Trip to Utah Part 2 - Fun Times

This post is kind of a potpourri of the different things we did while in Utah this summer.

Our summer vacations to Utah always fill up with fun adventures.  One of the traditions that we have had is to enroll our kids in swimming lessons in Payson while we are there. Before we moved to Kazakhstan our kids weren't strong swimmers.  After our first adventure to Thailand they understood that to have fun in the water meant they needed to swim better, so they've been diligent about learning. They took two weeks worth of lessons and all passed their levels and their classes and are all getting to be quite strong swimmers.

Twins kicking and not having any fun at all.

Diving (Sophia)

Sophie has some water in her ears.

Lexa

Fun times with the Sillardsons.

Lina swimming.

Diving. Lina had to overcome her fears of diving - and did so like a champ.

Nika.

Nika diving.

Nika.

Oma gave the girls some nice summer hats for a fun picture on Lina's birthday.

Sisters!

Polina always has her birthday somewhere different and fun.  Her birthday this year was in Payson. After swimming lessons she wanted to go to Hu-Hot for her birthday lunch.  We were supposed to meet her cousin Karlie there.  That morning Karlie found out that she has type 1 diabetes.  She had to get to the hospital to get her blood chemistry under control, so when she was settled, we went and visited.  We took the party to her.

With Karlie at the hospital.

Birthday cake - angel food with berries.

We made up for the missed birthday Hu-Hot by going back on the last day we were in town.  Karlie and Aunt Rachel were able to join us this time!  Look at those smiles.

The girls wanted/needed covers for their ice skates for when they dress up in their fancy skating costumes.  Yulia turned it into a project over the summer and helped the girls learn how to sew at the same time.

Working on the pattern.

Sewing (Lexa)

One adventure this summer was that Alexandra had to get glasses.  It is much easier to tell the twins apart quickly now.

Another feature of our summer was that the girls did cooking at Oma's house again.

Sophie pooped out from all the adventures.

While Nika and Lina were at Girl's camp, the twins had an adventure with mom and Oma!

The last few years we've tried to do different hikes while we are home visiting.  This year we hiked up to Stuart Falls (behind Sundance Ski resort).  We went up on the first day it was opened - snow kept the Alpine loop closed until much later than usual this year.  The hike was beautiful.  It misted a bit on us on our way up.  On the way down we got a bit of a soaker going.  It is always amazing to me just how quickly you can get totally away from the urban valleys of Utah into the wilderness.

Hikers!

View across the valley toward Sundance.

Trees that had been knocked over by an avalanche.

Plenty of snow still.

At the falls.

The falls were beautiful and very full.

The girls and papa.  Lina didn't come with us because her stomach hurt.

The expedition leader.

Alexandra without her glasses.

Mama and Papa made it!

We had a family reunion with our Willardson family members and stayed overnight at aunt Kathi's house.  Saturday morning we stopped by the Logan Airport to see the planes at the fly-in breakfast that they put on once a month.  A lot of the planes are kit planes that people built.  They were fun little planes to look at.  There was an Apache helicopter parked there as well.  It was being flown to Fort Rucker (home of Army Aviation) for repair. The pilots who were flying it each had over 30 years of flying experience.  They were tinkering with it, putting in fluids, and calling on their phone.  We stayed and waited until it took off.  It was fun.  I had seen them quite a bit when I was in Iraq, but none of the kids had ever been up close with a real military helicopter, so that was an adventure.

Pilots inspecting.

We got to go up close and look.

Pilots telling us about the bird.

Cache Valley in June.  Lots of Snow on the mountains. Beautiful deep colors.

Leaving Cache Valley.

The simple things that we do are often the most meaningful.  Spending time with family, in nature, or just taking advantage of little adventures when they come up is rewarding.  Even though we didn't have a lot of "grand adventures" planned during the visit, we had a grand time nonetheless.

Trip to Utah Part 1 - Road Trip to Las Vegas: Cove Fort and Mountain Meadows

We arrived in Utah earlier than usual this year and there was still a coolness in the air and plenty of snow on the mountains.  Because of the busy summer, we were not going to be able to see all of my sister Mican's family at our reunion in Payson later in June. Our daughters would miss seeing their cousin, Emma, who they really love a lot - especially after we lived down the block from them in Las Vegas for a year.  We decided that we would take a road trip down to see them.  We arrived on Monday afternoon, Tuesday I spent the day getting the car tuned, inspected, and registered, and Wednesday morning we left for Las Vegas.

The drive was beautiful.  Everything was green and the sky was dark blue and partly cloudy.  We decided that we would stop at historic Cove Fort.  It was a fort built to protect travelers going from northern Utah to Southern Utah and back. It operated for a number of years, but was never used as a fort since the pioneer settlers in the area had good relations with the native Paiute tribe in the area.  I had been before and taken a tour, but when we stopped with Yulia last time it was a Sunday afternoon and we only walked around the outside.

We had a very nice tour guide and we took the full tour.  We watched a video about the fort and the family that settled it - the grandfather of LDS church President, Gordan B. Hinkley - and how the Fort was built and how it operated.  Then we took a tour of the restored fort itself, including the barns and outbuildings.  It was very interesting and the girls had a wonderful time.

A beautiful drive - Yulia took this picture while I drove.

The girls getting ready to roll iron hoops - a pioneer pastime.

Looking through the Fort.

View inside the fort.

The kitchen. Meals were prepared for the family and for the travelers that stayed.

Looking down into the fort.  Look at that beautiful sky!

The girls up on the ramparts of the fort.

This was the station where the oxen were shod.  They had to be lifted since they couldn't hold up one foot like a horse during the procedure.

This was the hay crane, used to make haystacks and move hay into the top of the barn for winter.

This was a rock hauling wagon.

Inside the barn looking at tack. A riding saddle foreground and two pack saddles in the back.

The girls with their spinners.  They got to keep these and had lots of fun in the car with them.

Rolling hoops.

We stopped for lunch in Cedar City, Utah and filled up with gas.  Then we went around the back way and took the kids to see the different Mountain Meadows Massacre sites.  The Mountain Meadows Massacre was one of the great tragedies in Utah history and in the history of the LDS church. We spoke to the girls about the tensions that existed, the looming threat of the Utah war, and about the decisions that people made that ended up killing a whole group of Arkansas pioneers.  John D. Lee was executed for his role in the massacre, but for many years there was silence about the whole episode.  I recommend Jaunita Brooks book to understand the event.

It was a solemn afternoon, but a good learning experience for our girls.  The back valleys of southern Utah were beautiful and we had a very nice drive from Mountain Meadows through the Dameron Valley, Gunlock, the Paiute Reservation, and out to Beaver Dam in Arizona where we met up with I-15 and drove into Las Vegas.

One of the sites.

Talking to the girls.

Hiking up to the monument and overlook.

Looking down on the site.

At the gravesite.

Driving. What a gorgeous view!

This reservoir with waterfalls at Gunlock was awesome.  If we had more time we would have gone in!

Driving through the Paiute Reservation.

The desert was green sage, moving into Joshua tree desert.

We arrived in Las Vegas and had a wonderful greeting and a nice meal waiting for us.  The kids had a great time playing games and just hanging out together.

On Thursday our adventure was to go bowling at one of the Casinos.  I think it was Texas Station, but I can't remember for sure.  The kids had a lot of fun and we bowled two complete games, so we wore them out after a couple of hours of bowling.

On Friday we drove over to Henderson to a pool there.  It was a pool that we used to all go to when we lived here.  It is nice because it is indoors and usually not too crowded.  We all swam for a couple of hours and then on our way home we stopped and ate at a place called the Chicken Shack.  The food was pretty good and we all got plenty to eat.

We woke up on Saturday and got ready and drove back home to Payson.  We were glad that we could make it down to Las Vegas to see the Mayo family and to have a little adventure.  It was a nice way to start our vacation!

Playing games

Bowling!

Chicken Shack!

Fun times!

Mount Timpanogas as we are coming up over the ridge into Santaquin on our way home to Payson. I told you it was beautiful!