Utah Trip in Review - the longest trip EVER!!

Our trip to Utah was tons of fun and we took so many pictures--we may have to do installments or this could be the longest post ever! So here we go.

We planned this trip because Jim's brother Tim and wife Ashley are the new proud parents of baby Ian. In this case however, "proud" also translates to "sleep deprived". Ian is a beautiful healthy baby boy, and he is so cute! We all really enjoyed holding and rocking him during our stay with Tim and Ashley. We look forward to watching Ian grow - he seems to get cuter every day! Congratulations Tim and Ashley!

Ian looking thoughtful

"Hmmm - this example of the canine species appears to exhibit hues and patterns that do not appear commonly appear in the natural world!! Closer study will be necessary!!"

Ian whistling a tune for his father's amusement

Amy with TWO sleeping babies - but thankfully only one is in diapers

(I don't know HOW they got Ian potty trained so fast, but they did!)

Grandma feeds Ian a bottle and plots about the easiest way to

sneak the baby home in her suitcase!

Jim's Mom and Dad drove cross country to visit their new Grandson - now I hear you asking, "That's a long way? Why didn't they just fly?" Well, the reason is because they are really nice parents. We recently bought a car from Jim's grandma, and Jim's parents were kind enough to drive it all the way from New York to Utah for us!! It's not actually a brand new car, but for all the world it looks like one!! We are so thankful to Grandma Muz for selling it to us and we've really enjoyed it!!

Jumping for joy!!

We went shooting twice on our trip - Jim was embarrassed because he hasn't shot at clay pigeons in a while and he missed a lot of good ones. Jim's brother Tim fared much better. We took a picture of the back of his head (lower right corner) because, despite his prowess with a shotgun, he didn't get the looks in the family!! Just kidding!! The truth is that we got the back of his head because standing in frond of someone who is shooting is a bad idea. And often results in a Darwin Award for the photographer.

Amy forgot to wear a hat, so we made her one out of the used shotgun shell boxes!

While we were in Logan, Mom, Dad, Jim, and Amy took a nice hike up in Logan canyon. The trail was supposedly only 1.3 miles long, although we all severely doubted that measurement by the end. What they don't tell you is that there is a fair portion of the trial (not, that's NOT a typo) that seems to go straight up. However, the view was absolutely beautiful and the wind caves (which were actually made by water) were very cool. It's definitely worth the uphill slog!!

The next stop on our weird, wild vacation was a trip down to Nephi, UT where we met up with Amy's side of the family. It was really great because all of Amy's immediate family managed to be there, as well as a few aunts and uncles, and Amy's Grandma. It was great to see everybody, and we had so much fun!! It's always amazing to see how fast the grandkids (ok, nieces and nephews to us) grow up, and this trip was no exception. We also got to see Baby Bailey for the first time - she was only 2 months old, and very cute!!

Amy's dad (Bruce) shows off the guitar that he built from scratch!! It was really amazing to see the finished product - he built all the forms and molds by himself!!

Dirk and Jim worked on a much simpler project - a toy sailboat. Blake had fun playing with his sailboat in the backyard by the little waterfall display.

During the visit, a bunch of us went hiking in Salt Creek canyon !! Dirk and Paige both helped clear the weeds from the trail - Dirk with his "whackin' stick" and Paige by collecting armloads of wildflowers. Does anyone now doubt the inherent internal programming differences between boys and girls?

Amber and Baby Bailey; Blake blowing a dandelion; Paige and Kayle; Blake in a 'logger's chair'


So that was the majority of our trip - we also have a few more pictures to show from the journey home, but those will have to wait for another time!! Phew!! If you made it this far, give yourself a pat on the back. And an ice-cold beverage! You've earned it!