Quick Stop in Broomfield

After we finished viewing the four temples that morning, we turned the car east and headed for Colorado, as the first leg of our journey home.  We got a late start after the two hours it took us to see the temples, plus construction and traffic meant we didn't get in until much later than planned on Thursday evening.  But we made it!

And since we only had one day in Broomfield, we set out to enjoy it!  And to be outside as much as possible!

Candace came by with her three kids so we could have a quick visit - yay!

We only had a few hours with them, so we made the most of them (including lunch from Cafe Rio, which I made it the whole time in Provo without going to once.)  

Does that look like paradise or what???  Look how green it is!  And not one single fire ant in sight!

The kids even ate lunch outside!

Although they did their best to find shade to eat in ;)

The fun must have been to much for Halle, because this is how I found her shortly thereafter:

While the other kids finished up their playing!

She soon rejoined us - didn't want to miss out on the fun!

After they left, we went with Grandma and Uncle Evan to visit Natasha and see all her animals, including a new bunny (who was not as evil as he looks).

Halle and Eve loved touching the cats, ferrets, and rabbit, and watching the turtle....

...but Abigail did not!  I guess animals really can sense fear cause this little guy kept getting close to her and she'd let out a scream!  (She had a bad experience getting hit in the face by the tail of a friendly dog of a nice family here in our Lubbock ward and since then is scared to death of all animals.  I bet it'll wear off....)

Natasha took us to the park near her house and sugared the girls up with kool-aid and donuts!  Delicious!

Once we were back at Grandpa and Grandma's, it was back outside!

And that's basically how we spent our Broomfield day!  I didn't take any pictures, but we had homemade pizza and homemade ice cream that night - the perfect way to end the day!

The girls needed a few minutes to color on the chalkboard before we had to leave on Saturday morning:

And suddenly it was time to say our goodbyes :(

We were sad to go, but anxious to get home to Daddy!  One more day in the - we can totally do this!

No crankies that a little McDonalds can't help to ease:

The girls were mostly good in the car and after a very eventful two weeks, we made it safely home late that evening.  Tired, but happy, and very, very, very glad to see Dad again!  Although Abigail was shy around him for the first little bit and would cry and try to get back to me when he held her.  That was gone by Sunday morning and we were back into the swing of our new life in Lubbock!

The Rest of Our Utah Vacation

We used our days in Provo to the absolute fullest!  We had 5 1/2 days, but they flew by!  When you're having fun.... :)

First things first - fill that pool!  And of course they all got soaking wet in the filling of it.

We meant to let it sit in the sun for a while before beginning the swim time, but little girls don't like to be kept waiting!  And don't mind cold water, apparently....

And since it was the 3rd of July, we figured some snaps might be kid - approved.  And so they were!  Under Aunt Laura's supervision, the girls had a great time making a mess of Grandpa's driveway :)

The 4th was a hot, tiring, fun day, beginning with the Provo parade.  Lance joined me to help with the girls, thankfully, and we squatted on my parents' seats.  Also thankfully, it was fairly cloudy until just as the parade was ending.  It was hot enough regardless!

This cowboy balloon particularly caught the girls' attention - they were convinced it was Luigi and still talk about it:

Uncle Lance treated the girls to otter pops for which they were very grateful!  

We're not as grumpy as we look, but parades can be exhausting! 

After the parade, it was off to my Uncle Dennis and Aunt Kathy's house for a Larsen 4th of July bbq.  We'd just seen everyone the day before at the close of the reunion, but this gave us one more chance to mingle.  Or sit in the shade with Uncle Evan:

And play with our cousins!

Then back to the Smith's to cool off in the pool - with more cousins!  Eve and Lexi were fairly effective at wetting the entire back porch.  

I tried to keep at least Eve up for fireworks that night, but they took their sweet time in starting.  We did see some smaller displays from Grandpa and Grandma's front yard, but went to bed before the Stadium of Fire began it's show.  But not before Eve got to do some sparklers!  Halle and Abigail pooped out much earlier.  

Sunday was fairly quiet and Eve devoted herself to cleaning out the Smith's ice cream supply:

On Monday the girls played, and played, and played!

Halle joined me that afternoon for an excursion to buy new tires for our car and enjoyed playing with blocks in the waiting area.  Two stores and about three hours later, we finally had two new tires!

We swung by the store on our way back to Grandma's and look what we found???

Grandma made a feast that night and we devoured it!  Yum, yum!

Then Kayla and I went to work - she's been tempting me for over a month now with a recipe she found for Andes mint cake.  So of course we had to make it!

I said I would help with the baking as long as Kayla did the decorating - with a little help from Lisa, it was soon done!

Not professional, but pretty dang good!  And you can bet we enjoyed it :)

On Tuesday, we went on what I thought would be a half-day trip, but ended up taking until almost 7pm!  

We headed north to see my friend Katie and play at their house - which we did with zest for a couple of hours!  It was so good to see her!  Kelly even stopped by for a bit and Grandma came with us, so it made it all the better!  

Things have changed just a bit since we were roommates....8?...9?....years ago.  Either way, it's been a bit :)

After a fun morning with them, I wanted to make a couple of stops on our way home.  I'd decided I wanted to take the girls to see the 10 temples in the vicinity.  And since I wasn't planning on driving this far north again before we left, I thought we'd see the first few that Tuesday afternoon after leaving Katie's.  Little did I realize how long it would take.  The temples will get their own post, but needless to say, that's how we spent the rest of the day on Tuesday.  

On Wednesday, we made our trip to BYU to see Grandpa at work!  Maren showed the girls how to leave their mark:

We love Grandpa!

Afterwards, we met up with my friend Marinda for lunch at the Creamery.  I really wanted to take the girls there for ice cream, but the line for ice cream was so ridiculously long (and never got shorter the whole time we were there!) that I gave up after we ate.  That'll have to wait for another trip.  But it was fun to see Marinda!  

We were starting to realize that our time in Provo was almost up, so it was back outside to sit in grass - you know, stuff you can't do in Texas.  Got to appreciate it while you can!

That evening, Eve and Halle went to play at Maren's house with Uncle Danny while Grandma, Aunt Laura, me, and Abigail went shopping!  

Despite her enthusiasm, we didn't find anything good, but Grandma and Aunt Laura did!  And we had fun nonetheless :)  

We got back in time to meet Eve, Halle, Maren, and Lexi at the park!  Where Aunt Kayla captured some of the madness that is 5 little girl cousins!

It all started out fairly calmly...

....but quickly progressed....

....to chaos!  

Grandma with her girls!  Crazy, crazy, girls :)

My girls knew they had to work out as much energy as possible since we had a day in the car ahead of us in the morning - so they did!

We had an amazingly great time in Provo and only wished that Daddy could have been with us!

Next time.....