The Beginning of the Summer trip 2010

June 18, 2010

Pre-trip:

We spent the week getting ready for our trip to Utah. We also bought a blow up pool for the kids to cool off in. They were so funny. They used the snow tube to take turns floating in the pool and moved the deck chairs over to put their feet in. Silly kids! We also took a walk from our house to the high school and found that it took 56 minutes. Good thing Bob picked us up on his way home or that would have been a long trip home.

Tyler and Alayna finished up band camp and Alayna had another fun day at ROAR.Marisa said she is enjoying her orchestra camp at BYU. Hopefully she will write it all up on her blog when she gets home.

(My lilies in back of the house)

(got some auburn highlights in my hair- but clearly you cant see that in this picture)

On our way:

We left early Thursday morning and drove about 10 hours to Ogallala, Nebraska. We stay at the Stagecoach Inn every time we head out to Utah. We arrived in time to fit in 2 hours of swimming.

(Rest stop where we ate lunch.  Thought the word “corn” should be added to the bottom)

(waiting to check in to hotel)

Friday was about the same amount of driving but took us way longer: construction, lunch at the park, and a need to search out a Wal-Mart because of forgotten goggles.

(In front of the Stagecoach Inn)

Made it to Utah:

(Kayla taking a picture of Bridal Veil falls)

(The lake where we had lunch)

(The bridge by the lake where we had lunch)

(Wyoming-in the middle of nowhere- totally my kind of place)

We got into Provo on Friday night. We showed our kids our 1^st apartment (when we got married long ago) and it was still there! And looks the same! How is that place still standing?? Then we showed them our 2^nd apartment and Kayla took a picture of Bob and I in front of us. We can hardly believe we lived there so long ago. We got to the hotel in time to hit the pool for 1 ½ hours. Tomorrow we will take the kids on a tour of BYU and see both of Marisa’s concerts.

(In front of our old apartment)

BYU:

We headed to BYU for Marisa’s 3 concerts. I will give you the short version. First, we showed the kids a little around the campus and showed them where I first told Bob we were pregnant with Marisa. (BTW- Bob didn’t remember that) Then, we met up with my mom, Grandma Cunningham and Uncle Andy to see Marisa’s 1^st concert with the chamber orchestra concert. Then we went to the BYU bookstore and bought some BYU shirts! Then we went to the Cougar Eat for lunch. It is AMAZING how much that place has changed since I attended there. Then we went to see Marisa’s choir concert in the HFAC lobby. It sounded so cool! Then my mom took the younger 3 kids up the canyon to go to my cousins wedding reception while we went to Marisa’s last concert (Missy and Jackson came too!) The concert was incredible! Over 100 teens in a symphony orchestra and they played William Tells overture, the overtures from Carmen, and the Gypsy Baron. I think, overall, that she had a great experience.

(Picture with the “Y” in the mountain)

(In front of the student center)

(In front of the hotel)

(Eating fancy desserts in the HFAC building where my dad broke up with my mom when they were dating at BYU. Hows THAT for family history?)

(Marisa at BYU orchestra camp)

(Choir Concert)

(Symphony Concert)

Then we went to Jamba Juice (our favorite place in Utah) and then to In and Out for dinner. Yummy!! Then we headed up to Logan, but got stuck in hideous road construction traffic for what felt like hours. We were 15 minutes late to the movie theater (that my brothers now own). We attended the comedy night and it was Hilarious. By the end of the evening my face hurt from smiling so much. The Comedy night featured Aaron Burrell (who had us rolling in the aisles) and Headlined Karen Rontowski who has been on comedy central who was very funny. The host (Brad Bonar) was this amazing magician. He came up to our kids after the show and did some absolutely magic tricks that still have us all baffled. (Especially Kayla who still cant figure out how he magically got 2 balls into her closed fist).

We have now officially begun the Ribera reunion so I will post all the fun stuff we do in next weeks blog. Happy Father’s Day to all you wonderful Dad’s out there!

(With Karen Rontowski)

(With Aaron Burrell)

(magician Brad Bonar- showing us his magicians badge and doing magic tricks)