Some highlights from the vacation:
The House: We
were so fortunate to use the enormous cabin of some friends of my parents free
of charge. This place was amazing and
meticulously organized to make your stay incredibly comfortable. They had everything you would need labeled
and easy to find. It had more than
enough beds for our group of 29 people.
My kids loved the playground and sandboxes, the adults loved the
volleyball court, and the little boys loved the theater room with the xbox. It was such a wonderful place for us all to
stay together.
Mailboxes: Mom
spearheaded the idea to get little mailboxes for the kids to decorate and then
anyone could leave treats or messages in the boxes for them. Peter wanted to decorate his, but he only
wanted to use paints and it really wasn’t working out, so he got sent back to
the sandbox and I finished his, but Jane had a blast. She chose pink and purple paint and then
finished with butterfly and heart stickers.
It was definitely the girliest one there.
Family History Night:
My parents requested a family history night where everyone would come
prepared to feature on ancestor and present it to the group. We did this for two nights and everyone put a
lot of effort and thought into their presentations. I studied Arthur Walton and built out a
timeline for his life. He was the first
in our Walton line to join the church and came across the plains in the Garden
Grove Company. It was addictive just
studying his life and getting to know him more personally. I’m excited to continue my research and
hopefully build timelines like this for several of my ancestors.
Park City Olympic Park: I haven’t actually been to the Olympic Park before, so I thought it was pretty fun to check out. We got to watch some of the ski jumpers practicing their flips into the pool and even saw a long jumper going down the big hill. We did the big zipline and it was great. It was really fun without having to get all nervous before the ride starts. Sometimes I really like that kind of ride.
Inside Out: We took the kids to see Disney’s Inside Out. It was Peter’s first movie… that he actually watched. The kids did ok. Jane needed a few too many bathroom breaks and Peter got a little restless, but it wasn’t too bad and the movie was really cute.
Volleyball:
Volleyball was definitely my favorite part of the vacation. There was a little volleyball court in the
woods and we played every night from about 7 until dark. It was a tricky time since our kids’ bedtime
should have fallen in there. Sometimes
we got Peter down before hand, but most times Grandma or Emily was there to
watch them and we were SO grateful because it really was our favorite thing to
do, and the kids weren’t really at their best at that time.
... we also did a little shooting down on the volleyball court.
Nate in time out.
"Look, I got a lollipop and a balloon." Happy girl.
Provo River Falls:
We spent a day exploring the Provo River Falls up in the Uintas. It was really close to where I have done my
backpacking trips up to Hidden Lake, but I had never stopped there before. It
is a gorgeous section of the river with lots of falls and neat rock formations
to explore. The water was SO cold, but
that doesn’t ever seem to stop kids from playing in it. Jane didn’t so much, but Peter ended up
wading around a little. We found another
little spot next to a small lake for our picnic. It was perfect.
The river was way too cold for Jane.
(When Jane sees this picture, she insists that that's her standing next to Peter. Who else would be standing next to her brother?)
