Monday, October 17, 2011

Fall Break = Quick Trip

We decided at the last minute to surprise our kids with a trip to Utah to see Brandon's family over Fall Break. I spent all day last Wednesday trying to pack for 14 people without my kids noticing. I finally finished packing at 2:45am and got the kids up at 3:00am to head to Utah. We didn't tell them where we were going and none of them even came close to guessing where we were heading. Porter finally clued in when he saw the 'Welcome to Utah' sign:) Even then they had NO idea that Grandma and Grandpa Martineau were there waiting for us!!


Miles and Brandon at our first potty stop!
This stop was the first of many times we would have people's jaws drop as they watched us unload the van:) I love seeing people's faces!!

On Saturday Grandma and Grandpa Martineau had a great idea to take the train from Ogden to Salt Lake. I've always wanted to take the kids to Temple Square and to tour the Conference Center! We had a Great time and the kids were very well behaved.
The Gang Waiting for the Train

Little Maron ran a fever the entire time we were there but was still a good little girl (well except at night and the fact that she didn't want to go to anybody but Brandon an d I)

Our kids and Brandon's niece, Adi, with Grandpa and Grandma Martineau outside the Conference Center.

Our Family at the Conference Center...I guess it was a bit bright for some of the kids:)

The Salt Lake Temple is still one of my favorites. It was neat to take the kids to see the Christus! We had a set of sister missionaries that started talking to us and the kids LOVED them! One of the sister missionaries actually had all of the kids' names memorized before we left:)
On the Train

More of the train ride

After church on Sunday we went for a drive up Ogden Canyon and went to a lake up there to let the kids play for a bit. It was ABSOLUTELY beautiful since all the trees were changing colors.

The kids playing and trying to skip their rock further than their Dad's...they just can't ever seem to beat him:) The little girl bending over is our niece Marly...I HAD to snap this pic!!

Grandpa and Miles are pretty good buddies! The picture on the bottom left is of Aunt Dusty dipping Porter's head in the lake (which he totally deserved:)

I HAD to capture this too!!

Uncle Caleb, Uncle Russ, little Lyla, and Aunt Chelsea & Joy

We had a great time visiting Brandon's family. I have been blessed with amazing in-laws and we love getting to see them every chance we get (which isn't near as often as we would like!) We also got to go see Brandon's Grandma Martineau who isn't doing well at all. We were sad to say goodbye as we are sure it would be the last time we got to see her here in this life!!



5 comments:

jenneday said...

You absolutely picked the best time to visit our beautiful state. It is our favorite time of year! The weather was perfect last weekend, wasn't it?
I have memories of trips in vans just like you are describing - I was that little one squashed in the middle - Ahhh the memories!

Nicole said...

How fun! We went up to Temple Square in May & wanted to go back this fall, but can't. Glad you had a good time:)

Shawna said...

Glad you guys got to go. It looks like a fun trip!

Kristal said...

I can't believe you managed to pack for 14 people and keep it a secret!! Holy smokes! What a fun trip. The picture of Miles is classic:)

Dawna Greer said...

You never cease to amaze me with your organizational skills and energy to take all those cute kids on a long car trip and all else you did. Way to go! Love all the pictures.