Sun Valley, Manti, and Mountain View

On Wednesday June 1st, Dad, Mom, Amy, Josh, Laura, and Paul all left for Sun Valley, Idaho for some business meetings that Dad had to attend. We drove part of the trip on Wednesday and found an Old Navy and a Cold Stone, and we also visited Twin Falls. It was really wet because of the falls and it felt like it was raining. There was a small grass hill near where we parked, and Paul started running down the hill, but the grass was so slippery he fell and got his brand new sweatshirt that he had bought that day all muddy. Here's a picture of Paul and Josh:
                                     
And Mom and Dad:

And all four of the kids:

We stayed in a hotel that night, then finished the drive on Thursday. When we got to Sun Valley, we checked into our rooms. Our room was basically one door that opened up to three separate rooms -- Mom and Dad stayed in one room, Laura and I shared another, and Josh and Paul shared the last one. We ate at the family barbecue that night with all of the people from the College of Business. After dinner, we went to the pool at the lodge. It is a huge, circular pool that gets deeper towards the middle and the water is so warm that it feels great even though it's outdoors.
Here's a picture of the kids in front of the pond by the lodge:

On Friday, Dad had meetings in the morning, so the rest of us slept in and went to this delicious restaurant in the lodge for breakfast. After that, the five of us went hiking several miles on some trails near the lodge. Here are some pictures from the hike:

After our hike, we ate a delicious lunch with Dad and everyone else from the College of Business. After lunch, Dad had more meetings to attend so the rest of us went swimming again. After that, we went to the fitness room for a while and then just relaxed and watched TV in our rooms. That night, Mom and Dad went to a dinner for adults, while Paul, Laura, Josh, and I went to eat pizza with some babysitters. It was a little awkward because we're all kind of old to be babysat. After we ate, we went to this small bowling alley and bowled for a while. Then we returned to the room until Mom and Dad came back. When they returned, we swam and then drove to a town a few miles out of Sun Valley called Ketchum to get candy bars because we were still a little hungry.

On Saturday, we were supposed to horseback ride, but the trails were too muddy for the horses, so we rented bikes instead. There are tons of bike trails in Sun Valley, so we began on a long trail about 12 miles long. During the ride, I was coming down a hill pretty fast and there was a sudden turn with some gravel right off to the side, so I panicked, turned my bike too sharply and crashed on the pavement. I hit my head and scraped up my back and elbow. Unfortunately, Josh was following behind me and he crashed also because he was trying not to hit me. Mom and Dad waited with us while Paul and Laura rode the rest of the trail, got the car, and picked us up. After that, we began the drive home. Paul and Mom took a separate car because Mom wanted to get back for Relief Society and Paul wanted to see his girlfriend, Carmella. Dad, Josh, Laura, and I visited Galena Summit since we weren't in a rush to get home. Here's Dad, Josh, and I at Galena Summit:

Here's Laura, Josh, and I:

After that, we drove for a while longer, then stopped at a mammoth cave. We were given two lanterns to take down with us into the cave because there's no electricity. It was a self-guided tour, and it was about a 1/4 of a mile in, then 1/4 of a mile back out. It was pretty cool. Here's Laura, Dad, and Josh in the cave:

After that, we drove some more, and then stopped in Rockland to see Dad's parents' graves. Here's Dad:

Then we drove for a while and stopped at a hotel to stay for the night. In the morning, we attended sacrament meeting at a ward in Pocatello, Idaho. It was fast and testimony meeting, and we heard a couple of hilarious testimonies from little kids. One of them said "I know my church is true....prophets.....Mommy and Daddy make dinner. Amen." The other one was a mother bearing her testimony, holding a little boy. The boy kept reaching for the microphone, and she would pull his hand away every time. Finally, she just said, "Stop!" and the boy looked at the congregation and made a really funny noise. We were trying not to burst out laughing both times. After church, we drove home to Laramie.

On Thursday, June 9, Mom, Dad, Josh, and I drove down to Ephraim, Utah and stayed in a hotel there. We stayed there Thursday night, and on Friday morning, Mom and Dad left to see my cousin Beth and her fiance Evan's sealing in the Manti Temple. After that, they picked us up for pictures at the temple and for lunch at the Manti House Inn. However, Josh was feeling sick, so we took him back to the hotel before lunch. Here are some pictures from the temple:

This is Beth's side of the family:

This is the Manti temple:

Here's our family:

Here's Mom's sister Brenda, her husband, and their boys, Cameron, Chase, and Ethan:

                                    

After lunch, Mom and Dad went to an endowment session in the Manti temple while Josh and I waited at the hotel. When they returned, we drove down to Provo. We checked into a new hotel before going to Beth and Evan's reception at the BYU conference center. They provided pizza, peach lemonade, cake, and a chocolate fountain. After the reception, we returned to the hotel and swam, but the pool and hot tub were so crowded, it wasn't very fun. On Saturday, we drove home. On our way home, we stopped in Mountain View to visit Maria, Clark, Will, and Rosie. We met them at a delicious barbecue restaurant called Goin' South, then returned to their house because Will wanted us to meet his dog, Pepper.

Here's Will with Pepper:

 Mom and Dad bought some giant bubble wands for Will and Rosie, so Dad played a game with them where he would make a bunch of bubbles, and the kids would run around and pop them all.

 Here's me and Rosie in their backyard:

After visiting them, we drove home. All three of our trips were a lot of fun.