Henry in the mountains

Panoramic shot of the Tetons thanks to Eric

Henry was so excited to go out to Utah and Idaho so he could climb into the mountains.  As we drove around Salt Lake City he would ask when we were going up into the mountains and was constantly commenting on how pretty they were as we drove along the foothills.  He even said at one point that he wanted to stay in Utah forever, but then recanted saying that he didn't want to leave our house behind.  I think he'll get over leaving our house when he gets out to Utah and we go hiking like every day!  Yessss! (can you hear the Utahn coming out in that?) First of all I have to give a shout out to Will, my brother, who graduated from BYU Idaho and which was the main reason for our trip.  The graduation and ceremony were really crazy since they were at night, which is really late for my kids, but we got through it and had some great memories from it. 

 Henry hiking down the mountain.  Can you see my dad carrying Bea? He carried her half way down and said his arms weren't even tired.  What a burly man!

All three of us with the Tetons in the background.  This is what the East just does not have.  No amount of trees can compare with the mountains.  

Uncle Will, Henry, Me, Bea, Nanna B and Lucy

We did get to ride up the lift at Grand Targhee resort and hike down which he loved.  The best part were the millions of wildflowers all over the mountain that Henry was enthralled with.  He also got really attached to Uncle Will and held his hand the entire way down, showing him all the flowers he found.  Henry is also in love with hot tubs and the two giant hot tubs at the condos we stayed at were heaven for him.  We also had an indoor hot tub in our hotel in Salt Lake and we hung out in it together every day we stayed there.  Thank you Nanna B!

Henry and his wild mountain flowers/weeds

Henry got to hang out with his cousin Colton and Eli and his second cousins Jack, Wil, Emma, and Kirkham.  Henry has almost no themed toys so Jack's collection of Toy Story toys had Henry jumping for joy.  I got to get together with many of my girl cousins who I don't get to see more than once a year, which was so much fun.  I really miss them.

 Henry and Colton at Gateway mall

At the Salt Lake Children's Museum riding an old rescue helicopter

The kids with Nanni and Papi in front of the Snake River in Rexberg, Idaho

I really love this photo.  Not only were my kids wading and climbing, they were drinking the filthy water.  I'm glad it smelled like chlorine because the water was pretty murky.  Yuk! I just love that no one said anything to them.  Utahns are so laid back!

We got to walk up to my grandma's grave and spend some time with her.  Henry and Bea spent most of the time playing in the gutter with the water flowing down from the sprinklers that were watering the cemetery.  Brings back memories of when I had nothing but the gutter to play with.  I even washed their faces with gutter water.  Aahh the good ol' days:)

So this is the weirdest tree in the world.  The trunk is the same all the way up but somehow another tree sprouted in the trunk of the lower tree and is thriving on top of it.  This is what you can sit and ponder as you sit on my grandma's bench.  It surely fits her rebellious nature.  You go Grandma B!

And guess what we found all around our campsite?

More blueberries?! Our campsite in WV this weekend was surrounded by little wild blueberry bushes and Henry was so dedicated in picking them all.  We had a blueberry feast after he was done gathering them all up.  They were so tasty but really small compared to what we get at the store.  We also saw a ton of wild strawberry plants and some raspberry plants.  The river was FULL of crawdads and I'm sure has plenty of fish as well.  We decided that if we were pioneers, we wouldn't mind living there and being hunter/gatherers in that area.