June's long gone, and it was fun! Here's to Utah!

 We headed to Utah the first weekend of June and made it a fun vacation instead of a sad remembrance that my mom no longer lives there in the flesh!  We didn't get north of Layton.  I was very okay with that.  The kids are such awesome car drivers and had a great drive of around 2,000 miles in 7 days.  I'm putting pictures of Mr. T in here, just because I don't want to be selective about pictures that I share.  Don't get me in trouble with anyone!!!

Side note update, I'm not sure if Mr. T will ever be adopted! Just kidding, but now we are still somewhere between 4-6 months away from a final adoption.  It's so sad that the system will have allowed this child to be "in care" from the age of 3 to 6.  What a shame.  However, he's not going anywhere and he's clearly one of our own.  Hence, the photos.

We spent the first few days in Salt Lake City where swam and visited Temple Square. 

 Kedzie and Travis got to see the Mo Tab perform.  We also went to the zoo and the planetarium.  

It was a great SLC experience.  

We also had a great day with Karen and Sam at Lagoon.  Can't go to Utah without seeing them or riding rides.  Notice the couple making out in our pix! Awesome photo bomb. 

We spent two nights with Grandma Wood.  She is the sweetest, kindest, most loving 93 year old great grandma.  We are grateful to have her in our lives.  The kids admired her vegetable garden and played games with her.  I'm grateful they have a chance to get to know her.  

We met Grandma, Grandpa and Reggie and had them join us on our journey South.  We spent four days in the St. George area.  We hiked a trail in Bryce Canyon and two trails in Zion National Park.  It was beautiful, refreshing and memorable.  Kedzie even hiked in her boot.  The deer at Zion were so familiar with people, they didn't spook at all when we were about a yard away from them.  Amazing.

Once again, the highlight of our trip was the pool! The kids love to swim.  I'm glad they had fun.

We also did some touring in St. George.  All the "Mormon" sites.  It was hot, yet enjoyable.  

Six of us took an evening to go to Tuacahn and see  The Wizard of Oz.  What an amazing production.    I was so impressed.  We loved every minute of it.  Who couldn't with a stage/view like that.  I teared up as I looked at those beautiful mountains and felt that my mom was really happy that we were there and experiencing something that she would have loved.  It was tender.  

We headed back up to stay with Grandma Wood again and visited the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point.  A museum I would recommend to almost anyone.  And then we headed to our annual Romer Family Reunion in East Canyon.  Ethan lost his third tooth on the drive and couldn't have been more excited and surprised! 

The reunion was wonderful, as usual.  I only took a couple of pictures because we were all busy having fun and chatting it up with aunties and cousins.  It was great to catch up with each one of them and to sense my mom in their presence and to get a hug from everyone I love and have grown up with.  It was most fun to see my kids and my cousins kids, specifically Tamie and Carrie, play together and remember how we would play just like that as children.  It's weird to grow up!

We had a great vacation to Utah this year.  Enjoyed all of our family.  What a blessing that we have one another to support, encourage and love.  Truly blessed.  And this was just the second week of June! More to come.