Last Hike

Our last day in Cedar City was spent going on a hike to the Hidden Haven. It was a shorter hike (hooray) and ended at a waterfall which the kids loved. Actually, all Austin wanted to do was throw rocks, so he was just grateful we finally stopped and let him for 30 minutes. :D Thanks, Mom and Dad, for hosting us and showing us some really pretty places.

Jordan River Temple Open House

The Jordan River temple has been closed for renovations and is currently hosting an open house! We headed down so the kids could see the temple that Clark grew up with. It's beautiful and it was so nice to spend time with family. We did have to laugh at our "official" family photo, though. Something was lost in translation. :D

Disneyland

Considering all the (terrible, horrible, no-good) adventures we had on our last trip, I'm shocked we have so many nice character pictures! Mostly of the good folks at Winnie the Pooh. Bless them. They made this trip worthwhile to the girls. And Austin was only a little scared of the giant stuffed animals. :D

 

Tuscon Temple Open House

We were lucky enough to go to Arizona to attend the open house for the Tuscon Arizona temple! I was so happy to make it down there because my grandparents used to live in that area and I've always wanted to visit. A new temple gave me the excuse I needed to beg Clark to make a family trip out of it.




A little miracle happened while there--we were directed to one part of the parking lot but, when we got there, were told the lot was full and we'd have to go to the overflow. No big deal, it was just across the street. We pulled in, parked, and left the car. As we were exiting the lot, I recognized one of the volunteers just as he recognized me: it was Adam Clark, who I knew from Alta and who married one of my old roommate Christina! We took a moment to catch up and marvel at the chances of seeing each other and then I joined the rest of my family on the tour.

What a beautiful building! I love its unique architecture and I hope I can go back in the next few years.

Gwen's Funeral

The day before her 88th birthday, Gwen passed away. I got a call a half hour before midnight on Sunday saying she had been taken to the hospital and got a few texts and Facebook messages a couple hours later confirming that that was old news and she'd passed away. Clark had promised me long ago that I'd be able to go to the funeral services no matter when it happened, so we spent a lot of time looking up flights from Salt Lake to any Bay Area airport. Turns out that this week was UEA so everything was sold out or over $900. Eep!

Clark looked into renting a car and it turned out that that was $25/day so we talked it out and decided to both travel to Petaluma by driving rather than flying. Annie and Kelly were amazing and took the girls last minute while we packed everything up. I love Clark for taking time off work and then driving like crazy to get to the services so I could spend time with my family and honor Gwen.

 

 

 Turns out Gwen was the first female high school band director in the state of California. What an amazing accolade for my awesome aunt!

All five of Jerry's children were able to make it!

Mara has the full shot, but this was setting up for our group picture

 

I love this picture of Mom with Aunt Harriet!

Brady's Homecoming!

The reason we traveled to Utah was to welcome home our very special missionary, Uncle Brady! After a bit of a delay in Minneapolis, he and six other missionaries finally arrived in Salt Lake City to their families. It was quite the crowd but it was a room full of joy! Welcome back from the Toronto Canada, Mandarin speaking mission!

  

 

Water Time with Grandma

Have I mentioned a thousand times that the girls love playing in bodies of water? They live to be in their swimsuits. They were so excited when Grandma offered to take them to the pool/man-made lake in town.

 

Wildflower Festival at the Great Basin National Monument

Dad let us know there was a short hike within a half hour of their home that the girls might enjoy because there were lots of flowers. We packed a lunch, grabbed some hats, tennis shoes, and sunscreen and headed out. It was beautiful! I'm so glad we could take the girls! They loved climbing on rocks and tree trunks and looking at all the flowers.