Summer Trip to Utah

Over the weekend of the 4th of July, we took a trip to Utah to see family. We were very excited to see all the Gibbons families and cousins at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Vernal. Since we travel from the farthest away, we always end up getting there before everyone else. We don't mind that because then the kids gets some one on one time with Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons. However, in addition to that this time, we also took a few scenic stops along the way. When we travel to Utah in the summer, we take the Colorado route because it's shorter. We only take it in the summer because the mountain passes are too dangerous in the winter time. I love going through Colorado because it is so pretty and the last few trips that way, I've remembered a little town that we always go through called Ouray, Colorado. You basically only get to and from there by driving these crazy winding roads, but once you get through those, you drop down into this quaint little town between the mountains. Here's a picture of the road signs through the mountain passes. I've never seen them like this before - straight switchbacks.

One of the first signs you see as you come to the last pass into the town says "Ouray is the Switzerland of America" and it really looks like it. We've always passed by these awesome looking hot springs and Tyler decided we had time to stop and enjoy them this trip. We totally surprised the girls so they didn't know we were stopping there until we pulled in and parked. They were so excited and just kept saying things like, "we get to go there?"

The hot springs really were warm, but their second pool (where all the fun slides and volleyball nets were) was very cold. The slides didn't open until after 12 which we stayed for, but then decided the cold water wasn't worth going down the slides. Plus, the bigger, more exciting slides were still too big for Tessa's and Aubrey's heights, so they were disappointed that they couldn't try them. Besides swimming, we also fed the fish and turtles that were in a pond next to the hot springs.

After a few hours of fun, we finished our journey to Grandma and Granpa's house. We still had a day with them to ourselves. The girls love to snuggle with Grandma while watching movies.

Once all the other families made it to Vernal, we drove up the mountain to camp for a night. Tyler loves camping and fishing, so he was very excited for this trip. Tiffany and her family were with us as we traveled up the mountain and Tim and his family met us up there. While setting up camp, the kids roamed the area and found an old hut where they spent most of their time playing. I found this U-shaped tree that I thought was perfect for taking pictures. Taryn and Aubrey were the only ones who stayed long enough for me to take some pictures.

They spent a lot of time fighting who was having their picture taken first, but they ended happy and even let me take a couple pictures of them together. And here's a picture of the path that we all walked to get to the lake where the dads fished.

Aubrey had fun "being in charge" of the little ones. These girls were so excited to help by carrying the big fish net.  With all the roaming that the kids did, I often caught them walking along the path either to and from the bathroom or the lake. I caught these girls once and had them pose for a picture.

The fishing at the lake was pretty slow. The girls kept going back and forth between the lake and the campsite. Tyler fished a lot over the two days we were there and didn't catch anything. Justin and JT caught one fish. Taryn and I spent a lot of time making jewelry out of the long blades of grass. She liked sharing them with Grandma. Taryn also liked it when she found out how much it echoed when she yelled. Too bad that yelling doesn't go well for a fishing environment.

Grandpa brought his four-wheeler, so the kids loved taking turns for rides on it with either Grandpa or Drew driving. They didn't have to be moving to enjoy sitting on it and wearing the helmets. Right before my camera died, I was able to catch this last picture of Taryn getting her turn on the four-wheeler with Drew driving.

We spent time hanging around the firepit for meals and visiting. Taryn and Lucy figured it was their stage and they spent a lot of time dancing and singing on the grate before we actually used it for fire. Taryn, Lucy, and Anson are all really close in age. They had so much fun chasing after the big kids and enjoying their time camping.

Here's a picture of most of the kids and Grandpa as they ate breakfast around the firepit.

The kids found a little creek that ran along the campsites, and they kept finding fish in little water holes stuck because the water wasn't high enough for the creek to be full. The kids ran up and down the creek and played the game "rock hopping" that Tim made up. I think everyone that played had a wet foot at one time or another. I caught Abby and Drew at one of the water holes where they found a fish. They got Tyler to come with a fishing pole to catch the fish. All the kids watched from the other side of the bank from where Tyler and I were standing.  

This was the best fishing Tyler had the whole time. He and I walked along the creek to the bigger water holes and even some spots where it was full like it should be. We caught and released probably a dozen or more fish. When I caught one and reeled it in myself, I made him take a picture of me. One of the first times we went fishing together after we were married, I caught a fish but was so traumatized and freaked out, I couldn't even hold up the fish for a picture. I was excited this time and wanted a real picture of me holding the fish like I know what I'm doing. It was a lot of fun to just roam around with Tyler and enjoy the outdoors. 

After heading back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, we enjoyed the rest of the weekend entertaining the kids and celebrating the 4th of July. The kids did a scavenger hunt and had some three-legged races around the back yard. 

The kids helped Grandma put up her American Flag in the front yard. They even each took a turn pounding in the pole with Grandma's big mallet.

We went to the town parade and sat in our usual spot. I took this picture before the parade started to try and show the huge American Flag that they had raised over the entire street behind them at the end of the parade route. 

It was so hot and sunny. We used the umbrellas to keep the sun off. Taryn and I took a selfie and then she had me take a picture of just her to show off her pretty flower in her hair. 

Here's our group waiting for the parade to start. They don't throw candy anymore, but there were a few who shot out water which the kids liked and there were some other freebies that they passed out like pencils, frisbees, and tiny dinosaurs. 

The kids spent the majority of the rest of the day creating their own rockets which we then got to shoot off in the school parking lot. I took this picture of the kids as they walked with Tara to the school. They were so cute with their arms around each other in their red, white, and blue outfits. The kids waited patiently while Grandpa set up the launch pads. I was surprised when I realized that I got all the grandkids in this picture except for Drew. I love Taryn and Tessa's poses in the back.  

Grandpa has his own design for the rockets that he's had kids do many times in the past at school, but in all the years that I've been in the family, we've never made the rockets. I thought it was so cool! The rockets shot up so high. I tried filming them but they went so fast, I would catch them blasting off but then would have to search for them in the sky as they fell back down. The rockets even had parachutes but only a few of them released like they were supposed to. Tessa's rocket was the first to float back down with the parachute intact. 

 Grandpa's launch pad had a button with the switch to set it off, so all the kids had their own rocket and when it was their turn, they got to help put the rocket on the launch pad, and then they got to throw the switch to blast it off. They all thought it was so awesome. We finished the night by watching the fireworks from the parking lot once it got dark. We even set off some of our own with Drew and Andrew doing the lighting. We of course had to do sparklers, and once the kids figured out which end to hold, they really liked it and had a great time.

 

Before we headed home Sunday morning, we had to get a family picture. This was the best I could get of everyone as we tried to get them all situated. Hopefully I'll get a copy of the real one, but this is pretty much how family pictures go when you have this many kids, so I actually love the unplanned, candid shot. 

We love going to Utah and being with family. We're hoping that next summer we can meet in Ouray or somewhere else in Colorado and just spend the whole time camping because we had so much fun doing that this time. We miss seeing our Gibbons relatives and really love when we get together. We love our family!