We usually head to Utah for a summer vacation, and it almost always is around the 4th of July. However, this year, we waited another month so that we would be in Utah for my Grandma's 90th birthday party. We went a week earlier than the party so we could spend time with Tyler's family first. Our first stop was Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons house in Vernal. We stopped at our usual rest stop at the Hole in the Rock outside of Moab, Utah. We took a picture at this same spot where we ate our lunch last time, so we took another picture this time.
As we pulled into Grandma's house, no one was home, so we had to wait around until they got back from the store to let us in. While waiting, I took a picture of Tyler as he showed the girls how to throw crab apples at his mailbox across the street. He said that's how he used to pass the time when he was a kid. It was pretty funny.
I was trying to get some candid shots of our fun times at Grandma's house this trip, so I took this picture of Aubrey helping Grandma make her hot fudge. Later, I took this picture of Tyler with Tiffany as they worked on a puzzle together. We love our siblings!
Tiffany's family was at Grandma's house when we got there to hang out with us that first night. The girls love hanging out with their cousins. Taryn and Lucy were pretty much inseparable the entire week. They're so cute!
On Monday, we drove to Strawberry Reservoir where we had rented some cabin rooms so that we could all be together and Tyler could get in some fishing. We took these cute pictures of my girls and Tiffany's girls while we waited to get into our rooms.
Lora came out with her kids and the cousins were in heaven. We left them to play in one of the rooms, while the adults got to visit in another room. We ended up getting in trouble for leaving them unattended though, because all those girls together playing in the room got a little rowdy and other people complained about the noise. Oh well. It was a Monday afternoon and they were having fun. Here's Taryn with her buddies, Anson and Lucy - three cousins within 8 months of each other.
Some of the kids and I followed Tyler and Justin to one of their fishing spots. The landscape was so pretty with these huge purple flowers, so I took a couple pictures before the kids got bored and I took them back to the rooms. The fish just weren't biting.
That Monday evening was one of the only times that all the cousins were going to be together. I had the idea of taking pictures with all the cousins and Tara came up with the white boards to mark the grandkid order, while the colored shirts were for each family. We were racing the setting sun while we waited for Drew to show up after golf practice, but he made it in time. Even baby Ava was smiley for the group pictures. I loved how they turned out!
The next morning before checking out of the rooms, the kids got to explore around the lake. I grabbed this picture of Julia, Tessa, and Makaela before we headed off on our adventure. We walked around the lake so you can see the cabin we stayed in on the other side of the lake in the second picture. The girls started throwing rocks in the water and going too far in, and getting too wet, so I made my girls start heading back. As everyone else headed back, Jacob ended up trying to cut across one edge, but the mud was too soft and he got stuck, almost to his knees. Luckily, Tyler had just made it back from his last fishing attempt (he caught 2!), but as Tyler pulled Jacob out, he got stuck himself! It was crazy. Tyler's dad had to help Tyler get out of the mud and save all the shoes and boots that had come off in the process. It was definitely a story to remember, but I was glad everyone was okay.
We spent the next couple days at Tiffany's house. The kids loved playing outside and Jacob even found a snake, so Drew held it so they could all be in the picture with it. We celebrated the August birthdays, Tyler and Andrew, while we were all together too. They shared the cake and blew out the candles together.
Here's the best picture I took with the majority of the family as we all visited and hung out.
On Wednesday, we drove towards Tara's house in Payson, Utah and decided to take a hike up the Grotto Trail where there's a waterfall. It was a little rainy, so we waited by the parked cars for awhile until we decided to go ahead. The kids were ready for the adventure.
The trail wasn't too difficult, and it had stopped raining by the time we made it to the waterfall. We followed the little stream and it was so pretty, I stopped Taryn to get a picture of it. The waterfall was cool and the kids love to take off their shoes to walk through the little water pools, but they said the water was freezing.
The grotto had some cool rock formations, so we took pictures of the kids all together there.
Grandma took a picture of all of us back at the beginning of the trails as we finished up our hike. It was really fun.
This was our first time at Tara's house and the kids had fun playing at a new place. We were hoping to swim at a rec center, but the rain kept us from going, so we played games and watched Olympics instead. Tyler and I had a turn with our newest niece on that side of the family, Ava. It was fun taking selfies with her.
On Thursday, we walked around BYU campus. We love going back to our Alma Mater, shopping in the bookstore, and showing the girls around. This was the only picture I took as we waited for the other half of our group once we parked.
Later that day, we made it to a rec center in Provo, so the girls got their swimming in. It was a lot of fun. They had an indoor and outdoor portion. I stayed indoor the entire time with the littler kids, while Tyler took the older kids outside where the bigger water slides were. Indoor had a rock climbing wall, and the girls loved trying it. This is where I brought out my camera. Here's Aubrey and Tessa taking their turns.
There were two indoor water slides and Taryn was big enough to ride them. After we talked her into trying it once, she was hooked and just rode them over and over again. It was hard to get a good picture because you never knew when they'd come shooting out, but at least it wasn't too blurry and you could tell it's a picture of Taryn.
I took a picture of my kids and Tiffany's kids as we were leaving near the jumping water fountains that the kids loved chasing.
That evening we tried one more lake so Tyler and Justin could fish again. The girls played volleyball with a beach ball, played at a park, and chased some ducks and bunnies. The boys tried catching fish but only ended up catching one I think. It was still a great day. We had so much fun!
The next couple days were spent with my family as we celebrated my grandma's birthday, but I've decided to make that a separate post, so here are the last few pictures we took at Tiffany's house before we headed home to Texas. Julia was our little buddy who always rode in my car. She was so sad to see us go. I took a selfie with her to get her to smile. Abby and Halley grabbed Tessa and Jacob to give a double-decker hug, so I grabbed a picture. It was too cute.
We took a couple group pictures before we left and of course the kids had to do a silly one after we got our serious one in. I thought they were pretty creative when it came to deciding how silly they wanted to be in the picture.
We love our family!
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