Utah: A haricut and one last night of family fun

This is my last Utah/Idaho post. Scroll down for a lot more!
The whole trip, Mackenzie was made fun of for her mullet and rat tail. So a couple days before we left, I performed the first haircut.

That night, some of Keith's cousins and Aunts and Uncles came over to say hi. Mackenzie was hammin it up for them with "Popcorn Popping" and "Head, shoulders, knees and toes"

Utah: Fun at the park

The main reason we went to Utah this summer was to attend my grandma's 80th birthday party. Only a few relatives were unable to make it. It was so busy and packed, I didn't manage to take a single picture of the event but we were so glad we could be there to celebrate such a wonderful woman. We love you Grandma!
Below are random pictures from parks and the slip n' slide Katie and Brandon set up.

Utah: Friends

One of our favorite parts about Utah is the fact that so many of our friends live/visit there. I didn't get pictures of everyone and I had to steal a couple of these off of friends blogs

Top Left: One of my best friends from Spokane Ashley Murphey (Barnes)
Top Middle: Old roommates Kaleena and Amber
Top Right: Old Roommate Amber and our friend Devanie Bottom Left: Our husbands that roomed together in college; Sam, Keith, Scott

It was a blast to get together for a roommate reunion and girls night. Amber and I married roomates and so we bonded a lot in college while we stalked then dated and eventually married our husbands. Keith and I really loved BYU-I and the friends we made there! We miss you all!

Idaho: The Green Belt

This is the prettiest area in Idaho Falls to me. We like to do this walk when we're in town. I was able to talk my parents into impromptu family photos which is a pretty amazing feat.

Top left: My sister Rachel and her husband Heath with her kids Kate and Taft
Middle: All the siblings L-R David, Rachel, Nycole, me, Caleb

Top Right: My parents with all of the grand kids

Bottom middle: The sisters with our girls. We'll have to wait and see if David and Caleb have firstborn girls as well.

Idaho: Henry's Fork

This was one of the highlights of Idaho for us: Floating down Henry's Fork. The weather was perfect, the view was amazing and the water felt so refreshing. My parents rented a raft and 4 tubes. I don't have a lot of pictures because I a lucky one on the tube most of the time

Idaho: Grandparents, Rexburg and the movies

We are really fortunate to have our parents live as close as they do. Salt Lake to Idaho Falls is only a 3 hour drive and Keith's parents are always so willing to lend us their car when we want to make the trip. We spent a week in Idaho and loved how relaxing it was. My sisters were both able to come and so our whole family (minus Scott) was able to be together for several days. Who knows when that will happen again.
Pictures: Kenz with my dad's parents and bottom right is Nycole's baby girl Paisley. She is such a good baby!! I loved cuddling her up all day.

Mackenzie has awesome uncles that like to play with her. Top left is my brother David and to the right of that picture is Caleb. My dad's work had a party at the movie theater so we went to see "How to Train Your Dragon" for $1. It was Kenzie's first movie theater experience and I don't think she watched more than 5 minutes of the movie. The pictures at the bottom were taken at Millhollow in Rexburg. It's one of our favorite places to eat. In Rexburg, we were able to spend time with our friends John and Meagan twice! It was so fun catching up and playing domino's for hours and hours. How did we seriously not get any pictures with you guys?

Utah: John & Amy's wedding

One of Keith's closest cousins John got married in the Manti temple while we were there. It was a beautiful temple and a wonderful sealing. I love attending Temple marriages, there's such a sweet spirit of peace and happiness that can't be found anywhere else.

Utah: Katie and Brandon's

We were able to stay with Keith's sister Katie and her husband Brandon for a couple nights. They hosted a BBQ with grilled ribs. Mackenzie loved the ribs. As you can see in the pictures below, she gnawed on one of the bones all night.
Kirk and Joy just had their 4th, a sweet little girl named Serena. The kids raced down the hill as Keith yelled out "Ready, Set, Go!"

We also went fishing on Strawberry Lake with Brandon and his friend. I didn't catch anything but Keith managed to get a couple.
Don't judge my outfit, it was cold and I had to "borrow" Brandon's sunglasses and sweatshirt.

Utah: Thanksgiving Point

This was a beautiful day. Kenz was really loving on her Grandma and all of us had a fun time at the Children's Gardens.

Utah: Kirk & Joy's

There's no way I can write one big long post about everything we did while we were in Utah, Idaho and Michigan, and I really don't think anyone would want to read one. So I've created more than a dozen collages to give a snapshot into our vacations starting at the beginning.

We arrived in Utah around 12 AM. Our 2 1/2 hour flight from Louisville to Denver ended up being 6 hours due to thunderstorms and we were actually really lucky our flight from Denver to Salt Lake wasn't any more delayed than it was. Kenz was such a trooper on the plane and we were lucky enough to have the only empty seat on the plane next to us for those 6 hours. Our first day was spent with Keith's family and that night (or the next- it all runs together) we went to his brother Kirk's house where we stayed up late playing Guitar Hero and catching up.

The photos in the bath are of Kenzie and Sophie. Sophie wasn't all that happy about Kenz sharing the bath with her despite the free backrubs. Eva received some stickers from Aunt Rebecca and Gideon was showing off his pearly whites. Oh and that little boy in the monkey backpack? That's what our little boys are going to look like. She was at our babysitting swap and managed to soak herself so our friend dressed her in her little boys clothes. I hardly recognized her when I picked her up and Keith's mom said "That little boy could be Mackenzie's twin" when she saw the picture :)