Benson's Blessing

July 12th was a special day. Benson was blessed, James turned 4, and Dana and I had our 18th wedding anniversary! We're calling our trip our celebration this year:)

Jeff and Carrie had a luncheon before church at Carrie's brother's house. It was perfect! Carrie has an awesome family.
Uncle Roger and Aunt Anne came down from Utah.

He's looking a little like I remember my grandpa looking and it makes me wonder what my dad would look like now if he were with us.

This boy's a cutie!

I LOVED holding him. Jeffy gave him to me at church and it was pretty much Heaven.

Eli loves babies too. Always asking to hold them.


He's such a sweet, mellow baby.



The darling family of four!


Pretty mommy and baby.


It was such a wonderful blessing and we were so grateful we were able to be there. Perfect ending to our trip.

Utah to Vegas With Lots of Family and Treats in Between

Friday our goal was to get from Ogden to St. George with a stop in Provo and a stop back in Mt. Pleasant to pick up our portion of a cow (beef) that Dana's mom and dad gave us for Christmas.

We always love visiting BYU and reminiscing about our time there.
We went to the Cougareat and the kids (and Dana) chose ice cream over getting a bag of candy at the candy counter. Ice cream is the one treat that never really tempts me.



We checked out the new "Heritage Halls" that replaced "Deseret Towers" where I lived (Sweet S-Hall Babes 4eva!)
Our niece Keena gets to be one of the first residents this fall!


Then we went to the Monte L. Bean museum which is way awesome compared to the last time I was there. And still free!



For lunch we looked up a yummy pizza place and it was SO good! I got a calzone which I haven't had in years. And then we tried "Swig" which was also REALLY good. Rumor has it we'll be getting one soon.

(The kids were definitely over pictures by this point in our trip!- note fake smiles).

We drove past the new temple in downtown Provo and you can see on the far left of the picture that they were putting in the doorway. Such a beautiful bldg! Loved seeing that Angel Moroni on top!


Our stop in Mt. Pleasant included singing to Aunt Vandla on her 92nd birthday:)


And hanging out with cousins again a little longer than we had planned on:) Emma was back to back with Keena first and said she was taller, and this is her and Lars. She actually just passed up Dana by a smidge and he's not too happy about it.

She was trying to figure out a way she could stay at the last minute but we couldn't work it out :)

The kids got to be pros at the traveling thing.


We had a wonderful time staying with Uncle Steve and Aunt Joyce (my dad's sister) in St. George. Talking to Aunt Joyce reminded me of talking to my dad and how he could talk forever. She has a "Holland" room and I loved seeing old pictures of my grandma and grandpa.
In the morning Steve made us one of his famous breakfasts.
Family is the best blessing in life.
We started off in the morning and then thought we should take a picture. So we grabbed the selfie stick again and headed back to the door.
Totally worth it.


Saturday we headed to Vegas for the last leg of the trip. Jeff and Carrie have passes to a children's museum so we met them there first. It was so fun to see them again. The girls loved playing with Berkley!


Eli and Holly were hilarious in the Hurricane tube.


Emma even had fun and made this parachute. She's a scientist at heart.


Next, we checked into our hotel, "South Point". It had a pretty sweet pool.


The kids had a great time playing with cousins :)


I realized I had met Dana 20 years ago that day! A pretty wonderful day in the history of my life.


My whole family ended up being able to make it except Dan and Jane who was at Girls Camp.




Sally put on a birthday party for James while we there since he his birthday was the next day.
What a cute little 4 yr old!



That night we saw the Minions movie (BIG mistake) at the hotel's theater and then squeezed our family into 2 queen beds which wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Our girls are still small enough that we can pull it off, but those days are coming to an end :)

Next up- Benson's big day!

Teton Village

We drove into Teton Village in the morning so we could go this awesome sky tram you can see off in the distance.


It provided some amazing views.


Pretty soon we realized we were going into the clouds. That was so much fun!




It was really pretty up there and also cold! That was a treat for us coming from the desert in July!



At the top they had a little lodge where they sold waffles and hot chocolate.

Of course we had to try those out! I guess we've been spoiled by WaffleLove though because they really were nothing special.




Headed back down.



The sky tram included a free ride on the ski lift which was almost as fun!


It was fun to see hang gliders floating down.


From there, we drove straight to a famous burger place in Victor, Idaho recommended by my step-cousin Jeanne who lives right near there.

Not a great picture but I have post it because it was that good. Best place we ate the whole trip. The sign's cut off but it's called "The Brakeman" Hope to go back again someday!

We were treated to some more beautiful Idaho views as we headed toward BYU-I.



I didn't take any photos at BYU-I but we enjoyed walking around. I would be surprised if at least one of our kids didn't end up going there, so I'm glad we got to check it out:)

That night we slept in Ogden again. Treated to spaghetti, salad, fruit, and root beer floats for dessert. Aunt Virginia was the perfect hostess!! We feel so grateful we were able to spend time with her and get to know her better.

Grand Tetons/Jackson Hole

Driving into the Tetons felt magical.





Emma took this cool picture of Holly.


We took a ferry across "Jenny Lake".


 Zero edits on this handsome face I love so much :)



When we came toward these mountains across the lake it felt like floating toward Arendelle.


After exiting the ferry we went on a hike to "Hidden Falls".
It was the most beautiful hike I've ever been on!

(Let's ignore how goofy that camera bag looks and pretend I didn't walk around like that a lot.)

It was so incredibly green.



Camping hair


In front of "Hidden Falls".


It had started drizzling on the hike, and then a little more when we were headed back on the ferry, so we broke out our ponchos. Except we left one at home by mistake. But I was happy to use the umbrella instead.


Then we headed on to our hotel.



I actually found a family suite so we all had an official place to sleep!


We checked in and then went to look for somewhere to eat and explore the town square.


We saw a crowd and I remembered that they have a daily gunfight at 6pm.


The show was pretty cute :) And I figured this would be a good time to take the obligatory picture under the antler archway. (There are actually several of these amazing arches!)


After we ate, we found a movie we could all watch on tv and also got cleaned up  after 2 days of camping.


Sadie and I roasted marshmallows and made s'mores since we got rained out at the campground :)

What a great day!