fun, family fotos

In the beginning....

We left at 5:18 in the morning. Take-off was supposed to be at 5am sharp, but my bed would not let go of me.



My brother down there in northern Utah bought my mom's van and since we were headed that way, we had a van caravan. Aaron's passengers were the two older boys and I had the Diva and her baby brother.



This is dropping down into Baker City. My past transgression of breaking the speed limit in that state has made me an advocate for driving the correct speed while journeying through Oregon. You would be too if handed a $300 speeding ticket from one of their finest. Live and learn, people.



Finally arrived and the kids ran around for hours with their cousins.



The next day found us at a water park in North Ogden with my sister and her two kids. The weather was well into the nineties, and drowning ourselves in water helped cool us down.



Here's my husband showing off some of his sprinkler skills.



It was hot.



We were able to watch the Arise program at Weber State. Think of an updated version of "My Turn on Earth", minus the "Manhunt" song.



This is Moochies in SLC.



See, there I am with my sister, Dyan and brother-in-law, Mike.



I was too preoccupied with eating the meatball sandwich and philly cheese steak sandwich to take pictures of them to show all of you their glory. But this...this is their to "live" for chocolate cake. And people, if a sandwich place makes cake that looks this good, they're sandwiches are out of this world. Amen.



This next photo is for my little sister, Krissy.

I now know what your house looks like. And you have a red door. Now you don't have to send me those pictures you've been talking about for months. Hope you travel home safe from Germany. Love you lots! Your favorite sister, rachel.



Temple Square visit.



Has anyone gone on this? What's the air quality like on those buses?



If any of you have ever been here, you know how amazing the acoustics are and how even the tiniest sound is echoed throughout the entire city. And if you happened to be there the day we were, I apologize for the loudness of my children.



This is what you can buy and love from Bruges. Sweet waffle. Creme fraiche. Melted chocolate. Fresh strawberries. Heaven on Earth.



Me, enjoying a fish taco from Lone Star Taqueria. I do believe their tamales are the best I've ever eaten. And I would love the recipe for everything on their menu.



Aaron looking at the map, trying to figure out if we'd be able to make a few more miles until the next gas stop. This was the hottest day of my entire life. Driving from Ogden to St. George is a long drive, made even longer by the fact that we don't have a.c. and our van liked to run a little on the hot side. So to help our van from totally overheating, we'd turn on the heat to help cool off the engine. Like I said, it was the hottest day of my life.



We saw these clouds forming and knew that some relief from the heat was just up ahead. We drove through that short cloud burst of rain with the windows down.



See how hot it got? Aaron used the water bottle as a shield from the heater blowing hot as a dragons breath, on it. I'm pretty sure he had 3rd degree burns on his foot.



And these, ladies and gentlemen, are the Red Rocks of Hell that mark the entrance into St. George. Have I mentioned how hot it was? We rolled into Hell, I mean, St. George, around 6:00 and it was 113 degrees freakin' Fahrenheit.



But that didn't stop me from stopping at the Sweet Tooth Fairy. Which is waaaaaay better than that cupcake place in Ogden.



This was approximately 3 minutes later...



St. Georges' saving grace is that it is home to this little building.



Next post.....Cally-forn-knee-ah!