Road trip to Utah

So the day after my birthday, Kaiden & I jumped in the car & took a road trip to Utah. Yeah, I know we have been there twice since the end of May but this time I was going to catch up with some friends. BJ, with his little girl Emma, who now live in Slovakia was going to be home due to a family reunion , so I thought it would be a great opportunity to catch up with some of my oldest and dearest . . . . . It was all a little rushed & last minute but Kris (one of my Mission comps) & Kam (her twin) said we could crash at their place, even though they already had a house full (they have their nephews staying with them right now). Brilliant . . . so off we went.

We arrived in the Valley on the Tuesday night & went straight to K & K's. It was great to see them this time. Last 2 fleeting trips we made into Salt Lake with Nana, Pop & then with Grandma were really short & fly in fly out jobs so I didn't get to see anyone. Not this time though. We spent 2 days with Emma & BJ which was great. Emma is just a darling. We took the kids to the Children's Museum, an Auto Museum & a huge park in the city which I can't seem to think of it's name . . . . it will come to me. Anyway, we had a great time with them. It has been over 13 years since I had seen B but it didn't feel like it, except we were both toting around kids this time round. The kids had a great time despite the lack of sleep out bursts by my little gremlin & so did I. We didn't get to see them again until Sunday because Emma developed the chicken pox somewhere along the way . . . poor little thing but she seemed to take it all in her stride. Still I made a quick visit to say bye on the Sunday. Hopefully we'll get to see them again & this time hopefully we'll meet B's wife Silvia. Poor Silvia was back home in Slovakia 8 months pregnant so she missed out on making the trip & of course Simon was back in Denver working. Hopefully next time we can have everyone together (including their new little boy due on Sept 4th)

Kaiden & Emma

I also was able to catch up with the President & Sister Stohlton. Kris & I took a trip to Provo to visit with them. They are just the same. It was great to chat & swap stories. President was called into the MTC for a crisis with one of the Sister Missionaries but luckily for us we were still talking when he got home a couple of hours later. Sister Stohlton's niece, Jennifer Darby also served with us in Melbourne & she lives 2 miles & 4 Stakes away from the Stohlton's so she popped in to say hi, which was a nice surprise. I just had such a nice visit with them. What great people they are. I am truly thankful they were my Mission Parents! The only bummer was I forgot to take a photo of them both. I was really annoyed about that. Oh well.

Saturday afternoon we caught up with Brad & Jen Davis who I also haven't seen for 13 years. They live in Weber just north of SLC with their 3 kids Garrett, Riley & Reed. Honestly they are the most beautiful kids ever as you can see from their pics below.

Garrett, Jen, Riley, Brad & Reed

I 1st met Brad when he was Elder Davis serving in the Perth Mission in '92, so we have been friends for 16 years & then we caught up again in Dec '94 & early '95. He was Josh's flat mate at the time so I saw a lot of him in those days. That's around the time that he met Jen & shortly there after they were engaged & the rest is history. They were some fun times. Needless to say I love those 2 & we had a great time catching up & remembering way back when. Meanwhile,

Kaiden was excited to meet the kids although it took him a few mins to warm up as he'd fallen asleep in the car on the trip up. Did I mention that he was suffering from self inflicted sleep deprivation. Anyway, Kaiden was so excited to find out the Garrett is only 1 month older than him. An otter pop (icy pole) or 2 later & they were off for the rest of the night.

Later that night they had some friends stop by and we all watched the fire works that were being set off at the local fair that had been going on all day across the road. A brilliant way to end the night & a great way to wind the kids down. Riley fell asleep on Jen's lap & the boys started to quieten down as well although if it had been up to Kaiden he would have stayed up with Garrett all night. And I ain't kidding. What a brilliant arvo with a brilliant family, I didn't want to say good bye. I hope they do visit us in Denver before we leave for home or at least we might be able to visit them again in Utah. Simon would get on great with them, they're so easy going.

Sunday was more quiet. Kaiden & I went to church with Kris, then Kaiden played with Landon & Turner (Kris' nephews) until it was time for them to head up to Grandma's in Idaho. I visited BJ to say good bye then came home late afternoon & hung out with the girls while we all watched the Olympics & Kam packed for her trip to Arizona. It was great to hang with Kris this week. She is awesome with such a big heart. Honestly that girl would do anything for anyone if she thought she was helping. We had some fun reminiscing about the times we had on the mission & we laughed a lot. She is a great friend & she has a great sister as well. We love seeing Auntie Kris & Auntie La la. But I didn't get their photo either! Buggers . . . . they hate photo's.

Kaiden, Landen & Turner sometime during their week of play

Then we headed off Monday morning for the 8 hour drive home to Denver. It wasn't a bad drive actually & we made good time. Safely home again . . . . . until the next time!