Park City with My Girls

My mom and sisters planned a much needed night away to Park City last weekend.  The relaxation and laughter on this trip was exactly what the doctor ordered.  Once we arrived, my mom realized she didn't pack a swimming suit.  We had to run to TJ Maxx to buy her one, since we had an inviting hot tub on the deck of our hotel room.  It felt so nice to take our time getting ready to go out to dinner.  We finally decided to eat at a delicious little spot called The Tavern.

Here's a picture of my beautiful view.

Sarah really loved being photographed this particular night.

After a delicious meal, we headed back to our room at Newpark and hopped into the Jacuzzi.

That pair of thumbs you see near my boobs, might be my dear mother's, hahaha!  After we finished being together in the hot tub, we chatted until the wee hours of the night.  I lucked out and got to sleep with my mom in the master bedroom.  I can't remember the last time I slept in the same bed as my mom.  We slept in until 9 the next morning!  It felt like heaven to sleep so soundly.  We took our time waking up and ordered food at Kneaders to eat in our room.  We even asked for a late check out.  That's how much we were enjoying ourselves.  I was dreading going home.  It was just the break we all needed.  Next time needs to be a few days longer.  I love my ladies!

State Baseball Tournament

The Cardinals made it to the state tournament a couple days after we returned from vacation.  Sadly, Randy had to work in Cedar City so he missed all 4 games they played.  This team gave it their all but ended up losing all of their games.  It was brutally hot too.  They pushed through the 105 degree temps and gave it their all.

There was one particular game where Hank suffered on of the worst low blood sugar episodes he's ever had.  He was playing catcher the entire game and I think the combination of the heat and all the gear mixed with low blood sugar just made everything worse.  I've never seen him so pale, sweaty and short of breath.  It really scared me but luckily, in true Hank fashion, he rallied after 15 minutes and got a base hit.  After his hit, we decided to call it a game for him.  Stupid diabetes.

Hank is my hero.  He played pitcher or catcher in all the games and pushed through less than ideal circumstances with his diabetes.  He is a true winner in my book.  I love to watch him play.  

Family Vacation Part 3...Bryce Canyon

Our final destination of our vacation was beautiful Bryce Canyon.  The beauty of our surroundings on this trip was incredible.  Talk about sensory overload.  Grandma Griffin very thoughtfully planned out every aspect of this part of our trip.  She chose Bryce as her 80th birthday celebration destination.  The amount of energy and planning that went into this trip was pretty intense.  There isn't an 80 year old on the planet with as much energy as her.

When we arrived at the Ruby's Inn campground, the kids were pumped to be staying in a real tipi.   

Our little family fit quite comfortably.

I was excited to find out about a nearby rodeo happening that night.  Since my summer has been lacking in the rodeo department, I sort of pushed my family into going.  I was also able to recruit Rusty, Collette, Owen, Dyson and Grandpa Griffin.

Owen was in a loving mood!

This picture is made 100% better by Max's cute little mug.  Too bad his happy demeanor ended shortly after it was taken.  In his defense, it was a pretty lame rodeo made up of teenage kids with minimal experience.  When the announcer asked for audience participation, Hank jumped out of his seat to run into the arena!  He must have been bored as well!

He lined up with a group of other kids with the task of grabbing the ribbon off the tail of a cow.

He was so close!  The boy to the left of him, pushed him out of the way to snag the ribbon right before Hank could.  It made an otherwise forgettable rodeo memorable.

Max was up to no good this particular day.  He's so handsome though, little punk!

After a restful night in the tipi, we were ready to explore beautiful Bryce Canyon.  

A little cousin love before getting on the tram was in order.

Speaking of cousin love!

Sam just had mommy love, no surprise there.  After the hiking in Zion's and now Bryce, I think I carried this 30 pound kid 20 miles!  Good thing I'm tough.

Such a gorgeous place.

After we ate lunch, Sam and Max weren't exactly thrilled with the prospect of another hike.  We convinced them it would be cool to hike to the bottom of the canyon but in retrospect, we probably should've listened to them and headed back to camp.

Max decided to run away from us and Sam demanded someone carry him.  The 5 minutes we convinced him to walk,he slipped and skinned his knee.  The ear piercing screams were enough for me to turn around and go back with him.  After carrying him uphill for 10 minutes, I took the wrong turn and missed the closer shuttle.  Needless to say, after a couple miles of holding a sleeping 2 year old, my entire body was trembling with exhaustion.  Oh and did I mention it was HOT! 

Once we returned to the campground the older kids headed to the pool and Sam insisted he wanted to swim too.  He needed a bath anyway so I agreed.

Except for the the second he got in the water he wanted to get out.  Ahhhhh!

 Enough complaining... I was able to rest for a bit before our chuck wagon dinner.

I was amazed those two horses could pull all of us!

Lennon made a great center piece.

Hank really enjoyed spending time with Randy's cousin Austin.  Colby, Dyson, and Hank followed him like little groupies.  They think he's pretty much the coolest kid around.

The rest of the night was spent celebrating Grandma Griffin.  I felt so awful I had to miss out on the programs.  Sam had a monumental meltdown and fell asleep for the night before the program began.  Hank and Max had a blast though.

I wish I could've spent more time with Grandma on this trip.  Our kids were just exhausted and demanding all of my time.  I really do love and respect her very much.  She is one of a kind and I feel so lucky to have her in my life.  Now if I could just bottle some of her energy!  It's going to take me weeks to recover from this marathon vacation.

Family Vacation Part 2--Sand Hollow

Next stop on our vacation was this beautiful condo near Sand Hollow Reservoir in Hurricane.  We met Griff, Karen, Jenni, Dyson, Colby, Lennon, Rusty, Collette, Owen, Rick and Anna and then headed to the lake as quickly as we could.  It was sooooo HOT!

The kids were so excited to get out on the tube.

Owen was a little stud out there.  He wasn't afraid one bit.

I was amazed he would jump off the boat into the water.

Rusty and Rick got a little wake boarding in.

Randy had to show them up!  My man's still got it!  Next it was my turn to pull them on the "death tube".

It was the most fun I've had in a very long time.  Instantly, these grown men looked like little boys, giggling and squealing with delight.  I gave them quite the ride!

Karen and Griff had some delicious burgers ready when we got off the lake.  The beauty of the place we stayed was having everything there.  We had a grill, a deck, a pool, a humongous fully equipped kitchen, and enough bedrooms and bathrooms for everyone.  Talk about spoiled rotten!  It was the perfect spot to have a family reunion and we were all dreading the thought of having to camp in a few days.

I woke up just before sunrise the next morning and took advantage of the cooler temperatures and headed out for a run.  Look at this scenery!  It doesn't look real.  What a spectacular spot.

We headed out to the lake after breakfast and Max was excited to try wake boarding.  Although I'm convinced he thinks its called "lake boarding".  

Cute little Mino-head.

Rusty was so sweet to get in the water with him and help him get up.  Wake boarding is a tricky thing to teach a little kid.  He came pretty close to getting up and I'm so proud of him for getting in there and trying.

His bravery inspired Hank to try as well.

He was so nervous though.

Rusty helped him in the water too and he got so close to standing up.

After they tried for awhile, their mama had to show them how it's done.  The water was glass!  So perfect.

We set up a nice little base camp to eat lunch.  Do you think Sam would get off the boat?

Not a chance.  He was feeling very possessive of our boat.  His crazy 2 year old ways followed us from Zion's to Sand Hollow unfortunately.  Good thing I have Randy to help me contain the beast.

I guess it took Lennon to convince him to have fun on the beach.  

Rick and Anna

That's me and Sam on an Alligator.  I have to mention that none of us got swimmers itch, thankfully.  There were signs posted all around the lake about the high potential of getting swimmer's itch.  Don't google what causes it.  You'll want to barf.

After lunch and lots of mud/sand throwing we were ready to go back on the boat. 

We scoped out some potential cliff jumping spots but decided to just stay on the boat.  We didn't want to jinx our accident free boating trip.

That is, until Max nearly smacked his head on the side of the boat while he was doing a front flip.  Only Max.

The water felt so amazing.  It was nearly 105 degrees out!

It was so fun spending time with the out of towners.  I wish we could see them more often.  

Before we called it a day, Max wanted to try water skiing.  Rick volunteered to stay in the water with him and help him get up.

He stood up for a few seconds!!  He tried about 10 times and never gave up.  The weather took a turn for the worse after this and cut our boating adventure short.  Griff and Karen had dinner ready for us again when we returned to the condo.  The babies just had to get in the tub together, and I of course had to take a picture for posterity.

I have to admit I wasn't too excited to camp in a teepee after staying in such luxurious accomodations.  I was sad to see Sand Hollow go.  We packed up once again, and headed to the third and final leg of our trip, Bryce Canyon.  Sidenote...at this point in the trip, I was growing a little tired of packing up all our crap and dealing with a whining 2 year old.  Happy thoughts, good attitude, come on Annie you can do it!!

 Good thing my boys are so damn adorable.  I would do anything for these four.  We are so lucky to have Randy as our fearless leader.  You know a good time is around the corner when he's near.