Adventures in Utah

Well, the fun has not stopped since we've arrived here in Utah. We are having a blast! We drove 2 1/2 hours to Salt Lake on Thursday to spend a few days with Andrew's side of the family. Today we drove back to Roosevelt to be with my parents and will spend the next week here before starting the trek back to the east coast.

Here are some of the highlights of what we've been up to.

Andrew's older sister Angie and her family just moved back to Salt Lake about 6 months ago. They built a beautiful home and the community pool is right across the street--how convenient. So, on Saturday we slathered all the kids with sunscreen and went swimming. It has been SO hot out here. I think it was like 103 on this day. And you know what everyone says about it being a "dry heat"? Well, it's true. I would take 103 in Utah over 93 in NC anytime! Brandon is still a little nervous about swimming, even with his life jacket on. I've decided it's a healthy fear to have, so haven't pushed him. He finally got comfortable enough at the end to jump in. Yippee!

On Saturday morning, Grandma Sweat and I took Brandon and Whitney to a place called Jungle Jim's. It's kind of like Chuck E. Cheese's, but they have more amusement-park-type rides. Brandon's favorite was the bumper cars. (Again, training to be a NASCAR driver!) Whitney liked the carousel and this cute little safari jeep ride. Grandma and I liked skeeball the best. We had a contest, but due to a scoring error, the winner was undecided. (I still think I won!)

Almost every time we go out to Utah, we take our kids to BYU. It started as a one-time visit. Andrew and I were just curious to see how things had changed since we moved away. We took Brandon to the bookstore and bought him candy from the candy counter. Then we went downstairs and took him bowling. He had such a great time that he always asks to go back. Now I'm kind of hoping that these annual visits will endear my kids to the college and they'll want to go there! :) If you look really close on the mountain in the background of this pic, you can see the big Y.

On Friday, we went boating with the family. Here Lauren, Elise, and Reagan(three of our cute girl cousins!) are getting ready to go out on the tube. They are crazy and brave and shout "FASTER! FASTER!" the whole time they are in it. Forrest(the boat captain) decided to give them what they asked for during one of their rides and I think they all ended up with whiplash. But I have a feeling they'll still shout for more next time. Most of the cousins also like to try kneeboarding. They are good at it! Brandon's healthy fear has kept him from trying the tube in the past, but today he decided to try it out with his big cousin, Ethan. (Of course it was the one time my camera was on the shore! But Uncle Tony got a picture that he'll hopefully e-mail to me so I'll have proof.) Whitney had fun playing on the beach and pointing out all of the WHOLE CHICKENS on the beach. (Ok, they were seagulls. But at least they were in the bird family.)

On the drive between Provo and Roosevelt, we passed a sign for Bridal Veil Falls. I LOVE waterfalls and decided it was a detour we just had to make. So, I pulled over and parked and we started on a little hike to find them. My kids were not as excited about the adventure as I was. Brandon was convinced that we were going to get lost. He wanted to turn around and walk back to the car. Whitney was exhausted and insisted that I carry her. As soon as the waterfalls were in sight, Brandon said, "Ok, there they are. Now let's go back." He didn't want to pose for a picture in front of them. Neither did Whitney. And Brandon even refused to take a picture of me in front of them. So, this is my attempt at a self-photograph. I thought I did pretty good. If you look closely again, you can see the waterfalls above and slightly to the left of my big ol' noggin. They were beautiful. Well worth the 25 minute delay, if you ask me. My kids might tell you differently.