Trying A Little Harder, Being A Little Better: Utah Vacation

Friday Pictures

Friday we drove from Omaha, Nebraska to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a long 13 hour drive, but the girls did really well. We left at about 9:30 am CST and got there at about 9:30pm MST. We watched plenty of Little Einsteins, Curious George, and Mickey Mouse. I am very greatful for that portable DVD player!

A storm we passed in Wyoming. Blue skies to black.

Chelsea chilling in her car seat.

Natalie in her car seat.

Josh driving, somewhere in Wyoming.

Mommy and Natalie in the Van while Josh was filling the van up with gas. This has a cool story to go along with it. Our van told us that we had about 65 miles left so we passed the gas station and said that we would stop at the next one. Well we got down to 30 miles, the 20, then 15, then we really started to panic. The next major city, Green River, was about 35 miles away. Finally we got to 10 and I started really getting worried we would be stuck on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. Finally at 8 miles left we reached a little gas station right off of I-80. Talk about a miracle. By that point I was willing to pay $5.00 a gallon. Luckily it wasn't that much, but it ws more than any other gas station on the way. But I didn't care, we didn't get stuck in the middle of no where!!!

Saturday Pictures
On Saturday we went to "This is the Place" National Monument with Josh's side of the family. We had fun visiting the old buildings, petting the animals, and eating Navajo Tacos. After we left we met up with Sean and Jessi and spent a few hours visiting with them.

The very first. =)

Josh and I inside a fighter museum. Chris was able to have one of the workers unlock it and let us take a look around.

Natalie and Mommy in the Museum

The Burk boys, and Marissa.

Natalie standing on the fence watching the sheep.

Natalie loved holding the bunny. We didn't think she or the bunny would be comfortable with that.

Natalie, Marissa, and Grandma playing in the stream.

Chelsea trying on hats in one of the gift shops. She liked this hat and actually kept it on, so we bought it as a souviner. It will cute seeing her grow into it.

Chelsea and Grandma on the train.

Mommy, Daddy, and Natalie on the train.

A family picture in front of the "This is the Place" monument.

Sunday Pictures

On Sunday we went to church with Josh's family for Nick's homecoming. Afterwards we went to their house for lunch. There we visited and watched a video of some of Nick's mission pictures. After his homecoming we went to a farewell party for Mike. Natalie had a lot of fun playing in the back with some of the other kids there. After the party we went to head back to the apartment and the girls fell aslepp so we drove down to pass Discovercard, where Josh worked before we moved out, and it had closed! What a blessing we had already left before that happened. That would have been really hard to have kids and not a job!

Uncle Mike and Chelsea

Daddy studying. It is amazing the things you can do when the girls take a nap before church starts at 12:30 pm!

Natalie and Daddy were both worn out after a fun Sunday.

Monday Pictures
On Memorial Day we went down to Provo to see Uncle Josh, and Aunt Helen. We sat outside their apartments and Natalie played on the playground. While we were out there the garbage man came out. She loves garbage trucks just like her idol, Christoper (lol), and wanted to go see it drive by. They stopped to get out and collect some of ther other trash cans and let Natalie see the inside of the truck. She loved it. So for memories sake we took a few pictures of this very happy little girl! =) After we played outside a little bit we went to a couple malls to find Guillotine. On the way back to the apartment we stopped at Cafe Rio and picked up lunch. After visiting with Josh and Helen we headed to Jason's Deli and met Alex for dinner. It was great visiting with her again. On our way back up to Salt Lake city we stopped in Orem and visited Beth, who had just had twins. Finally we made it back and crashed until the next day.

Natalie on the BYU garbage truck.

Natalie and Daddy by the truck again.

Alex and Emily after dinner.

Tuesday Pictures

On Tuesday we went to Tio's Mexican resaurant, the first place Josh and I worked after we got married, to visit. Martha gave us free lunch and we visited for a little bit. Their business has picked up a lot, which is really good. After that we went to downtown SLC and visited Temple Square. The girls had a lot of fun. We wanted them see the Temple where Mommy and Daddy were married, and also the Christus. After we left we asked Natalie what she saw, and she said, "the temple, and the Jesus Statue" She definitely got what we wanted her to out of that visit to Temple Square. After Temple Square we went to Deseret book, then to Mike's apartment where he had another fellware party. We ate pizza and snacks, and played Mario Party 8, and watched Twilight. It was a fun way to end the day.

Chelsea looking cute in her towel after her bath.

Mike, Chelsea, Josh, and Natalie at Tio's.

Chelsea, Mommy, Martha, Josh and Natalie at Tio's.

SLC Temple

Natalie looking at the Temple.

Chelsea and Natalie in front of the temple.

Natalie laying in the grass in fron of the temple.

Chelsea looking at the temple.

Natalie running around. It was such a beautiful day.

Josh tossed Chelsea in the air, and I snapped a picture. It turned out really cute! Chelsea in front of the temple.

Josh and Chelsea in front the reflection pool.

Chelsea just being cute!

Our family in front of the Temple.

Josh and I in front of the temple. A traditional picture. =)

Another family picture on temple square.

Our family in front of the Christus.

Natalie in front of the Christus.

SLC Temple

Natalie asleep after visiting temple square. This was a very common site in our van after fun activities.

Wednesday Pictures

On Wednesday we went to Deseret Book again, then went to Grandma and Grandpa Burk's house. We had lunch then headed out to the park where we played and relaxed. After the park we back to Grandma and Grandpa Burk's and ate dinner. Then we got ready for our family pictures. After family pictures we got together for banana splits. The kids played and we said our good-byes. It was a fun-filled day.

Chelsea eating breakfast at Unlce Mike's