Hunter Family: July 2012

This year’s big family vacation meant 3 weeks away from home. 3 weeks, 3 kids 3 and under. Word. It was a LONG trip…but we had an AWESOME time.

We headed out for Idaho on a Wednesday (and arrived in Idaho on Saturday…whew!). The kids actually did really good the first day, they were grateful for lots of stops (Globe, Show Low, and Gallup). We were really grateful for the Cracker Barrel in Gallup…especially since the rest of the drive took forever and we got lost!

At the end of Day 1 of our trip, we were in Bloomfield, NM. My Uncle Mike & Aunt Roanna live there and since we don’t see them often, we thought New Mexico would be a fun way to get to Idaho, instead of our usual route straight through Utah. We just spent one night there, but it was so fun to see family and visit with them!

Day 2 of our trip was So. Long. We went from Bloomfield up through Colorado and over to Utah.

We thought we’d go see the Arches in Moab, but the kids were whiny and who knew the first arch in the park was still another 30 minute drive? So we skipped that and just kept driving. That’s what the first two days of our trip seemed…we just kept driving.

Day 2 of our trip got us to Salt Lake City, where we stayed for two nights. Do you know what driving for two days straight will do to little girls?

We spent Friday bumming around Temple Square and downtown SLC. Sometimes I miss all the fun things Utah had to offer…there’s always something going on! The girls loved climbing the steps of the temple. Annie knocked on the door and said, “Jesus, let me in. It’s me, Annie.” Bless her little heart.

After a fun morning at Temple Square, we headed to City Creek Center downtown. There we discovered something amazing. Fountains that are at ground level for you to play in. I’m sure they have these in a ton of other places, but I’ve never seen them and neither has Annie. She was amazed and had so much fun running through them, especially since there were lots of other little kids playing with her. I even ran through a couple times!

After playing in the fountains, we did some shopping, ate some delicious pizza from Sbarro and had some yummy treats from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Then we went back to the hotel for some swimming!

Apparently swimming is exhausting. Like driving.:)

Before we headed out to Idaho on Saturday morning, we met up with one of my very most favorite people ever, Tristen, for breakfast at Bee’s Café in Roy. Love this girl.

We told Les & Karryn we would be arriving in Idaho Sunday…but really, we meant Saturday.:) We meant surprise! Les & Karryn celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year, which is a pretty big deal, so we wanted to make a big deal out of it! Eric & Leah set up a dinner at Tomato’s and we were able to be there for the surprise. And they were definitely surprised! It was so much fun to get to see their faces and celebrate with them.

Grandma with Jack…

his first time to get snuggles from Grandma!

We spent the next two weeks playing in Idaho, doing lots of fun things!

Miracle Hot Springs

Tormenting the cat

Music in the park

Idaho Joe’s

Baking with Grandma

The last part of our time in Idaho was spent in Rexburg, Idaho Falls and Pocatello for the Neibaur Family Reunion (Karryn’s side of the family). We started off on Thursday in Rexburg visiting Aunt Rose at the nursing home she lives in.

Uncle Clyde, Karryn, Aunt Rose & Aunt Iris

Thursday night we drove to Idaho Falls where Kris and I were able to go to the temple and do sealings. It was a beautiful temple, I was so grateful that Karryn and Julianne stayed with the kids so we could go.

Friday and Saturday were the Neibaur Family Reunion in Bancroft (30 miles from Pocatello). Friday night we all met at Uncle Clyde’s home where we ate some yummies and visited. I hadn’t met most of Kris’s family, so it was a fun time to get to know everybody. I had a really great time getting to know Aunt Iris, who came from Oregon and some of her family. Saturday we spent most of the day at the church in Bancroft where we had lunch and a talent show. It was so much fun getting to see everybody…can’t wait till it happens again!

Aunt Iris, Les, Karryn, Aunt Norma, Uncle Clyde, Uncle Neal

For the last part of our trip, we spent a couple days in Las Vegas. Luckily (by some small miracle!), Les, Karryn and David were able to join us for the fun! We stayed at our timeshare resort and got a Penthouse. It was huge and had so much room for the kids to play. We spent Tuesday down on the Strip at the Venetian. The girls and I rode on a gondola and were serenaded!

We also spent some time at the Bellagio and the Mirage…

The awesome thing about having Grandpa in Vegas with us? He could get all the kiddos to sleep.:)

Other things we did in Vegas…ate at the Circus Circus buffet and SWIMMING!!

We had a super fun trip…it was rough to come home, especially since Kris had to go back to work the day after we got home. We love our family so much, we really enjoyed getting to see everybody and playing and visiting! We’re so blessed.

I don’t know how I let May and June and blogging and all my life get totally far behind. But I did in a serious serious way. Once again, I am playing catch up. I hope I remember everything!
On Mother’s Day after church, we went up to the cemetery where my Mom is buried. We talked with the girls (mostly Annie) about how Grandma lives in Heaven. She was very sweet about it. She even remembered the next day and talked about wanting to go visit Grandma and throw rocks (cause that’s what 3 year olds do).

Also in May while my Dad and I were out yard sale-ing, he got a great deal on a slide for the girls. Talk about heaven. They have been loving this thing all summer! Emily hasn’t quite figured out how to brace herself at the bottom of the slide, so she just falls on her back. Then she laughs and laughs like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever done. Since we don’t have grass, they get pretty dirty. I’m pretty sure kids were meant to be dirty, though.

Have I mentioned what an awesome big sister Annie is? She loves to help Emily!

Kris turned 27 this month. We didn’t do much, but I do have to say, I made a pretty awesome dinner for us. At Kris’s request, I made Chicken Bakes a la Costco. Total copycat recipe, and mine were way more delicious than the ones from Costco. In my opinion. I also made a Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake. Also…delicious.