First stop and 8 hours in the car, we stop in Denver and met some of Derek's family for dinner.
Next stop and 3 more hours in the car, we stayed at our timeshare in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Slept for the night, got up and did a little swimming, a little laundry and burnt some toast, enough to set off the fire alarm!
Next stop and 6 more hours in the car and we arrived in SLC. We got some fun mani's and pedi's and started off with some Cafe Rio and Ice Berg. Spent the night at Jibby's and woke up before the sun the next day!
This leg of the trip G-ma and G-pa Hayes, Jibby, Amy, Emma and Elli joined us.
Next stop Windsor, California and 12 more hours in the car with a little stop in Reno for breakfast.
Finally we took out all the luggage and stayed for 3 nights at our timeshare. It is beautiful wine country with vineyards or cows covering the landscape! Beautiful!
We spent the first day in San Francisco where we met Matt's family and Patti's family. We took the ferry in which was a highlight for the kids with all the wind.
Once in SF, we walked for several blocks to get to Pier 39 and had wonderful bread bowls with clam chowder, did a little shopping, saws a beached sea lion, went to Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory for some delicious ice cream delights and rode the Trolley cars.
Day two in California was Clark and Marissa's wedding at a darling bed and breakfast in Bodega Bay, where Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" was filmed. My girls along with some of the other girl cousins were the flower girls and held her dress as she walked down the aisle. It was a beautiful wedding and we look forward to the temple sealing in January. Even the cows came down from the hills to watch the wedding through the fence.
After the wedding we headed down to the beach, although very cold and windy, we enjoyed watching the whales flip and spout from up on the cliffs. Then we went down to the beach to let the kids run from the waves. Two seals came right up close to check them out!
We spent our free time swimming, and hanging out in the game room, eating, talking and letting the kids get re-aquianted!
After our 3 days in California, we headed to South Lake Tahoe where is was cooooold! It had just snowed the day before and lots of snow was still around. It was gorgeous to look at, but I'm glad I don't live there! (snow in June..no thank you!)
We spent 2 nights in Tahoe and swam a lot, went on the tram up the mountain and did shopping and site seeing! We had a beautiful view right off our balcony and lots of beware of the bears signs! Elli got to stay with us an extra night when everyone else went back to SLC...fun for Jaxson to have an older sister/cousin to hang out with!
Then 11 more hours back to SLC for Kensie's graduation! Congratulations Kensie...can't wait to come watch you play volleyball for Casper, Wyoming. Mindy, Nate and Josh also threw a party at DA's house for the little kids. They had a great time with mac-n-cheese, Justin Bieber movie, ice cream and sardines 'til 2 in the morning.
We stayed in Provo for 2 days then 5 hours down to St. George for 4 nights. We feel so blessed that G-ma volunteers so many hours so we can go to Tuacahn every summer. This year was The Little Mermaid and it was amazing! We also went on walks, spent lots of time at the pool and discovered the new Arctic Circle's Moose Tracks shake!! Always a great time in St. George!
Our last stop heading back east was Littleton, Colorado. Derek's entire family was gathered at Nanny's house for a party! The night went so well, we ended up staying another 4 days. We slept at the Gannon's and had many late night chats. We spent time visiting with each other, eating out, swimming, playing at the park and ended with a bang on our last night! Brendan got all the girls a suite at the Rockies game filled with food, dessert and drinks and we ate to our hearts content. Lots of girls talk, laughing and even a little baseball watching! Time for a girls trip! The boys went to see a Lacrosse game at Invesco Field and the little ones stayed back with Nanny playing and having fun!
We had a great time spending 3 fun weeks with our family out west. We drove the last 8 hours home to Wichita a little sad. We really are missing living by family and are hoping for some opportunities that may bring us back closer...you never know....Thanks for everyone's hospitality, we really appreciate it! Love and miss you all!
