Our Visit to the Moon (kind of), Utah and Back

We took our summer trip to visit Utah, but first we went to Idaho.  We stayed in Idaho Falls and had dinner at Dixie's Diner, and stayed at a hotel for the first time in a while.  Saturday, we traveled to the Moon...Craters of the Moon National Monument, that is.  The kids really liked all of the neat geological formations. It was fascinating how it all formed. We especially liked the Devil's Orchard a lot and the Cones.  It was so amazing that even through cooled magma and ash turned into rock that flowers can grow again and animals can adapt and thrive there.  It was a great lesson to us all and as we discussed what is going on in our world right now, there can be beauty after the blackness.  But the eruption had to happen first.  Without the way it all formed, it wouldn't be the way it was.  We had a great day hiking around and thought it was pretty cool.  We were a little bummed because some of the places were closed (like the caves) due to inability to social distance.  But overall, it was worth going to!

Then we headed to Utah.  On Sunday, we stayed with Dave's parents and had church at home, played lots of games, talked a bunch, and watched some Book of Mormon videos, had a turkey dinner with everyone, and went to walk around the temple.  On Monday, the Ryerses headed to go see Grandma Carol who wasn't feeling very well.  We went to Logan to go see Mark & Mayela and their new place.  It was a super cute house and we are happy for them.  We had a Nerf Rival gun war, played some games, hiked up by the Logan River and the nature reserve and played in the river, went to Sabores for dinner which was super amazing, had some Popcorn drive -in popcorn and Costco chocolate cake, watched Pirates of the Caribbean, played some video games, and had a high-heel fashion show, haha! Tuesday, we left to go to Wyoming to see Amy & crew.  We stopped off at Bear Lake for some shakes and fries for lunch.  We wanted to stop so bad, that clear blue Bear Lake water is the best!  It is always gorgeous, but we kept moving on.  We got to Amy's house and we played outside with Boji and his animals - Quick and Quack and all the chickens and the horses.  They jumped on the tramp and we rode the go cart, watched a movie and played with toys, and Amy gave Lucy, Emma, Cov and I haircuts. She's so good at what she does!  Then we had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner and then headed to Morgan to see Erin and Randy's new place all finished.  We got the tour, did s'mores in their back yard and visited and then headed back to Grandma Sue & Grandpa Dan's.  Wednesday, we did the temple view hike with Grandpa Scott.  It was a nice and cool day to do that.  Then we hung out at their house and played with them and had lunch and played.  Wednesday night Jerry & Stacy, Jeff & Shirley and Erin & Randy came on over and we went riding on Erin & Randy's new Razor up by the B.  The kids mostly loved it, Sydnie and MacKenzie liked it for a while bu then both covered their eyes as they got scared.  Dave was the crazy driver, which the older kids loved and he was in heaven. We went to Rocket park with all the kids.  We also had the Pie pizza, yum.  Thursday, we rode the Razor some more, played with Julie & Todd's kids, went to the Millcreek park and got soaked when it rained like crazy but had a blast, and then went to my parents to play outside, work on some projects, made shiskabobs for dinner, and played some family Guess Who and Apples to Apples.  Friday was Pioneer Day and we made German Pancakes and Mormon Johnny Cakes and went to my parents for some pioneer breakfast.  We had some sweet bread, sausage and hash browns too.  Then we watched the Days of '47 parade rebroadcast from last year.  We worked on some baby blankets and quilts and finished 2 (almost 3 but we ran out of the white thread) to donate.  Then we came back to the Ryerses and had a good time with all the cousins, the older girls helped me make peach cobbler, and we prepped some food for our BBQ, played outside and inside, watched the Muppets, and then we ate.  We always have quite the spread with hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, tons of salad and chips and sides, homemade root beer, strawberry cheesecake and our cobbler for dessert.  We did some smoke bombs and snap pops and when it got dark it was time for the other fireworks.  We had a bunch of fountains and some aerials and cake fireworks.  Lots of neighbors were lighting fireworks too so it was a good show!  Saturday was boating day!  Erin and Randy bought a boat recently and we had a great day at Pineview. We paddle boarded, went swimming, knee boarded and surfed (I loved that and Cal got up on both, too!), rode on the tube, played in the sand, got a little sunburnt, and just enjoyed being together.  It was a sweet way to end our trip down!  Then we went back to Bountiful for our pioneer dinner.  We had pioneer beans, whole wheat bread with homemade butter and jam, salad, and potatoes, and apple dumplings with homemade ice cream for dessert.  

Sunday morning, we headed out with 4 extras - Tayla, Kaison, Amber and Mayela came to spend the week.  We love making memories with our own family and our extended family!  Love them all to the moon and back!