Another Utah trip

Utah. I don't know if we lived there again where'd we "vacation." With Ammon's family there and with it being a regular vacay spot with my family, we're there at least a few times a year. This time, my mom and her presidency had to go up a few days before conference to go to a Relief Society meeting at the Tabernacle with the General RS presidency. Of course, Matthew and I couldn't go to that, but we decided that we'd go up and we could hang out for a few days before the rest of the family arrived later that week. We left early Tuesday the 30th and drove up in the beast. Me, Matthew, my mom, Kathy, Dorinda, Margaret and her two boys. It was quite the little drive up. Matthew had a lot of grandmas that trip and he just loves the limelight. He loved Kathy's singing when he got restless in the car, loved Dorinda's candy and would say "No, No, No, Dat" to Margaret. Since we were staying in Park City, we thought it would be a little colder so we packed some long sleeved shirts. Who knew that it would be SNOWING SNOWING SNOWING the next day. Our plan was to go to the temple before their meeting, but it took us way longer than expected to get downtown because of the craziness of the weather. Everything turned out great though. We got to visit Temple Square, see the visitors' centers, see the amazing new Deseret Book, eat at the Nauvoo Cafe, and Matthew and I got to watch the Joseph Smith movie while they were in their meeting. Matthew and I also got to go meet Joanna for lunch that day. It was a long day for Matt, but everything turned out great in the end.

We ate at Zoom in Park City one night. It was freezing for Matthew, but who knew that I needed to pack for snow?!

Wednesday was even colder, but worse because I was pushing Matthew through a blizzard in his stroller. He couldn't understand why I had to cover him so he couldn't see out.

He LOVED this room. He loved seeing the stars, the moons and of course Jesus. He tried to high-five him every time he looked up at him. How cool to be a little kid seeing this big of a Jesus. I'm sure he thought that was the coolest thing.

The new downtown Deseret Book had just opened the week before and I LOVED it! I could've stayed in there for hours. They had this amazing replica of the Tabernacle for the choir and statues, pictures and a Lion House pantry to buy amazing food (like rolls, candy, etc). It was so much fun to visit there!

Matthew loved Joseph Smith and also wanted to high-five him.

One of the best parts of the store. The food!

Snowy Salt Lake temple. How I miss it!

We got to eat at the Nauvoo Cafe and it was SO GOOD! I loved being there and seeing all the Nauvoo pictures. Oh, how I miss that place too!

Thursday was a great day too because I got to take Matthew over to Ammon's dad's house and I got to attend the Draper temple! The temple was so beautiful and I was so lucky that I got to go without even having to worry about Matthew. I'm sure he had a good time with Mark, and he loved their dog (of course). Again, how spoiled is this child?! Sloan, Chris and the kids drove up that April Fool's Day (I didn't even get to play pranks on Ammon this year. Sad.) and they came up to the condo with us after we ate together in Salt Lake. What a great day it was!

Matthew and Gavin are so funny together. My dad's old mission companion owns this condo in Park City and he was so nice to let us stay there for free. It was so much fun (and Matthew even slept in one of the closets! It was perfect. Quiet, dark and his own little space. He actually loved it and slept so well!)

Chris loved playing in the snow with them. Matthew didn't know what to think.

Friday was a great day because that was when Ammon came up with my Dad. We cleaned up in Park City and drove down to meet my dad and Ammon in Salt Lake at our hotel. Ammon was so tired since he got off work at 5 am and they left not too long after that, so after a quick nap for all three of us, we were able to leave and go see Ammon's dad, brother and sister. It was so nice to visit with them. It is always hard with them living in another state and our trips to Utah being so short. With so much family (and none living that close to each other), it is always hard to leave without seeing them more often. We got to go to dinner that night and eat some Sushi and got to go see Nate's new apartment that we've never seen. It was actually really cute. We were out super late that night and Matthew fell asleep anytime he was in his carseat for more than two minutes. All of them just adore Matthew though and we had a good time visiting.

Matthew with Zuko, Tanisha and Bryan.

Tired boy.

Early Saturday morning, after only getting four hours' sleep, we got Matthew up so we could go up to Ogden to see Ammon's mom. Right when we got there, right around 8 am, Ammon's stepdad, Kevin, was there to get Ammon's brother, Patrick. It was perfect timing because we got to see Pat and Kevin and Kevin finally got to meet Matthew. He is SOOOO nice and is always sooooo giving to Ammon and me. He gave us money for Easter (so nice) and said that he wanted to see us more. Again, another quick visit, but so fun.

Matthew with his grandmum and dad. We got to watch the first session with his mom and then we had to be on our way. Always on the run.

Sloan and Tabby had booked a princess party in between sessions, and I was Sleeping Beauty this time. I am in no way a good blonde, but it was none the less.

Saturday night, after watching the second session, and as always, the boys all got ready to go to the priesthood session and the girls got prepared to go shop. What a great tradition! Because of crazy traffic and not wanting to take two cars, we loaded everyone up in my Mom's van. We had a lot of fun that night and so did the boys. They weren't in car seats! One time, Gavin was standing up while driving and Sloan said, "Gavin sit down or I'm going to strap you in a seatbelt." It was hilarious because we were only driving a few blocks at a time, but we had fun shopping at Old Navy and the crazy crowd at Deseret Book.

Back in the day, we never had to worry about parking because well, we stayed at the Marriott and just walked wherever we went. But we always have to stress about parking...until this time. We found AMAZING parking...especially when we had to meet everyone for dinner at the Lion House. Right across the street. I just had to take a picture of it.

The kids loved their balloons they gave them that night.

Eating! What a great tradition our family has with eating at the Lion House every six months and meeting up with the Ponds and Yarbroughs. It was so nice for all of us to be there after two years of Chris being gone!

The boys love their Uncle Chris.

We are at 13 right now (Zane wasn't there that weekend). I can't believe how big our family is getting!

At our hotel. Ammon, Matthew and I slept upstairs. My mom, dad and Chris all slept downstairs, and Sloan, the kids, and Shaun, Gina and Amelia, slept in the room across the way. It was actually a great setup for the kids to play and Ammon and I had the most comfortable bed. I never wanted to get out of it!

Easter morning! We had such a great Easter! Matthew got an Elmo basket with Elmo grass, a movie, a toothbrush, book, eggs, crayons, candy...all Elmo. He got an Easter book that he has loved ever since. It tells the stories of Christ and the first Easter and there is a page with him on the cross and Mary is kneeling down and is crying. She has her hands on her face and everytime he gets to that page, he puts his hand on his face because he knows that is what we do when someone is sad. He loves the page with the Last Supper on it and is always asking about who Judas is. He got a lot of Easter stuff, including a little picture of Jesus with a boy who is praying and folding his arms just like Matthew. It was too cute. He got spoiled from his grandmas and loved playing with his toys.

Ammon got me a few church CDs and an Old Testament book with a movie on Emma Smith and the movie about the Christ pictures taken by Mark Mabry (he got me the book for my birthday last year). I got him the Mitt Romney book, Sons of Provo movie (if there is ever a movie to describe Ammon's personality, this is it!), and some candy. I got him the Eclipse CD, some Hawaiian things and Marley and Me (and AMAZING movie).

We were so lucky to have this Easter to spend together and that we were able to see both our families. But, the best part was that we were able to watch conference on Easter! President Monson gave one of the best talks I can remember about Christ and the Resurrection. I love hearing the conference talks and I swear every 2 out of 3 were on children and the youth of the church. Maybe because that is what I hear, but I sure loved conference this time. Elder Holland is am amazing speaker and is just so blunt that I love it. I heard wonderful things about the priesthood session, including how President Monson said it was one of the best he has ever been to. Elder Rasband was true to his word and spoke about raising young children to be missionaries. I can't wait to read more of those talks. President Eyring did a wonderful job as well. We were SO LUCKY to see them and hear their voices on such a sacred day!

My testimony of Christ was strengthened that day because I just look at my little boy and get such an appreciateion for Christ and that he was willing to die so not only I could raise a family, but that my son could grow up to be one of his servants! How lucky we are to have such a knowledge of the Savior and that we are able to see his prophets every six months. I know that Christ died for me! I know that he loves me and that our Heavenly Father loves us just as we can love our own children. I know that we can return to Him one day all because of the Atonement. We are so blessed to have this knowledge!

All the kids got little Easter masks. So cute.

Matthew and Amelia's Easter outfits. Matthew got to wear something other than a white shirt on this particular Sunday because we weren't going to church! They looked so cute.

We got to go back up to Ogden to see Ammon's mom again since the 4th is her birthday. It was so good to see her on her birthday. We also got to see her husband, Bill, this time and barely missed Hailey (she's a workaholic!). We got to listen to conference the rest of way home on the radio and I realized that was such a good way to listen. When you can't see their faces, you gain a better appreciation of what they are saying.

Happy Easter!

We got to drive home safely that night and Ammon had work that night, so it was Matthew and I all alone in my parents' big house. We got to watch Emma Smith's movie and I gained a bigger testimony for Joseph and got a better attitude toward Emma. It was such a fun week and a GREAT Easter!