fall break in utah: salt lake city

one of the first things we did in utah was visit my grandma brooke's house. grandma brooke is notorious for two things: having a fridge stock full of soda and candy (a kids dream come true, even at my age), and a beautiful yard that is always in bloom with something. we happened to arrive at apple picking time. the kids had a blast picking apples and throwing the rotton ones to the horses.


otho picks tons of apples. when i was otho's age, we lived in a house with huge apple trees. i remember spending most of my fall afternoons after school up in the trees, eating apples and reading a book. somedays i would think, 'i'll live up here in the tree. i can sleep in the branches and eat apples.' but when the sun set, i would get cold and my mom would call me into dinner and i would run inside the warm house as fast as i could.


abe liked throwing rotton apples to the horses the best. and ellie just sat and ate an apple the entire time. i wish i got a picture of grandma brooke with the kids, but she doesn't like to be in front of the camera, so i will have to live without it. but we had a blast in her yard nonetheless.


i love this picture of sarah and riley. it was bitter cold and my poor baby girl was freezing. sarah looks like she could be a pioneer saint looking into the valley (no, sarah, i'm not saying you look like a pioneer in those clothes, it's just the sepia speaking).


after grandma brooke's house we went to my uncle dan's house (a little confusing because i have a brother dan who is known as uncle dan to my kids, but this was my uncles house, not my brothers) to meet up with all of my cousins living in the utah area for a post-conference dinner. ellie and gracie met and clicked immediately. they took over the trampoline from the big kids and spent the entire evening jumping and giggling together.


the big kids, ousted from the trampoline, went on rides with my uncle dan and my cousin abe (that's otho and my son abe in the middle).


amber and the cutest wes-wes ever. i love the pouty lip!


a few days later... while lacey took abe and davey to preschool, ellie and gracie had the best time ever. they played on the blowup mattress in my room, and kept shutting the door on me so i couldn't get a picture of them. i love the playful happy faces in this picture.


they also like playing together on the stairs. they thought they were so funny and kept giggling at the littlest things.



dan and lacye have a great playground in the back of their condo, and we spend the morning playing in the cool weather and had fun with cousins. here's ellie clinging on for dear life.


abe spinning himself in circles.


and my monkey otho.

thank you dan, lacey, et al, for allowing us to stay with you for a few days. we enjoyed every minute, and i love that these kids can become close cousins. hopefully we can do this soon someday.