Utah Trip!

Ok...so I haven't updated for so long! It's really awful trying to make yourself blog about your trip when you're on your trip, so I've waited until now to try to get some pictures up. Utah was fun and we loved visiting Stefanie and her family and all our great friends! I can't even tell you how at home we felt! It was like we were only gone on vacation and then we were back...only we couldn't stay at our house. That was a little strange. But the Cloughs are keeping it in good shape and I have no complaints! I can't believe how much I miss that place. Looking back, I don't think I took too many pictures while we were in Utah. Probably because we were having so much fun just doing everyday things that I didn't feel the urge to pick it up too often! The only sad part was that Jared wasn't there with us for most of the time because he was up camping/hiking/fishing with the Ravenburgs. I'm glad he had fun, and I'm happy that he has such a good friend in Brian, but I still wish we could have had him for longer. :)
We arrived in Utah about 3 in the morning and lugged our stuff quietly into the house. Luckily Art was the only one there because everyone else was at Youth Conference or grandparents house's for the night so Jared and I got to crash on Jake and Jeffery's bed. I think at that point we would have slept on the floor anyway! I remember putting Cache in the pack n play at the foot of the bed and he was not happy at first! He was confused and upset that we had woke him up from his carseat and placed him in a strange place! Jared and I tried to hold as still as we could while he fussed and fussed until he finally fell asleep again. I know that those episodes don't last very long in reality, but at the time it feels like forever! Especially when everyone is tired.
The next morning I sent Stef this picture of Cache eating breakfast while everyone was still at youth conference! It was funny because they were so close, yet so far away :) Eventually everyone showed up.

The first thing that we went to was actually not a fun event. Because of a surprise death in Jared's family we went to a funeral. It's always a surprise when someone dies unexpectedly, but it's even more tragic when they are young. Kalem Franco was only 17 with lots of dreams ahead of him. Goes to show you that life is short and you better make the best of what you get. This is where I took the most pictures for some reason.

Right after the funeral service at the church

Cache resting in the shade after being in the hot church. Lots of bodies means lots of heat!

Cache saying, "Trying to figure out which of the cousin's is holding me..."

Paul Bearers bringing Kalem to rest. Jared is the bald one in the back

Uncle Nick (Kalem's dad) giving the speach

My nephew Ethan using this cute headstone as an improvised car ramp. He looked so cute in his little outfit

Poor Cache. It was so hot and he was looking flushed

Some of Kalem's brothers and sisters and his mom

Jordon leaving his flower on the casket

Jared holding Cache under an umbrella with GGPa

Uncle Nick saying his last goodbyes to Kalem. Jacom and Megan too

Aunt Heidi saying her last goodbyes

He had so many flower arrangements from everywhere. These were from the basketball and football teams

Grammy Jean and Cache at the lunch afterward

Jordon and Ethan eating

A blurry picture of Ethan playing behind a chalkboard...

Ethan and Cache playing

Cache kept trying to chase Ethan, but he was so much faster!

Somehow Grammy Jean has Cache's bear...lol

Always trying to escape and ham it up for the camera :)

After we got back from the funeral things were a bit more regular. We were able to go to church and see people we haven't seen in a long time since there was a new ward with our old people from two splits ago! It was so much fun to see everyone!
Fourth of July was awesome too! Utah finally made areal fireworks legal this year (not that it stopped anyone before...) so we got to experience the excitement of all that. Art is always known for his love of fireworks so we knew we were in for some fun. :) Of course it was awesome! Jean and Steve were still in town from the funeral so they were over and staying in Stefanie's trailer for the night before they headed back to Washington. It was fun to see all the kids running around with their poppers and sparklers while you heard blasts and whistles from everywhere. We actually ended up climbing on top of their roof to see all the wonderful colors and explosions that were lighting up the air. Not only could we see Hooper's show really well (It was HUGE!) but we were able to see a skyline of celebration! Of course I didn't think about grabbing my camera for any of it and Cache was passed out in bed from being so tired....but I did get one shot from earlier.

Jeffrey and Steve with Cache

 We had lots of adventures in Utah and I wish I had recorded better each one, but we were just glad to be around great friends. We did get to go to our old Neighbor's 50th wedding anniversary which was fun. It was themed for the South Pacific which couldn't have been more of an omen because it ended up bringing the south pacific to us! There was thunder and lightening and downpours of rain! Just when I was looking to see if Cache was ok, I found his screaming in glee as he ran through the downspouts that were coming off the roof because of so much rain. Guess he didn't mind the rain that much. :)

After Cache got done running through the downspout. He was playing with Jeffrey

Playing with the water/mister on Stefanie's back porch! He's in heaven!

Feeding himself chocolate pudding!

The beautiful Stefanie and Emily!

Trying to feed Mokie a banana. Stef was dogsitting while Taunie was at Bearlake

Playing Fish Face with Erika!

Swimming in Willard Bay with the Thomas'! He loved it! Except for having to keep that lifevest on. Might I add that it was the first time I swam in Willard Bay too...

Of course there will be more pictures of the Washington part of our trip, but for now, we will call it good for Utah. If I find more pictures I will put them up as well. For now, I leave you with one of my favorite pictures of the trip.

 Praise the Stefanie for the awesome mistyness!

Driving to Utah

Well, we made it to Utah in record time (of course Jared was driving!) and we are enjoying it lots! Our trip was fun, stressful and hot! Of course we would choose the hottest day of the month to drive in a car in which the air conditioning was broken from our previous encounter with a deer hitting our front end on our move to South Dakota. So....needless to say we were sweaty, sticky and cranky for some of the trip, but it ended up being not so bad. We had been planning on leaving after Jared got off of work on Thursday (about 5:30 pm) but because of other circumstances we ended up leaving at 10:30 am instead. It was a good thing that we were headed to Utah already, because we were able to be there for a funeral that was completely unexpected, but that's for another post.

We started out with a little trip to see Jared's work because I had never seen more than driving over the bridge. So it was really neat to at least see the outside. We didn't go on a tour due to time but it was fun to see the place and the HUGE fish that were swimming around. Jared says that some of them are paddle fish that are like 4-6 feet long! Craziness. Cache just liked to watch the water swirl around. :)

Getting started. You can tell that he's a little cranky lol

The massive amounts of water going over the spillway at the dam. Enough to erode away concrete...

Entry to Jared's work

The old Ft. Randall Chapel on the old Ft. Randall property

Part of the dam

Then we were off! Jared wanted to stop by the Hornady factory that's in Grand Island, NE so we took a break there. It was actually really welcome because they had air conditioning and it was just nice to get out of the HEAT! You walk in and the walls are COVERED with suffed animals so Cache had a fun time playing with the different things to look at. Cache and I couldn't go in to the tour because he would have had to wear eye and ear protection. So he just stayed and flirted with the receptionists and got complements from everyone on his cuteness.


Cache getting eaten by a bear! :)



Little baby birds waiting for mom and some grub! They were so cute!

I took some random pictures along the way of things that were interesting, and here they are.

At one point it was actually 101...

Some kind of crazy overpass that was pretty neat

Just thought this was cool

 There was a time when we stopped at a rest stop and we watered down Cache to keep him cool. There were sprinklers that we tried to let him run around in, but he wasn't in the mood.

After this rest stop, I took over driving. I was trying to be nice and give Jared a break, but about a half hour later we somehow found out we were in Colorado on highway 76 instead of 80. Oops. This also meant that we were headed right for a sever thunderstorm with 1 inch hail. Awesome. Luckily it only took about 5 minutes and it was over...And then we found our way to highway 80 and we were back on track. Jared took over and then drove the rest of the way. But we made it and all was well. And we are ready for other adventures. :)

Sun going down...6 more hours to go...