Hello family and friends,
We have to document some of the highlights of our trip and are happy to share with you. The two weeks consisted of reunions with 3 families, Em's immediate family, Em's extended family, and my family. For those of you we saw, thanks for making it lots of fun. If we missed you this time, hopefully we can visit you next year. Let us know! :)
Since having little E, we have been less able to do the long 10-12 hour drives we used to do on vacations, so we started by going to Bluff, Utah first. We stayed at the Frederick Adams pioneer house there. It is an 1890's stone home built by pioneers trying to carve a town out of the harsh desert south-east of the Colorado River. If you are familiar with the Hole-in-the-Rock pioneers, these were those pioneers. It was very cool to be in the old, though refurbished home and read the history of the area.
We also were right down the street from the Bluff Fort church site, which we visited. they had one authentic and ~15 replica cabins from the original fort, as well as the church, Relief Society building, and other historical buildings complete with furnishings. We weren't expecting much, but it was all very impressive.
While in Bluff, we also attended church in the small branch there. Other than our families and the missionaries, there were probably 10 members. It had been several months since they had conducted Primary, so they were delighted to have us. In small branches, everyone helps out. :)
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| Bluff Fort |
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| Wow, inside a Ute teepee |
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| Realistic reenactment for sure |
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| A beautiful town for a picture! |
After the rest in Bluff, we continued on to Moab, where we met with Em's siblings and parents. Unfortunately, we took the Arizona temperatures with us. When C went with his uncles on the Sovereign mountain biking trail, it was 104 degrees. We enjoyed several hikes in Arches National Park, including Double Arch, Delicate Arch, Landscape Arch, and everyone's favorite, Sand Dune Arch.
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| Landscape Arch |
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| A perfect kid cave |
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| Navajo Arch |
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| We played in the shade under the walls and arches |
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| Enjoying the sand under the arch |
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| Little E found a fitting niche :) |
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| Everyone chilling under the Double Arches |
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| Mashup of the musical park with A playing drums |
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| Helping a Chinese lady and child stuck on a ledge with flip flops under Double Arch |
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| The boys in front of the cliffs |
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| The girls enjoying the beauty |
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| Em and A with Delicate Arch in background |
The next stop was in idyllic Upalco, Utah, in the Uintah basin, where the extended family gathered at the Burton farm. There were lots of fun crafts, a zipline, 4 wheelers, and lots of cousins. We had a great time camping on the farm.
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| D loves farming! |
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| Homemade sling shots |
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| Look, the line for the zipline's pretty short! |
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| N on the zipline |
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| Wearing reunion shirts |
From Upalco, we next headed to Brigham City where we met up with my family. We played lots of games with cousins, attended the Brigham City Temple, took a drive to Utah State University in Logan, visited Lagoon, and saw the Brigham City 4th of July fireworks. It was an exhausting and rewarding trip.
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| First time at the Brigham City Temple |
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| Riding the boats at Lagoon |
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| The train is a favorite for everyone |
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| N, C, and A exploring Box Elder Canyon |
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| The boys peering out of the port-hole windows at Scott and Heather's house. |
