Utah, so far

Warning: long post!

We moved from Bloomington on May 18. We got home from our cruise on Sunday, had movers come pack up our apartment on Monday, and cleaned and left Bloomington on Tuesday. It took us about 4 days to drive across the country. It rained almost the whole trip. The only nice day happened to be the day we stopped at Rocky Mountain National Park for a detour. We saw about 70 elk in the park. It was really neat. We arrived in Utah on Friday night and were so anxious to see Ainsley. It had been two weeks since we had seen her and we missed her like crazy. Since then, we have bounced around from Midway and Salt Lake, trying to pack in as many family activities as we can. Here are some pictures of our adventures this past month:

Saying goodbye to best friend Ella
Saying goodbye in Bloomington! I miss you girls like crazy!

We took a day off driving to stop at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado

Memorial Day Hike with Grandpa Butler

Hanging out with cousins in American Fork Canyon

Modeling her IU cheerleading outfit at the Memorial Day picnic

Go Hoosiers!

Walked around Temple Square before having lunch with Tom's old co-workers at Zions Bank

Hanging out with cousins while we helped my parents move from Bountiful to Midway. It was sad to see my parents move away from the neighborhood I grew up in!!!

We went to the children's museum with cousins Will and Caden

Talking on her cell phone while driving a bus at Fashion Place Mall

Modeling while we shop

Driving an icecream truck

We went to the Aquarium with Ainsley's Bloomington friend Abi and her mom!

Measuring how tall she is compared to the penguins

Abi loved the sting rays, Ainsley did not

We went to a baseball game with the Reese Family

Learning all about baseball with Daddy

Saw my two oldest friends, Steff and Shae-we've known each other 23 years now! Wow!
New friends: Steff's girls, Camryn, Brooklyn, and Kendyl and Shae's little girl EmmiWe went to Tom's family cabin at Yellowstone Ranch in the Uintas.
Learning about sticks

Every time we go to the ranch, we walk on this pipeline down to the resevoir, Ainsley would not walk on it (or even next to it) by herself and insisted on being carried. It was over a mile walk, and she is pretty heavy. It was annoying.


Roasting hot dogs with daddy
My mom, sisters, and I took the kids swimming at the "Bubble"
Ainsley and Caden loved this slide and went on it about 50 times each

This past week we went down to Zions National Park with my younger siblings Jon and Cami. We had invited them to hike down the Virgin River in Orderville Canyon. Tom and I hiked the full length of the Narrows three years ago and it has remained my favorite hike ever. I loved hiking in the river and down the narrow canyon. We weren't able to get a Ranch backpacking permit, so we opted to Orderville canyon instead because it is just a single day hike. We got down there and discovered that the river was closed because the water level was too high and the current was too fast due to all the recent rain. We were really disappointed so we chose to do another hike instead. We hiked 11 1/2 miles from the top of the mesa to Cable Mountain and then down to the canyon floor. It was hot but we had a lot of fun.

Tom, Jon and Cami in Zions
Tom and I at the top of Cable Mountain

The view from the top
The day after we got back from Zions, my sisters and I took the kids to Hogle Zoo. It was the first time I had been back to Hogle Zoo since I was a kid.
Cousins Ainsley, Will, and Caden at the zoo
Playing at the playground
Of course Ainsley hates it, Caden loves it....typical

Cute brothers Will and Caden


This girl loves pretzels. About the only thing we can get her to always eat is pretzels and milk
She loved the baby elephant
Will loved this giant elephant and thought it was so funny when it sprayed water