This is the Place

We took a road trip to Utah last week.  A crazy endeavor with a 3-week-old baby, I will admit, but she was actually a real champ on the drive out.  Still, I wouldn't fully recommend doing it unless you have a brother going into the MTC and you want to say goodbye to him.  I did.  

We spent our first few days in Salt Lake with Adam's parents.  No one in his family had met Annie yet, and it was super cute to watch her cousins vie for the opportunity to hold her.  And I didn't take any pictures.  But she is one loved little girl!  

On Sunday night the entire Marchant clan (30 of us now!) had dinner together.  Since everyone was together, we took a group photo.  Probably not as impressive as the family pictures we took in Hawaii last fall, but at least we documented it!  And check out all those cute little blonde kids!  

Tuesday night we headed down to Provo to spend time with my family.  Then Adam left early Wednesday morning to drive back to Grand Junction to meet up with our ward's young men for their high adventure trip.  He got back to Provo on Saturday night.  So I was a single parent for the week, but at my parent's house I had tons of help, so it wasn't bad in the least!

Annie met her cousin, Alexsi for the first time.  They are 4 months and a day apart.

McKay loved Alexsi, too.  She has WAY more hair than his sister, so he helped her out with a hair-do.

We celebrated Matt's birthday.  It's not actually until tomorrow, but we celebrated it last week when we were all together.

As we drove into Provo on Tuesday night, Ty shouted, "Wow!  There's a "Y" on that mountain!"  We told him that it was possible to hike up to it and climb on it.  He was very impressed with the idea!  I had the thought that I should hike it with him while we were in town.  Ty has struggled somewhat since Annie has been born, and I thought the one-on-one time with just he and I, especially doing something physical, might be exactly what he needed.  But since the temperature was in the low 100's while we were there, we waited until evening one night and made the hike.  It was hard work for him, but he kept saying, "I'm not giving up!"  It was an absolute blast for both of us!  He was his happy, giggly self, and I loved having the time just with him.
I could have kicked myself that I forgot to take any pictures once we reached the "Y", but luckily, I remembered on the way back down the mountain and we took a few.

On Friday, I got to meet up with two of my all-time favorite people and former roommates for lunch.  Every time I am around these girls, I am reminded why I have such great memories of my time living with them.  They are the best!

Adam drove home with the boys on Monday, and Annie and I flew back yesterday morning.  It was great to have the time with our families and friends in Utah.