Spring West Jordan Trip and Time with Jon!

 At the end of May, we got to go out and visit my family in West Jordan. We went over Memorial Day weekend, so my mom had work off on Monday to spend with us and it was my cousin's wedding and Luke's birthday, so it was a great time to visit! 

The drive out ended up being a bit of an experience. We wanted to leave as soon as Ben was done with work, but when we had finished loading everything (including the kids) in the car, we couldn't find the tire gauge to check the tires. We knew at least one of our tires was low, so we couldn't leave until we filled it up. We eventually ended up borrowing one from the neighbors, but it set us back a bit on when we left. 

We left around dinner time. The kids had some food in the car to eat, but Ben and I decided to stop at a food truck in Vernal that we'd been wanting to try. Unfortunately, it was closed for the week, so we decided to try hamburgers at a place in Roosevelt called Rockies Place. We had recently gotten ice cream there with the kids and really enjoyed the ice cream. 

We were less than impressed with their hamburgers. They weren't expensive, but they took a long time to make and then the hamburger patty was tiny. I honestly have never seen a hamburger patty that thin. Ben had gotten a double, so it wasn't as bad for him, but I was sorely disappointed with my single. As we were turning from making the order to the pickup window, our power steering went out on us. 

We finished the rest of the drive to West Jordan (2.5 hours) without power steering. Luckily, most of the drive is straight. Then Ben looked at the car and called his dad while I got the kids in bed. Oliver was not happy about sleeping somewhere else, but he settled pretty quickly. The girls always love sleeping at Grandma Dee's, but it was harder to get them settled. 

The next day, we had a lunch date with Jon and Eric and Alison. We considered taking our van, but ended up borrowing my mom's car. We got lunch at Mo'Bettahs and it was delicious. Ben and I shared a dish that came with three meats, rice, and cabbage, as well as a salad. We especially liked the steak meat that we got. It was also really fun to catch up with my siblings and talk. 

That evening, we had my cousin's wedding reception. We went back and forth on whether or not to bring our van and take all the kids or to borrow my mom's car again and bring just Oliver (to make it easier on my mom to babysit). We ultimately decided on the latter. The girls were really disappointed to miss the reception and everyone there kept asking about them, but they had a movie night with my mom and loved that. 

My mom got pizza for the girls, but Ben and I decided to try In N Out since our first hamburger had failed so badly. It has been years since we've gone there, but we have always liked their burgers. We were shocked when their hamburger patties were paper thin as well! I'm not sure when that happened, but I for one am probably never going back to In N Out 😔

The reception was really nice. It was just the perfect weather when we got there (it had been raining earlier in the day) and it was so nice to see so much family, some of whom I hadn't seen in years. Oliver had a great time once he warmed up to it, eating treats and walking around while Uncle Jon followed him to make sure he was okay.

Sunday, we went to my mom's ward, which is something I always love doing. I love seeing all the neighbors I grew up with. 💗 after church, my mom made a yummy chicken sauce and Luke's kids and grandkids came over. It was fun to chat and the kids loved playing with their cousins! It was a little birthday celebration for Luke (whose birthday was on Saturday). 

Monday, we had planned to take the kids to Wheeler Farm, but with the power steering out, I didn't want to do that. We decided to take the day easy and just play in Grandma Dee's backyard in the morning. 

The kids especially love when Grandma Dee shows them where they can pick flowers or plants to eat from her garden!

Me trying to write while Oliver was extra Mom-clingy because we were traveling 😂

During Oliver's nap, Ben and I decided to try one more time for a good hamburger (Vernal is severely lacking in that area) and go to lunch while my mom watched the girls. We went to Habit Burger and finally got the kind of burger that I wanted. We stopped for ice cream afterwards and got the biggest ice cream we've ever gotten at Coldstone. It was like we had gotten two Gotta Have Its. It was also raining while we ate it, which was fun.

After lunch, we packed up the car and stopped by my cousin's house for dinner before heading home. It's always fun to go visit them. We also got to bring Jon home with us this trip, for a little visit! The girls couldn't have been more excited. 

Once we were home, we got our car into a mechanic to fix the power steering pump. We didn't have our van for most of Jon's visit, but we were able to borrow vehicles for everything we wanted to do while he was here. The first night he was here, we did a hike at Moonshine Arch. It's a fun hike, really good for kids and ending at a bunch of rocks that are beautiful and fun to climb on. 

Caleb came with us as well. It was fun to have him with us and it gave us enough vehicles to get all the kids there.

Oliver wanted to be an independent boy on the hike.

We also caught a lizard, which was super fun for the kids!

It was a really fun hike. The next night, we took Parker to the rec center for her birthday date and Jon babysat the other kids for us. The next day was Parker's birthday, and she was so excited to have him here for her birthday. We had a lot of fun just hanging out, talking, and watching movies while he was here as well. And the kids loved watching him play his switch and take turns playing his games. We were so glad he was able to visit!