Things To Do In Utah - Part 1

So much to do, so many people to see, so little time...well, actually we took our time :) Being in Utah was great! It was fun to get to spend some time with a lot of our family. Here are a few other highlights of our trip.

One of our first activities was to ride the 4-wheeler. Bergen LOVED it! Did I say he loved it? Well, he did, he loved it! In fact as soon as I set him on it with Travis he knew just what to do. He grabbed the handles, throttle included, and zoomed down the driveway in reverse. Travis was trying to get his hand off the throttle, hit the brakes, and hold onto Bergen all at the same time :) It made Travis a little nervous, and I was shaking a bit over the craziness of it, and Bergen was just as chill as could be! It didn't phase him one bit, he was ready to go!

Bergen got to go to the Gateway Discovery Childrens Museum with 7 of his cousins. These 2 cousins are 1 and 2 months older than Bergen. Thanks to them Bergen decided walking really was cooler than crawling.

Yup, Bergen does this at home too!

5 of the kids in this picture are also cousins. I think they all had such a good time playing with each other. Especially since we all live far away from each other!

These are Bergen's favorite things right now. He loves to "drive", open and shut the door, climb in and out of it, and on our second visit to the museum he figured out he could actually move it...but only in reverse! Figures, right?!?

Getting back to his farm roots :)

Bubbles! Travis' mom had lots of bubble machines for the kids enjoyment.

The kids loved it. There was only one problem...

Bergen was way more interested in the actual machine than he was the bubbles :)

We walked around BYU. We saw the new building that have been built since we went to school there, and picked up a few souvenirs at the bookstore. Ahhh, going to school there was so much fun but Travis and I both agree it's nice to be past late night hangouts, dating games, homework, and crappy food :) It's so pretty though. What a backdrop!

Did you know Spanish Fork has a reservoir? We didn't. It's a pretty cool place to sit on the beach and play in the water though. We got to spend a couple hours here with some cousins.

I was NOT brave enough to get into the "so cold it takes your breath away" water, but Travis swam out to this blowup trampoline. He had a good time jumping, twisting, and bouncing off into the water.

Our 4th of July was pretty low key, but we did do sparklers! Bergen was pretty amazed by them.

Sunday the 4th of July, after we got home from church, Bergen started really walking around the kitchen and living room. (Before he would walk 5-7 steps at a time, but still preferred crawling.) Something just clicked and we could tell he was purposely "practicing" his walking. He was very pleased with himself and would look up at us periodically to give us a big smile and make sure we were still watching him. From that point on he kept walking. Just like that!

Still more to come...

Road Trip - Part 2 - To Moab, UT

Before we ended our second day of driving, we made another stop. This time in Moab, UT. That place is just so cool! We both miss seeing views like you can find there. It's a bit of a picture overload, but I just couldn't help it.

Travis REALLY wanted to do some off roading! I kept reminding him this car just doesn't work like our truck did, and it would really not be fun if something happened to our car, especially being in the middle of our trip and it being our only car for the time being. So this is as crazy as I let him get. I think he still had fun doing this much and it was cool to watch others :)

We did a little hiking...ok, more like walking...on some bike trails. Bergen was still mainly crawling at this point, but that didn't seem to hold him back one bit! He just wanted to go and go and go.

This was at a very high point with not a lot of crawling room. The height and drop offs didn't bother Bergen at all. In fact I was the one getting nervous and kept asking Travis to stay closer to him, and hold on to him, and don't let him craw. Well?!?...Can you blame me? I didn't want him to fall! :)

Beautiful views!

My boys very content to be outdoors among the rocks and cliffs.

See what I mean? Just keeps going and going and going...

We ended that day with BBQed hotdogs and s'mores at this park in Moab. Then we decided to just keep going and get to our destination around midnight. There's nothing like reaching your destination after two long days of driving!

Road Trip - Part 1 - To Albuquerque

Despite our connections to fly, we decided to make a fun road trip out of it, and drive to Utah this summer. Travis had a good chunk of time off which also made driving seem more worth it. Plus that way we got to take just about everything we could ever want to pack and we had a car the whole time we were there. We left on a Thursday morning at 3:30am.

Bergen was awake for the start of the trip but after trying to stay awake when it really is the middle of the night, he finally zonked out and slept a good portion of the day.

At around 3pm we pulled up to this park and children's museum in Albuquerque, NM for lunch and some much needed wiggling.

I was super ambition and had all our meals packed that we could eat at parks along the way. All part of the fun, right? (I was not as ambition for the way home) I will say, Albuquerque and NM in general wasn't that appealing to me, but it sure was nice to be sitting under the tree and enjoy the cool shade even though it was a very hot day.

After lunch we explored the museum. They had some fun stuff for Bergen AND Travis and I.

This room is actually the elevator. Crazy!

Bergen liked the music making items, and anything that involved putting something into something else. Blocks in cupboards, balls in tubes, and plastic vegetables in baskets to name a few.

It was a fun couple of hours, but then it was time to get some rest. We still had another big day of driving ahead of us.

We stayed at a hotel for the night and Bergen's favorite thing there was the AC unit. Do you know how many buttons and knobs those things have? Tons! And just his size too!

Cute Bath Boy

Really?!? Do I need to say anymore?

Andrew's Graduation

My brother Andrew, Ed, Edwina, Rew-Rew, Cargo, whatever you want to call him, graduated from High School this past June. He's the 4th and final one in my family and now he's going to BYU.

GO COUGARS!

Bergen and I made a very special effort to make it to his graduation. And by special I mean 12 hours waiting in the airport to get on a plane to Portland, plus the 4 hour flight, plus the hour drive home. It was crazy! But I'm glad we got to be there for the special event!

We also got to spend some time just hanging out at home this time. My grandpa was a rock collector. Bergen got to check some of them out.

Who knows, maybe he'll become a rock hound?

Andrew gave both Bergen and I rides on the mule.

Rides are something we all enjoy, but not as much as Andrew enjoys trying to scare us with his "skillful" driving :) So far I think he's gotten the most screams out of Kellene, but who counting? To be fair, here is one from me :)

Bergen liked the rides too, but mostly just liked playing with the steering wheel.

Bergen got to ride on the tractor with Uncle Chuck. He seemed to really enjoy it...until he saw me behind the logs. Then he wanted off, and pronto!

Congratulations Andrew! Glad we could make it.

S'more Summer Fun!

We love being outside and Bergen is no exception to that! The weather the last couple of days has been wonderful! In fact so wonderful we ate our dinner in the backyard last night. As we were finishing up we thought, "Hey! We should do s'mores!" So we did :)

Bergen explores the entire backyard now. He plays on his slide, checks out all the flower beds, tests out the facet and hose, and walks along the fence...oh and how could I forget, occasionally has a taste test of the earth, mainly grass or dirt. One of the best things about eating outside is that there was nothing to sweep up when we were done! I think he liked eating dinner outside, don't you? What a happy face.

Travis was showing off his crazy roasting skills. Bergen thought he was very funny.

Eating our yummy s'mores.

I wish we had this kind of weather all the time! We love hanging out in the yard.