Saturday, July 30, 2011

Part 5 - Heber, UT

Matthew
William
Joe, Kyle, William and Matt
Brad and his cousin Spencer, they paddled so fast the boat broke and they had to be towed back in.
Kyle
Campfire
Some of the kids ready for a hike
Helping Grandpa Fredericks with the fire
Inside one of the cabins
Captain Joe of the row boats.
Dancing at the Museum
Playing Chess
Playing at the Zermatt
Feeding the goats.
Visitor Center

We finished our trip by visiting Heber, UT. We stayed with Rob and Pam and enjoyed visiting with them. My sister Angie and her family and my parents stayed at the Zermatt Resort in Midway, UT. We spent a lot of time swimming their, as well as playing chess, feeding goats, as well as having most of our meals their. We went down to temple square one day and enjoyed the sights their with our kids.

Friday night we went to the Heber Valley Girls Camp and had a reunion with my Dad's family. We stayed the night in the cabins, went for hikes, went on the paddle boats, and visited with family. It was a lot of fun.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Part 5 - Preston, ID and Logan, UT


Brad, Great Grandma Carter, Matt, William, and Kyle
On the tractor

The big dairy cows.
The calf sucking Kyle's fingers.
Brad trying to get the calf to suck his fingers.
William and Matt feeding the calf
Joe and his cousin Brad

Off to Preston, Idaho we headed. We went go visit Joe's Grandma Carter, where we stayed the night. In the morning we headed to go see a cousin of Joe's, Brad (don't get confused here, stay with me) who works the family dairy farm. The boys loved the baby calves, and had fun letting them suck on their fingers. They couldn't believe the couldn't believe that the cow's just pooped and peed where ever they wanted, (they are still talking about it and telling people how funny that was.) Brad Lindhart, took us on a tour of the dairy farm. It is amazing the amount of work that they do everyday! On our way out of Preston, we stopped in Logan to visit my Grandma Hansen's grave, she was a wonderful woman and I wish my kids would have had a chance to meet her in this life. My grandma loved little red headed boys, she died in September 1999, before Joe and I married. I think she handpicked some cute little red heads to come to our family.

Part 4 - Porter Family Reunion

Teri and Aaron were gracious enough to open their home to everyone for the 1st Porter Family Reunion. We had a great time and the boys really liked playing with their cousins. We missed Tim, Amanda, and kids, but are so happy for them that they have a new job in Oregon. Here are a few of the fun things we did during the reunion.

Grandpa provided some fireworks for the kids to enjoy, and they were great. It is amazing what they come up with for fireworks.
The kids all had milk jugs on their heads creating cone heads for all of us to enjoy.
Apparently it is not just the kids who can't resist a picture on a metal animal. Joe and Aaron showing off their riding skills on some sort of lizard at the Dinosaur Park.
Please do not feed the wild animals here
Or when they grow up they will never out grow it and will continue to put their heads through the bars begging for food.

Like any good father would do, Joe is feeding Matt to the dinosaur.
At the Dinosaur Park in Ogden
Kyle and William

Eating lunch under the wings at Hills Air force
Kyle and I went home early on this day because he wasn't feeling well, but the other ones enjoyed making rockets and shoot them off at Hills Air Force Base.Fishing trip, the fishing wasn't so hot, but Brad did catch a duck and we all had a lot of fun!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Part 3 of Trip - St. George



We spent the night in St. George at Joe's Grandma and Grandpa Porter's. They were very nice to let us stay and take care of us for the evening. We then went to see my Grandpa Hansen for 40 minutes or so before we headed up to Teri's. It was great to see them all. Our boys were lucky this trip to see so many of their Great Grandparents

Part 2 of Trip - Moab, UT

Double Arch



What is it about metal animals and kids, EVERYTIME our kids see one they have to climb on top of them.The boys playing in the sand at the sand dune arch.
Joe on the top of the Sand Dune Arch - we didn't find out until later when we were reading a pamphlet at the visitor center that we were not suppose to do that . . oops.

We spent the night in Moab and really enjoyed seeing the arches and formations of rocks.

Happy Birthday Matt




While we were in Colorado, Matt turned 3! It is hard to believe this little baby of mine is now 3. He has such a great personality and makes me smile. He also has a great smile. We have to remind his older brothers that he is watching and likes to copy them. Sometimes we make a game out of it, they, especially William, tries different actions and words and sees how long Matt will copy them. He was good traveler and enjoyed his dinner and cupcakes on his birthday! We sure do love our Matt!

Favorites:
Favorite Cartoon: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Phineas and Ferb

Favorite Food: This is hard because he loves to eat everything. He surprised my parents by eating 2 large pieces of pizza on our trip. I would have to say that scrambled eggs probably top the list. He once ate 6 scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Favorite Color: Whatever his brother William says his is for the day!

Favorite thing to pretend: Being a worker, and working with his tools, and playing trains.

Favorite places to play: His brothers rooms, outside - he would play outside everyday all day if we would let him, but when a thunderstrom rolls in the boy just has to come in. The swimming pool.

Favorite Songs: Popcorn Popping, Zip-pity Do Dah, I am a Child of God

Colorado


Relaxing on the patio of our cabin after swimming ALL day at the hot springs. Apparently, we are so white, that even after reapplying 100spf sunscreen during the day, we still burned.

Kyle going down the slide
William, Matt, and Joe
William, Matt, and Joe
Taking a break from swimming
Brad going to the water-slide
William Relaxing
Hike at Grizzly Creek
View from the top of Rifle Falls Hike
Climbing Rocks
Hike at Rifle Falls
Behind the falls
Brad and Kyle at Rifle Falls
Looking down at Rifle falls from the topUnion Pacific Train in Glenwood Springs
Watching some surfing on the Colorado River.

We took a family vacation for two weeks. We had a lot of stops, we logged over 3000 miles on our van, and over 40 hours in the car while we traveled, hours and miles well spent. We started our trip in Colorado. We stayed in Glenwood Springs, CO. We started the weekend by watching some surfers and kayaking on the Colorado river. We went for a couple hikes, saw some beautiful waterfalls, celebrated Matt's 3rd birthday, went to the hot springs, watched fireworks, swam in the pool at the place we stayed, and enjoyed relaxing a playing as a family.