Utah

A couple weekends ago we took a trip to Utah.  We haven't been there in over 3 years because:

1) its a 12 hour drive
2) we have kids that hate long drives

But my brother got a part in BYU's Phantom of the Opera and I haven't seen him in any of his shows since high school, and I hadn't seen any of my family up there for 3 years- so we were way overdue for a visit.  We braved it and made the loooooong drive up to Orem, UT.  We drove up Feb 1st, and came home on the 4th.  It was a really fast trip but we ended up squeezing in seeing just about all my relatives that live up there even if it was only for a little bit.

We stayed at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi.  Right next to our hotel was a Museum of Ancient History.  We had some time to kill in the morning, so we went and played over there!

It was such a cute museum and the kids just went crazy over it.  They had so many dinosaur bones, a huge water and sand table play area, and big sandboxes where the kids could excavate bones. 

That night was Phantom of the Opera.  We dropped my kids off at my cousin Tasha's house.  Turns out I hadn't seen Tasha since my wedding.  Almost 9 years ago!  What?  Crazy how time flies.  I'm glad I got to see her and that she was available to watch my littles.  They had a great time!  Thanks again Tasha!  Sorry we couldn't hang out any longer :(  Hopefully it will be sooner than 9 years before I see you again!

(pictures from Tasha's blog)

We made it the the show in the nick of time.  Andy had to guide us in with directions 8 minutes before the show with us running through BYU campus in the middle of winter with no jackets!  But we did make it, and the show was AMAZING.  BYU had a budget of $250,000 to put this on, so they did not skimp on set or costumes.  The actors were wonderful, and I just loved every minute.  Andy played Monsier Leferve, which is the opera owner at the beginning that the other two opera owners purchase the opera house from.  He was very good, and had the most speaking parts out of anyone in the play  (it's mostly sung), after his big scene he was in all the ensemble scenes. 

A lot of my Bottema family was able to make it to the show as well.  Aunt Sherri was there, my family came up (minus Jen and Alex) as well as my cousins Bryce, Amanda, Ron, Elaine, Kim and TJ.  It was a mini reunion there at the show.   Hopefully we can organize a real reunion sometime soon.

The next morning we were able to see catch breakfast with Ron and Elaine before they headed down to Cedar City. 

That afternoon was the Superbowl so we headed up to Toelle to watch the big game at TJ and Kim's house! 

I was able to see my cousins Rachel, Natalie, Khristen and Jared!  I'm so glad we got to see them!

Kim's always the perfect little hostess.

 

The girls chatted through most of the game, and we got in a few rounds of Scattergories during the power outage! 

I'm so glad I got to see most everyone even if it was very briefly.  I'm glad Kate and Max got to meet their second cousins!  Alyssa (Tasha's daughter), Maliah, Anna and Henry (Elaine's kids) and Jackson and Emma (Kim's kids).  They had so much fun playing with all of them!  I wish we lived closer to you all so they could grow up close like we did.  So...everyone move to AZ because we hate the snow!  ;)

It was a lot of fun and we hope it won't be too long before we see everyone again!