Family Road Trip

At the beginning of this month, we drove up to Idaho Falls to attend my aunt Tamara's wedding reception. We left Centennial early Thursday morning on May 21st, drove up through Wyoming, and made it to Idaho Falls in time for dinner. We got to spend that night with my family catching up and showing off Evie's new-found walking and talking skills. She'd actually been pretty great during the 9-hour car ride, only whining a couple of times because she was bored and wanted to make sure we hadn't forgotten about her.
Friday, June 1st, was my aunt's bridal shower, so us girls (Mom, my sister Hailey, and I) headed down to Shelley, where my aunt Cheryl was hosting the shower. Mom had a blast because her youngest sister had just gotten married, and her next youngest sister Jennifer had just moved back to Idaho, so she had all 3 of her sisters and her mom around her, plus both of her daughters and her granddaughter. I had a fun time catching up with my aunts and cousins. That evening, we came home and had a "piggy party" in which we all painted our toenails while watching a movie. Todd was at the ward father/son camp-out with my brother Scott taking advantage of the free food.
Saturday was the day of the actual reception. The reception wasn't until that evening, though, so I spent some of the day at a couple of craft/scrapbook stores looking for some more of the special paper I have for Evie's baby book that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. I was able to find some of what I was looking for, but not all (Mom found the missing paper at the bigger store in Rexburg when she was up there a week or so ago). Once home, we got the munchkin dressed and ready for the reception and then got ready ourselves; I finished my makeup on the way down to Firth. The church looked really nice, and the reception turned out well, I think. It was nice seeing people that I hadn't seen since my own wedding reception, and reintroducing my handsome husband and my adorable baby(s). It's amazing how much my life has changed in the last 3 years, and I got several comments to that effect.
Sunday, we had church and then we hurried home to change while my mom and siblings went to the airport to pick up Dad. Then we all drove back down to Firth for a family barbecue. It was really fun. We ate manti chicken, a family tradition, along with various salads and sides. I was especially excited because I'd been craving manti chicken for about a month before that. We all sat outside while we ate, talked, played, and laughed. Then we took family pictures at twilight, and headed home after dark. It was great spending time with the family, and I was especially glad that we were able to see Dad and let him play with Evie. We'd originally planned on heading down to Utah early Sunday morning, and we would've missed seeing him altogether, so I'm glad we changed our plans.
Early Monday morning, we drove down to Salt Lake City to spend a few hours with Matt and Linds, along with their girls, before making the long car trip back to Colorado (I mentioned getting together with them in this post). We met at the Gateway, a mall in downtown SLC, in time for brunch. Then we wandered around a couple of different stores, including the Build-a-Bear Workshop where Evie "made" bears for both of the Hope girls. We tried to watch the water show, but too many people were standing in the water for us to see much of the choreography. Finally, we wandered back towards the Clark Planetarium, where the girls had the most fun of the day, I think. I know I mentioned that Evie loves balls, and this was heaven for her; every other phrase out of her mouth was an excited "Ooh! Bah!" while she pointed all around her. According to Matt, Lily is obsessed with balls too, and the two of them had a blast. We showed them a projection of the lunar phases, and they got to touch clouds. There was a giant pendulum that followed the curve of the earth and would periodically knock over a chime. We got to see it happen a couple of times, but I think the adults were more interested in that than the little girls were.
(This is the only part of the weekend that I remembered to take pictures of. Oops.)
Evie loved playing with the lightning ball, and then Matt sat Lily up on top for her turn. 

Right next to the lightning ball, there was a funnel for change, which I used to love as a kid. We tried to show the kids how centripetal force works, but Evie seemed to be the only one interested in watching the coins. Oh well, maybe when they're older.

That's Todd holding Evie, Matt holding Lily, Linds holding Emma, and me holding the camera.
After the funnel, we found the lunar landscape! Since Evie loves the moon so much, we thought it'd be great to let her "walk" on the moon! My camera settings were all wonky, so I didn't get very good shots of the girls, especially Lily, but here's what I ended up with:

They had a Mars landscape too, but who cares about Mars when you're a 14-month old walking on the moon?
The planetarium has an elaborate interactive machine set up that moves balls around so they affect one another. Evie enjoyed helping Daddy push the buttons to trap the balls before setting them all loose again.

The last balls of the day were the replicas of the planets. I think Evie would have been more excited if it wasn't her naptime and she hadn't been worn out by her excitement of all the other balls.

By the time we were done determining our weight on other planets, the girls were all worn out, and it was time for us to go so we could make it home before midnight.
Todd got his chance to hold Emma, and then we gave hugs all around. The girls were too tired to be very social, but Evie did give Emma a kiss when prompted, so I'm hopeful that she'll be affectionate towards her little sister too.

We drove from Utah through Wyoming to Colorado, with a tense patch just before Cheyenne where we weren't sure we had enough gas to make it. We pulled into Cheyenne running on fumes and gassed back up for the final leg of the trip. We made it home just after midnight, and piled gratefully into bed. Overall, long car trips aside, this visit was really fun and, though short, enjoyable. We loved getting to renew relationships with our family and friends!