Utah Trip

So, the day of Becca's birthday we left to go to Utah. It was a hectic day, to say the least. After the traditional birthday morning festivities (hot breakfast and presents) I drove the girls to school. The car (the Yukon that we bought in July) started acting funny and by the time I got home, it was flashing warning lights and misfiring. Richard could fix it but he had to go to work and it would take too long. Not really an option. So we still had the van. The fan was running continuously but we could stop it by disconecting the battery when we parked. Great. I used that to take lunch to Becca and the treat for her class. On my way back, I noticed that the fan turned off. Must have fixed itself, right? (HA!) I came home and packed for everyone. We decided to try the van for the trip. After I picked up Richard from work and we were headed onto the freeway for Utah, the van overheated. The fan was broken and we may have damaged the car seriously. So, we cranked up the heater and drove cautiously to the rental car place. We got a good deal on this great minivan. Nice to not have to worry about it breaking down too. But we didn't leave the valley until 8:30pm. It was a long night....

But we arrived safely in Cedar City around 5am. We tried to sleep as long as the kids would let us. We made a little stop at the beautiful Kolob Canyon.

Then we headed back to St. George to get Richard registered for the marathon! While he was doing that, I took the kids to a little park. It was so nice to be able to play outside and not be too hot! Sometimes I look at pictures like this and think, "Wow...I have 5 kids. How did that happen???"

We all met up at the convention center for a spaghetti dinner. Richard's parents, brothers Robert and Lynn, and sisters Annette and Cindy were all there. Cindy and Annette were running in the marathon too!

The day of the marathon was kinda crazy too. The runners left the hotel room around 4:30am. Many thanks to Robert for driving them, so I didn't have to. :) But I did have to get all of the kids ready and pack everything up and check out of the hotel before 8am so we could get to see Richard on the course. We made it just in time to see him at one of the first places we could get to. He looks way too good for running 17 miles. :)

The kids had a great time holding signs, giving high 5's, and cheering on all the runners. We waited for awhile to see Cindy and Annette, but had to move on to catch Richard down the course.

Here's Richard right before the finish line! We are so proud of him!

He finished in just over 5 hours. Can you imagine running for 5 hours straight??? Ugh. And this is his second marathon. Cuz once is not crazy enough. Cindy and Annette finished too and we are so proud of them! Way to go!

After the runners cleaned up, we all met up with Lynn's family at Chili's for dinner. What a fun bunch of people!

Then our family made the drive up to Salt Lake City, after a brief visit with friends in Beaver. It was another late night and early morning rush to get ready for conference. Richard and I took Rebecca and Breanna to the Conference Center to listen to our living prophet speak. It was a great experience. It is amazing to be there with so many other Latter-Day Saints. Many thanks to Richard's cousin, Genny, for babysitting the younger three kids for us!

After the first session, the girls and I spent some time on Temple Square while Richard picked up the other kids. These girls are sure growing into great young women!

After the second session and a little naptime at the hotel, we took a drive up the canyon to look at fall colors. (Fall? We aren't familiar with that concept in Mesa.) We had to stop to put our feet in a creek. Is it cold, Jonny??

Megan loves to swing!

After a good night's sleep, we headed for home the next day. Another long drive. But even though someone stepped on the portable tv and broke it, the kids did really well and no one went crazy.

We decided to drive through Zion National Park...mostly because of the really cool long tunnel (which we went through 3 times it was so cool). One last family picture on this trip on this weird rock formation. We are pros at taking pictures with the timer. Even Megan is smiling! :)

So that's all for this trip. Lots of memories in a short amount of time. Good to be home.

Now to get those cars fixed....