~ part 3: Salt Lake valley & driving to Zion

So... I have to include some photos of the Salt Lake valley that we took as we were driving around...

We saw SO many temples on this trip, which we thought was just really cool.

It cracks us up to watch the silly little games our kids come up with. Caleb and Kizi were playing "store" while Jonathan and I were getting ready to go to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house. They were laughing SO hard that it was making us giggle a little bit too...  :)

And Calvin of course was drawing more cartoon sketches in his new journal...

The Oquirrh Mountain temple!

("da da-da DAH!" did you hear the trumpets?)

We felt very fortunate to have been able to take our kids through the temple open house. For those of you who aren't familiar with how this works, the newly-built temples are open to the public for several weeks for an ongoing open house. At the end of that time the temple is dedicated and from that point on, only members of the church with temple recommends are allowed inside the temples.

Jonathan remarked that this temple reminded him quite a bit of Solomon's temple.

Walking back to our friends' home. For those of you who remember Karen and Lincoln Scoffield-- this is their new home (below)!!! I know, kind of funny that they have their "back" to the temple, but it wasn't up to them, it was the developer. But how cool is that to be able to walk over to the temple to do a session???

After the temple open house, we visited with Karen and Lincoln and their little boy Parker, including going to lunch together. Of course I was a dork and forgot to take photos until after Lincoln had to go back to work! Karen showed us where the REI was and it was then that we took a few photos. Parker is getting so big, and so darn cute!

And then we hit the road again and headed south towards Springville, where we spent the night and had hoped to catch up with some old friends from Albuquerque but who ended up not being able to meet up with us after all. 

These guys were just amazing!!!!! Doesn't that look like a TON of fun??? There must have been 100 of them. 

The next morning, our wonderful friends and family members Melanie and Jason, and their two sweet children, met us at the hotel so we could hang out for a bit. Melanie is a Pugmire, and is 2nd cousins with Jonathan. We had "met" on Facebook through Jonathan's mom, and she is a fellow massage therapist as well. 

But meeting them in person was just... amazing. 

We felt an instant, strong connection with them... and even saying that doesn't really do it justice. We've realized since then even more just how much we have in common with them, but again, "in common" doesn't really do it justice either. Melanie and Jason, we truly love you guys, and you embody the term "family" in the absolute best sense of the word.  

Kizi took this shot and really wanted me to include it... so here it is... little goofball!

After a great visit with Melanie and Jason (while the kids ran around and used up some energy), we had lunch with Jonathan's Grandma Tanner. Thanks to Melanie and Jason for letting us know that Grandma Tanner was back in Springville, as we thought she was still in California with Jonathan's mom. Again, we spaced and forgot to take photos!!! But we had a lovely lunch with her and then were on the road to

ZION!!!!

Of course we had to stop at Grandma Tanner's old house in Levan. That old tree out front was supposedly planted there at the suggestion of Brigham Young, after he stayed there overnight on a trip. Jonathan has many fond memories of visiting his Grandma and Grandpa Tanner there... 

And of course I had to stop in at Burns Saddlery in Salina!

(www.burnssaddlery.com)

I did some drooling, but behaved myself and only bought a headstall (bridle), t-shirt, and awesome red jacquard silk wild rag and scarf slide. 

The kids and Jonathan were super patient, and earned a big fat ice cream cone from the stand next door.

We drove through some insanely beautiful territory on this trip, and this day was no less gorgeous.

My camera was being retarded so these photos don't accurately reflect the red color in the hills, but it was SOOOOOOOOO pretty...

We pulled in to the ranch for the reunion around 9pm, after ogling the countryside and dawdling over great brisket for dinner!