A Utah Memorial Day

Oh my goodness...we had one incredible Memorial Day weekend! Our short trip to Utah was thrown together last minute, after coordinating many moving pieces to make it all possible. I took work off last Thurs and Fri, and this Tues (yesterday). We got to the airport for a 7:30am flight Thurs morning...only to sit in the airport all day long. That's stand by for ya! 12 hours later, we finally got on a flight and got into Salt Lake just before 9pm. During our 12 hour wait at O'Hare, my oldest brother Josh sent me a text that said, "Just connecting through O'Hare, what's up sis?" I responded that we, too, were sitting in O'Hare...and what do ya know?....We got to hang out with Josh for an hour. So random, but so great!!

First pic on Utah soil. Devin reunites with his parents after a day in the airport that never seemed to end!
Devin went home with Mom and Dad Thurs night, and I got picked up by Amber and Kathy (cousin and aunt). I spent Thursday night and all day Friday with my family in Wanship, UT.

Amber's littlest (Isabell) and husband Cade.

Sadie and Boston...Amber's other two

Isabell in my shoes

We got up to find a beautiful morning and decided to head out for a walk. Wanship is in the country...how breathtaking is this scene?!

Friday afternoon, we had all the girls sewing in Amber's sewing room. Grandma Pace (my mom Lorna's mom) came over to observe.

Sadie and Kathy worked on some big fabric flowers to make head bands with for baby girl. Sadie had one that I loved, and I requested that she make the babe one too.

Amber worked on smocking the front of what will eventually be baby girl's baby blessing dress. She is very talented, and I'm so lucky she worked her creativity on my behalf :)

Pulling the fabric through the "smocker"

And I worked on the finishing touches of the baby quilt I've been in the process of making. I decided to machine quilt it, instead of doing it by hand. It's completely finished now, and I could not be more happy and excited to wrap up the babe in it!

After the sewing session ended, we headed upstairs to play Settlers. We had a Settlers marathon over Christmas break, and wanted a go at it again. SO FUN!

Sadie and Isabell...such sweet girls!

Friday night ended with a trip up to the Tranter family cabin. The cabin is just a few miles away from where my family lives in Wanship, so it works out nicely for me to meet up with the Tranters after a visit with the Paces. Devin, mom, dad, and I had Papa Murphy's pizza and played some Rook before the rest of the family arrived.

Jen and Dave drove up with 4 sleeping kiddos that needed to be taken straight to bed. I was the lucky one that got to carry my sweet niece Lucy to bed.

Sam, Lucy, and Jack sleeping 3 deep in the queen size bunk bed. I LOVE THEM!

We all woke up the next morning to Sam tracking a tiny little mouse around the downstairs. Grandpa finally caught him (see small rodent in bottom of green trash can) and the kids loved looking at him.

We had a morning and afternoon of games, games, games....air hockey, ping pong, foose-ball, and Rook. SO FUN!

And we played on the four wheeler for a litte bit. All the snow was melting, creating lots of muddy terrain!

After the cabin, Devin and I headed back up to Wanship to have a cookout with the Paces on Saturday night. We went for another walk....

Boston and Sadie love playing 500 with Devin....

Isn't this the sweetest picture? Every time grandma and grandpa are together they are touching or holding hands. Here is a product of 63 years of marriage!! Grandma will be 83 on June 11th and Grandpa will be 90 on September 4th.

Kathy with Isabell

Grandma does not like taking pictures...can you tell?

So...after dinner on Saturday night in Wanship, we drove back to Salt Lake and went to church with mom, Rob, and Sarah. After church we all drove down to Payson, Utah to take part in a Finch family get-together. Devin's grandpa (his mom's dad) owns/lives on a farm.

There is a beautiful railroad track and bridge that goes right across grandpa's backyard. The state of Utah will soon be tearing the bridge down, so we snapped some pictures in front of it before it's gone :(

Rob and Sarah

Devin and Rob wanted a few on top of the bridge as well...crazy boys!

Here is Devin's Grandpa Finch making his famous buttery popcorn!

It was so nice...all the ladies had a baby shower for Devin's cousin Kristen who just had a baby boy (Weston) and me. My first shower, and I loved every minute of it!

Rob and Sarah spent the night at mom and dad's house Sunday night after the farm, and we all got up and played some tennis (one of our favorite things to do with them) and then the boys played 9 holes of golf that afternoon.

Monday night we had a bbq with the Tranters. Devin's Grandpa Tranter, Dad, and Uncle Brad.

It was so great to see Grandpa T, Brad, Linda, Kirsten, Chris, and baby McCrae. Thanks for coming over!! (side note...pregnant belly is fully visable in these pics!)

Devin playing with the adorable Lucy!

Sarah was zoned in on her latest book of choice all weekend. She started it Friday, and had 20 pages left by Monday night.

Me and Sarah (Sieta as we like to call her). We spent all day Monday together. While the boys golfed, we went for an amazing run up and down Wasatch Blvd. We logged almost 7 miles, and it felt oh so good to run outside with mountains so close!! We also treated ourselves to pedicures just before the bbq!

A funny picture of our nephew Jack

Believe it or not...this is the best picture from the self timer we set about 10 times! At least everyone is represented (minus Dave, Suzy, Knox, Matt, Ashley, Jeff, Ty, and Charlie...ok so maybe not everyone).

Dad took 2 bendryls for some back pain he was having, and didn't realize that they were going to put him right to sleep. He was struggling the last little bit of the night....case in point!

And finally...a sad farewell as Monday night closed and we had to say goodbye to Rob and Sarah. We were spoiled to have their company all weekend!

And now, here I sit in our North Chicago apartment...having major Utah withdrawals!! We flew out Tuesday afternoon, and were quickly back in our reality this morning. The first day back at work after a fun trip is always the hardest. I found myself day-dreaming about all the fun we had with the Pace's, Finch's, and Tranter's. We fit so much into a 4 day weekend...I'm pretty impressed with all we jammed into our visit! A big huge thanks goes out to Mom and Dad Tranter, and Amber & Cade for the hospitality provided. WE HAD SUCH A WONDERFUL TIME!