Our Return to Utah

After Ryan finished his summer job, I was off in New York, Atlanta, and Chicago for some work. As soon as I returned, we packed up and headed back to Utah... this time, with Ryan. Since Ryan didn't get to go with us in July, we wanted to give him a little vacation before going back to school this week. We planned the trip around the BYU v. Utah game (let's not talk about it), and he also flew to Texas for the BYU v. Texas game the weekend before (we won't talk about that one either). In between football games, we met up with friends and family for as much fun as we could pack in.
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The drive up was not great. We ended up getting stuck in St. George for a few hours getting new tires. As we walked out to our car after lunch, Ryan noticed the front left tire looked low. Upon closer inspection, we realized there were several tears in the tire. It looked as if it could completely rip off within a matter of miles. We found a nearby tire store and got comfortable while we waited for the new tires. 
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Westin enjoyed a few movies, taking pictures and getting treats from the store's candy machine.

The first half of our trip was spent at my dad's house. We spent some time downtown, hanging out with friends and watching football. 

An afternoon at the park

Hanging out with the neighborhood kids

We also played a lot of tennis. A little background on this - a couple weekends ago, we were watching the US Open. Westin caught a bit of it and quickly turned a spatula into a tennis racquet. For about a week, he insisted on carrying the spatula with him wherever we went, pretending to play tennis along the way. When my dad got wind of this story, he couldn't resist getting Westin a real tennis racquet once we arrived at his house. Westin was over the moon about grandpa's gift, and every morning, for at least an hour, we were outside hitting balls against the garage door. 

One of those mornings we also spent a little time at Temple Square before meeting grandpa for lunch at the Greek Festival.

That weekend, Ryan flew to Dallas to go to the Texas game with some friends. I took advantage of grandpa's free time, and sent Westin with him and Uncle T to the Dew Tour while I met up with Kristi for lunch and then Kenzie for shopping.

Hangin' with Kenzie and Brenna (a.k.a Brenzie)

Westin and grandpa ready for the Dew Tour

Uncle T helping Westin learn to skateboard. Yeah, and better believe it, Westin came home from his boys' day saying he wanted to be a skateboarder like the "big boys." What sport is this kid not interested in?

Ryan and Hugh at the BYU tailgating party in Austin

Lars, Hugh and Ryan hanging out in Dallas

Random picture of Westin showing off his muscles. 

Goofing off with Kenzie

Playing with his cousin, Taryn. Apparently, wrapping toys with string and then hanging them from the balcony is awesome.

We were driving home from my aunt's house and we started to sing along to the Glee soundtrack. Once we got home, we weren't quite ready for the party to stop, so we turned it into a dance party on the driveway.

It wouldn't be a good trip to Utah if Westin and Easton didn't meet up. Another fun day at Classic.

Breakfast with grandpa

Once Ryan returned from Texas, we moved over to his sister Lindsay's house for the rest of our visit. Westin loves, loves, loves his cousins and was so happy to be around them.

We also spent some time with our best buds, the Rebers. After dinner one night, we went to Sugar House park to feed the ducks... and the crazy geese. Seriously, the second the geese realized we had food, they started charging us.

Westin did his best to shoo them away. I'm pretty sure in this picture he was saying, "go away geese or I will kick you." Not sure where he overheard that line... may or may not have been his mother :)

We also made a visit to BYU, of course. While Ryan went to visit a professor, I took Westin to get his haircut in the Wilk. 

After BYU, we caught up with the Harris' at the Riverwoods where we let the kids run around in the water, play arcade games and eat pizza.

I mean, seriously - look at that form!

One afternoon we hit up the State Fair, where we discovered this bad boy of a slide. Westin couldn't get enough of it.

Westin pretending to be a farmer by picking some apples

And who knew that there would be a sea lion show at a Utah state fair... really, who knew?

Westin and Gemma enjoying a surprise visit from the garbage man during their picnic lunch

The day of the BYU v. Utah game, I spent with my mom and Westin while Ryan was with his brothers in Provo at the game. That Sunday we all met back up for dinner at my mom's place.

This is Westin's new backpack for preschool. He was obsessed and didn't want to take it off - ever.

On our last day, we went up to Park City. We had a couple all-day passes that gave us access to all the rides and attractions there, but the biggest hit of the day was mini-golf. Westin couldn't get enough of it.

And those bandages on Westin's forehead are from a little run in with the edge of the fireplace. Poor kid.

We're back home now and both Ryan and Westin have started school. This next month is going to be a busy one - two work trips, Ragnar in Vegas, and then my dad moves back to LA!  He was just named the President and GM of KNBC. It's a huge opportunity for him and we're so excited to have him close by again. Now I just need to work on getting my mom back here ;)