Utah or Bust!

At one point, it looked like we might not make it, but Saturday, March 20th, we were on the road for a spring break trip to good old Utah!

We always break the 12 our drive in half. Most of the time we stay at the Hampton Inn in Nampa, ID. It is so much more relaxing taking a break and we have fun eating out and watching TV in bed at the end of the day! This time, we found a ColdStone (after much trouble) to treat ourselves.
The girls are great travelers! We did have a few questions like "Are we out of Oregon yet?" and "How much longer?" before we were even out of the greater-Portland area! But the girls acclimated quickly to road trip mode and were VERY well behaved. We really enjoy our road trips together! (O: Good times. Nintendo DS and DVD players are a wonderful things!

Sarah and Nat found it extra fun to play their DS's under their blankets!

Sunday afternoon, we made it!

We got checked into our hotel - which was really nice. The Hyatt Summerfield Suites. We loved our suite and got all situated before heading over to my mom's for a PAR-TAY!

My wonderful mom had an open house for us and invited all the extended family to come visit! We felt so loved! Thanks so much mom and thanks everyone who came! It was such a fun reunion with some of our most favorite people in the whole world!

Natalie was excited to hand out all her cute cards she worked hard on during the trip!

Me and Peggy! My adopted aunt. She's been part of the family on my dad's side since before I was born, I think. I believe it started when she stayed with my grandparents while going to college.

Little sis - am I that much taller than you, Chris??

Sarah with my grandparents! Grandma T. - the artist! (o: We have one of grandma's paintings in our living room and the girls each have one from grandma. They LOVE her paintings and I think inherited some of her artistic talent!

Seth and Andy!

The girls! These are my cousins on my dad's side - Kelly, Hailey and Leslie. I haven't seen them forever!! It was so fun to catch up and see their little kids! We laughed about how old we are getting! We used to play and be silly - and we still like to be silly.

Mike and Anne were so sweet to come down from Ogden! We love to see them and miss their visits to Oregon when Jeff and Kelli lived in the NW.

Lara - busy mom of three kiddos less than two years apart! How did she do it? Two at a time! She's so efficient! And fun too! (o:

My cousin Charlie, whom I was especially excited to see. He just got home from his mission to Rochester, NY two (or three?) weeks earlier. I used to babysit Charlie since he was a baby!

And his older brother Brad too! What the heck? My "baby cousins" are getting all grown up!

Silly girls - Hailey and Chris - oh wait, there's more...

I told you I come from a family of dedicated Ute fans! (o: Hailey's car was so cute, I had to get a picture . . .

Or two!

We love Hailey!

Aunt Chrissy is well worth the 12 hour drive to see. (o:

Uncle Andy is a party all by himself!

Ahhhh - time to relax after a BIG day!