The Westward Trek, First Half

Okay, what kind of lame mom goes on vacation and doesn't take her camera?  This one.  Yep.  Ugh.  So lame.  But, the girls took their iPods, and King had his phone, so we did manage to capture some of the fun we had in Utah.  Plus, my family was kind enough to share a couple of pictures (or, rather, I stole them off of facebook.)  :)

I headed out a couple of days earlier than the family because the girls were at Girls Camp, and King had work to do.  It was fun to see my parents and spend some time with Emily and her boys before all the craziness began.  Friday we headed up to SLC and Grandpa D picked the exhausted family up from the airport.  (Poor girls---they came straight from Camp, and then got stuck in the Denver airport for four hours.  They were so tired!)

Saturday, Emily and Patrick were sealed in the Draper Temple.  So happy for them!  It was a special day!

That evening we had my Dad's family reunion.  It was so fun to see so many of my aunts, uncles and cousins.  I wish we had more time to visit and get to know each other better.  But mostly, I wish we lived closer to all of these wonderful people!

The next morning, we got up early and went to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the Music and the Spoken Word.  Awesome!!  It was so neat.  Then we walked around Temple Square and enjoyed the beauty and the stories Grandpa told us about an interesting meeting he got to go to in the Salt Lake Temple.

Monday morning the girls were off to Especially for Youth at BYU for a week!  The theme this year was Helaman 3:35:

 "Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God."

The girls definitely grew firmer in their faith, and loved every second of the camp. It was a great time for them to share and learn, and grow their testimonies of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.  They met some great youth, and were able to spend time with our friend, Z, from Texas, too.

Meanwhile, King and I enjoyed seeing some friends and family and just having a little bit of down time.  We honestly didn't do a lot.  King worked, I rested, and we enjoyed a great 24th of July with my brother Nathan and his daughter, and my brother R.Jay, his wife Megan, and their son.  Relaxing and fun.

When we picked up the exhausted girls from EFY, we headed straight down to St. George.  The girls were ready for some down time.  We kept trying to get them to do more things, but they just wanted time to chill.  They had been going and going for weeks straight, and were glad for some "vacation" time.  We had fun playing games, watching movies, and just hanging out.  But, we also managed to be somewhat productive and got some school shopping done, as well as some temple work and lots of eating of good food. :)