4th of July Weekend in Utah!

July 4th

We had a great Fourth of July weekend in Utah! We caravaned up with Cammi and Lance in their car, and the rest of us in Dennis' car. The kids had a fun time together, with Becca and Mallory switching off riding with Carter and Reilly, and talking on to each other on walkie talkies.

They also had really fun travel bags which were put together by Grandma and Aunt Cammi, with workbooks, sketch pads, songs, card games, and road trip bingo. When we got there, we celebrated Kelly's Birthday and the Fourth at Angie's parent's house. We enjoyed "Cafe Rio" pork sandwiches, potato salad, chips and birthday cake!

Uncle Kelly was the official lighter of the fireworks!

He did a great job helping the kids! We were sorry to hear later that he singed the hair on his legs and burned his shirt! Afterwards, we headed to our nice hotel at Thanksgiving Point, and watched the town fireworks display from a grassy area there. Instead of the regular "oooh" and "ahh", I got the kids (Carter, Reilly, Becca and Mallory) to yell "pancake" every time they saw a round oval shaped one explode. They were funny, because they kept asking me if this was "finale time". Finally it was, and they all said "Awww! It's over???"

July 5th

The next day was a very special day! We got ready in our color-coordinated outfits and went to the park to take updated family pictures, since the Stohls now have two wonderful additions, Kevin's wife Stephanie, and Kelly and Angie's new baby, Laynie Lynne. Getting to the park proved to be a bit tricky, but we took a nice scenic drive through town with Uncle Sid, Kevin and Lance driving behind us (haha, Dennis!). We are thankful Cammi made it through the rush to get everyone situated at the park! From the park, we reassembled at Angie's parents house again to bless baby Laynie, and have a wonderful brunch prepared by Angie and her Mom...

Isn't she beautiful? She looks like a Stohl!

She had both of her Grandpas, Uncle Sid, Uncles Kris and Kevin, Uncle Lance, both of her Uncle Jasons and a couple of neighbors in her circle...

She had the three girl cousins (Becca, Reilly and Mallory) totally adoring and doting on her! Mallory was a natural at holding the baby, and the baby was good while she got passed around for all the kids to hold...

But of course, the boys love her too! Here are all 7 of the Stohl grandkids!
Laynie with her mommy...We also got to know Kevin's wife Stephanie. She is pretty and is very sweet! We are excited that she and Kevin are so happy, and excited to get to know her even better. We all loved her instantly. Here is Becca with Stephanie...

The rest of July 5th was spent near our hotel at Thanksgiving Point. It was a fun place, with a big dinosaur museum, movie theater, farm/petting zoo, gardens, food and shops. In between swimming in the hotel pool, we took the kids to the farm, where they fed goats, llamas, chickens, cattle, pigs and horses. They even got to milk a cow!


Kris fed a very big horse and got slobbered on...Becca liked milking the cow a bit more than Mal did!

They ran around so much we finally decided to put them in jail!

It was in a pretty setting...

After that, there was more swimming, and a trip for the adults to the movies, while grandma hosted a pajama party in her room for the grandkids (actually, they tried to do this every night, and by the last night, they actually decided they were too tired from all 3 late nights!)

July 6th

We got ready early and went to the Conference Center and Temple Square. We watched a live broadcast of "Music and the Spoken Word" with the Tabernacle Choir, so awesome!

Before leaving the Conference Center, we got another personal tour from Uncle Sid, who works there. We got to see the teleprompter booth, as well as the translating booths, then we walked around and looked at all the paintings and statues on all the levels, and went all the way up to the top, to take this picture...

We had to take a picture in front of the Christus... and by the reflection pool in front of the temple...

After that, we took a train ride to Applebee's to eat lunch...

This day of course was rounded out with fun times again at the hotel...

July 7th

We ate breakfast one last time at the hotel- eggs, sausage, muffins, a whole spread (the girls' favorite was making their own waffles). We said our goodbyes and headed home. On the way home, we stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats to let the girls stand on the salt and see it up close. They took a few small rock souveniers, and Becca decided that she wanted to research salt when she got home. Mallory chose to research the state of Utah. Here they are at the Salt Flats...

It was a quick but very memorable and fun trip! We are greatly indebted to Judy and Cammi for being the main organizers of it, helping us all be together and have a great time!