Bryce Canyon/Trip to Utah

Several weeks ago we went up to Utah for a family reunion.  It was a great excuse to be able to go on a vacation and spend time togehter as a family. We stayed in this little town called Panguitch in Utah and we were able to go to Bryce Canyone while up there.  Originally we were going to make the trip a bit bigger and go up for more than a few days, visit with family, and possibly hike and see more of the canyons.  But, with Maddie's school already starting, and my brother in law's homecoming talk that Sunday we cut the trp down to three days, including travel time. 

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The whole trip was a little wild because I worked the night before we left {Wednesday night}, got home, packed, picked up kids from school, and left mid-day.  By the time we finally pulled out, I thought I was going to die.  I was so tired.  I had been up since Wednesday morning, had a splitting headache, and semi-whiny kids in the car.  I got very little sleep on the way up to say the least :(

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We didn't arrive in Panguitch until 11:30pm and once we unloaded into the hotel room, the kids were WIRED. Eli had slept for several hours in the car, and so he had defnintely gotten his second wind.  I even tried putting a movie on for the kids, but they were too busy jumping from bed to bed screaming at the top of their lungs. YIKES. Finally Jesse grabbed Robby and took him for a ride in the car, while I layed down with Miss M. We fell asleep listening to Eli babble and laugh in his pack'n'play.  Jesse told me later that Eli was still awake talking when he came back several hours later. 

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Needless to say, we were all exhausted the next at Bryce Canyon.  I had a sore throat, congestion, headache and was nauseated.  But the day still goes on right?!  Jesse and Tyler headed off on their bikes for a little mountain biking adventure in Bryce Canyon while the rest of us headed off to see the lookout points.  We were a little crammed in one vehicle, but were able to save the extra admission price and visit with one another while driving.
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We were all a little nervous about roaming around Bryce Canyons with 5 kids under the age of five, but we ended up having a lot of fun and thank goodness no one got hurt :)  We ended up with four adults and five children so we each assigned ourselves one child (+1 for me) on each lookout point and the kids had to hold hands with someone every time we were out of the car.  The results= the view points were beautiful, the kids were slightly cranky, we laughed, ate peanut butter sandwiches {yuck- I had forgotten my jelly back at the hotel room}, ate ding dongs, and eventually couldn't wait to pick up the boys {Jesse & Tyler} and head back.

The crew at Bryce Canyons: Robby, Grandma, Eli, Tiffany {me}, Maddie, Kaylin, Lori & Zack

Note to self: time to put some of the current clothes in Eli's wardrobe away and pull out the next size :)

"Natural Bridge"

Miss M, Mommy and Eli

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After we were finished at Bryce Canyon I was beat.  Thankfully we went back to the hotel room and I layed down for a nap.  Jesse took the kids with the rest of the family to Panguitch Lake where I heard it was beautiful!  Apparently the kids had a blast splashing in the water and soaking themselves.

Miss M

Eli

My wonderful hubby

They did manage to keep Eli out of the water, thus he returned to me slightly dirty but toasty dry. {Not too difficult seeing that he would rather throw rocks in water any day over swimming}

Grandma West (my kids great-grandma), Grandma Sheffield, Aunt Amy, Kaylin, and Lori

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That night my parents graciously allowed me to sleep in their hotel room in the extra bed so I could catch up on sleep.  Jesse was husband of the year on this trip, and managed to get all the kids to sleep in our hotel room all on his own.  As he said, "I do this three to four times a week at home." (but much different on a vacation in one room hunny!)  Thankfully I got some good sleep and felt much better in the morning!

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The next day we got ready and headed off to the family reunion/luncheon.  It was a little disappointing to not have ANY of my immediate cousins come, but still fun to be able to head up north out of the heat wave and spend quality time with the family.  I did have several aunts and uncles come, including my Aunt Amy that lives in Hawaii.

Tiffany {me} with Uncle Mike Criddle

Cute cousins: Maddie and Kaylin playing at the table

(Kaylin is Maddie's only girl cousin)

Robby with Uncle Mike Criddle

(Robby kept telling me he was scared of Uncle Mike :)

Our car packed up and ready to hit the road

Once she over her initial shyness at all the new people, Miss M had no problem acting like her silly self and crawling under the table

This is about as good as it gets with family pictures these days...

Robby, Mommy, Daddy, Eli and Maddie

(at least Eli is smiling and looking at the camera)

Yeah, I was not too thrilled that Jesse bought this little toy for our three year old.  It is now hidden in a very remote, dark place in our house that our kid will probably never discover :)

Mr E enjoying the yummy cake; he probably ate three slices of this stuff

Yet another attempt at a family picture...basically this is on here to prove how DIFFICULT it is too get a picture of all five of us together 

Aunt Lynn & Uncle Mike Criddle, Uncle LaMar & Aunt Sharon West, Grandma West, Maddie, Eli, Tiffany, Robby, Jesse, Mom Sheffield, Zack, Kaylin, Lori, Tyler, Dad Sheffield and Aunt Amy West
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After the reunion, we climbed in the car and drove back home.  We ended up getting home around 8:30pm Saturday night and were so excited that Uncle Adam was able to come out and visit with us/play with the kids before bedtime.  He had just flown in from Boston, for Uncle Brett's (Jesse's brother) homecoming the next day.

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Regardless of how crazy, eventful, sleep deprived our vacations may be it is still nice to get away every now & again and spend that quality time together!