Month Vacation Part Two-Utah

So after our stay in Idaho we were off to Utah for the Barker Family Reunion. All of Mike's siblings and their kids were able to make it except Andy's family. It was a week of lots of fun and chaos. It reminded me of my family gatherings growing up. We use to sleep in our front room packed in there like sardines, bodies everywhere. Those were good times and some of my most fond memories.
Mike's parents always make it so nice for everyone. They have activities planned; just enough to keep us going but not so much it runs us ragged. I have to say I have the very best parent-in-laws. The best two events of the week was the blessing of Willow, our new niece and the announcement that Wiley and Kate are expecting a baby. Brigham did such a great job on the blessing and it was so nice to be able to be there for that and we are so excited for Wiley and Kate to experience all the “joy” of kids we are experiencing.
For the rest of the week we got to do so many fun things. We got to go swimming in a very fun swimming pool, we went to a 3-D dinosaur movie, the zoo, we watched fireworks and a candy cannon, we had water fights, the movies, dodge ball in the gym, we visited, and the kids played and played. I love how the kids just play as if they have never been apart. We ate a lot of great food and had more soda than a human should ever consume and it was such a great time.
Before we knew it it was time to say goodbye to everyone and time again for the long, long drive home. Our car was so packed we could hardly move. We had somehow managed to accumulate way more stuff than we had brought out with us. Mike and I decided to just drive through the night instead of stopping in a hotel and trying to sleep in a small hotel room with 4 kids. We left Friday about 11:00am and he was a trooper and drove 19 hours straight. At 6:00 am on Saturday I took over and we made it home around noon. It was strange to be home after such a long time away. My house felt a bit foreign. It was a super humid day and it about took my breath away. The garden had become a jungle (thanks to the yw weeding or we wouldn’t have been able to find anything). We all were very tired but so happy to be home. Our neighbors the O’Connors had mowed the lawn, made us a welcome home sign, and had dinner and cookies in the kitchen. What incredible neighbors they are. It wasn’t until the next day that I freaked out about how I was going to get caught up on everything.
Man how we miss our families so much already and can’t wait until we get to get together and do it all over again. What a great vacation we had and it made us remember even though we hadn’t forgot, that we really do have the best families.