Time with the Craven Clan

We spent the first week of our trip with my family and had a wonderful time.

It was fun to be “tourists” at Temple Square.  JJ has spent most of her life seeing images of the Conference Center on television so it was really neat for her to see it in person. 

That afternoon we visited my Grandparents.  The girls love Grandma and Grandpa Great and it is no wonder why. They keep a collection of silly and exciting games that are a blast to play.

My sister brought her boys along because a trip to Grandma Great’s house is too much fun to pass up.  They made the cutest cookies and everyone had a great time.

I am so grateful that once again they have the opportunity to spend time with their Great Grandparents.  I have fond memories of baking cookies with Grandma and they will too.

The Grandparents took all six Grandkids for an overnight adventure.  Zana’s favorite part of the whole trip was the special stop at the specialty toy store where Grandma and Papa treated each child to a special toy.  Biddy had the most fun.  She fell in love with every single plastic animal figurine in the store and managed to fill an entire shopping cart with them.  The store managers were really sweet about the whole thing. Grandpa finally got them all put away and then she pulled them all of the shelf again before she settled on a little cat.  Zana got a sweet little ballerina doll and JJ picked a fabulous artists design maker.  They spent the night at a condo at pine view while we had dinner with my three sisters and their husbands.  It was great to enjoy some adult company.

The next day we joined Grandma and Pap and the kids at Pine View Reservoir for a day on the lake.  We borrowed jet skii’s and the girls got to ride some for the first time.  They loved it and JJ remembers that as her favorite part of the vacation.  That night Mom and Dad treated us to a BBQ dinner that was so good it rivaled Texas BBQ.

On Sunday we gathered for a family dinner and took family photos.   The kids got tired of waiting for us adults to powder our noses….

We also threw Biddy a preliminary birthday celebration.

Grandma and Pap’s present was a big hit. 

Grandma treated us to a tour of the big hole in her backyard…..

The Bingham Copper Mine was a spectacular sight and the girls were amazed.  But nothing was as amazing as the Mystery Machine parked right down the street from Grandma’s house!

One of the things I miss the most about Utah are the spectacular mountains.  We took a day trip to the Uinta Mountains and it was beautiful.  My girls got to climb up a real waterfall and loved every minute of it.  

We took the girls and their cousins out in the canoe on Washington Lake which turned out the be the perfect back drop for a pirate adventure.  We made our way through treacherous seas to pirate island where we collected a bounty of treasure.  We passed through dead tree cove, rounded rocky dam and landed on Marooners island. They buried their treasure there before turning towards port for a campfire lunch fit for pirates. 

I miss my Mom and Sisters like crazy.  They are my best friends and we are super close.  We made sure to have a girls night and treated ourselves to manicures and pedicures and indulged in treats from the “Chocolate Shop” for dessert.  I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun with the girls.

As you can see my big sister just had a baby and the other two are about to pop!  Aren’t they gorgeous!  I I love them so much!