Our flight seemed super fast and had great views of Mount St. Helen.
We arrived to a wall of heat and immediately started melting as we waited for our ride. Luckily Kyle was there in no time so we didn't fully melt away. The plan was to meet up with family downtown for dinner at Em's but since we had a bit of time before our reservation we decided to drive over to Memory Grove and see where Dan and I had our wedding reception.
I love this park, the stream and the cute little house. It was fun to be back, it has been almost 12 years since we've been there. Right before we got married there was a tornado in Utah, which is so unusual, that ripped out quite a few trees. Luckily it didn't look too bad for our reception and it did nothing to the house or other structures.
The food at Em's was really good, though the service was a little slow. But it was fun to get caught up with family and just enjoy each others company.
Friday we slept in, then decided to go to Kennecot Copper Mine. Dan and I have never been and always wanted to go. We stopped by my brother's house on the way so we could see the progress on his new yard. It looks great, they have done an amazing job. The mine had a small visitor center with a movie that was pretty interesting. I mostly enjoyed being in the sun and seeing how huge the mine is, fun fact: you can put two Willis (Sears) Towers on top of each other inside the mine. Also huge are the trucks that haul out the mined material. Look at those tires! They need ladders to climb into the truck, no kidding!
Saturday was RACE DAY! Dan, Rebecca and Shannon all did the Morgan Half Marathon. Dan ran and did an amazing job shaving off 5 minutes from his last race. Rebecca and Shannon walked and also totally rocked it! They did it under 4 hours which is a huge accomplishment!
We got there an hour early so had time to laugh it up in the van, it was freezing so we stayed out of the elements up to the last minute. The morning ended up being overcast which was so great, the race would have been unbearable in the scorching sun.
Headed to the finish line! I loved that Shannon's husband and kids met her and walked to the finish line as a family. So cute.
After the marathon we went to a family BBQ. We had great food and it was so nice to be with family. While we were there we looked through the yard. It seems like we're always there in the winter so it was fun to go up by the shed and root cellar. We got a shot of the christmas lights that Dan put in a plastic bag and staple gunned to the shed years ago as a teen...I guess it was too hard to string them around any further! I'd never noticed Dan's name and hand carved into the steps.
To end the evening we drew names and went in order to pick out some of Dan's mom's cookie cutters. She used to have them nailed to the walls surrounding her kitchen. It was always pretty amazing to see. You can tell from the pictures that many haven't been used in years (look at that dust!). Everyone got the ones they wanted and had sentimental attachment too. Dan got a shamrock that he remembers making with his mom and a huge bear cookie cutter since he loved bears. He used to trace the cookie cutter and draw ties on the bears and give them to his mom as a card. How cute is that? We got many others and I can't wait to use them.
Sunday we BBQ'd with my family. The food was again amazing, but the weather...not so much. It started to lightening and thunder so we only had time to see one hula hoop extravaganza by my nieces :) It was actually kind of nice to watch the storm roll in and enjoy the cool breeze.
Monday we had a great lunch at the Copper Onion and ice cream cones from Iceberg. We had a really fun time, it was busy and full of memories and laughing...as it should be.
1 comment:
It's always great to see family for a few days, and remember my roots. Had a great time visiting the Craven's and the Finlayson's. All our nieces and nephews are growing up so quick...
Post a Comment