Aspen Grove Trip

We had an amazing vacation in Utah this last week. We drove to Salt Lake on Thursday the 10th (Wow, was that a long car ride!) stopping at Hoover Dam and the St. George Temple on the way.



























Friday we took the kids to Temple Square and the Conference Center. They were fascinated by everything but especially the fountains, waterfalls and the garden on the roof of the Conf. Center. We discovered that Laney is terrified of elevators. She had to be held tightly every time. No one got too wet from the fountains and everyone stayed together, which is incredible for our crew. Sam photographed every beautiful thing we saw so we will remember the whole experience in great detail.













Friday afternoon we visited my friend Kim. We had banana splits and the kids got to unwind. They had lots of fun playing air hockey, banging around on a drum set, playing an electronic piano and checking out the pond and fishies. It was great to see her lovely home and visit for a few hours.

We then went back to the hotel. We splurged a bit and got a two-room suite at the Marriott Residence Inn. It had a full kitchen and family room as well as two bedrooms. It was so much more comfortable than cramming us all into a regular room. So Richard and the kids, all but Laney and Susanna, went swimming while I baked a couple of frozen pizzas. It was a great day, but it flew by too quickly.













Saturday we drove down to Provo and visited Richard's grandmother. She is 94 years old. She was so sweet with the kids. It was good for them to see her again, it had been two years since we had last seen her. It was nice to see Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Randy too. Grandma wasn't feeling her best so we just got a picture in front of her house.

Then we were off to Provo Canyon to settle in for a week at Aspen Grove, a family camp run by BYU. This was our third time to go there. The Elys have made it a tradition to go every other year as a family "reunion", even though we all live with in 20 minutes of each other. It is our kids favorite place in the world, hiding away in the mountains but with church, comfort and lots of activities. The kids divided up into age groups and did all sorts of fun things, while the parents had time to go to institute-type classes, do pottery, painting, hiking or play sports (tennis, basketball, volleyball, racquetball, badminton, miniature golf, shuffle board, swimming, ropes course etc.)
Sam and Richard both did the high ropes course. I was super proud of both of them. It's like walking in the top of the trees.
The kids were in their groups for several hours in the morning and again in the afternoon, they had a blast playing games, swimming, climbing the rock wall,


playing on the playgrounds or in the cowboy town, hiking and doing crafts and such. Richard and I were able then to have fun together as well. It was nice to get a break from cooking since our meals were provided.
















On Wednesday Richard took Josh and Tim and hiked up Mount Timpanogos. They got to Emerald Lake, near the top (The peak has an elevation of 11,749 feet). A round trip of about twelve hours for them. They had a lot of fun seeing a herd of 35 or so mountain goats, a deer, four waterfalls, the lake, several snow fields and lot of wild flowers.














The kids also learned songs in their groups and performed them on stage the last night.

Friday morning we left for home but ended up having to have a cracked radiator replaced in Provo. We made it home late Friday night having only one potty stop and two gas stops. It was a wonderful vacation! Now we are recovering with a post trip vacation at home for a few days.

Richard goes back to work on Tuesday.