Warning: This is a mega long post.
I forgot this photo taken at Bear Lake, from Cam's phone. Cam was doing an internship in San Diego, and came home for a few days while we were there and we were so glad he did! He took this right as he was leaving. (I need an iphone...)
So we made the long drive from Bear Lake down to Salem, very late at night and Devin never fell asleep...that boy! He didn't fall asleep until midnight!
Early the next morning we headed over to SF to go see Dr. Forsey! Aka my bro-in-law the audiologist. We saw his new, fancy office and were fitted for some cool ear buds for our headphones. Thanks Steve!
The boys happy from all the candy at the front desk (at 8:30am).
Matt and the ear gunk.
Time is very precious when we are home and there is pretty much NO downtime. It's limited and we have so many people to squeeze in. Especially this trip, because it was so short.
Right after the ear appt, I joined up with all my sista's, sista'-in-law's and mama for a day out with the girls (happens every single time-it's mandatory really).
Angi, Me, Mandy, Holly, Susie (and fetus Kody), Jenny (and fetus twins-please, oh please!), Mom
The awesome sitter and fashionista, my niece Lexi Lou.
What do you do when you start the shopping day with two preggers? Get lunch, first stop at like 10:30! Okay, maybe it was closer to 11, but we were still the only ones there for a while.
Too lazy to edit all the red eyes.
That night we met up with the Forseys. It was Steve's birthday, so thanks for spending it with us! They were going to Bear Lake the next day and we had just returned, so we were only going to see them this one night. It was fun though! We had Cafe Rio together at the Clark house, played there for a while and then went to "Polar Hole" for crunch cones! Matt experienced his first-ever crunch cone too...I never knew.
Jonah, Luke, Lydia
Jo, Ollie and Devinator
"Vacation is the best. We get ice cream every. single. day."
No joke.
Happy Birfday Steve.
(Photo stolen from Steve's Instagram).
And what is a birthday without presents?!!
Of course we didn't forget Steve on his birthday.
Coolest present ever for the ear doc, right?
We seriously found this at a garage sale and couldn't resist. Weird!
Luke always loves playing with all his cousin's when we are home. Jack is Luke's age and I had to get a pic of him and his long hair.
What's a trip to Utah without a trip up the canyon to brush up on our shooting skills?
Can't you see the excitement in Matt's face? (he doesn't show his emotions very well...but let me tell you, he's excited!).
Maybe you didn't know this about me, but I really enjoying shooting and I must say I'm not too shabby.
But I quickly learned that this year my favorite was the shot gun! I was scared at first, because I remember how much they kick, but man it was so fun shooting the clay pigeons!!!
While in Utah I also had 3 photo shoots that you can see
here. And I even was able to squeeze in a play date with my two besties and their babies.
Dev and Tabi (Emery and Harvey were there too!)
Luke learned that he loves Super Mario Brothers....
We also did a little bowling, where I kicked everyone's booty, including Matt's. It was a good day for me. :)
Afterwards we took at trip down south to get some yummy ice cream at the Red Barn. Did I say ice cream again? I'm not kidding, it was a daily event.
One morning we drove up Payson canyon and hiked the grotto. It's a super easy and short hike, great for kids. They loved it!
Saturday day was like Mega-Day of our trip. The last day of all the fun. Pretty much every day was cram-packed, but this one was just twice as long (literally).
We woke up bright and early to run the 1k (me, ager and the boys) and the rest ran the 3k. I must admit it was my very first 1k, or any kind of k for that matter. It was Salem Days!
Luke, a true Clark. And look at Adrienne....I made her push that non-jogging stroller the whole time! Jk, she insisted and gladly accepted. We ran around the beautiful Salem pond (where Matt proposed and where we had our reception...aww).
Matt is such a doll. A little shout-out to him. He started training for this race about a month before. He was on a tough rotation and was waking up at 4:20 AM to jog 3 miles before work. Dedicated! He'd do it about 4x per week. It paid off, because he ended up running about 8 minute miles!
And even the grandparents ran it! They really are young at heart. Way to go Anne and Rob!
Matt coming in at the end.
Here comes Sarah...
The boys were so cute, stretching with Matt afterwards. From these photos, you'd think that Devin was in these same jammies the whole trip...
Luke took these pics. After the race they give out TONS of prizes and I mean tons.
Then we ran over to the other side of the pond to watch the parade. It was a fun morning!
After packing up, and taking a nap that afternoon, we headed back over to SF for some good-time BBQ'n with the Johnsons.
Little Miss Kadrie, Dev's closest-in-age cousin on the J side.
K and her mama, Holly.
A cluster of some of my nieces. Seriously, how are they getting so OLD?!
Jenny, Moi, Susie (Mandy was at Bear Lake...sniff, sniff). The two pregger ones. :)
Matt loves playing with the kids. I think they think he's so cool, mostly because they NEVER see him.
(Some of) the manly-men.
GORGEOUS view. Aw, the mountains!
Jenny, Lexi and Mom
Some of the Bigs.
G and G Hales
Susie and Bryce...who holds hands like that? :)
Bro Matt and Bryn
Down at the res.
My nerdy nieces again, AKA "the Bee Squad."
Holly insisted on this one. Boogs.
Luke, Nick, Jack, Keegan, Burkley
Just for fun here is a picture taken at the same place in May of 2009 (Matt was a 3rd year med student). Luke was about 18 months old.
Our family now, 3 years later...
Love the view!
After the sun set we all said our good-byes (for the millionth time) and went home. We went back to Salem to watch the fireworks and then jumped in the car and headed to the airport.
Our flight left at 12:50 am (good idea? no.) Luke can sleep ANYWHERE...
And how do you like our matching racing shirts? Yeah...we wanted to be that family on the airplane.
Are you curious if the red-eye flight worked with the kids? Well, for Luke yes, but Devin refused to sleep until about 5am. So, yeah....it wasn't all that fun. But the up-side of it all, is that the next morning we got home and had the rest of that day to recoup, until we had to be back to the grind the next day.
So long happy valley....until next time!
Aw, it was SUCH a great trip.
