Fall Break ~ UTAH!! {barneys & temple square}

It has been a couple years since we've been to Utah so we made plans to head there for the kids' Fall break.  Everyone was excited to see the Barneys!  We decided to drive overnight so we didn't waste a whole day driving.  It was not my favorite experience.  I drove til just north of Flagstaff, then Matt drove until he was delirious and I drove the last two hours to Kanab, where we literally checked into a hotel at 5am, crashed at a hotel for a few hours of sleep, ate breakfast then went along our merry way!

Just a little ways out of Kanab, Preston announced he had to barf,
but he didn't let that interrupt his game. haha

Herriman is happy to have us!

In between sessions of General Conference, the kids walked down to the
gas station to buy junk.  It's Utah so they're safe, right???

Love love love conference weekend because I get this guy all to myself! ❤︎

Cheering Sydney on at her volleyball game!

Handsome fellas off to Priesthood session

Silly Josie and Hayden, all clean after bath and having a snack before bedtime

Sunday between conference sessions, we took a little hike on the trails near the Barney's house.  Such a gorgeous view of the valley!  You can totally see FOUR temples from here!  Insane!

Shenanigans during Sunday PM conference

Snuggles on the couch

Craig, Trenda and kids came over for Sunday dinner.  For starting out optometry school with four kids between the three families, we sure have made a lot of progress!!

Early Monday morning, Matt took Brooklyn and Blake to do baptisms for the dead at the Jordan River temple.  The Owens happened to be nearby too, so Bryant and Cody met up with them!

Monday, we spent most of the morning at Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  We walked the grounds, checked out the visitor's center, took a peek inside the old Tabernacle.

I'm pretty sure people were trying to guess whether we were polygamists or not, two women with one man, all these kids, Jennie pregnant... Haha!  It's hard to believe they used to hold General Conference in the Tabernacle.  It seems so small in comparison to the Conference Center!  That old pipe organ though... it's iconic!

We ate lunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial building, then let the kids look at the exhibit there.  It was really cool because we had seen/read about this in the Friend magazine!  You could write a service you've done on a paper hand to add to the display.  We took a tour of Brigham Young's house, which was interesting.

The kids thought it was cool to see these window washers dangling down the side of the building!

He said, "Take a picture, mom!"

Hayden fell asleep on our drive back but we took a detour to see the Draper temple.  The temple (and the gates) were closed so we couldn't get up close.

That evening after dinner, we gathered around the fire pit in the Barney's backyard to roast "wolf 'ems."  You put little biscuits over the end of a stick and cook them over the fire. It makes a little "cup" that you fill with pie filling then whipped cream on top.