and.... we're back!

whew! the family had crazy fun in utah this past week!
there are SOOO many pictures (ummm 1700 - is that excessive?)! i'm trying to decide which to post - it's not easy!

we left late in the day (J had to have a cast change on his arm) and then drove about 10 hrs and stayed the night in monticello, ut. then finished the drive the next day around lunch. leaving the rest of the day to play at "Boondocks". loads of fun. especially the laser tag and bumper boats!



this is the 'holding room' where everyone gets vested and learns how the controls work before being released into the game room - where i was having too much fun shooting and running from my children to remember to take pictures.

drove to the wasatch mountains park where we camped for several days.
hiked around



and did some High Country River Rafting - which i have no pictures of, because i didn't have the forethought to pick up one of those waterproof disposables. but trust me, it was beautiful and we had a blast. V fell out, hubby tossed X out, E and J jumped out! and our wonderful guide thought it very funny to turn our raft so that everytime we would hit a little bump, the water came in... all over me! we were all soaked. it was great!

i got to do a little shopping at Heindselman's (no website) in downtown Provo and picked up a great souvenir.



Lorna's Laces, 'motherlode' roving and a 3" schacht hi-lo spindle
i also picked up a ball of lime green, sugar'Ncream and a Ghook. i made E a carrier for her water bottle. they boys' coul all fit theirs in pockets. "no fair" that she had to actually carry hers!

the ladies there were lovely and the gentleman was a hit with the kids - he did magic tricks and pulled various items from their ears! it's so wonderful to find a lys that is kid-friendly!! they all got quite the kick out of my Texan accent - all the while i was laughing at theirs, too. so funny how we can sound so different just a few states away.

the next day we visited the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum. it was pretty fun, too. the kids had a good time looking at all the different animal specimens and doing a scavenger hunt. you just don't realize how big a moose is until you're standing next to one! and no, it was not on any kind of platform - crazy!



we also visited the Museum of Ancient Life. yeah, the moose was big - but this turtle!!!



then, we ate at the brick oven. oh.my.gosh. the absolute best pizza i've ever had!



oh, and they make their own rootbeer! which, we bought a 2 liter of, so i'm still enjoying it :D

next up: train ride


the pictures i'm not showing you of this, is me knitting, X sleeping, and everyone else about to jump the railing to get off. pretty cool for the kids for the first 10 minutes to get to ride on a real train.... and then it lost it's magic. so that left 80 minutes of total boredom in 105 degree heat. i'll just say we were glad for it to be over. happy to have had the experience to ride a train, which they will probably never want to do again. not knocking the Heber Valley RailRoad, by any means. they have a murder mystery and polar express event that i'm sure is quite fun....

and then, the spark that started this whole escapade:
the stadium of fire



yes, that's him. glenn beck himself. while listening on april 1st, he made the announcement that he would be the mc for this event and had 1,000 tickets to sell. one of the largest fireworks displays in the nation, the blue man group, glenn beck live.... sounds great, but the real sell:



Miley Cyrus!!
we got lucky and scored 6 tickets! so we sat (or stood and danced)



along with 73,494 other people and enjoyed the show. -- that number does not include the thousands of military family members that were on the field. the whole shibang was broadcast live all over the world on the Armed Forces Network. several local wives were able to see their husbands via satelite (proveded by Beck). it was fabulous. and the fireworks - amazing

next day, went to the Hogle Zoo
isn't this little red panda just precious!?!


and the Living Planet Aquarium



the aquarium was pretty small. but still had lots of really cool saltwater tanks and everyone got to touch stingrays.



turns out, it's a "preview". a ninety-thousand sq ft park is being built. the preview helps to fund it. so that's good enough reason to pay the entrance fee (which wasn't bad, by the way) and see all that we did.

we then drove and stayed the night in moab. i woke up fairly early while everyone else slept. i made some coffee and went outside to spin in the cool of the morning. this is where i sat



this was my view



went to the arches park and walked and climbed around a bit there



and of course, made sand angels



saw the arches



and then, drove home.