England Visits

Dan has two sisters who live in England along with their husbands and five nephews.  I've met them once when Dan and I got married.  Other than that it's mostly been an internet relationship.  In April we were so very fortunate to have his sister, Kim come to visit with her family.  Her husband is David and they have a son, Lewis who is fifteen.  It was so fun to spend some time with them and have our kids meet their family that they've never met before.  We talked about cousins in England, but I don't think it was ever real to them until now.  First Dan went up to Logan and spent time with them on his own. He only gets to see his sisters every ten years or so.  

Dan, his mum (Anne), Kim, Lewis, and David.

They all made the journey out to Vernal to stay for a couple of days and see more of Utah. This was David and Lewis's first trip to the United States so they wanted to see what they could in the short time they were here.

On the way to Vernal they stopped at Strawberry Pinnacles and checked out Strawberry Reservoir. It's a very unique landscape to someone who's from England. 

Once they got to Vernal we got to spend some time together and the boys got to meet their Auntie Kim, Uncle David, and Lewis their cousin from afar.  Kim is the sweetest person you'll ever meet and brought gifts for the boys.  She knows boys well and Legos were just the thing.  Then she and Lewis helped them put them all together.

Then we headed out to Dinosaur National Park to do some exploring.  We went to the quarry and checked out the bones.  

My boys had been here before but I think it's amazing every time we go.  I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the large scale of the dinosaurs. 

Landon really enjoyed himself because he's doesn't really remember coming here.  He was about 18 months old when we last came.

Ron thinks he could out-pace this guy.

These boys immediately go for the technology and begin fighting over who gets to tap on the screen. Landon always feels like the little guy so...

Auntie Kim took over to touch his own screen.  Then all was well.

I almost mistook him for a Dinosaur.  :)

This guy (Ron)  likes to tease.  He always has some funny little comment to make.  Most people don't know that about him because he's so quiet.  But I know different - he's not as innocent as he looks.  David in the background is wondering what we're laughing at.

As usual we have found a giant hillside to climb.  Little boys must always be conquering.

It's not long before Lewis is tempted to join.

And now David joins the discovery.

The camera just doesn't do this view justice.  

David and Kim.

This one is always collecting rocks.  He has a fairly large rock collection and is always searching for the best ones.

Lewis and Dalin.  Kim also bought each of the kids a hoodie with the English flag on the front.  

After Dinosaur we headed up the road and into the Uintas to do a little day camp.  This is not something you can do England so they thought it was one of the best things we did.  

Landon was showing me his superhero skills and fell down right as I snapped this picture.  Funny kid.

Real men light fires and cook food in foil.

They all said they loved the foil dinners but weren't to keen on the watermelon.  Apparently they don't have watermelon in England because none of them had tried it before.  Lewis thought it had a weird texture.

Is that a deer?

Nope just grandma Anne.

Here's a couple more deer.  The place we camped at is called Dry Fork Canyon. As you can see there's a lovely riverbed here, but it rarely has water in it.

The next day was all adventure.  We headed up to Flaming Gorge to do a little rafting.  But first we stopped to check out the view.

At the top of the reservoir.  Since it was April I was a little concerned we might get cold, especially if we got wet at all.  Then the clouds gathered and we thought it might even rain on us, but once we got going it warmed up and, other than our feet, we stayed dry.

The visitor center didn't open for another week so we just stayed outside and looked around.

Lewis and Dalin down at the river.  We had to wait for Dan and Ron to take another car down to the other end so the rest of us just waited with the rafts.  The river was very clear this time of year.  

Speaking of Ron, he was a trooper and made it all the way down the river with us without complaint.  

The boys were getting excited.  Dalin is holding Flat Kyla up.  Kyla had a school project that she was doing for school so we took her paper self on an adventure with us.  

Still waiting, but having fun playing around on the raft.  The river was amazing and so beautiful.  Unfortunately I didn't take my camera on the raft because I didn't want to get it wet.  Dan was our guide and kept us all from drowning.  He handed out oars and bossed us all around while steering our vessel.  He and Lewis thought they were being funny and kept trying to make us hit giant rocks and stuff.  At one point Dan purposefully went over a big rock and got us high-centered.  We couldn't get off the thing so Dan had to jump out of the boat and lift us off the rock and quickly get back in before we took off without him.  Poor Ron was beside himself.

The next day Anne and Ron took the boys back up to their place in Logan and the rest of us went on one more adventure out to the Bonneville Salt Flats.  It didn't disappoint.  

It was a long drive to do in one day, but it was also nice to spend some time in the car and just talk with Kim, David, and Lewis.  

Back in Logan we spent a couple more days just relaxing and spending time together before they had to head out.  

Here's Dan with his mum and sister.  Dan hasn't seen them in just over ten years.  I only got to meet them when Dan and I got married and Lewis was about 18 months old.  It was really nice to get to know them again.  Dan and I would love to go to England and spend more time with his family, but until then at least we have Facebook.