In our lovely Deseret

We spent the last 2 weeks in Utah. (We're back now.) As usual when we go on a really fun trip, I didn't get a picture of everything we did that was great. But I actually did get quite a few pictures, way more than usual. iPhone FTW.

I should be cleaning up my house, doing laundry, and unpacking, but looking at photos is much more enjoyable.

When we asked the kids before our trip to Utah what they wanted to do while we were there, they all agreed that "Have Grandpa put us in jail" was the #1 goal. A very close second for Ida was to visit Harrison, her best friend from preschool who had moved to Utah last fall. Harrison and Ida got along great and it was a tragedy when he moved. Their reunion was just as thrilling as Ida had dreamed it would be. 

The second day we were there, Matt had to work for most of the day, so in addition to visiting Harrison, the kids and I went on a hike around Silver Lake with my sister-in-law Annie and her kids. It started off beautifully and ended abruptly with a tantrum from...someone...but the time we had there was fun, and the mountain views were breathtaking. (literally at times. altitude...)

The very next day, we randomly ran into Harrison at a pizza place near my in-laws' house. I'm still not sure what they were doing there, since it's a chain with another location much closer to their house. "Fate stepped in and dealt Ida a sweet card." (thank you Nicholas Sparks for my favorite worst movie line.)

We stopped by the Salt Lake City cemetery to visit Phil's parents' graves (Phil's mother, Diana, died when he was a teenager) and to visit Ida's namesake--Diana's mother, "Grandma Ida," who was a big part of Phil's growing-up life.

We stopped by a different cemetery to visit Rachel, Ida's other namesake. Who technically was not her actual namesake since we gave Ida the middle name Rachel mainly because I liked it. A few days after she was born we discovered that Phil's paternal grandmother was named Rachel. Coincidence? Well, yes. But still cool. So, despite the coincidence, we call Rachel Ida's namesake anyway.

Near Ida Strong's grave is President Hinckley's grave. I really miss that man. I'll always remember how I felt whenever I saw him speak. I'll always regret the time I could have talked to him (when I saw him in his golf cart in the parking garage underneath the administration building in SLC) but I didn't. Oh well.

We visited with my Aunt Alice and cousins Erika, Maddy and Axel and Amalia.

On the longest day of the year, we went to a pool party at Matt's brother Brian's house. We loved visiting with everyone and our kids had a blast. We drove home from the party at 10 p.m. while the sun was still setting.

The next day (Sunday) we went to Matt's brothers' ward and later that evening got together with several of his friends from high school. No pictures from that.

A few days later, we visited Sterling and Jessica--who used to live near us but moved to Utah last fall--and got to meet their fifth baby boy, Winston. I didn't get a picture of him but he was darling. We miss this adorable blond family. A lot. As you may or may not know, we shared a moving truck with them when we all moved here from Utah in 2006, before any of us had kids. We spent a lot of time together, especially when we first moved here. Twice Jessica and I had babies within a week of each other. Sterling and Matt, high school friends and college roommates, have a long history together of mischief and spooning.

JK, no spooning. Actually there may have been some.

We visited Matt's dear Grandma Verla's grave and left a Coke can there for her, as is apparently the tradition. Neither of us had been back to her grave since her funeral in 2008. Verla is buried next to her husband Keith--namesake of Matt and Theo--and her son Casey (KC/Keith Curtis).

We spent the afternoon at BYU and I got to chat with my old boss Susan at Special Collections (where, side note, apparently my uncle Lyn now works, along with Lyn's wife Rose Ann's cousin Russ, who was my other boss at SC. Random). Susan reminded me that she had hired me when I was 17 years old. Pretty funny. I loved that place. Lots of memories there, including meeting my very own husband in 2002. Also lots and lots of Audiogalaxy downloads. Also lots and lots of typing. Also, I became a librarian eventually, so there's that too.

It was a gorgeous day. The temperature was in the 90s but we weren't even hot. "It's a dry heat"

The next day, we met my brother Harry and his family at the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point. I didn't get any real pictures besides this one (note Porter in the corner)

(another side note. Theo and Ida happily and of their own accord decked themselves in brand-new BYU gear but Lars refused even to try a BYU shirt on)

And this one of Dawn and Deacon while we ate lunch.

Side note regarding the museum. It is really cute and fun for kids and I recommend it to all. However, what I do not recommend is trying out the python thing. There's this big metal column where you can compare your strength with a python's strength. A python (or maybe it's a cobra...don't remember) can exert 2,000 lbs of pressure by squeezing with its body. Visitors to the museum can hug this big metal column and a sensor measures how much pressure they exert. I tried it, hugging it as hard as I could, and got to about 170 lbs of pressure, which I thought was impressive. It hurt a little where my necklace was but I didn't really think about it. The next day I had a cluster of small, red bruises on my chest and a pain in my sternum. Before I could get frantic about it...as I am wont to do...Matt reminded me that I had squeezed a metal column with all of my physical strength, pressing my breastbone up against the metal with my necklace in the way. The bruises were exactly where my necklace hangs. A week later, it still hurts. Apparently a bruised sternum can take up to 6 weeks to heal. So that goes in the books for stupidest self-inflicted injuries, taking its proud place next to the time I ran into a door and broke my toe, didn't let that heal properly and then had to wear a surgical shoe for 6 weeks.

All that and I still haven't gotten to our time in Heber City. I have a few more pictures and stories about that adventure. It'll be worth the wait, I promise.