Family Vacation 2011

Prepare yourself for a barrage of pictures from our 8 day vacation.
There's no way around it.

We took just shy of a million pictures, I'm pretty sure.
So grit your teeth and.... ENJOY! (or just push your down arrow really fast a bunch of times.)

Kate fell in love with photography on this trip! She especially loves photographing flowers, bugs, birds, and other creatures.

Cove Fort, Utah was a huge highlight of our trip. We stopped on our way home with the intention of staying for about an hour. 2 1/2 hours later we were back on the road! Thanks, Elder Haney, for a wonderful tour!

We also loved our time in St. George. The Tabernacle, Temple, Visitor's Center, and Brigham Young Summer Home were just beautiful and spirit filled. Hot... but spirit filled.

Another highlight of the trip was a chance encounter with the Carroll Shelby World Headquarters and Classic Car Museum. On our way out of Vegas we stopped at a gas station by the Las Vegas Speedway and happened upon this museum. Jack, if you didn't know this, is capital C - CRAZY - about cars, trucks, motorcycles, semis... So you can imagine his immense happiness. He took a million pictures and came away with a bunch of fun Shelby posters and a little keepsake Shelby Spider car. Happiness. It's so easy when you're 5. :)

Some of our fun Las Vegas Strip adventures while Brad was in meetings and classes. Our favorite stops were The M&M Store, the Coca-Cola Experience, New York-New York, The Mirage, the MGM Lion Habitat, the Jelly-Belly Statue of Liberty, and especially riding all the escalators and elevators all over Vegas. We are SO small town, and SO easily entertained!

It was darn hot (in the low 100s most days), but we all did well. One benefit -- 90 degrees in Rupert today feels downright balmy!

Zion National Park is a must-see if you're in Southern Utah and have a day to kill. Wow -- we LOVED it here. The hiking was gorgeous.

One fun little happening... we looked up a church to attend on Sunday morning and showed up at a random (and very lovely, friendly) ward. While taking the kids to Primary, we ran in to a sister from Brad's mission. Even 20 years later they immediately recognized each other and we had a wonderful time visiting and reconnecting with her and her sweet family.

We are so blessed to have had so many days to spend together as a family. The trip could not have gone more smoothly. The kids traveled well and quietly (thank you iPad, iPods, and iPhone!). The car ran well (thank you new car). We spend lots of time together and created many wonderful memories.

We are blessed.

A Surprise Visit!

We had a wonderful surprise today. My Grandma and Grandpa Rose came for a short visit. They were bringing a few head of cattle to the sale over here in Rupert, and were able to stop in for about an hour. We had such a wonderful visit! They are so dear, and such wonderful examples. Everything about their life revolves around their love for each other and their love for their family. Grandpa was even reciting the names of all the great-grandchildren on his way to Rupert today, just so he can call them all by name at Thanksgiving. I don't know how they manage to make each and every member of their posterity (including in-laws) feel cherished and special, but they do. They are truly amazing people and I'm so blessed to call them my grandparents.

On a side note: The minute Jack heard they were coming he made sure he put on his cowboy boots and cowboy hat. He wanted to give Grandpa a proper welcome! He was in awe of the truck and trailer, too!!!

Addendum to the Sewing Post

My Aunt Christie's comment on my skirt post reminded me that I had intended to do an entire post on the fun, fun visit I had from Christie, Nancy (another aunt), and my amazing Grandma Rose the first day of school. I can't believe I forgot to post about it!

As I mentioned in that earlier post, The Gathering Place is an incredible little gem of a quilt shop situated on the historic Rupert Square just a few block from my house. It's one of the best quilt shops in the west. You can't believe how much incredible fabric and how many projects and patterns there are to choose from. Addictive .... very, very addictive -- and dangerous!

Christie has been to The Gathering Place before, but not for a while. So she and Nancy had been saying for a long time that they needed to make a trip to Rupert to check it out! Happily, they found a day that worked for them both, and they brought Grandma Rose along for the ride. These three women have so many thousands of hours behind a sewing machine, it's staggering. So it was such a pleasure and an inspiration to wander the store with them and listen to their comments on and experiences with different types of fabrics. They have made everything from clothes, to quilts, to dolls and everything in between. They know fabric!!!! Grandma and I had so much fun wandering the store looking at all the projects and ideas all over the store. She even helped me find the perfect fabric for Kate's brown and orange skirt.

Wisely, the store has a toy room, so Jack was thoroughly entertained and even disappointed to leave after a couple of hours!

After shopping, we had a delicious lunch at Henry's (also on the square). Thanks for lunch, Chris! Jack had the best time being showered with attention! He loved spending time with the aunts and Great-Grandma. It was really, truly a perfect day -- I hope it happens again very soon (hint-hint)!

Three Months, New Show, No Sleep!

I'm so excited!!! I auditioned for the role of "Narrator" in our community's production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" last weekend. Last night I went to callbacks with three other awesome ladies, and I was offered the part!!!! I have wanted to play that part FOREVER!!! As an added bonus, it's the perfect family show, so if Brad can free up his schedule, he has been recruited to play one of the brothers and the kids are part of the Children's Chorus (except for Jack-Jack, who will be the show's mascot, I suppose!).

The show goes on the end of January/first part of February at the King Fine Arts Center in Burley. Hope you can all come and see it!

It will be a very busy three months, but the fact that we can be together as a family while we do it is a huge bonus. I hope the kids know what they're in for (of course they don't. What, am I crazy?! There will be some very tired and cranky moments, no doubt, but in the long run I think/hope we'll make some really wonderful memories together.

More Vacation Pictures

Alright, fair warning: THIS SLIDESHOW CONTAINS 144 PICTURES OF OUR VACATION TO YELLOWSTONE. Feel free to skip through if you don't have time to watch the whole thing. :)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Family Vacation '09

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The Wilson's spent Labor Day weekend in Island Park, Idaho and Yellowstone National Park!!! We had an absolute ball together. Because so much time was spent in the car we had lots of "togetherness" that could have been awful, but was actually quite wonderful. We had both Brad's and Todd's Ipods so we traded music back and forth introducing each other to our favorites and singing and laughing a lot. We played "I Spy a license plate" and managed to find plates from 47 of the 50 states plus for Canadian provinces. The only states we failed to see were North Carolina, South Carolina, and Maine. Darn!!! And yes, we DID see a Hawaii license plate while we were at Old Faithful. Crazy, huh?!! Anyway, that was a fun way to review all the states and kept us all occupied.

We picnicked in some beautiful places and hiked all over. The kids were amazing -- they did that energizer bunny thing that kept us all going and going and going! Kate's favorite part was when we visited the lower falls and walked down the long switchback trail. She counted her steps all the way back up. Todd's favorite part Old Faithful. He timed the eruption and tried to figure out some way get close enough to collect a water sample. Didn't happen (darn)! Jack loved everything except the really stinky, steamy hot pots. Those were pretty scary. Luckily, Dad carried him on his shoulders!

All in all we had an incredible time and can't wait to do it again. :)

Park Valley 24th Celebration: 2009

I LOVE my hometown of Park Valley, Utah!!! The 24th of July Celebration every year is such a fun family tradition. It was wonderful catching up with friends and family again. It's amazing how so many terrific people can live in one tiny little dot on the map!
My cousin Amy was the cutest "Dorothy" ever as she MCed the program!

Christie trying to learn how to rope on the spot. Nicely done, Chris!

Little Aubrey Rose singing "My Favorite Things"! What a memory. Way to go, cutie pie!

Jack and Daddy enjoying the show.

Ross Park: ACA Annual Party (Water Pics)

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Ross Park: ACA Annual Party (Picnic Pics)

One of the favorite activities of the day is the water balloon launcher. Always a huge hit!

Ross Park: ACA Annual Party (Zoo Pics)

We are so lucky to be able to attend Dad Rose's annual work picnic every year on the 24th of July. This year we met at Upper Ross Park for a fun filled day at the zoo and water park, along with an amazing meal, games, and activities for the kids. Thanks so much to Dad for inviting us and to ACA for hosting such a wonderful party. We look forward to it each year. This year was especially fun since Brad was able to take the day off and go with us. Cindy and DJ were there with all the kids, so naturally, the Wilson kids were in HEAVEN with built in playmates for each of them. It was really fun to watch Regan and Todd and Kate and Morgan float the lazy river and then slide down the water slide together. What fun to have such wonderful cousins so close in age. Look out world, in a couple of years Jack and Kaleb will be tearing up the place!!!