Utah: Part 10 (Century Ride)

On July 6th, we drove up to Idaho Falls to meet with the rest of the Hanks family and get a good nights sleep before the big century ride!

The next day, at the crack of dawn, Kevin, his siblings, and his dad, all started riding their bikes...

45 miles later, they stopped at Great Grandma and Grandpa Hanks' house in St. Anthony for a short rest and a hearty breakfast (complements of Grandma Hanks).

While our riders were resting, we (Grandma, Me, Sara, Tyler, Brooklyn, Lily, & Audrey) were exploring the farm. Auntie Janna helped the girls catch a butterfly, which was probably the highlight of their trip, the little girls played with tiny flower windmills, and Brooklyn even got to take a ride in a 4 wheeler with Kevin's cousin Travis! It was tons of fun and it was great to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Hanks again.

But our riders couldn't stall too long or they would get stiff! So they hopped back on their bikes and started peddling onward!

Aunt Kerry even joined them for a short while after they left Great Grandpa's house!

We stayed a while longer and then headed into the middle of nowhere to meet our riders for another water stop. Grandma Hanks had tons of fun things planned for each of the stops, and this one included a battery operated bubble machine! Brooklyn and Audrey played for a little while but then got distracted by the cookies Grandma had, but Lily chased the bubbles the entire time we were there!

We also had a swim stop where Grandma had filled up a kiddy pool in the back of the truck and let the little girls swim in it. Unfortunately, I was too busy trying to convince Lily that the water wouldn't kill her to get any pictures! Never-the-less, it was a nice break before the Hanks crew had to start peddling again!

We met them again at Kilgore Store where the girls played with some funky play dough, ate suckers, and launched rockets. Lily was really into her sucker, but Brooklyn and Audrey went crazy over the rockets and had a blast shooting them off!

When our break was over, we loaded up EVERYONE and drove from Kilgore to Island park (due to a long gravel road that would have killed all the bike tires) to start the ride again. It was a nice drive for everyone in the cab of the truck, but the poor boys in the back got pelted by rain the entire way! It seemed to come out of nowhere, just to pick on them, and it stopped as soon as they got back on their bikes... go figure :)

This time we waited at a waterfall where Grandma had planned a nature treasure hunt. She gave each of the girls their own bucket and let them walk around collecting pine cones and rocks. They absolutely LOVED it and came home with quite a collection!

Meanwhile, our riders were coming down the hill when Brian turned around to tell them all something. He then managed to CRASH... Kevin miraculously swerved around him but Janna ran him over in slow motion and ended up toppling off her bike as well!

Janna's fall was luckily cushioned by Brian, but Brian got some pretty groovy road rash. His arm was pretty bad, but according to him, his backside received the worst of it. Thankfully he chose NOT to prove that to all of us with a little show and tell :)

After mom had Brian all bandaged up, he hopped in the car and we drove to a river where the ride would end, about 10 miles down the road. It was really beautiful and the kids had fun waiting for our riders to finish.

When all was said and done, Brian had two popped tires and some road rash, Craig got a pretty hilarious sunburn, Dad and Janna were pleasantly pooped, and Kevin was on cloud nine!

The little girls FINALLY passed out on the way home and when we got there Brian and Janna took off to ride a few more miles to make up for ones they had missed along the way. In the end, the whole family managed to conquer the entire 100 mile distance and it was a fun memory that we all got to share together!

Stay tuned for more about our adventures in Utah...

Utah: Part 9 (Kaysville Bound)

The morning of July 5th marked the end of the Uda Family Reunion, so Kevin and I packed up our bags and headed north to Kaysville to spend some time with the Hanks family!

It took about 2 seconds for Brooklyn to go flying out the backdoor and onto the trampoline. She had been talking about it for months and wanted to make sure she spent some good quality time with it!

But grandma had another surprise up her sleeve... Down in the basement she had put together a little roller coaster! All the kids loved it, but Lily could hardly be separated from the thing. It was really fun to watch her go again and again :)

After all the chaos of 12 grandchildren at the Uda house, Brooklyn and Lily were happy to have a little downtime reading with grandpa and having the whole house to themselves. But it wasn't long before they started asking where all their Hanks cousins were!

Lily was especially excited to see Audrey, (who is 3 weeks older than her) and once they were together it was a hoot watching them interact and learn new things from each other. But that would all come later, first we had to prepare for the 100 mile bike ride that the Hanks siblings were about to embark on... more to come on that, later!

To be continued...

Utah: Part 8 (Our EPIC 4th of July!)

The 4th of July turned out to be a long but exciting day. We started by waking up super early to run a 10K... apparently too early for Jake!

The girls were in rare form from being exhausted, but once the stroller started rolling they chilled out!

Taber, Becca, Me, Jake, Munro, and Kevin ran the race with Brooklyn and Lily in tow. Here we are before the run.

The race followed the parade route so it was really awesome because the whole course was lined with cheering spectators!

Me and Jake ran/walked the whole thing because of injuries and finished in 1:13:00, which happens to be a PR for me! Jake could have gone faster, but he was nice and stayed with me the whole way while pushing the stroller :) I don't know everyone else's time, but they all pretty much killed it!

In the meantime, the rest of the family watched the hot air balloons rise while they saved us a spot on the parade route.

When we were done running, we headed over to our spot to join them for the parade. Brooklyn was very concerned about something in this picture, but for the most part she had a BLAST watching the parade... especially when princesses and ponies came prancing by.

In fact, all the munchkins had a blast at the parade, DESPITE the super hot temperatures.

But my favorite thing was watching Lily's reaction to everything. She thought the parade was the coolest thing that ever happened to her. Her favorite things were the bands, fire trucks, and horses.

Here she is again, being cute and gazing off into the distance :)

After the parade, Kevin and I grabbed the girls and headed over to Uncle Glen and Aunt Connie's house for a quick visit. We had tons of fun chatting with them, saying good bye to Lisa (who was heading off on her mission), and eating yummy Popsicles!

Next, we headed home to meet my aunt Diane and her family for a 4th of July BBQ at my parent's house!

We ate TONS of food, laughed our heads off, had a few political debates, and took advantage of the opportunity for an impromptu photo shoot.

And then the real fun began! My Aunt Diane has 3 handsome sons, and 2 handsome grandsons to keep her company... but she is a girly girl at heart and loves to buy pretty things. So every year she secretly shops around and builds up a stockpile of jewelery, purses, and makeup that she showers us and her beautiful daughter-in-law, Kelly with. She makes it super fun by having us play funny games for things and she always picks out the most beautiful jewelery. I came home with a beautiful necklace and bracelet, some new lipstick and fingernail polish, and the PERFECT purse for a mom on the go! THANK YOU AUNT DIANE!

And while the adults were playing, the kids were in the house next door organizing a talent show! It was so cute. They formally invited us over after hours of practice, showed us to our seats, gave us refreshments, and then started the show. It involved a lot of "ballet" from the little girls, some brake dancing from the boys, and a ton of good laughs from the adults!

The kids were so wiggly that it was hard to get a good picture of them. But they had a blast dancing for all of us! And we loved watching them! When they were done, all the aunties entertained the kids with some old camp songs we used to sing, auntie Liz danced a Tahitian number for ever one, and then Becca, Sarah, and Tau wrapped up the night with this:

Utah: Part 7 (Family Pictures)

Uda Family 2012 (Chris and Pae not pictured) Carl, Cindy, Rachel, Munro, Mason, Maile, Malia, Josh, Erin Joseph, David, Taber, Becca, Teya, Brinley, Camden, Kevin, Naomi, Brooklyn, Lily, Tau, Sarah, Noa, Micah, Jacob, Scarlet, Liz, Tony, and Gizmo.

Grandma and Grandpa Uda with their grandchildren... its hard to keep that many little ones happy all at once!

Grandchildren picture... It was a miracle that we got them all in... especially since Camden was trying really hard to run away!

Carl and Cindy with their children.

Uda Siblings in line, youngest to oldest, ages 23-35, all 2 years apart in age.

When my parents got married, someone grabbed my mom and said, "How can you marry that man?! Don't you know your kids will look like monkeys?!"

 I guess he was right!

 Old School Uda picture.

We were trying to look like our ancestors!

 Mom and Dad Uda

Kevin and Brooklyn, entertaining each other during down time.

 Digging for buried treasures...

Hanks Family take 2... Lily cried during the entire photo shoot, not just because we tipped her upside down :)

 Brooklyn loves getting her picture taken.

She requested that I do her hair in a star for family pictures. This is the best I could do!

Mommy and Brooklyn, right before we headed back home.