Utah Trip: End of Part 1

We've been having a wonderful vacation, and Paul is with us at last! This past Friday, I got together with my sister Miriam and my cousin McKenna at our Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house. We had a good chance to catch up, meet each other's babies, and share a stomache bug that knocked most of us out for 12 hrs. We also got to see my Grandma's oil paintings. She just started painting a few years ago, and already she's much better at portraits than I've ever been. I was impressed!

Here's Benjamin (3 yrs.), Peter (9 mos.), Darci (3 mos.), and Anna (1 yr.).
Benjamin loves their house. I always did too as a kid. They had a merry-go-round, a tree house, a tire swing, a trampoline, a slide and a gazebo. It truly is little kid heaven. This wooden play set is a new addition to the yard, and Benjamin loved showing off his fireman skills on the pole.

He also figured out how to scramble up the tree while we were all inside, only to get stuck. MY Grandpa rescued him. I thought it was pretty cute!

Grandpa Smith makes a very fun Great-Grandpa too!

On Saturday, we had Paul with us, so we headed up to Pine View for the morning. I must have been overly excited at seeing my husband after 2 1/2 weeks because I was pretty spacey; I totally forgot to bring the boys' swimming suits with us. Luckily, Benjamin felt no shame in running around in his underwear. Here he is being silly with my Mom.

We rented a ski-doo for the day and Benjamin took a ride with Paul and Uncle David. Benjamin said he had fun, but he was done after one ride on it. We had a blast. Thanks, Mom and Dad for such a fun time!

On the way to Provo we had expected to make a few visits, but when Benjamin started complaining that his stomach hurt, we knew we had to wrap it up. We made a quick exit from a family reunion, but within minutes, Benjamin had thrown up all over himself and his car seat. I finally feel like we've been fully inducted into the Parent's Club or something.

After getting the boys down at Paul's parent's house, Paul and I drove back up to my cousin Angela's wedding reception. I couldn't believe it, but it's been three years since I last saw my cousin and best friend Wendy (Angela's sister) . We had a great time catching up! On the way back home, I was starting to feel nauseous, but was able to make it all the way to Provo before joining Benjamin on the floor all night. Good times. We're all better now though, and are ready to enjoy some more adventures with Paul's family!