Our Utah Trip

Nick started back to school this week. He had a long winter break, and so, as usual, we went to Utah. We drove and on the way there stopped in an area Nick served in for his mission in Colorado so he could show me where he lived. This is him standing in front of his old apartment.

We spent the night at our good friend Ryan's parents' house. They were incredibly friendly and hospitable. In the morning we woke up and explored the city for a while.

Ryan's mom took us to see some animals that she helps take care of. Atlas loves goats.

We finally arrived in Utah,

hung out with family,

and went to see my mom.

It was extremely hard on me to see my mom this time. It really wiped me out emotionally. And then we all got the flu.

Luckily we were mostly healthy in time for our post Christmas celebrations with Nick's family.

I call this series of photos "Don't take the iPad away from the babies."

Atlas was being a bit of a pill, and was the only cousin too big for matching pajamas, but look at all these cute boys. No girls yet on the Potter side.

My Dad took our family to Disneyland for our Christmas present. It was so fun to be there with my siblings and adorable nieces and nephews. We had a blast.

Atlas was obsessed with the Lego store.

It was so great for Atlas to spend so much time with his cousins. They are all getting to a super fun age where they really enjoy being with each other.

Nick and I took all the older kids on two rides, the teacups (which I hate) and the ferris wheel in California Adventure. Those were my two favorites because we were all just crammed together and the kids just laughed and screamed so much I couldn't help but laugh the entire time too.

The kids, well, all of us really, ate so much sugar.

Cosby even got really in to a couple of the rides.

Atlas got picked to become a Jedi.

One of the nights we got our friend Dan, who lives in Burbank (I think) to come meet up with us and have dinner. We haven't seen Dan for a year so it was so much fun. Our best friends are spaced out all over the world. I miss them all so much, but it also makes it super special when we finally do get to see them.

Our drive back to MO from UT was, eventful. We had a serious tire blow out while driving 85 mph. We slid back and forth along the highway for a good ten seconds or so while I tried not to overcorrect and keep us from overturning in to the ditch next to the highway. I finally got the car to stop, pulled over and called a tow. We were 25 minutes from the nearest town, but we got all fixed up and heading home again only to cross through a huge prairie fire. This is looking back after we had driven through a good mile or so of smoke.

It felt so good to finally be back home. I love our little house and was ready to get back to normal. Things haven't been to routine yet though as we are figuring out our new semester schedule. It always takes me a while to get used to change.