Days 22 - 26: Our Utah Trip in Pictures (still a LOT of pictures)

Saturday, Day 22: The day started out with a 10K race for me and Emily. I ran faster than I've ran in weeks, but it was still slow. I don't know if it's (1) the altitude, (2) the fact that I didn't run for a week or two before coming to Utah even though I've been very diligent about it since, or (3) that I'm just old. I'm going with option (1). After the race, Emily and I, along with our friend Rachael, decided to do a mini-Olympics for the kiddos. We made shirts, planned activities, and created other Olympic goodies. We had an opening ceremony complete with rice-krispie torches and individual flags. After chowing down the torches, the kids competed in the events: straw race, javelin throw, balloon-between-the-legs race, hurdles (the kids' favorite), sprint, shot put, soccer kick, and a relay. Of course all the kids got gold (who could predict such an outcome?!) and then of course, all the kids ate their medals. It was a good morning. In the evening, we went down to a mini-high school reunion with my friends. Between the five families, we have 22 kids. Take out my family, and the other four have 20 kids. I'm really bringing down that average.








































Sunday, Day 23: The Maxwells left in the morning and we were all sad to see them go. We then enjoyed a quiet Sunday with regular naps and on-time bedtimes. It was kinda nice. It was, however, the only day on the trip with no pictures.

Monday, Day 24: While the morning was a low-key morning, it was okay because we expectd our afternoon to be awesome. And it was. Boating with Chuck's brother and his family was such a good time. The only bad part was getting rained out. Everyone (except Rhett) got in the water and no one regretted it. Even Ollie enjoyed the tube! Rhett spent most of the boat ride up in the front, except when he was bugging his uncle to drive.
















Tuesday, Day 25: After a morning spent cleaning, we knew our last afternoon better be good. We thought about going to Thanksgiving Point, but we thought the trip would take way too long and bedtimes were really important. Instead, we asked Rhett what he wanted and when he said "Alpine Slide!" we said done. We enjoyed a fun dinner and even saw Mark Eaton. Of course we didn't know it and needed Rachael to tell us, but hey--we're not from here. The dude was ENORMOUS. Something about 7'4" is just BIG.






Wednesday, Day 26: Today we fly home. We took one last ride up Memorial Hill in the Polaris this morning and enjoyed the sunrise with a donut breakfast--a perfect farewell. We got to look out on the Heber Valley and be reminded of so many fun adventures from the trip. I'm totally scared for the flight with our squirmy baby, but it's only four hours, right? RIGHT?! And sigh. Back to Maryland. Back to humidity. Back to a small house with no view of mountains. I hope I don't lose it on the plane.