Beautiful Provo *warning: super mega long post*

We left the Bytheways Monday and drove down to Provo. We dropped Sam and Josh off at EFY for the week and then headed over to Kiwanis Park. The Craigs, the Bytheways and Gavin joined us. The kids had a great time running around and playing while the moms chatted in the shade. The weather was quite blustery and the dirt blew, but it was cool and we didn't mind.

Daniel, Bethany, Norah, Zanna and Richard teetering and tottering together

If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you can see Tim way up high in the branches. He was so proud. It was kind of scary to see him up so high.

Ashely, Kim and Sara, beautiful girls! Love 'em!

Zanna and Laney movie stars in the making.

Gavin is such a fun uncle. Look at all those skinny ribs on Zanna.

Drew was showing me is amazing climbing skills.

Rich and Nate chillin'

Monday night, Tim, Drew, Nate and Daniel stayed at Gavin's condo and Richard, the girls and I stayed at his super sweet Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Randy's house. I thought it would be peaceful and quiet with out the boys, but WHOA Susanna! She was wired, crazy and silly. Uncle Randy was sweet enough to sit down and watch Barbie Diamond Castle with her. He asked her questions about is and acted very interested in the whole thing. Or maybe he was just really into Zanna. He is such a great guy.

Tuesday, Rich, Gav and the kids went hiking on Y mountain. Later, we went to the mall and just puttered around. We played all day with Gav. That evening I went to a Relief Society meeting with Emily (a thrift store fashion show and YUMMY dinner!) while the kids went to the Craigs house and played basketball with the daddies.

Wednesday, we went to Lowe's Extreme Air Sports. Trampoline and foam pits were every where and a cool rock wall. It was a great deal, $6 buck a person for an hour and a half of play! Gavin showed us all his cool moves and the kids and Richard learned how to do some of their own. I was the photographer and little girl watcher.

Above is one of Richard's first jumps from up high. It is tricky to jump from so high and not wipe out.

They had a play area for the little girls.

Daniel and Zanna climbing the big wall.

They let the kids go over in a corner and dig a tunnel in the foam pit. It was huge and they all had a blast doing it. They foam was probably 7 or 8 feet deep and had a trampoline under it.

After they had played in the tunnel for awhile, they all jumped on it. As it collapsed it swallowed the kids and got some of them pretty stuck in the foam. Gav and Rich pulled them out.

Richard and Gavin then started throwing the kids in to the pit. So much fun!!!! I love this shot of Sara flailing through the air.

Gavin also rocket them through the air with his legs.

Gav and Tim in a jump and throw move.

Gav and Drew in a jump and throw move.

I was holding Gavin's glasses for him. Everyone need a turn trying them on. Even me.

After jumping we drove to Saratoga Springs for me to get my hair trimmed. My friend and hair lady, Crystal, move there in Feb and I have been over due for a trim, so we stopped by.

After the trim, Richard and the kids went for a swim at the hotel. Marilyn and Randy could only keep us for 2 nights so us girls and Daddy stayed in a hotel for 2 nights so we could have access to a pool.

Wednesday night we went to the Craig's for a yummy dinner and visiting. We love the Craigs! We always have great conversations and discussions. They are so generous and welcoming. The kids beg to see them any time we are in the area.

Thursday, we visited some of the campus museums and the bookstore.

I think the highlight of that trip were the puppets in the bookstore. They were really cool and the kids played with them for forever!

We had lunch back at Gav's. Afterward, Richard, Gavin and all the kids went swimming while I ran some errands. Then it was off to the $1 movies to see Hop.

Gavin was sweet and let Richard and I sneak away for a date night that evening. We went to Zuppa's for dinner and then drove to his Grandpa Afton Alger's old homestead. It was a lot of fun.

Friday morning we did a bunch of laundry and played games. Laney and Zanna were playing ERS. They are really starting to get the hang of it. So cute! Then we packed up around 2 and headed back to SLC and the Bytheways!

Gavin was amazing! He was great with the boys and had scriptures and prayer with them every night. He was kind to let us stay with him and host this leg of our trip. And is condo was sparkling clean. He is no regular guy with house keeping, that's for sure! Thanks Gav!!!! It was a BLAST!!!

Salt Lake City

First of all, MOUNTAINS!!!! GORGEOUS!!! And with SNOW!!! The kids, especially the little ones, were going crazy. It truly is beautiful. They are all so close and HUGE.

This picture was taken through a dirty van window as we were driving near Nephi, UT.

We drove to Provo first to stop and have the kids take their Saturday showers at Gavin's. He was so kind to let us invade for awhile and to leave some of our luggage and food. Once everyone was fresh and clean and after a quick trip to Walmart, we piled back into the van and headed out for the Bytheways.

We were a bit later getting there than we had planned, so the Bytheway kids were watching the road for us. They rushed out to greet us before we even parked the van. What a great welcome!

It was beautiful outside so we got out some blankets, sat in the grass and watched the kids play while John and Rich shopped for dinner. We had very well done hot dogs for dinner (there was some confusion as to who was grilling them), but despite their blackened exterior, they were mighty delicious.

Bethany is the same age as Zanna. They are so much alike, at times it was hard to tell who was calling for us, singing or jabbering on about this and that. Too cute!

Natalie is the same age as Nate and Drew. She is lots of fun and can sleep through anything. She is also a great snuggler. She shadowed Sam a lot of the time and they got to be good buddies. Love her!

There were many Nerf wars during our visit. Luckily, everyone survived.

They have this awesome peddle car that the kids go crazy for. It was definitely one of the favorite activities.

Timothy is the same age as Laney. He is a delight. My favorite Timothy quote is, "I'd be happy to!" said after any request made of him. He is adorable!

Beautiful Ashley is between Tim and Josh in age. She is super mega smart and knows everything about animals and creatures. She is also and incredible artist. She and Josh spent tons of time walking around observing everything from ants to birds to frogs to lizards.... They are great friends and have so many common interests.

Sara and Andrew are the same age. This boy has a killer smile and a loving heart. He helped watch out for the little ones. He, Sara and Tim were pretty much inseparable. What an awesome guy that Andrew is!

The Bytheways have a beautiful little pond and waterfall in their back yard. The kids played around it for hours, collecting snails and slugs and sailing ships in the water.

I had to get some pictures Sunday morning with the kids all being so cute and everything so green and pretty. I love this one of Sara by the pond. I can't believe how gorgeous and grown up she is!

This is all 15 of our combined children. Susanna was not happy so Richard helped her be in the picture. The cute little guy in the blue tie is Matthew. He is Daniel's age. They played together and had many imaginary adventures. He is such a character.

We were spread all around the house for bed times. Some in the kids bedrooms, some in the family room, on the floor, chair and sofas, and some in the living room on the floors and sofas. There wasn't an awful lot of sleeping going on. We stayed up pretty late talking and playing every night.

Sunday church was fabulous. Their ward starts with Relief Society/Priesthood, then Sunday School and finally Sacrament meeting. The classes were all great. The Winder 10th ward is welcoming and full of wonderful people. Testimony meeting was great. We got to hear a great experience one family had just had visiting with the prophet, and other beautiful testimonies.

John is the bishop of the ward so he was gone almost the entire day. He was doing normal bishopy stuff and also preparing for a ward fireside.

Being fast Sunday the kids were all starving and ready to eat at 5pm. There was pretty much a count down the last few minutes. Then we had a mad rush of cereal, sandwiches and then spaghetti.

John, Kim and Ashley, and Sam, Josh, Richard and I all went to the fireside. Sheri Dew was the speaker. Josh and Ashley got to speak with her for about 5 minutes before the fireside. Josh didn't realize who she was or that she was the speaker. He just thought she was a cool lady. The fireside was amazing. She is a powerful speaker and filled with such wisdom and the Spirit.

I won't go into the whole thing, that would take up a whole post alone, but I learned a lot and felt uplifted and encouraged.

Afterwards, John introduced Sam, Richard and I to Sheri. She talked to Sam about his upcoming week at EFY and told him she expected a full report when it was over.

We returned home to the Bytheways and settled down for the night to watch 17 Miracles and eat popcorn and Red Vines. John had a screening copy, so he could write a review about it. It was missing a few sound effects and had some interesting cricket chirping, because it wasn't a finished copy. It was a touching movie about the Willie handcart company. Go see it if you get the chance. Bring your tissues!

Monday morning we packed up and head down to Provo to drop Sam and Josh off at BYU for Especially For Youth. It, like always, was hard for everyone to leave the Bytheways. We love them so much! But we knew we would be back there in a few days.