salt lake city

annie and i left for salt lake city on saturday morning.  ryan flew in there, so we met him at the train station.  boy were we happy to see our dad after more than a week and a half!  we had just a couple hours to kill before annie needed to catch the train in to the airport to fly home, so we went to the church family history museum and church history museum.

the kids each took a turn standing behind the conference pulpit.

the kids area is always a hit and was totally different than the last time we were there.  bonnie and ryan checked out all the climbing toys.

while the rest of us tried origami, 

tangrams, 

temple building with blocks, 

and digital painting.

we walked past temple square for an early lunch at the lion house pantry - my favorite salt lake restaurant.

we rode the bus back to the car to get annie's stuff and said goodbye at the station.  bonnie talked for the next few days about how we needed to pick annie up at the airport.  

we went from there to a fun hotel with an indoor water park.  i got a little break from the kids to run to find food at a grocery store nearby while ryan helped everyone get a little rest at the hotel before the water park opened.  the kids had a great time playing, but the water was freezing!  bonnie didn't last long before her teeth were chattering, but a warm bath fixed that.

sunday we drove back up to temple square for the morning.  we walked around the visitor's centers

and saw the tabernacle

we loved seeing the temple closer up, but the grounds were closed.

we even got to tour the huge conference center.  our tour guide was so great with the kids and agreed to let ryan and i follow behind the tour.

my cousin, kasen, gave his mission farewell talk in their ward, so we drove up to syracuse for that.  we got to see dean and angie's whole family, greg and shirley, marianne's family, william's family and great grandma after church at dean's house.  it was a perfect way to catch a bunch more of the garrett clan all together.  it was so fun to finally meet abbie and demi's cute kids after seeing them for years on instagram.  i think locke and isaac would be buddies if they had a chance to hang out.

from syracuse, we went down to eagle mountain to stay with tish and her family.  she was nice enough to host a dinner that nisha and her family came down for.  i love these girls and love how we can jump right back in like we haven't been apart for a single day.

monday morning, we got up super bright and early to go to timpanogos cave.  we hiked something like 85 flights of stairs (according to my fitbit) on the mile up to the cave.  we were pretty strict about staying close to the wall since there are some pretty hefty dropoffs.

the kids did awesome with the hike!  bonnie and jocilyn got to ride in backpacks until the last chunk before the cave and then they walked as well as the older kids.

i was quite surprised at how much cody knew about caves as the park ranger took us on the tour.  that kid learns so much from reading!  it was such a fun and interesting tour.  partway through i was helping bonnie along when she leaned in and whispered to me, 'your belly's full.'  haha, that's all huh?  maybe a just had too much for breakfast!

we caught a group picture before heading back down the mountain.  such a fun bunch!

we parted ways with the bishop family after the cave and went to marianne's house for the night.  it was a beautiful day, so we went to another fun splash park that afternoon with her and her girls.

i wish we had places like this at home!

aunt shirley had told me that cora only liked her mom and wouldn't go to anyone else, but i got her to sit with me for a long time!

yet again, it was so fun to watch the kids interact and have so much fun together!!  this karaoke machine has come out with every visit since cody and capri were teeny kids.

we just barely caught landon who is working so hard at a new job and just got called to be bishop of their ward!  we ended up going to bed a little early after our long morning of hiking and left after breakfast to go back up to logan.