Summer Vacation

First off ... I will mention that as it typical, whenever we go to see my family I never get around to taking any pictures.  I wish I had, we did lots, but alas ...

This summer we did our summer vacation with my family.  Actually we saw lots of family, but the bulk of the trip was to see my family.

After some trouble getting our trip started ... I won't get into it, I will just say that I am done with Frontier Airlines ... we set off for Salt Lake.  We got there on Saturday morning and picked up our car and met Eric's sisters for brunch.  It was fun to see them and Grace enjoyed having them walk/chase her around the retaurant and its parking lot.  Then we were off to Idaho.

We stayed at my parent's house in Meridian.  We all went to church together on Sunday morning which has to be the first time that has happened in years!  We added 6 kids to their nursery ... probably would have been good to warn the primary of that ahead of time.  I think the most entertaining moment was when in the hallway moving between sharing time and class my nephew Junior was telling the teacher that he was my little brother Jackman's nephew.  Junior has 5 inches or more on Jackman and is 3 months younger than him.  I saw the teacher kind of shrug it off like "yeah right", but the funny part is that is true and I don't think most people are likely to believe him.  Maybe not so funny to you, but I just about died!

We headed up to a cabin in Garden Valley that afternoon where we stayed until Wednesday.  We had lots of pregnant woman and my sister Jenn who had her baby six weeks ago.  So we were really limited as to what we could do so we crafted.  We all use the same Christmas stockings and all needed to make some more so we got that done and made all the kids their 4th of July shirts.  It was fun to sit and craft with my mom and sisters and Eric was great about taking care of the kids.  And as is required for any Harper women get together there was a visit to a quilting store in town.  I now have a new long term project to work on.  I am very excited!  It was a fun few days to just relax and spend some time together talking and letting our kids play together.

We headed back down to Meridian on Wednesday where we took kids to play at the splash pad and the park ... and of course sno cones from Ali's Sno Shack!  That night my sisters and I and our husbands got to go out for dinner sans kids.  It was so nice to get to sit and talk and not have to chase kids.  Pretty sure there were a couple moments where laughter brought me to tears so it was a good time.

Thursday (aka the 4th of July) Eric, Grace and I packed up and said goodbye and headed to Blackfoot (where both of my parents grew up).  In the 4 years we have been married we have meant to go there a lot, but have never made it.  We (now that I think about it this was a really bad idea, glad it worked out ok) decided to take the highway route accross the state instead of the interstate.  The highway takes a little longer, but it is prettier and you go through Crater of the Moon.  So we took that route which took longer than we thought it would and there was no where to stop for lunch, but we did get to see Craters of the Moon which Eric had never been to and I hadn't been too since I was a kid.  It was amazing as always.  If you look close you can see Grace is wearing her 4th of July shirt we made her :).

After a lot of driving we made it to Blackfoot.  We stopped first at my Grandma and Grandpa Harper's house.  We stayed there and visited for a few hours.  Grace kept Grandma busy playing with her.  She also made sure to stop what she was doing and ask Grandma if she was ok every time she coughed, which only lead to laughing and more coughing, but it was cute.  Of course I had to show Grandma my new quilt project.  She was upset we went to a quilt store without her ;).  Grandma and Grandpa both celebrate their 80th birthday's this year as well and their 60th anniversay.  We will unfortunatly miss out on those festivities due to baby boy's due date so it was fun to get to see them.  

We then made it over to Kesler's house where a small 4th of July gathering was taking place.  Grace enjoyed jumping on the trampoline while I got a chance to catch up a little bit with some family I haven't seen in a long time.  I also got a few minutes to talk to my Grandpa Kesler ... not sure he ever realized who I was, but it was good to see him and talk to him for a little while.  And as if we could make this day any longer we decided to leave from there and head straight back down to Salt Lake.  We did get a nice fireworks show at every town we passed along the way.  Grace was a real trooper when it came to all the travel on this trip.

We spent the next couple days in Salt Lake with Eric's sisters.  They experienced taking an over tired 2 year old out to breakfast ... once again a lot of time was spent outsite until the food arrived.  We all took naps and went to the park.  It was fun to just hang out and play with Grace.  Saturday we went to Hogle Zoo.  As usual Grace loved the animals. 

She watched 2 bears wrestling in the water for a long time.

She liked the giraffes, but their long black tongues kind of creep me out.

The zoo has lego exhibits right now so here is Eric as a lego Gorilla.

And Grace.

It was fun to get to take her somewhere fun.  I have been lousy at that this summer being super prenant and all.  That night her aunts were nice enough to watch her and let Eric and I go out to dinner which is always nice.

It was a great trip!  I am glad we went.  Looking back I would never reccommend someone travel like that 35 weeks pregnant cause it was rough, but I am very glad we did.  But it felt wonderful to get back to our house and sleep in my own bed.