Nelson Family: Utah Trip Grandma and Grandpa's 50th Wedding Anniversary June 2014

The day the girls got out of school for the year we took off right away for Utah to celebrate Lance's parents 50th Wedding Anniversary! He and his siblings went all out to create a fun few days for his parents and all the kids and grandkids to be together. It ended up being a really memorable experience for everyone and we were so glad we got to go!

To Recap:

Day One- we picked the girls up from school at noon and took off! We stopped in St. George brieflly at my Aunt Nancy's house and got to see my Grandma Bradbury (this would end up being our very last visit with her. So glad to have had that time to see her!) and then kept driving to Provo. We arrived in Provo around 1 am and stayed in a hotel overnight.

Day Two- we met up with my Sister Lisa, and her kids Ayden and Grecia got breakfast at Kneaders...so yummy! Then we headed to the Children's Science Center for a few hours and met up with Lisa's husband Joel. Such a great place...the kids loved it all. After this we took off for Salt Lake so we could be at Lance's parents in time to meet up with our babysitter for the night and then we kissed the girls goodbye and took off for the Bountiful Temple where we got to do a sealing session with Lance's parents, and all of his siblings. It was a very special experience being there all together. Right after we headed to a restaurant in Salt Lake with all adults. Such a fun night.

Day Three- The Next morning we got up early and headed up to Provo to the Clas Ropes course where we split up into our preassigned teams and did some team building activities. What a great place! The activities were actually really challenging but it was a good experience all around. At the end we got to do the zipline and huge swing so fun. Then it was subway for lunch there at the ropes course and we presented "Awards" to each participant with the "Golden All Around Best" award being given to Grandma and Grandpa Nelson. After this we all headed home to rest for the afternoon before we met up again for dinner at local park (aka "Golden Gate Park...it was a Golden, San Fransisco themed event) for hot dogs, clam chowder, ghiradeli sundaes, baseball, and a family talent show.

Day Four- Sunday we went to church with Grandma and Grandpa Nelson and then headed to Leslie's house for a very nice luncheon in her beautiful backyward!

Day Five- We headed to Provo to spend some more time with my sister Lisa and her fam! We spent Monday at Lisa and Joels' rec center in Provo. The kids had a blast going on the water slides and swimming. Afterwards we visited the Pioneer Museum (such a cool little place) and got Shaved ice. Then the boys went to see a movie and I got some sister time with Lis.

Day Six- We packed up and met at Joel's work for lunch before heading home! We stopped in St. George just briefly again, and then kept driving until we arrived home late Tuesday night. Such a great trip!!!

And now for the pics which are somewhat out of order!

As a side note it took me a couple days to get this all ready and then I lost almost all the captions I had here! Grrrr so... it may just stay like this...captionless..for now. :)

Maddi and cousin Sarah doing the climbing wall!

Maddi on her way down!

Dad's turn...ready to go!

Macee watching from the sidelines....not normally her style but this was ONE big swing!

Maddi's ready to swing

Up She Goes!

So proud of this little girl! She desperately wanted to do the zipline but when she had climbed to the top fear overcame her and she didn't think she could do it...but there's not really a good way down so she went for it and had a blast! Fears Conquered!

That's one big Tree Ladder you had to climb to get to the biplane

My turn to swing!

Enjoying lunch

She made it! Go Ella! A little help getting down from Uncle Shane and Cousin Jason.

Definitely the BEST Talent Show act! :)

Lance and his sisters, Leslie and Lisa came up with this....they were the Sanfransico GoldMan/Woman street performers. So funny! They were awesome. :)

Sleepovers

Macee taking advantage of vactation rules and sneaking into Mom and Dad's bed at night.

Getting our "Gold" Medals at the award ceremony after finishing the ropes course.

Lance preseting the "Best All Around" award to the Guests of Honor.

Baseball in "Golden Gate" Park.

Orange Team

Green Team!

Not sure who was doing the learning/teaching here but there were some serious dance moves on the field!

Gold Robot Performers in action!

We sang Hallejuiah while Lance accompanined on Guitar for our Talent. :) Macee wasn't offiically included in many practices we had beforehand but she was so cute getting up there and joining for the "Hallelujah parts" of every chorus and "reading" her music. :)

Mia and Maddi both sang solos and did really well. So brave too! And Ella helped us fill in on the chouruses.

An impromptu act added after inspiration hit!

Family Dance Party

Traditional Ghiradeli "Earthquake" Sundae

Luncheon at Aunt Leslies

Uncle Jason got these cute shots of Macee

The Silvas did such a beautiful job with this little reception!

Love that cake!

Nelson Siblings

L-R Lisa Bartholomew, Lance Nelson, Leslie Silva, Layne Nelson, Lorie O'Toole, Linda Brown

Breakfast at Kneaders! So yummy!

Provo Natural History Museum

Aunt Lisa and Uncle Joel

Car Full of Kiddos!

Bountiful Temple

Date Night with Lance's silbings and parents!

Sisters!

Lunch at Joels' work. :) Beautiful place to work!

Macee's schedule was all thrown off with no naps or very late naps resulting in super late bedtimes and falling asleep in random places!

My beautiful niece Grecia

Macee playing at Aunt Lisa's

Provo Pioneer Museum

The Nelson/Martinez kids plus our tour guide!

Sister Selfie

Making spoons

Handcart pullers

School Time!

Gotta love older cousins!

They never really knew each other in Indiana where they were both born, but these two spent a lot of time in NICU and both came home on monitors about a month apart. Bonded for life!