Utah Part 2

Our 2nd trip to Utah might take a little longer to document.  (We're talking 50+ pictures here.  Not for the faint of heart.)  But in my defense, our trip was almost a month long, so really... 50 pictures isn't bad.  First, I should mention that Mike's internship has been wonderful this summer.  His boss works remotely and is a total proponent of working at home, so Mike was able to accompany us to Utah for a month.  Ellie and I had a really great vacation, while poor Mike worked a lot.

Our trip was a little longer than we intended, because we went up early for Mike's family reunion.  His Mom's side gets together every year, and this year it was up American Fork canyon.

Keeping cool in the river by our campsite

Cascade Springs

The most delicious dessert ever

Crafting with Grandma & Kings

 We went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point with Tiffany, Kingsley, and Kole.  Ellie got to ride a pony.  (Side note: She just saw this picture and said, "I said giddy up!" And she did, while she was riding the pony.)

Their favorite part of the farm.

 We also met an old co-worker and friend for lunch with her two adorable kids.  Her little one was having a birthday party.  We weren't able to make it, but luckily we were able to get together for lunch instead.  It was fun catching up with Emily, and Ellie sure enjoyed running around with Emily's kiddos.

Ellie took this picture.  It's actually a really good picture, except my eyes are closed.  

 There was a lot of water activities worked into our trip.  This was a splash pad in Alpine.

Dave got us tickets to the Orem Owlz baseball game, which was a lot of fun!

There was also a lot of THIS to help keep us cool!

 Elder Nick Trowbridge gave his Farewell address.  He is headed to the San Antonio, Texas mission. We also got to go through the temple with him while we were up.  Now he's in the Mexico City MTC learning Spanish, and it's fun to get his emails.

Don't mess with Texas

These TX themed desserts were made by the talented Tiffany.

See you in 2 years!

 Notice the empty house.  Mike's poor parents had quite the summer, sending their youngest off on a mission, and packing up their house and moving to Virginia.  This is the day before they had to move out of their house, and also the day of Nick's farewell & the ensuing festivities that followed.

Family Picture, sans Zeke's family

 I also was able to get together with a lot of good friends while up in UT.  This was a pool party in my parent's back yard.

Enjoying Otter Pops to stave off the heat.

Grandma & Grandpa Sparkles, as nicknamed by Ellie.

 We were with my family for the 4th of July.  We had a wonderful dinner and watched as all the neighbors set off not-illegal-anymore fireworks.  I love fireworks, and I think Ellie shares that love.

The "See-who-can-stick-their-hand-in-the-ice cream-maker-the-longest" annual Higbee competition.  Ellie looks concerned.

Ellie LOVED sparklers.

 The next day we headed up to our family cabin in Bear Lake.

My favorite view in the entire world (from our front windows, overlooking Bear Lake)

Tea Party in the Playhouse 

Ellie, as a Care Bear

Cute Clara, enjoying the beach

 I've never seen the beach so crowded before!  We went to Ideal Beach, and the parking lot was completely full and they were only admitting more people as others left.  Crazy!  But we were able to find a nice little spot on the beach.  The lake was actually tolerable.  Ellie enjoyed it so much, she kept me in the lake as long as she could.

Uncle Punk came up!

We also went to a Lewis & Clark museum in Idaho.  The museum itself was pretty small, but they had an awesome play ground next door which the girls took full advantage of.

Grizzly Ellie

Oh, that smile!  

One of the 5 FULL Double Rainbows I saw on this trip.  

 My Mom took us to Jungle Jims and Ellie had the time of her life!  It's a very reasonable price for kids, and parents can even ride with the kids for free.

Ellie's favorite ride

Bumper cars: Ellie looked terrified the entire time, but wanted to ride it again after she got off.

Another reason our trip was so long, was because we stuck around to see Zeke and his family.  They drove from California to visit for a week and then they headed off to Japan for the next three years.  I'm glad we got to see them before they left!  Ellie LOVES her cousins, especially Miles!

Since they're moving to Japan, my Mom invited them over for a Japanese dinner.  The food was amazing, and we talked about Japan all evening.  It was wonderful!

My all time favorite Asian dessert, that I haven't eaten since I was in Korea.  Oh man!  It was seriously delicious!

Another beautiful picture of Kakigori / Pat Bing Su

I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get this picture right side up.  Stupid Blogger.  I had like 4 more of them, but maybe I'll post them when I can figure out what's going on.  (Also, I never got a picture of Hazel.  Sorry Hazel, we still love you!)

We also got to stay for Caroline's baptism, which was awesome! 

Kingsley helping Ellie get a drink from the fountain.

Ellie returning the favor.

 We had such a great trip. It was so fun spending a lot of time with family and friends.  I have to admit, I was kind of dreading saying goodbye to Utah and going back to Phoenix.  Hot and yucky Phoenix, as Ellie likes to call it.  But on the drive home, it rained for awhile and we saw the most beautiful double rainbow stretched out over the desert landscape.  It was like a little gift from Heavenly Father.  It was so beautiful, and it made me realize that Arizona isn't all that bad.  The desert is growing on me.

These pictures don't even begin to do it justice.

This is my favorite part of the drive, and we rarely do it during the day.  It was extra beautiful with the double rainbow!