More fun with the Andersons

Our friends the Andersons were in Salt Lake the same time we were, and when we didn't have other plans, or I was otherwise preoccupied, Teresa kindly offered to take my kids and go do fun things with them.

They went on several hikes.

An early morning hike to a lake,

A nighttime hike to see the city lights,

And Nick even went with them to see the Timpanogos cave.

They went to the BYU campus.

They went downtown to temple square

and went on a tour of the Conference Center

and then went back to the Conference Center to take in a concert with the Mormon Tablernacle Choir.

I missed the concert because I was at a bar watching Jamie perform.

Priorities.

Vernal

This year we only got to spend a couple of days in Vernal, and as usual, we had fun.

Maddie and I went with Mindy and Jordan on a little hike with their YW group.  PS Maddie is afraid of bridges, and we're both totally afraid of snakes.

Mindy taught us the finer points of whatever this is called.  I can't remember the word. I want to say "waterboarding" but I'm thinking that word is more of a form of torture than popular recreational activity.

It was fun though.  I never stood up, because I always had Christopher with me, and that was just a recipe for disaster.

The kids went four wheeling in the back yard,

And Nolan thought that if Nick had so much fun driving those things around, he might like to drive a lawnmower!! Plus, since he's going to Montana, he'll get in some practice for all that manual labor, and it's like driving a mini tractor, so bonus points!  He stuck a farmers hat on him for good measure.

And then with all the commotion, the gate was left open and the sheep got out, so Nolan taught Nick how to wrangle sheep.  More practice for his mission!

And we went and saw a movie.  Ant-Man.   We all thought it was pretty good.  Maddie geeked out over the new Star Wars movie poster.   (We're both annoyed that I didn't take the picture straight on, and there's that awkward door over there.... If you're gonna do something, do it right.)

Snowbird

High on the list of my kids favorite things to do in Utah is go to Snowbird.  Admittedly I think the rides in Park City are definitely funner, but Snowbird is definitely more value for the money.  Plus we wanted to check out their new Alpine Coaster.  (Totally not as fun as Park City, but still pretty cool. Unfortunately I have no pictures :/ )

In addition to riding the Alpine Slide until we couldn't stand it anymore,

we rode the zip rider a few times.  Ok, the kids did, I'm not such a fan.  It goes too fast, ends too fast, and I always feel like I'm going to fall out of the chair.

The kids played on the ropes course.  It was fun to watch them, and their different personalities.  Nick ran around without fear.  Zach was cautious, but still had fun.  Christopher was a lot more timid, and Madison was downright terrified.  She has developed an acute fear of heights.  But only in some circumstances. Others she seems quite fine.

We took the chair lift up to the top of the mountain,

And then walked THROUGH the mountain.  That was kindof cool. And really cold.

But we took the tram back down the mountain because a) it was warmer b) it was faster c) and because we could.

We left when we had enough.  At least two of us had headaches. And the kids got hungry and sick of the granola bars and fruit snacks I kept pushing on them.  Christopher wanted ice-cream.  (What else is new?) But I sure as heck was not gonna pay $4 for one scoop of ice-cream. "Quit your whining and I'll take you to Leatherby's" .  I have no pictures of that little excursion, but their patience was definitely rewarded.  They ate ice-cream until they were sick, and I'm fairly certain I even saved money. Plus, it was pretty cold for us Arizonians up there on the mountain, who wants to eat ice-cream when you are already freezing?? (Christopher of course.  There's never a bad time for ice-cream for that kid.)

The Cabin with the Andersons

The Andersons invited us to their family cabin to help celebrate Jessie's 9th birthday.  Maddie couldn't make it since she was still off at EFY.

We spent the day up there

going for hikes,

playing by (and in) the stream.

and we even played a bit of hide and go seek.  Christopher is the best.  He pops up after like 5 seconds.

We ate and played board games and card games.

We made s'mores around a campfire.

There were even songs.  They like to sing silly campfire songs as a family.  That was definitely not part of my upbringing.  I admit to feeling a little awkward. Mostly because I make it a general rule not to sing in public, and I was surrounded by people who could sing. I think if they sucked, it would have been fine, cause then we could all suck together, but when you are the only person who can't sing, well, it's awkward.

But we all had a lot of fun. It was a pretty fantastic day, and we felt honored the Anderson's wanted to share that with us.