Catherine and Todd's

We enjoyed spending time at Cath and Todd's.  We played lots of games and shopped. 

The boys loved the basketball court in the backyard. 

I gave Cath a pedicure.  Her baby is due in August. 

Riding the River

We had such a fun time rafting the Provo river with Cath and Todd.  Todd was our guide and put up with our less than well-oiled paddling team.  It was the first time my kids had been rafting on a river.  The calm Provo is a great river for beginners.

Devin liked it.  But after we got back in the raft from the section where we had to get out and carry it around a narrow bridge, he asked, "When are we going to get out and never back in this boat again?" I thought that was a funny comment since he was having fun. 

Drew, Dayton and I were the left side paddlers.  We needed a little help on our synchronization.

The water was freezing cold.  These tough boys got in the water...momentarily. 

King of the Mountain.

Happy Paddler Danica 

Todd steering us along the river.

Here's about the biggest "rapid" that we went through.

So fun to be with Dave and Catherine!  The boys were so excited to see Uncle Dave when we pulled into Provo!

Dayton did like to spin the raft in circles from time to time contrary to our boat crew's orders.

Dallin and Uncle Dave manned the right side of the boat with prowess.

Good Memories!

Visiting Grandma Fuller and Gordon

We had such a nice visit with Grandma Great and Gordon.  We had the kids sit at Grandma's feet and here stories from her life.  Here's the story in her own words of when Grandma Fuller went to jail.  It's broken into 30 second clips for easy upload, but keep watching if you want to hear the whole story!

Gordon took us all to lunch.  What a treat!

I love my Grandma!

We had a concert for Grandma Great and then each kid got to push the giant kiss button and get a treat.

Devin loves grandma's big black dog.

Grandma Great always serves dishes filled with chocolate, offers up ice cream treats, and sends the kids away with animal cookies.

What a special lady!

HIking Ooh Aah Point/Zion's National Park

It was nice to get to stay at a campground for a second night.  Drew was so used to getting up and packing up, that he started right in first thing in the morning.  I heard Dallin tell him, "Drew you don't have to do that, we stay here again tonight."  The weather was a bit cooler and we were glad to have snuggly jammies for the little ones and hot chocolate for breakfast.

The kids have gotten along together so well.  We really didn't have any contention or bickering.  And considering that we we've had long car rides and that were all together day after day, its made the time together really pleasant and delightful.  We enjoy the older kids fun personalities and the younger kids silly antics.   

Dayton finally got a seat on a shuttle in the Grand Canyon.  He had been standing all our other rides. But onour last ride (out to our hike to Ooh Aah Point) he finally got a seat.

This is one of the few photos of Devin at the Grand Canyon that he's not in a pack.  We were at the top of the trailhead filling water.

Ready to roll.

Hiking into the canyon was so picturesque.

Danica was a good little hiker.  Even with shorter legs, she kept up with the rest of us pretty well.  I never let go of her hand on these steep trails.  She and I were hiking buddies.

My handsome troop of boys.

We got lots of photos of Danica.  I doubt she'll remember coming to the Grand Canyon.

Here's a good look at why Devin's in a pack.

I think this was the most beautiful hike I've ever been on. The rugged canyon's red and green walls were impressive. 

If you look carefully, you can see the steep switchbacks on this portion of the trail. 

Here's the overlook at Ooh Aah Point. (Sometimes at the end of the year when we're looking through photos for a Christmas picture, we find we're short on family pictures. We have a plethora of them after this trip!)

After the hike we continued on our drive to Utah.  We stopped briefly in our fourth National Park of the trip, Zions.  We had been following a car for miles with the license plate ECS.  They passed us going 100 at one point.  We both stopped at the same gas station (where we got frosties, yum).  We lost them in a small town.  When we stopped to take this photo, Dave said, "Kids, look at the car stopped in front of us.  It's ECS!"  They took this photo for us and we had a fun visit with their nice family for a few minutes.  Dallin mentioned that visiting with people along the trip was one of his favorite parts.  He's learning there's nice people all around you...a great mission skill.

Provo is a special place to me

I'd forgotten how much I love Provo.  I went to lunch at the Todds' home and enjoyed seeing them.  There were so many old memories being in the home where I was living when I met Dave.

I also had the opportunity to go to the temple with the Todds.  It was very special to share a sealing room with just their family and with Uncle Bob as the sealer.  And I got to walk to temple.

There were missionaries out exercising on the fields by the temple.  It was sweet to show my boys where they play, live, work and know that they'll be there some day.

We took a nature walk with Amy's family and grandma/grandpa to the beautiful Bridal Veil Falls. The water was freezing cold!  But since it was a hot day, it felt good, for a few minutes anyways.

Talbot Grandparent's Home

The kids are having so much fun and are getting to know their Talbot Grandparents better.  Danica wore curlers in her hair for the first time, courtesy of grandma who gave her her own curlers.

There have been hours and hours of Rook and croquet with Grandpa.  The boys are having so much fun!

This was the first time the kids met uncle Dave and cute little Tanner. 

Grandma has plenty of fun toys for the little ones.  They play happily together all day with the new toys. 

Grandma always has such pretty flowers on her front porch. 

Grandpa cooked up a wonderful barbeque, complete with homemade rootbeer. Laura and Amy's families came over and we had dinner and FHE together. 

Croquet players. 

Air hockey is also a hit!