Family Vacation

We decided to take a fairly last minute trip to Utah this summer for the 4th of July.  I was really hoping to go to the "man in the moon" but I took too long deciding to go and then the tickets were not in my price range.  There were some other things that I wanted to do and we never got to take the trip for spring break because of a hernia, so we hoped in the RV and went.

We decided to go through Durango on the way and enjoyed the plethora of green for our eyes to enjoy.  We pulled into this gas station for a minute and saw the "restrooms now open" sign.  This was in the middle of nowhere.  I can only imagine the disappointment of weary bladder filled travelers stopping here when they were closed.

We left in the afternoon on Tuesday so we stopped in Moab to rest for the night.  We've stayed at this KOA before and the kids love the shooting skeleton at the entrance.  

Our first stop when we came up through spanish fork was good 'ole cafe rio.  We had to start off our adventure in Utah on a delicious foot.  

We didn't waste any time getting right to the fun.  We rent straight to pick up the rental car and then it was off to a tour of BYU.  We had a pretty funny adventure renting the SUV.  We had rented a mini van a couple weeks before the trip.  When we got there, they had no minivans.  I was having a sienfield moment.  "so you know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to hold the reservation." lol Not sure what happened to all the cars, but they were sold out of everything everywhere.  We did get a vehicle big enough to fit our family so all was well in the end.

We got to the university  a little early so we watched some cool videos and enjoyed the air conditioning.  It was a fun tour with the exception of one thing.  EFY was there.  Trying to get anything in the bookstore with thousands of teenagers was pure madness!  I wont be making that mistake again.  Ever!

We spent the 4th at a museum that was put on by Mercury One about the history of our country.  It was really cool.  Extremely crowded, but still cool.  There were people all along the way to explain what was on display.  I wish we could have taken some pictures.  There was founding history, an awesome bible collection, slave history, Mormon history etc.  

The coolest thing that happened was when we got inside and 2 arm lengths from me was Glenn Beck.  What was really amusing is that the kids were super excited to see him.  I guess I'm rubbing off.  We got to watch him tape a segment and bask in our close proximity.  I kept smiling at him hoping that he would come over and give me a little kiss ;) heehee

After the museum we did the temple square thing.  I love the SL temple.  It is so beautiful and there is so much history there.  

My neck, back and hip were killing me on this trip so I asked Jordyn to carry my camera.  Well, she decided that simply carrying it wasn't enough.  She wanted to take some pictures.  It was really cute.  I worked with her on framing a picture and turning off the flash when she was trying to take pictures of the model of the temple.  It was so fun to see what caught her eye.  She wanted to take pictures of everything.  All the pictures in the above collage are hers.  

We toured the assembly hall and learned that Grandpa said a prayer in there or gave a talk before his mission. Also back in the day a member of the quorum of the 12 apostles set you apart for your mission.  I'm really mad because I can't remember who set him apart.  We also saw the tabernacle and did the visitors center.  It was fun seeing the people that were there for the GB event walking around with missionaries learning about Mormon history.  My kids were taking notice as well and thought it was really cool.  We had fun looking at all the different languages the BOM is translated in.  It was funny how many little kids ran up and pretended to read a foreign language with "I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents.." (the first line in the BOM) It was cracking us up. 

In 4 years I could have 2 missionaries out preaching the gospel.  It was getting me a little choked up seeing my 2 oldest's enthusiasm.  I can think of nothing more rewarding than seeing your children grow in the gospel and witness their testimonies being born.  

When we walked past the Family Search Center the kids hearts skipped a beat.  They feel apart of something special being able to have been part of a project about FH.  They were wishing that we would run into film crew members to say hi.  MJ wanted to leave a post-it note on the door saying "the iveys were here."  Nuts.  They're a pretty big deal in their own minds.  

The kids had a blast hanging out with their cousins and grandma and grandpa.  Jordyn got to bake and sew with grandma and was in absolute heaven.  The kids discovered that the 2 little girls have middle names that make up 1 person.  One has Elaine and the other Gibb and that is who they are both named after.  It was so fun that they discovered that.  

There was lots of mutual electronic hanging out and Ethan was cracking us up with his amusement that wreck it Ralph's hands move when you push the buttons on his bum.  Nate tried again, in vein, to get Tyson to call him his favorite uncle.  Ty say's "huh" a lot.  He wasn't buying what Nate was trying to sell him.  

Since we have been into family history we had to go and visit the SL Cemetery.  It has most of the prophets buried there and a lot of famous pioneers that settled the area.  There was one in particular we were there to see.  My children's 4th great grandfather, W W Phelps.  Nate's Dad's Mother's grandfather.  We got to talk about him with grandpa and the kids learned some things about him for our pioneer trek they went on. (they had to bring information about a pioneer in their family)

We took pictures and did a rubbing of the front and back of the gravestone.  The back ended up on the picture below, it's the "there is no..." one. 

We also took pictures with gma and gpa's "prophet", David O McKay.  I took one next to Howard W Hunter because I hadn't been a member very long when he became the prophet.  I remember watching him for general conference and feeling his love jump out of the television and into my heart.  He touched me greatly in the very short time he was prophet.

Ethan and Jordyn were being so reverent and cute picking little wild flowers and placing them on all the graves we looked at.  We had to do some serious sprinkler dodging but it just added to the adventure.  The kids also liked looking at all the different kinds of headstones and what they said on them.  I loved the one on the upper right that says "aced 41 years"  I hope mine doesn't have the 41 but I'd love for it to say something like "she totally rocked it while she was here or she kicked some serious spiritual butt."  The ones with photos on them were fun to see too.  Truth be told, I like cemeteries.  There is something sacred and reverent about them and a palpable connection to the past.

I had to get a picture of my loot.  I went a little crazy.  The kids have a new place to try and keep me away from.  The church bookstore is bad and now this place can be added to the list.  In my defense, the books are signed by the authors and I love signed books.  I am mostly electronic but I still like to have some hard copies around, especially signed ones.  I got another piece of art too.  I really wasn't sure where I could put it because I'm out of wall space, but I had to have it.  I did find a home for it, and it is hanging there now, so all is well.  

Before leaving town Sunday morning we went further north to attend Music and the Spoken Word.  The kids have never been in the conference center and never seen the Motab live so going a little out of our way was worth it.  The kids also thought it was cool to be there with so many non LDS people.  There were a lot there again that came for the GB events.  In fact, they had him stand up in his seat to introduce that he was there and he got a standing ovation.  What was really cool is that we had no idea until that happened that we somehow ended up really close to him again.  

What a fun family adventure.  Next major trip.....Nauvoo.  Every year we want to go and every year we don't.  Fingers crossed for spring break.