August 12th was Logan and my 6th wedding anniversary. We spent the whole day of it in the car, driving to Utah. The kids gave us the gift of being absolute angels on the 12 hour drive. On Friday we drove three hours to Tri Cities and then did the other nine on Saturday. I couldn't believe how well behaved they were. We checked out 36 books from the library and they spent hours reading books, playing with little toys my sister Leisha gave us (she was cleaning out her toy room), coloring pictures, watching movies, playing on the iPad, and connecting magnet tiles. Logan and I got to just talk and talk and talk which was a fun, long, anniversary date type thing to do.
Our destination was Ogden and we got there in the evening. We had a pit stop to Chick-Fil-A before arriving at Logan's sister Holly's house. Her and her husband just bought a home and it was so fun to see how they had decorated and had been doing their own DIYs. Logan and I were instantly jealous (we want to live in our own house so bad sometimes) and just loved sitting out in the back yard while the kids played on the swing set and ate apples off the trees.
We got to walk to church on Sunday. It is always so funny to me to see all the church buildings so close to each other out there. Your neighborhood is your ward out there.
After church we had a super yummy dinner that Holly and Jacob made. Rachel and Marshall came out to see us and we all went to the Ogden temple. This trip we got to visit lots of temples and church history sites and I thought it was really nice. We had been planning on going to the Oregon Coast for my family's reunion but Logan's brother Hiatt's wedding date ended up falling on the same week for that trip. We decided it would be far to much driving if we tried to do the Oregon Coast and Utah both in the same week. After talking it over we decided to just spend the week there with Holly and have a different kind of family vacation.
Pretty Elsy girl.
This kid has a ferocious smile. I had to include it with his soft smile photo too. :)
We have been taking family photos in front of temples and I think it is so fun. I am going to have to start a temple family picture bucket list for us! It was just a gorgeous temple, so peaceful there.
Cloud gazing. After almost two weeks of smoky haze in Washington it was really nice to finally see the blue sky again. The smoke started clearing up somewhere in Idaho for us.
Logan loved the reflection pool.
The next day we went to the Hill Air Museum. Holly found us some scavenger hunts next to a sign that said "Please return". We got excited about doing the hunts with the kids and imagined returning them to get some type of 'reward'. I feel like I barely saw anything there because I was so busy with Elsy trying to find the (super) hard picture matches of random parts of airplanes and helicopters. Haha, we had so much fun! So we weren't to disappointed when we tried to turn them back in at the front desk and the elderly man there said, "Well, I guess give yourself a pat on the back." Apparently the 'Please Return' sign was for the pens... Holly and I had a good laugh and she passed out fruit snacks so the kids wouldn't be too disappointed.
All the kids packed onto our stroller. Elsy has been having some rather interesting faces for photos lately. There she is with her scavenger hunt page. After I got out of the shower one morning I found tons of pictures of her and her cousin Ella with various hilarious poses. I was sad they were all so blurry or I would have posted some!
We had to go to Lehi to see our good buddies the Carruths. We miss them so much and we were so glad they had us over. They even took us all out to eat at Zupas. Let me just say, I never thought I would find a replacement for our Panara comfort food but I do believe we have. Such a yummy place!
And also, my husband is just like, super hott in that picture, right? :)
We decided to have a parent table and a kid table. I felt a little guilty because we made all the kids sandwiches and snacks so we wouldn't have to buy them a bunch of food they wouldn't eat. We set them up with a movie so we could have an 'adult date' haha! It worked really well.
After we all went swimming together. Tommy's and Nora's lips are still purple because it was quite freezing. Andrea and I didn't get in but when Logan got out he was shaking all over just like the kids.
Cache and Elsy taking a selfie. Oh dear. Elsy was just so excited to see him. When we first arrived in Utah she kept asking "Which house is Cache's house?" all over the streets of Ogden. We have really missed having him over for her so much.
I think we ate out at least half the meals on our trip. I don't really care, it was oh so yummy. Holly took us to this little bakery that had the most amazing cinnamon rolls. The raspberry cream cheese ones were to die for.
About halfway through the week David and Natalie showed up. It was starting to become wedding preparation time! We stayed up late playing Snake Oil and getting some really good laughs.
We went to a fun water park there in Odgen with Grandpa and the Hanes.
I think this was one of my favorite activities. The water was the perfect temperature and the weather was too. Logan and I just sat in the shallow water while the kids swam around. We even talked them in to doing the big slide with us. Elsy was pretty nervous but after the first time down she didn't want to stop. The pools here in Issaquah are always freezing and to me just are not the best quality. I never feel comfortable in them, even when it is really hot out. But that pool was just so great! It was so relaxing to be there.
At the beginning of the week, when we went to Holly's ward, a woman shared that she had gone to get fish pedicures in Layton. Holly and I had been trying to think of something fun for Logan and I to do on our anniversary date (which Holly graciously offered to watch our kids). When we heard the lady say that I knew that was what I wanted to do! The soonest appointment wasn't until Thursday so I was excited about it all week. I didn't tell Logan what we were doing until we were standing in the aquarium foyer. On the drive over Logan looked at me and said, "I just don't know if this is something I should be excited for or if I need to be pumping myself up for something out of my comfort zone." I laughed and said he needed to be prepared to do something out of his comfort zone. We laughed and laughed while the little doctor fish nibbled all over our legs and feet. Logan was hunched over the whole time with his hands under his knees. Thankfully it was only 15 minutes. I thought it was fun at first but by the end I kept shaking my legs to get them off! After a while it started to almost sting a bit? Even though they don't have any teeth, their little jaws were gnawing away. And when they stayed in one spot it got a little to much, or when they nibbled on Logan's leg hairs!
Holly and Jacob kindly gave us a gift card to Red Lobster they said they were never going to use. So we had a fish themed date. Yum! I just love sea food! We decided it was our Oregon Coast meal in Utah.
Logan bought a game called Splatoon for the Switch while we were there. The kids begged and begged to play "Squid Kids!" as they call it. It is basically a paintball game. I found them all with controllers watching Logan play while us women folk tried to plan for what to do with all the kids for the wedding luncheon.
On Friday we headed out to Salt Lake City do do the Mormon tourist thing. Just as we were about to leave I found all the kids outside with Grandma, washing the windows with newspapers. They were too cute!
The first thing we saw when we walked onto temple square, besides the temple, was this fellow up in a tree. Look closely, it's Hiatt! Logan's brother. He works on the temple grounds and was already hanging Christmas lights in August, the day before his wedding.
Elsy was excited to see the temple. Tommy was more interested in eating cheddar bunnies. But we did get a few good smiles out of him.
The family photo. :)
And there he is, wishing for his cheddar bunnies and having to take yet another photo.
Here we have Tommy, who graduated to graham cracker bunnies (he somehow was starving). It was fun talking to Elsy and Tommy about the different sites. Elsy had learned about the seagulls and crickets story in primary so we stopped at the fountain that memorializes that event.
How I love these three! Elsy was interested in all the sister missionaries around. We told her she could go and ask each one she saw where they were from. She really like that!
I think Elsy got a lot more out of this trip than Tommy did, which was what we expected. He is only two and a half, after all.
This is my favorite picture from the trip. If you look closely, Elsy is on her tip-toes just gazing up with so much interest and Tommy was actually interested in the Christus too, and His "owies".
We were exhausted and pretty hangry by lunch time. The Hanes as well as Logan's parents came out to meet us around then. We went to City Creek mall to have some lunch at Kneaders and then let the kids get all their wiggles out at the indoor playground.
Tommy was so happy to be well fed and out of the stroller.
Logan was happy to just put his feet up and relax. This poor guy. I just love doing the tourist thing. But sadly I just run my family into the ground in my excitement to see everything. I try to only do one tourist day during our vacations (like our New York day when we were in New Jersey) but then I try to fit it all in one day. Haha, Logan is such a trooper and I am always grateful he is still willing to go on these outings with me.
While we were at lunch I got a text from my aunt Siska. She had run into Natalie and they had recognized each other on Temple Square. What a coincidence! I hadn't seen them in a few years so we hurried over to say hi after lunch. My aunt Geneil was visiting from Canada so we got to see the whole crew! My mom's sisters are so much fun and I was glad for the little meeting, even if it was for so short a time.
Our next stop was the Church History Museum. It has been updated since I was last there. They had an awesome kids area upstairs and so many interesting things to read and see. Too much to see and read though, when you have tire kiddies. ;)
Our final stop was the Conference Center. It is always funny for me to see because it feels exactly like the BYU-I Center from college, just bigger.
One of Elsy's amazing poses.
That night we stayed at a hotel there in Salt Lake, thanks to Logan's grandparents. We ordered a little to much Thai Food (my absolute favorite though!) and I think we ended up feeding half the hotel! Haha, a lot of Logan's aunts, uncles, and cousins were all staying there. They stayed up late playing cards downstairs and then Logan went to Hiatt's bachelor party and stayed out a little late. I stayed in our room with the kids eating chocolate covered coconut almonds and trying my hand at "Squid Kids" hehe!
The next day was the wedding!
I think this picture accurately sums up how my kids felt about the wedding. Tommy was just done with life and Elsy was over the moon with wonder a excitement.
Some of Jen's bridesmaids watched our kids while we went to the wedding inside the temple. It was a beautiful ceremony. The room was completely packed and Logan's dad was able to seal Hiatt and Jen.
When we got out of the temple the kids were a little anxious, Tommy was just super tired. None of us had slept well at the hotel. Elsy was scared and Logan let her in our bed. She was sleeping soundly between us which was cozy, or so I thought, until Tommy woke up. He kept fussing off and on for like an hour and I finally got it out of him that he had to "poop". Well it turns out he didn't have to do that, but I hadn't realized his diaper was wet and had leaked all over his pjs and bedding. So after changing him, he also ended up in bed with us. It was quite the squishy affair. We were all very tired the next day!
Okay, so the Salt Lake Temple is beautiful and all, but I think if Elsy ever tells me she wants to get married there I am going to have to say no. Haha! Both times I have been for a wedding it has been like the above picture, absolutely packed! I loved that Logan and my wedding was in a little temple and felt so much more intimate maybe? There were many, many people getting married that hot Saturday. We waited for about an hour to take pictures on the temple steps!
But really, all in all it didn't matter that it was busy! Hiatt and Jen were married and it was still oh so special! Hiatt was just all aglow and we couldn't be happier for him. I am so excited for him and Jen to start a life together. With our anniversary just being the week before theirs, it felt so good to hear and see them go through and make their own covenants and get to think of our own. It was so special.
After pictures I rushed the kiddos over to the Joseph Smith building where the luncheon was being held. (Logan was a groomsmen and needed to stay for pictures) There was a little annex room off to the side where we had set up a little nap area. Tommy was a little of a wreck and Elsy had slipped and fell so her excitement for the wedding had pittered out a little bit. I gave them lunch and settled them down for a rest and life got better for them real quick. I am always amazed at how children's moods can swing so heavily so quickly. They just are that way!
I was so glad that Tommy fell asleep and Logan and I were able to enjoy the luncheon child free. Natalie worked so hard to get that all figured out for us and we really did enjoy it. The food was amazing and I ate myself sick I think. It was fun to hear Jen's family talk about her and hear more of what she was like growing up and it was also really fun to hear some things about Hiatt that I never knew. The windows looked out over the temple and it was so cozy being there with all the family together. It was even nice knowing the kids were just in the next room. I love being surrounded by family.
After the luncheon we had another nap time back at the hotel (for the adults haha!) and then it was off to the reception up at the This Is The Place park.
Elsy and Ella looked so cute in their matching dresses. They were in awe of the bride.
We spent quite a bit of the reception out on the lawn for the kids.
What a beautiful location for the reception! Everything was just so amazing the whole day long!
And can I just say, the ice cream cookies were to die for!
I thought we were all exhausted but then they turned on the music at the very end and had the funnest dance! Logan and Elsy danced until she basically couldn't move any more. Tommy stole a white rose from the fire place and while I don't have any photos, I do have some amazing videos of him jamming out with a rose in his hand and shaking it all around the place.
That night we drove back to Ogden to put an hour of driving behind us before the next day.
Sunday was the day before the solar eclipse. Everywhere on the news and internet it said the roads around the path of totality were going to be swamped with traffic. We woke up extra early to drive and then basically had roads in this condition the whole day. I really don't know what the news reporters were talking about.
Sadly our anniversary gift of pleasant children in the car wore off by lunch time. Both kids were literally half sobbing half screaming as we grabbed lunch at Panda Express and went to eat it on the Boise temple grounds for our Sabbath. I know it wasn't much but it was really all we could do that day. We made a goal when we first got married to do all we could to avoid eating out on Sundays when we travel. But when you drive for 12 hours in the car, you gotta get some real food.
We pulled up, lay our blankets and crying children in the grass and had a prayer. Two bites later, there was calm and serenity. The Spirit was able to enter into all of our hearts and help us feel peace on the temple grounds.
After our bellies were full we walked around and enjoyed the beautiful grounds.
When Logan and I first got married we lived in Nampa, Idaho while I did my student teaching, so our temple was the Boise temple. Sadly, it was being renovated at that time so we had to go to the Twin Falls temple. So this really was my first time there. I love how each temple we go to seems to have its own themes and symbolism as well as style. This temple had a wildflower feel to it that just felt so calming.
We stopped for dinner at my parents house before finishing the last three hours home. Of course, the kids filled up on raspberries and blackberries with Grandpa.
Riley kept telling me her bun was "on point," whatever that means! They had gotten home from their Oregon Coast trip only about an hour before we showed up so we were all a little haggard from traveling. They said they saw a some of the eclipse traffic in Oregon, it was just going the opposite direction. I was so grateful they brought home some crab! Logan was pretty bummed he didn't get to go on the new crabbing boat's maiden voyage this year but we at least didn't miss out on the crabby deliciousness.
We got home around 10pm, after leaving at 7am. What a long day it was! I kept looking out the window and thinking, I can't believe the pioneers and all the work and sacrifice they had to make where I can now drive five minutes what they could barely do in a day! I loved seeing all the sites and places they worked so hard to build. I am so grateful for them. We have an amazing heritage as Latter Day Saints. I hope I can adequately teach my children about them so they can always remember and learn from them.
Update:
Here are a few more pictures from the wedding we received:
