First half of Vacation!

We just returned home from a whirlwind vacation in Utah and Bear Lake...believe me it is tough to come back to reality and the Phoenix heat. I drove up to Provo/SLC area almost two weeks ago with the girls for some exciting adventures and then towards the end of the first week, Mark flew in to join us before we headed to Bear Lake for a week at his family cabin! I decided to do two posts of all our fun since there were so many pictures I needed to explain.

When I arrived in Provo, I stayed with one of my best friends and old roommates from college, Nancy! It was so much fun to hang out with her...and drag her all over Provo for the typical tourist sites that visitors always want to see. One of our favorite places was Bridal Veil Falls. Sydney LOVED it up there and insisted we go back the day Mark came down to Provo with us. (So we went twice!) It was so nice and cool up at the falls, and of course the water was freezing...something we are not used to. Some people put ice in their pools (in Phoenix) as the summer progresses just to cool the water down a bit!
See, it was so cold, I had to wrap Sophie up in her "kiki" because she was freezing! But we enjoyed every second of the cool breeze and weather up in the canyon.

While we were in Provo, we went to BYU campus a few times (once with Nancy and once with Mark) to walk around and see all the changes. I loved the new alumni building and enjoyed the familiar "chirping" of the cross-walk alert! It wouldn't be a visit to BYU without stopping at the Creamery. We managed to go no less than 3 times (and I got a scoop of Earnestly Chocolate ice-cream, every single visit). Sydney has decided she would love to go to BYU someday...just so she can eat at the Creamery. Hey whatever works! Here's a picture of our future Cougars! They have lots of blue blood...Mark and I obviously both graduated from there and both my parents graduated from the Y, as well as Mark's Dad! (Mark's mom went to that red school...but we don't like to mention that too much!)
So I did mention that while I was in Provo, I stayed with Nancy! We just talked, and talked, and talked some more. (Can't blame us...we haven't seen each other for at least a year...and then it was only for a few hours.) It was super fun to crash at her house and also see her tummy...which is full of two babies! Congratulations Nancy! Then Nancy and I went to visit another good friend, Catherine and her cute little girl Ellie. I know this isn't the greatest picture of us, but I thought is was pretty good, considering all the kids seriously needed naps and didn't care who their moms' friends were!

After Provo, I headed up to another best friend and roommates house in West Jordan, Robyn! She has two adorable kids and it was so fun to finally meet them, even though I felt like I knew them so well from all her blogs! We also had a mini-reuion of sorts with another friend from freshmen year, Gretchen, and of course Nancy came! So here is the four of us. It was so fun for all our kids to play together. Sydney was instantly friends with Gretchen's little girl Ava, and then after Ava had to go home, Sydney played with Parker (Robyn's little boy) for the entire stay. We even went to church with Robyn and Joe...and Sydney and Parker sat by each other the entire time. I can't believe how much we have all matured, well sort of! We had lots of fun laughing about some of the silly freshmen memories we have and of course playing the "what happened to so and so" game. I only wish I could live closer to all my old friends! They are so much fun to hang out with! And are kids play great together!
After church on Sunday, before we headed up north to the cabin, we stopped at Temple Square to show the girls around. The visitors center was pretty cool and they have added a lot of new displays downstairs in one of the main visitor centers.


We had a wonderful week in Utah, before heading up to the cabin. There was so much to do and so many people to see...with so little time. I only wished we could have stayed a few days longer! Stay tuned for the rest of our adventures. A huge thank you to Nancy and Robyn for letting us stay at their homes. I guess you guys will have to come to Phoenix sometime...just not in the summer!