Jay and Julie: Utah Trip -- Julie's Side of the Family

Since I had so many pictures, I split the post into "Jay's side" and "Julie's side."

For our trip, Jay and I stayed with Steven and Stacy the first week, when we were visiting Jay's side of the family. That week they flew to Montana to spend Christmas with Stacy's family. We dropped them off at the airport, picked them up, and watched their house. In return, we ate all their cereal. Just kidding, but we do owe them some cereal :)

It was fun to get to spend some extra time with them, and to have a space to escape the flu germs at Natalie's house.

Steven made a yummy stir fry the first Sunday we were there and Jay admit he even liked the rice without a rice cooker.

It was the first time we met their youngest kid. Jonah seemed very friendly and not particularly shy, which was nice. One day I watched him when his family went to the store. We hung out in his big sister's room and played with the stuffed animals on her bed, which he thought was great.

After our week with Jay's family, Sarah and Bob and Jared arrived and we went up to Ogden to spend some time with my grandma and family there. On Monday we went to Golden Corral with Paul's family and Aunt Mary Beth and Uncle John and their sons. It was a very big, hungry group and good to see everyone.

Sarah, Bob, Jared, Jay, and I stayed at the Ben Lomand Hotel in Ogden. It was old but nice. I have to admit my favorite part was that Jay and I had a room separate from the living areas and the bathroom. Most of the time when we stay in hotels, I wake up before Jay and have to get ready in the dark or I have to sit in my pajamas until he wakes up.

At Grandma's we got to see Paul and Catherine and their 4 kids. On Jay's side of the family, Natalie's kid's think I'm the best. But it seems like on my side of the family, all the kids under 10 LOVE Jay. Adam especially wanted to wrestle with him constantly.

We sledded on both Monday and Tuesday in Ogden down the best sledding hills in the area -- at the park just behind my Grandma's land. My grandpa always loved sledding and it made me think of him. I don't think I'm as hardy as he was, though. The next day dawned in the single digits and as we trekked from the hotel to the car, I figured it was an inside day.

I was wrong. We played lots of games, but the kids were so active, after lunch I said that we just had to take them sledding again to run off the energy. Actually the sun was shining and after I got on borrowed snow pants (my grandparents always kept extra snow things for anyone who wanted to play) along with the huge coat my dad bought me years ago, I was pretty warm.

On Wednesday we were back in Orem area. Many of our plans involving museums fell through because all of BYU was closed for New Year's Eve and Day, so our plans became simpler. We went to JDawgs and then Sarah, Stacy and I went shopping to see if we could find maternity clothes for Sarah. We had marginal success, and then met the men at Steve's house for dinner. Sarah and I brought lots of vegetables and Stacy provided a green salad too. Jared said he was appalled by all the green on the table -- steamed broccoli, fresh snap peas, and the salad. Sarah and I were glad to have something healthy after a vacation of eating less-than-healthy foods. We also had a main course, so the men didn't have to live on green veggies alone.

Thursday was our last day with family. In the morning a few of us went swimming in the hotel's pool while everyone else looked on in envy. Except baby Jonah. I don't think his parents were planning on him swimming, but when he was so excited to be with Steven and Clara, his mom made it happen. So Jonah didn't have to envy us.

That night Jared and I made chili for everyone and then we went bowling.

The last thing we did before we left the hotel was said goodbye to Sarah and Bob, who were getting breakfast at the hotel. I gave Sarah a hug because I will miss her. Suddenly a very cute little girl ran up to me and hugged my legs. She was probably about 18 months. Her mom apologized, but no need. Getting a free hug from a cute little girl kind of made my day!

Before we left on Friday, Jay and I had breakfast with 2 of my old roommates, Ashley and Katrina. I somehow forgot to get pictures, but we had a lovely time, even if we missed Sera a lot! We had waffles and Jay made yummy scrambled eggs, cooked in butter.

After that we went to Natalie's house where his side of the family was taking care of Little Foot. We ended up staying until lunch, and Jay's dad got pizza from Papa Murphy's. Jay's dad likes to make sure we have enough to eat. I also remember right after Jay and I got married, his dad packed us a lunch for our flights back to Utah and it was really the only decent thing we ate all day.

We picked up our dog and said our goodbyes.

Seth asked me, "Why do you keep going away and coming back?"

I was very sad to try to explain that it was going to be a very long time before I saw him again.

That afternoon we drove as far as Winnemucca. I was so tired and so glad to get to sleep at that point, even though it was only about 9 p.m. when we got in. Jay went out and got us food. We had no cell signal at all in most of Nevada, and no Internet at the motel, so we couldn't tell family that we had gotten their safely, but we still slept well.

The next day Jay drove the final 4 1/2 hours and we got in around noon. I would have taken over driving, but Jay didn't want to stop at all.

So that was our trip. We got to see so much family on both sides, it was great!

Jared in the Captain American ski outfit, Jay from and center, Anna in the orange hat, and Adam in the green coat. Yes, Adam may be small, but he is strong and completely capable of sledding and running up the hill with his sled on his own.