Vacation - Day 10 - Montrose

After attending Montrose 1st Ward we headed into the wilderness to see some sights. Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a spectacular National Park. There is sadly no way to truly capture all of it in pictures - the depth of the canyon is staggering. To put it in perspective the Empire State Building would fit almost twice in most of the canyon; and it runs for something like 27 miles!

We tried something new this time. We went to the bottom to see the Gunnison River. The drive down was most harrowing. The grade was 16 degrees or more for several miles of road down. Even after shifting to low our brakes were literally smoking when we arrived at the floor. We gave them a nice long break (a brake break?).

We saw several deer at the bottom (notice both of the ones in Amber's picture). The river was very cold, but reportedly has excellent trout fishing.

4 generation cookout

Vacation - Day 8 - Finally iPhone Release Day!

Tiffanie and I took some 'couple time' today to try to brave the crowds at the AT&T store. Not much luck there. Apple apparently limited the number that could be sold at each store. Plenty at the Apple store, but they couldn't fix the family plan the way we wanted. Rats.

Plan B - We went to eat at The Garden Restaurant on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Not a great sandwich but a fabulous view. We then discovered that there are places to visit inside the church office building. We wandered through the church history library, the patriarchal blessing request database, and the 27th floor observation deck. We finished the day with an easy farewell swim and BBQ with Matt's family.

Vacation - Day 7 - The Busiest Day of All!

We started the day with a visit to Heritage Park at the This is the Place Monument. They have opened up a state park/attraction that reminded us of Nauvoo, except for the free part. From there it was into SLC for the Church History Museum, and up to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building observatory. Souper Salad made the perfect dinner, and the tabernacle choir rehearsal as a cap on the evening.

Vacation - Day 6 - Even More Provo!

Having missed a few key elements in our previous visit, we had to return for a bit more fun. BYU campus, Provo Temple, and the Malt Shop. We also stumbled into a really great little mall with Missionary Mall shops, Deseret Book, Distribution, Knee Shorts, and Emergency Preparedness stores. We could sure use some of these in Springfield! On the way back we stopped at Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove. An fun cross of science and playground.

Vacation - Day 5 - More Downtown SLC

While the family visited some more of the church buildings James had a go at the family history library. I've been stuck for years on finding grandparents for Nani and hit the jackpot! Introducing Charles and Justina Hart, my great great grandparents.

Vacation - Day 4 - Provo & Tiffanie's Birthday

We started the day at Olympic Park in Park City. They have some wild training going on there for the olympic freestyle ski jumping. We they took the 'back way' to Provo, through Provo Canyon. Bridal Veil Falls was neat to finally see. Climbing the Y may not be every girl's dream for a birthday (or is that any?), but we had a spectacular view when we all made it.

Vacation - Day 3 - Temple Square & Uncle Matt

On Sunday we visited Temple Square and enjoyed the sights there before heading to church with Uncle Matt & Aunt Marta. They had us over for dinner - and man, can they cook! After winding up the boys the best we could, they went to bed and we played a little Rack-O. Uncle Matt's iphone was probably the biggest hit of the evening.

Vacation - Days 1 & 2

1200 miles of driving don't generate all that much to look at, but we saw some new things for us. The kids were amazed to see what mountains really look like. We had forgotten how bleak Wyoming actually looks. No trees for MILES. Very strange to our eyes.

Into the Depths...

We had a fun trip to Silver Dollar City this weekend! We finally made it down into Marvel Cave below the park (where all the tourism business began for SDC). 500 feet down through a cavern large enough to hold a 20 story building, called 'the cathedral.' They actually inflated 3 hot air balloons inside this space years ago and still had lots of space. Then an hour wandering through passageways and caverns. Not all of the kids were overjoyed at this trek, but it was amazing to see. You might be able to tell by some of the faces in the pictures which kids were feeling a little 'batty' by the end of the adventure.
It all came out okay in the end though, since Hannah got to meet Curious George in the park (and Daddy got to eat some great barbeque!).

Green Acres is the Place to Be!

The Springfield Park Board just opened this great new park called the Rutledge-Wilson Community Farm. It is actually on old farm they bought and renovated for kids to come experience the farm life. A great concept complete with cows, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, ponies, cats and the works. They even have a fish pond where you can rent a cane pole and try your luck with fishing. They playground is farm themed - and very entertaining.

Blueberry Pickin' Time

While Nathan and Amber were away at summer school classes we slipped off to Ava for some free blueberry picking. Well, not exactly free, but you got to keep half of however much you picked, and we made off with 2 gallons of berries. We took along our niece Molly and nephew Kyle (Meg's kids) and they had loads of fun, or is that 'mouthfulls of fun'? Kyle had the hang of the eating part right away - even without the picking part.