Utah Trip ~ March 2013

In March our family made the 23 hour trek to Utah. Ninety minutes into the trip Skylie said, "I'm having a hard time. Maybe we should just go home." Not long after that I popped in a movie on the portable DVD player and she was set!

The primary reason for the trip was to celebrate and surprise my Dad for his seventy-fifth birthday.

Saturday morning Matt, Skylie, Kaitlyn, and I "conveniently happened across" my parents at City Creek Mall. My mom knew the scoop, but my dad had no clue we'd be in town. My sister and her family arrived shortly, and then we met up with two of my brothers at Tucanos.

Pictured below are Tucanos servers serenading the birthday boys and girls.

But the surprises weren't over, yet. That night we blindfolded my dad and took him to his birthday party. Friends from Heber, Salt Lake, and Ogden came to celebrate my dad's birthday and my parents' thirtieth wedding anniversary. Dozens of family members and friends had also sent letters and pictures which we'd compiled into a book for my parents.

I won't post them all, but here's a few of the pictures I nabbed at the party.

Blowing out 75 candles

My parents

Alec, Amber, and Devin

Matt and Erin

Skylie and Kaitlyn playing

Family friends with me, Mom, Skylie, and Savannah

My mom and me

More friends with my parents. Skylie thought she needed to be in every picture.

Sunday we crammed in an egg hunt, dying eggs, breaking a pinata for Ethan's birthday, and having birthday cake for Devin.

This may be the picture that includes the majority of my family members who were able to make it. My parents, me, my brother Matt, and my nephew Devin aren't pictured, but the rest of the gang is.

Kaitlyn and her loot after Ethan broke the pinata. Skylie endearingly calls Kaitlyn "Boogie Face". So do I.

Ethan and Skylie before church

Monday and Tuesday my parents took us swimming at the Rec Center in Kamas, to the duck pond in Midway, and to Dairy Keen for ice-cream.

Skylie and I spent an afternoon drawing her immediate family and both sets of grandparents. All look pretty accurate, except Nana's purple hair!

We spent the remainder of our stay in North Salt Lake with Matt's parents.

Nana took us to the aquarium Wednesday.

Nana also watched the kids on Matt's birthday (Thursday) so Matt and I could attend the temple.

Later, Matt went to four NCAA Tournament games with his dad and brother-in-law, Brad. I think it was the best birthday of Matt's entire life!

Friday we swam at the Davis County Rec Center and later celebrated Matt's birthday dinner with both my parents and Matt's family.

Skylie loves her cousin, Braylie.

Matt's birthday dinner. I love that 31-year-old.

Our drive back to Indiana wasn't completely smooth sailing. Snow and rain followed us the entire way. Kansas City (where Matt's brother lives) became our stopping point both to and from Utah. Kansas City received a few inches of snow overnight and it took us an entire hour to travel thirty miles as we left Kansas City Sunday morning. Despite the long drive, we loved our time in Utah and can't wait to go back again!