I will try to condense the 1500+ photos and try not to bore any of my fabulous followers out there. :) Remember, this is for posterity.
We left Mesa on July 19th - our 14th wedding anniversary! What better way to say Happy Anniversary then to spend ALL day driving in the car with 5 kids?!?! Right??? yeah... But we made it to Orem, UT without too much stress.
The next day, Richard decided that it would be great fun to hike to Timpanogos Cave with all the kids. I didn't know any better so we went. We packed a picnic and ate in the forest before we started. The kids were all excited to see the river. An actual RIVER! Whoa!
Here we are at the start of the trail. See how eager we are! I am even carrying Megan in the carrier. Little did we know how steep and long and hot the trail was....
But we made it, slowly but surely. Towards the end, Richard had Megan on his front, the backpack on his back, and Jonny on his shoulders. Who needs a pack mule? The cave was cold and refreshing, but kinda dark and cramped. That was not easy for Becca (aka Miss Worrywart) to handle, but eventually she calmed down and later enjoyed the cool formations. I admit I was a bit clostrophobic too, especially when they mentioned the earthquakes...
We survived. See. This is after the cave tour.
And this is after the hike down. Fun stuff.
We then drove around BYU and tried to talk the kids into someday attending. :) We had a yummy dinner at the Brick Oven Pizza place close to campus. Then back at the hotel the kids jumped in the pool for awhile. Good day.
The next day was my 35th birthday, and so we decided it would be another great day to drive. All. Day. Long. But Richard insisted that we stop and have a steak for linner/lupper and I didn't argue. Here I am with my birthday cheesecake!
It is here I must digress and mention our car. We bought this 3 days before we left on our trip.
It was a good price but it needed more work than we orginally thought. I won't go into all of that, because honestly, I can't remember. But it has a dvd player so that's nice. Unfortunately, the morning we were to drive to the top of Glacier NP it decided not to start. Turns out it needed a new fuel pump. But Richard and Tom found someone to tow and fix it that day, so crisis averted. Always something....
Then most of us piled into Jeanie's car and drove up the Going to the Sun road (Tom and the boys decided to stay and fish). The kids had a great time playing in snow in July!
So then the next day, we packed up and headed back to Libby. But first Tom and Richard got to go ziplining at a nearby ski resort. The kids and Jeanie and I went to see Cars 2. It was mostly fun. Jonny is 3 though and was not cooperative. Oh well. We then met at McDonald's to get some wiggles out and then made our way back to the Gentry's house.
The rest of the week was spent playing and helping pack the house a little. And eating.
On our last full day in Montana, we went to this beautiful little lake and the kids went fishing and swimming. Tom helped Jonny catch his first fish. He is still talking about it.
The kids and Richard caught a turtle too! Becca's holding it.
Then it was off to Ross Creek Cedars for a picnic and hike. So pretty! Here's the whole gang!
Inside the "fairy" tree...
Chuggachugga CHOO CHOO!
14years ago Richard and I took a picture of us in this same tree while on our honeymoon. Kinda surreal to be in the same tree now with 5 kids.
One last picture in Montana in front of the Gentry's house. So wonderful to be able to be here!
To be continued!
