Visit with the Thompsons

We were able to go visit family in Utah for a couple of weeks and spent one week with my family and one week with Jeremy's family.  Made it nice and easy.  This post is about our first week with my family.  We had a couple of BBQ's and mostly just hung out as a family.

 We stayed at my brother Roland's house (which was so perfect and they were so fun to be with) and went up to Bridal Veil falls with Micah and Michelle (2 of his 3 kids).  Will even climbed up this rocky river bed quite a ways up.

 Cooling off because it was hot!

 My Mom stayed with us at Roland's house for the first few nights, so one day Jeremy and I even got to go on a date during the day.  It was pretty awesome.  We were going to go to the temple, but when we drove up to it and the parking lot was empty, we decided to go get some lunch instead.

 Watching TV with Erin.  Will calls his twin cousins "my girls".  He loved playing outside with them and would look for them as soon as he woke up.

 Then we went down to my Mom's house for the weekend.  Will loves feeding and talking to the horses at my Mom's house.

 Playing with cousins in Grandma's sandbox.

 Cora hanging out with Auntie Alyse.

I got to meet my Dad's new wife Huei-Lin.  She is very sweet and we're glad to have her in our family.

Cora was able to get lots of cuddle time with Grandma Thompson.

This is just a typical shot of my Mom and Brent.  They are working outside in the garden all the time.  As a result it looks great.  You can see Brent's tent out there too, my Mom's house was a little crowded from all of us hanging out at her house so he slept outside.  It made it crazy, but fun.

Zoe, me, my Mom, Alyse and Angela.  Yes I am the short one.

Silly cousin faces.

And the adults hanging out in the shade.  

My sister Angela made a big sacrifice to come down from Ogden to visit with us since she has been ill lately.  I was so glad that she did so that I could see her and also so that Will could play with Gabe and Tama.  

On Sunday when most of the family had gone home, Jeremy, Will, Cora and I drove the Nebo Loop with my Mom, Brent, my niece Tama and nephew Diego.

Gorgeous Utah sunset.  Jeremy took this coming home from a short hike with the boys up to "Grandpa's Caves".  They saw a long snake and Will didn't even freak out.  He just wouldn't climb up a hill of gravel to go check out the caves.  Maybe someday he won't have as many fears.

Diego hung out with us over the weekend, and he and Will had a lot of fun together (except that Will's whiny side started to really bug Diego towards the end).

Sunset at Utah Lake.

Will and Grandma's cat Peter.  This boy loves animals.

Cora and Will with my mom.  My mom would giggle when I'd put these jeans on Cora and would call her a little cabbage patch doll.  

On this trip I discovered that I do miss mountains and family, but I don't miss Utah.  I love Chicago and just wish I could tether the mountains and my family to make them closer. I sure love my Mom and am grateful to her for helping us be able to make this needed trip possible.