Utah, Day 1

We headed to Utah Sunday, but that wasn't worthy of any kind of picture.  It's just a long day of driving in the car.  We listen to audiobooks and music, and audiobooks and music.  And stare out of the windows.  And dehydrate our children, only giving them liquid if we are within a certain distance of a stopping point.  We have a system set up for the most efficient trip, and that does not include unlimited drinks, or even a lot of snacks anymore.  After the dump our last minivan turned into, we severely limit the eating that goes on in our new car.  You can't go completely without snacks on a trip that long, but I don't give out as many as I used to.  

Anyhoo, we got to Michael and Blair's house around dinner time.  We brought a returned Christmas present with us from a missionary serving in our ward.  We were given a pair of red high tops and a phone number of how to reach his parents when we arrived in Utah.  We made the switch successfully just before we ate.  It ended up being a houseful because Blair's brother was there, and Rick and Kim arrived with Megan and Amy.  Poor Blair, I don't think she planned on having so many people for dinner.  But the food stretched and it was all ok.

We spent the night at Michael and Blair's house.  The girls slept in Charlotte's room, and Ryan and I slept on our air mattress in Simon's room.  Bless them, they had their kids "sleep" in the master bedroom with them.  And by sleep, I mean not really.  I've never found sleeping in the same room with my offspring to be very restful ever.

Monday took us down to Provo to meet up with some old college friends.  On Facebook we discovered they were also in Utah after we arrived Sunday night.  We also thought that Kim would love the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the BYU art museum.  She collects Norman Rockwell plates and pictures, so it seemed right up her alley.

The foyer of the art museum has miles of rainbow colored thread running back and forth under a skylight.  It's cool to look at.

 Here's the rainbow.  It didn't photograph well.

 We had to get tickets to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit.  It starts with a BioPic, and then you can wander through the exhibit.  But you weren't supposed to take pictures of the paintings.

 So I only took one with the kids at the entrance.

 Then we took Megan and Amy with us to lunch and to meet our college friends, Wayne and Natalie and their 4 boys.  That way Rick and Kim could go back to Michael's for a quieter visit than they would have with all of us there.

None of us had attended BYU so we had to use Siri for directions to the Wilkinsons Center so we could eat lunch.  The weather was quite nice for a walk on campus.

Subway sandwiches for lunch!

We had 10 kids between the two families (because we had Megan and Amy), so it was not the easiest way to catch up with someone you haven't seen in 11 years, but it was still good to see them.

Afterwards we wandered around BYU campus and found Brigham Young.

In the evening, we had a triple date- Rick and Kim, Michael and Blair, and Ryan and I all left Emma in charge of a whole lot of children.  Emma managed to feed them all, and keep them all alive until we came back.  It was good practice for her babysitting skills.