Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Utah Fan Fest
On Saturday, August 23 we attended Utah Fan Fest at the stadium. There were a lot of people there, and it was fun to see all the red - it made us excited for Thursday's game. Nolan wasn't too sure about the crowds, but when we left he kept asking when we were going to go back to the stadium. I took a picture with the running back crew; Nolan and Ryan loved going through the tunnel, Nolan got a picture with his favorite player J-Love (Jordan Loveridge), and Nolan loved seeing the matte black mack truck.
Friday, August 22, 2014
Ogden Utah Temple Open House
On Wednesday, August 20 we went to the Ogden Utah temple open house. Josh and Macy invited us to go with them. We picked Ryan up from work and headed straight to Ogden. I hadn't been to an open house in a long time and the temple is beautiful! I couldn't get over how nice the inside was. I'm glad Nolan was able to be with us, it was fun taking him to the temple. He told us on the way up to Ogden that Heavenly Father and Jesus wouldn't be there, because they were on a trip. Where does he come up with these things?!
Day Date with Nolan
On Saturday, August 16 I took Nolan on a day date. Ryan was out of town for work in Colorado, or he could have come. First stop was Be Well Utah, at the U stadium. I took Nolan to this last year and had a nice time, so I wanted to make sure we went this year too. He loved it and his favorite thing was the snake booth - don't ask me what snakes and living well have to do with each other, but he loved them. We had to stop at their booth twice.
Next stop was Old Navy so I could buy a new maternity shirt. Nolan was good in the store and carried around his whale book he got from Be Well Utah. It was a nice day outside, and not too hot yet since it was before noon so we went to Jamba Juice. Nolan loved it - he had his own small cup and his straw changed colors.
We walked over to the pet store to look at animals and Nolan was in heaven.
It was a fun morning with Nolan and he hasn't stopped talking about the places we went all week. He keeps asking when we are going to go to the stadium, shirt place, juice place and pet store again. Love that kid!
Friday, August 15, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
Raylie's Blessing and An Engagement in the Same Day
Sunday, August 3 was an exciting day! We went to Raylie's blessing in the morning and had a nice lunch at Collie and Zach's after sacrament meeting. Raylie looked so cute in her blessing dress and had a little while bracelet, and a cute bow. She looked like an angel.
That night we helped Jared propose to Annie - it only took 7 years! Ryan and Jared had driven up Friday morning to take pictures of the place where Jared would propose, and Ryan would be taking pictures. They found a beautiful spot in a field of wildflowers just below the cecret lake trail. Ryan and Jared had worked out a plan for how the day would go and how Jared would know Ryan was in place. As luck would have it, it started to rain that afternoon and not just a little, but a lot. We weren't sure if it would happen or not, but luckily the rain let up just enough and for just enough time that Jared could propose. I wasn't prepared for the chillier weather, so I stayed up above in the car and watched what was happening from above. It went as planned and the pictures are beautiful! We are so excited to have Annie as part of the family officially - and can't wait for next fall for their wedding!
Wicked Awesome
For Christmas last year, my dad surprised everyone (including my mom) with tickets to Wicked on August 1. We couldn't wait to go and I was the only one in the family who had seen it before. We went to dinner at Olive Garden downtown and walked across the street to Capital Theatre. The show was awesome and everyone loved it! Thanks dad for a great Christmas present!
Kirsten Goes to Thailand
We went to dinner to send off Kirsten before she left for Thailand on July 30. She picked Blue Iguana. She is going to either sight-see or go through a teaching program there, and leaves tomorrow morning at 6:00 am.
Glacier NP & Yellowstone
Sunday, July 20
We hit the road at 3:00 pm for our adventure to Glacier National Park. Mom and dad, Collie and her car came to our house to pick us up. We were going to fit everything in 2 cars since there was enough space passenger wise and luggage wise. We stopped for dinner in Pocatello at Cafe Rio - funny story Ryan has been to Pocatello many times for work and we were following him to find a place for dinner. He led us through what felt like the entire town of Pocatello before we finally stopped and asked what was going on. He told us he was looking for Cafe Rio, but normally gets off at a certain exit and I guess we had gotten off a couple of exits before so he was going off memory on how to get there. Cafe Rio was great as usual and we plugged along to our final destination Idaho Falls. It wasn't a long drive but we were glad to be done driving for the day!
Monday, July 21
First stop on the way out of town was to the Idaho Falls temple and visitor center. It is a beautiful temple and one interesting thing I learned was that the Angel Moroni wasn't placed on top until 1983, almost 40 years after the dedication.
We stopped at University of Montana - Western in Dillon, Montana for a break so everyone could stretch their legs, the boys could run around, and Collie could feed Raylie. The weather was cooler and we were all in shorts and a t-shirt - did someone say tourist?!? We loaded back up in the cars and had lunch at an A&W which we were lucky to find in some small town. Everyone was hungry so we just pulled off at the next exit and were going to the grocery store - but when we saw A&W mom said that was the spot for lunch!
We finally made it to Kalispell, Montana where we were staying and had dinner at Nickel Charlies. Ryan, Nolan, Seth, and Easton went swimming after dinner.
Tuesday, July 22
We made it to Glacier! The drive to GNP was beautiful and there were a lot of fun little towns along the way. Everything was so green and the views were fantastic. We stopped at the visitor center to get a map and figure out what we wanted to do for the day. We decided to drive along going-to-the-sun-road, and see things long the way. That road was unlike any other and I can't believe some of the places along the road are still considered OK to drive on. Lake McDonald was the first thing we saw from the car and it was beautiful, we stopped at an overlook of a river and let the boys throw rocks and snap a few pictures.
The trail of Cedars was another stop, and a fun boardwalk hike. We ate lunch across from the trail head by a river, where the boys threw rocks.
There were a lot of waterfalls along the road and some that even got your car wet - that's how close to the mountain wall you were. At one point, Ryan was driving Collie's car and we were behind them. There was a car with a camper trailer on the back trying to come down - Ryan was on the outside, the other car was closest to the wall. The camper truck had to stop, Ryan pulled in his car mirrors and they barely got by this guy. It was scary to watch and later Ryan and Collie said it was scary to be in the car since they didn't know how many inches they had before the car would have gone over the cliff.
We stopped at Logan Pass and walked through beautiful fields of flowers, and ended up in snow - quite the contrast. After we had wondered around the visitor center there, we were looking through Ryan's binoculars at some Bighorn sheep and noticed they were making their way down the mountain. Next thing we knew they were in the parking lot and all of the rangers in the area ran over there to keep people safe, and to see if they could get the sheep to move. We started walking to our cars, when next thing we knew there was a Bighorn sheep running through the parking lot and was no joke 7 feet away from us. A ranger was right behind it trying to keep it moving back to a safe place.
We kept going along going-to-the-sun-road until we got to the east side of GNP. We ate dinner at Whistle Stop in east glacier - it was good but we would have been happy with anything at that point. Instead of driving back through the park, we drove around it back to Kalispell, which was 2 hours away. We got back to the hotel at 11:00 pm - we were all very tired!
Wednesday, July 23
Instead of driving around the park at the end of the day, we drove around the park first. We went to Many Glacier, looked around Many Glacier hotel, took a boat ride from Swiftcurrent Lake to Lake Josephine with the .25 mile hike in between. At Lake Josephine, we saw a black bear and her 2 cubs on the mountain - had to look close to see it, but that was neat.
Once again, we ate in St. Mary's by east glacier at a sandwich/ice cream shop. We ended up driving around the park once again - that's 4 hours of driving around the park. Didn't get to the hotel until late, once again.
Thursday, July 24
Today was a driving day - but before we hit the road, Ryan took the boys swimming so they could get some energy out. We wanted to see Yellowstone and were going to drive there on Friday but with the drive being so long, we decided to drive today, and see Yellowstone tomorrow. We made it to West Yellowstone in pretty good time. Our hotel was one to be seen, Al's Westward Ho Motel - it was clean but hadn't been renovated in a long time and didn't have AC, or a pool, and we couldn't help but think of the Surf and Sands hotel in Kanab. It was a few steps above that, but we still had good laughs about it. We had dinner at an Chinese restaurant close to the hotel.
Friday, July 25
Dad and Scottie went to McDonald's early so we could just eat at the hotel and get to the park before 8:30 am. We went straight to Old Faithful because we knew it would just get busier if we waited to see it later in the day. We got a front row spot in the parking lot and had enough room on the benches for everyone to sit together. At the visitor center there was a fun thing for kids to do with a ranger - they acted/learned about geysers and pretended to be a drop of water and what process it would go through. Nolan loved it!
We drove around Yellowstone and saw a lot! We saw a buffalo that was just sitting by the board walk so of course we had to get pictures.
We went to a bear and wolf refuge park so the boys could see some bears up close. It was a fun place. We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant that was close to the bear and wolf refuge.
Saturday, July 26
Packed up and drove home. It is always hard to drive home after a fun trip. We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at Maddox in Brigham City. That was a great way to cap off the trip!
We hit the road at 3:00 pm for our adventure to Glacier National Park. Mom and dad, Collie and her car came to our house to pick us up. We were going to fit everything in 2 cars since there was enough space passenger wise and luggage wise. We stopped for dinner in Pocatello at Cafe Rio - funny story Ryan has been to Pocatello many times for work and we were following him to find a place for dinner. He led us through what felt like the entire town of Pocatello before we finally stopped and asked what was going on. He told us he was looking for Cafe Rio, but normally gets off at a certain exit and I guess we had gotten off a couple of exits before so he was going off memory on how to get there. Cafe Rio was great as usual and we plugged along to our final destination Idaho Falls. It wasn't a long drive but we were glad to be done driving for the day!
Monday, July 21
First stop on the way out of town was to the Idaho Falls temple and visitor center. It is a beautiful temple and one interesting thing I learned was that the Angel Moroni wasn't placed on top until 1983, almost 40 years after the dedication.
We stopped at University of Montana - Western in Dillon, Montana for a break so everyone could stretch their legs, the boys could run around, and Collie could feed Raylie. The weather was cooler and we were all in shorts and a t-shirt - did someone say tourist?!? We loaded back up in the cars and had lunch at an A&W which we were lucky to find in some small town. Everyone was hungry so we just pulled off at the next exit and were going to the grocery store - but when we saw A&W mom said that was the spot for lunch!
We finally made it to Kalispell, Montana where we were staying and had dinner at Nickel Charlies. Ryan, Nolan, Seth, and Easton went swimming after dinner.
Tuesday, July 22
We made it to Glacier! The drive to GNP was beautiful and there were a lot of fun little towns along the way. Everything was so green and the views were fantastic. We stopped at the visitor center to get a map and figure out what we wanted to do for the day. We decided to drive along going-to-the-sun-road, and see things long the way. That road was unlike any other and I can't believe some of the places along the road are still considered OK to drive on. Lake McDonald was the first thing we saw from the car and it was beautiful, we stopped at an overlook of a river and let the boys throw rocks and snap a few pictures.
The trail of Cedars was another stop, and a fun boardwalk hike. We ate lunch across from the trail head by a river, where the boys threw rocks.
There were a lot of waterfalls along the road and some that even got your car wet - that's how close to the mountain wall you were. At one point, Ryan was driving Collie's car and we were behind them. There was a car with a camper trailer on the back trying to come down - Ryan was on the outside, the other car was closest to the wall. The camper truck had to stop, Ryan pulled in his car mirrors and they barely got by this guy. It was scary to watch and later Ryan and Collie said it was scary to be in the car since they didn't know how many inches they had before the car would have gone over the cliff.
We stopped at Logan Pass and walked through beautiful fields of flowers, and ended up in snow - quite the contrast. After we had wondered around the visitor center there, we were looking through Ryan's binoculars at some Bighorn sheep and noticed they were making their way down the mountain. Next thing we knew they were in the parking lot and all of the rangers in the area ran over there to keep people safe, and to see if they could get the sheep to move. We started walking to our cars, when next thing we knew there was a Bighorn sheep running through the parking lot and was no joke 7 feet away from us. A ranger was right behind it trying to keep it moving back to a safe place.
Wednesday, July 23
Instead of driving around the park at the end of the day, we drove around the park first. We went to Many Glacier, looked around Many Glacier hotel, took a boat ride from Swiftcurrent Lake to Lake Josephine with the .25 mile hike in between. At Lake Josephine, we saw a black bear and her 2 cubs on the mountain - had to look close to see it, but that was neat.
Thursday, July 24
Today was a driving day - but before we hit the road, Ryan took the boys swimming so they could get some energy out. We wanted to see Yellowstone and were going to drive there on Friday but with the drive being so long, we decided to drive today, and see Yellowstone tomorrow. We made it to West Yellowstone in pretty good time. Our hotel was one to be seen, Al's Westward Ho Motel - it was clean but hadn't been renovated in a long time and didn't have AC, or a pool, and we couldn't help but think of the Surf and Sands hotel in Kanab. It was a few steps above that, but we still had good laughs about it. We had dinner at an Chinese restaurant close to the hotel.
Friday, July 25
Dad and Scottie went to McDonald's early so we could just eat at the hotel and get to the park before 8:30 am. We went straight to Old Faithful because we knew it would just get busier if we waited to see it later in the day. We got a front row spot in the parking lot and had enough room on the benches for everyone to sit together. At the visitor center there was a fun thing for kids to do with a ranger - they acted/learned about geysers and pretended to be a drop of water and what process it would go through. Nolan loved it!
We drove around Yellowstone and saw a lot! We saw a buffalo that was just sitting by the board walk so of course we had to get pictures.
We went to a bear and wolf refuge park so the boys could see some bears up close. It was a fun place. We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant that was close to the bear and wolf refuge.
Saturday, July 26
Packed up and drove home. It is always hard to drive home after a fun trip. We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at Maddox in Brigham City. That was a great way to cap off the trip!
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