Here is a rundown from the week of July 28- Aug 1.  We had another busy, fun-filled packed week of sightseeing, movies (love the $1 theater!), shopping, eating, swimming, and fun.  We packed up our Cottonwood hotel on Thursday and headed to Provo to show the kids BYU, then went down to Joe and Heather's in Elk Ridge.  They have such a great place with a fabulous view.  We enjoyed staying with them, and the kids loved being able to hang out the whole weekend with cousins!   We are so thankful for Joe and Heather for taking our kids the entire weekend so we could attend the temple and the weekend activities!

Friday:  The catalyst for this whole road trip:  The Sealing of Dirk and Tina Gates!

We are so happy for them.  They were sealed in the SLC Temple on Aug 1 - their 10th anniversary.  We attended his first endowment session and then the sealing.  It was very emotional when the children came in to be sealed together with their parents forever.  

John and John DiGiovanni - a friend from work.  John D and his wife toured temple square while we were inside.

July 30th

Wednesday we headed up to Deer Valley to visit the Gates family

so the kids can play with Iyan and Aden.  We loved their cabin home - so beautiful and peaceful!

John loved having a place to work without interruptions, and reliable wi-fi.  He had been going down to the hotel lobby late at night to work each night.

and then on to Draper . . . Swimming and a barbeque at Kim and Kyle's! 

We were fortunate to be the first ones in their brand new pool!  

Brooke and Taylor had too much fun palling around together!  They were so cute.

Christian loved how EVERYONE has a theater room!  

He said he wanted one in our house (sorry, no basements here!) and would rather have a theater than the beach!  Who's kid is this?  Geesh!

Kim and Ashlyn on the trampoline

Madison and Brooke ended up sleeping over with Taylor and Riley.  They had so much fun with girl time and I'm grateful for the lifelong friends that we all are!

July 28th

On Monday morning, we hiked Mt. Timpanogos and toured the freezing caves.  The kids were troopers and made it up the 1 1/2 miles nearly straight up it seemed.

The views were spectacular!

Ashlyn needed to be carried the whole way up (that was a workout for me!). . .

and the whole way down (she slept that whole time).

We didn't pack any jackets for our whole trip, so we brought a blanket from the hotel to wrap up in.  I'm glad we did because it was so cold inside!

After hiking and then swimming at our hotel, 

we went over to Jason and Emily's for a barbeque.  Tiffany and Eddy were there

with their darling kids.  It was so fun to get together!  We miss

our good friends!!  Ashlyn loved holding baby Catelyn.  So cute!