We had a great trip to Idaho. I was able to see all of my family and Jon and I were both able to see most of our extended family. It's been awhile, so it was great to catch up with so many people, though I wish we had had more time.
We started the trip in Utah(see post below) and then went to Idaho Falls to my parents house. The first week we just hung out, did some shopping, and I went and had lunch with my sister Abby at school. It was so weird to be back in my old high school after 8 years...has it really been that long??? I felt really old, but it was a fun little visit.
My sister Rachel and her family came a week after us and also stayed with my parents.
The kids spent a lot of time jumping on the trampoline with the sprinklers underneath.
They would have been happy to do nothing but jump with the sprinklers the whole time.
But we did get them inside and it was sweet to see them all playing together.
During the week I was also able to get some pampering in. My sister Rachel and I went and got haircuts and pedicures at the beauty college. It was awesome! I love my new haircut and the pedicure was so nice. It was fun to have some sister time too. I miss that. Later in the week I also got to go get a massage. My mom gave the girls gift certificates and I really appreciate it. It was so nice.
Playing with Grandma!
Emma fell in love with this headband and wouldn't take it off.
Cousin baths are always fun...the more the merrier!
All ready for bed.
Matthew and my niece, Jenna, both had birthdays while we were there so we had a little birthday party. It was mostly for Jenna, but Matthew and Emma (since her birthday is coming up) also opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa Hiatt. Mom, Emma LOVES her bath letters and plays with them every day. Thank you!
Matthew was a little slow opening his present so Jenna helped him. He got a fun little drum.
I took Emma and Kaden to the Museum of Idaho. They have a Titanic display right now. When you first go in they give you a passenger card, with all the information about one of the passengers. At the end you find your name and see if you survived or not. They also had several original items from the Titanic. It was a fun little visit.
I was trying to get the kids to stand next to each other, but they didn't want to touch.
Finally Emma just ran off.
Thursday night, Jon got to Idaho Falls. He flew into Salt Lake and Esther was nice enough to give him a ride up. He got a rough start to his vacation though and his luggage was lost. He didn't end up getting it until Saturday.Friday, the official reunion began. We started the day off at Tautphaus Park. They have a great playground and lots of room to roam. It was a fun morning.
After the park, the guys took the kids home for naps and my mom, my sisters, and I went out for an Olive Garden lunch. It was good fun!Friday night we went on a sibling date, since all of us are now old enough to date. We went to Bajios for dinner and then carved ice cream sculptures.
This is the indecisive group. Their ice cream went from being a bus to a volcano.
The second group did this awesome piano.
And our group made this loaf of bread. Looks good enough to eat!
The next day we all gathered again...this time for family pictures, which we should hopefully see soon.
We did a sibling picture in this tree. When Emma saw us up there, she HAD to climb it too.
All the grandkids
After pictures we headed to the college where my brother works. He had reserved the cafeteria so we could have a big space to eat and hang out. We brought lots of toys, borrowed an inflatable bounce house, and had some other activities.
My mom did a fish pond with the grandkids
We also did a box car race. Emma and Jon decorated our car.
Anthony was really proud of his car.
After decorating, we went outside and had a few races. The grandkids went first.
Then it was the adults turn. This was really funny to watch.
Jon says this is where things really went downhill. He spent the rest of the weekend sick...in bed. What a way to spend a vacation.Anyway, we visited some more and then took kids home to nap while the guys went to a movie. Afterwards we gathered at the school again for dinner and to watch a slideshow that Adam and Abby had put together. It was fun to reminisce and see lots of old pictures, many of which I had never seen, from our childhood years.
Afterwards, it was back to my parents house for more fun. We saved the pinata from Matthew's birthday and brought it out for the grandkids to hit.
Then we got a fire going and sat around visiting...and some of us danced and sang. It was really entertaining.
Sunday we all went to church together...what a crowd! My mom, sisters, and I did a musical number in Sacrament Meeting. After Church and dinner, Jon and I took the kids and headed to Boise for the rest of our vacation.
We stayed with Jon's grandparents and were able to see his brothers, sister-in-law, and nephew who were staying with them too. They had to leave Monday afternoon so it was a quick visit, but fun to see them.
We enjoyed lots of playing outside and visiting with lots of relatives. We were able to see some of Jon's cousins, aunts, and uncles, and we also went and visited his great grandma.
His grandma, Nana, also took us to a park and nature center in Boise. They had a great playground and a huge nature area that was fun to walk around.
Another stop was going to see my Grandma Hiatt. We had a delicious lunch and were able to visit for a little while. It was great to see her again.
She met Matthew for the first time
Crazy girl!
While in Boise, we also drove out to my grandparents house for a big barbecue. Most of my extended family was there. I haven't seen many of them in so long that I had no idea who they were. So, it was fun to catch up with some, and meet some other new ones.
Saying goodbye to Jon's grandparents.
And driving home. This picture still grosses me out. We were driving along and all of a sudden the road turned red. We slowed down and realized it was COVERED with Mormon crickets. EVERYWHERE. Thousands of them. Crunching under our tires as we drove along. Pretty disgusting.
On to cuter things...Matthew playing at McDonalds...one of our many stops on the way home.
The kids did really well on the way home, with just a little bit of this...
although Emma did start to go crazy after a little while.
But we made it. The kids have never been so happy to be home. We miss everybody and being surrounded by people, but we're getting back into the swing of things here. (Obviously pretty slowly since it's taken me almost a week to get these pictures up!)
