a little Excursion

We were headed down south for my niece Maddie's Baptism on the first Saturday in August.  But since Jotham was already going to be flying into SLC friday evening from a business trip,  the kids and I headed down a day early and made a few stops along the way before we picked him up.

Thursday night Uncle Philip agreed to let the kids "babysit him" while Beth and I ran a few errands and enjoyed some shopping at Gardner's Village and Ikea.

Then, first up Friday morning was a little hike to Doughnut Falls with the lovely Beth/Eliza and Suzanne/Phin. 

Just a few of the friendly critters we met along the way:

It was a short hike, a little too short.  But the three big kids were proud of themselves for making it all the way to the top, it took some serious rock scrambling at the end.  I hadn't realized that there had been a landslide since I was a kid and that's why it looks so different from the way I remember it, making it harder to actually see the falls.

 But it was still very pretty and the weather was perfect for hiking, Gavin and Hollie thought it was a little on the cool side while we waited at the bottom for the bigger kids to return.

  That afternoon after a brief but enjoyable visit with Melanie and family, we headed to the splash pad next to my sister's house in cottonwoods heights.

For dinner Seth and Suzanne shared one of their favorite SLC traditions.  Seth served his mission in Mexico and as a result has a soft spot in his heart for taco carts.  It was pretty darn yummy, and to make it even a little more authentic we ate our dinner on a tarp in the parking lot, it felt a little ghetto,  but fun and Seth even shared some Manzana soda to round out our "Salt Lake City/Mexican" culture experience.  Good times, ah... good times.

After dinner we headed to the Capitol Building to watch the Lego Movie on the lawn.  The kids loved it, especially all the treats Seth and Suzanne spoiled them with-- Gavin still breaks into song every once in a while to remind us that...

"Everything is Awesome!"

We slept out under the stars that night at Suzanne's parents house and enjoyed their amazing view of Salt Lake Temple at night.  Then we were up bright and early to make it to Maddie's baptism.