July in December: Utah Trip Part 3

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!   I will be sharing the final part of our Utah trip today (see Part 1 here and Part 2 here), and then will be back Thursday for the final part of the Review Extravaganza 2013!  If you haven't linked up at all yet, you can just jump in and recap the entire year.; also don't forget to share your goals or wishes for 2014 as part of your recap.

Thursday

Thursday morning Glenn and Melidee watched the kids while the rest of the grownups went to the temple, much less eventful then the time my water broke there.  Then we all went into Salt Lake.  We ate lunch at the cafe in the Joseph Smith Building and then toured Temple Square.  If you ever go to Utah, I definitely recommend seeing Temple Square.

Not only are the grounds so beautiful, but there is the visitors center with beautiful artwork, the statue of the Savior, interactive videos and so much more.


Right across the street is the Church history museum and on the top floor there is an awesome FREE kids museum.  It is pretty small but they kids love it.

That evening my in-laws neighborhood was having a walk-about.  Basically you could go around and meet your neighbors and people would be sitting in their driveways with treats to share.  Throughout the week, Melidee helped the kids each make their own giant puppet that they then wore for the walk about.   It was quite the thing to see and they were definitely the hit of the event.



We ended the night with the family games.  Melidee sent each family a game/riddle type thing that each family learned and then shared it with the group.

During the trip we also had tastings this year.  We had a fudge tasting, an exotic fruit trusting,


a root beer tasting (think wine tasting), and a blind-carmel tasting.

Raelynn spilled some of her root beer and couldn't waste it

It was so fun and we voted and determined our favorite root beers and caramels (the root beers are in winning order from left to right).

Friday

Friday we took our annual trip to the Miller Motor Speedway for some awesome go-kart racing.  Lucas was actually old enough to drive this year but opted not too, as these go-karts go fast and you can crash (happened to me a few years back).
The kids all watched and cheered the grownups on.   The zip-line chairs were not working but there was a free rock climbing wall.  Alex loved it and kept going again and again.

Lined up in birth order

Friday night Glenn and Melidee watched all the kids again while the rest of us went out for sushi at Icihbans Sushi, awesome sushi place in downtown Salt Lake and was actually the first place I ever really had sushi; which made it a perfect spot for Todd and Rachel's first real sushi experience.
Oh and the umbrella's I told you about, that we got as part of the Christmas in July, family pictures were needed with them of course.
Saturday Saturday it was time to say goodbye.  
Quinn and Ryder added their handprints to the wall this year, as they all get to when they are 3. Yes they are all pink, started when a certain oldest grandchild (cough-Lucas) used to have the favorite color of pink.
We ate at Cafe Rio  and tried Sam's slack line.  It was actually quite difficult and I couldn't stay up without holding on to someone.   Melidee was by far the best at it of anyone.  It is always sad to say goodbye. It was such a wonderful trip and I am so grateful for all that my in-laws do to make it so fun every year.