great for us, this way we could watch the rodeo and let the girls run, climb, and chase each other on the bleachers without bugging anyone else. 

 

 

 

Once the rodeo was over, Trey wanted to head right to the mechanical bull that he saw outside the arena. He was so excited and anxious for his chance to ride the bull.  He rode really well, that was until he got really dizzy and decided to just fall of the bull. 

 

After Trey rode the mechanical bull, we rushed off back into the arena to catch the tail end of the autograph party.  Most of the cowboys had left the arena, but we were able to catch a lot of the Rodeo Queens that we present for the rodeo.  The autographs that they were able to get were from Miss Rodeo America, Miss Rodeo Wyoming, Miss 

 

At this point in our afternoon, everyone was tired and hungry.  We walked back to the car, found a piece of grass to sit on and ate a little picnic.  This was worth its weight in gold, everyone, especially the kids seemed to do so much better after we sat  for a while.  Because after hanging out for a while, we headed back to the Frontier Park to see the Old Frontier Town and the Indian Village. 

 

The Old Frontier Town is a step back in time to celebrate Cheyenne's western heritage.  As you walk through this town, you see merchants selling tack, home décor, and food.  Past the Old Frontier Town is the Old West Museum, here the kids spotted one of Cheyenne's Big Boots.  Cheyenne is commonly known for their nineteen big boots placed randomly throughout the town of Cheyenne.  This is the first one we spotted, so we caught some cute pictures of the kids sitting on this boot. 

 

 

Another cool thing about the Frontier Park are all the cool statues surrounding the arena.   A lot of them represent and honor those cowboys and livestock that made what the Cheyenne Rodeo is today.

 

This is a cool picture McKenna took, statue represents Lane Frost with an Air Force jet flying over.  The Air Force has a base right here in Cheyenne so they constantly had jets flying over most of the festivities.  This particular jet was flying really low, which was so awesome to see this huge jet fly above us so close, yet at the same time, it was really really loud!

Another one of Cheyenne's Frontier Days tradition is the Native American Indian Village.  We walked inside the village only to find a Native American Indians dancing, chanting, and beating drums.  We ended up strolling through the vendors set up to sell Indian decor, jewelry, and other merchandise.  The girls clued right in to the beaded necklaces with small Indian girls charms.  All the girls looked so cute showing off their fun finds.  Trey and Cannon went right to the wooden guns and knives.  Trey picked out a wooden pistol and Cannon got the sword. 

 

There was a tee pee set up for display, so the kids had a chance to walk in and around this Indian artifact.  However, they were more impressed that the other teepee's set up were the actual places that the Indians performing stayed there during the Frontier day celebration. 

 

After a little shopping, we did spend a few minutes watching the Indians and dancing.  It was fun to see the different outfits and the fancy head dresses that each Indian wore.  Trey and Allyson made a new Indian friend.  This cute little girl's name is Chloe, she was willing to let Jeremy snap this cute picture of them.  Ally was pretty impressed by her new little friend!



 

We ended up leaving the Indian Village and headed back to the car.  Rather than sticking around in Cheyenne for dinner, we headed back to Laramie for a bite to eat.  Everyone was pretty wore out after this fun day, so we called it a night and went to bed.  As usual, everyone was looking forward to our fun day tomorrow!