Utah Trip/ 4th of July

 We road-tripped it to Utah for a 1 1/2 week stay over the 4th of July and it was just the best.  The girls were incredible on the road and we made it 13 hours to Laramie before we stopped.  There was a lot of snacking, playing, and sleeping.  I'm so proud of them.

 The  second night there, we attended Brian's 10 year REUNION!  It was fun for me, too to see the grads I know from his year.

Brian is cute. On Saturday morning, we went to the Ogden Farmer's Market. I was less than impressed with the assortment of vegetables-in comparison with Iowa FMs--but the entertainment was plentiful.  Here we are riding the little trolley train.

 We also visited the Children's Treehouse Museum with some friends and Grandma Maureen.  The little tigress is Alice.

Pres. Carson

We started the 4th with an over-saturated bike parade; the starting line was really stressing Scarlett out, but the girls made it all the way down to the finish line and back to our spot.  Well, I ended up carrying Alice and her bike about a quarter of a mile at the end.  It was very grueling.

 
We watched the parade from the shadeless view of 7/11's parking lot.  We got slurpees which made it bearable.  Scarlett isn't really too into parades, so she sat in the shade of my body and played games on my phone. Smart girl.

Nielsen cousins were in town from Idaho, and Hallie and Scarlett really hit it off this year.  Hurray!

Morning crafts on Grandma's deck--a total paradise in the early mountain air in nothing but undies.

Grandma Davis arranged some new pictures (gotta update every year will all dese babies).  

Luckily for us, we came out unscathed.  Others weren't so lucky.

We visited the SeaQuest Aquarium in Layton.  You could pet almost everything.  So cool. A little gross. 

 We tried out a $2.00 Hurricane.  Alice did not enjoy the experience.

We visited the Dinosaur Park in Ogden, 1st time since I moved to Utah as a 10 yo, I believe.  After,we swam.  We swam all over the Wasatch Front while we were there, but our favorite by far was Classic Waterslides in Riverdale.  No rules, fast slides, super cheap, and fabulous (not pictured).  

The girls made their own family picture set-up, Scarlett's idea.  As the oldest cousin, they would follow Scarlett to the ends of the earth. I don't think Scarlett understands the scope of her power just yet.

   On Tuesday, we said our goodbyes and headed onto the forever road.  We got this smurf guy at Burger King and he was not allowed to be tranferred to another location even though he kept falling down.  Alice was ruthless.

Until she fell asleep, that is.

    We ate at Chick Fil-A for lunch both ways.  They're food, service, & play places just can't be beat.  And we had to take advantage of Cow Appreciation Day.  We enjoyed our free meal earned by tearing out our printable ears and taping them in the car.

This place in Cheyenne went all out with balloon animals, cow-dunk tank, and face paint. Like, woah.

 We arrived at our hotel in Kearny, NE late and tired, but we still swam at the hotel in the morning before heading home.  It was such a fun visit.  There is no one better than family!