Utah for 4th of July

July was/is a month of lots of traveling. First on the agenda was going to Utah. J's Grandma and Great Aunts were having a family reunion, it was J's Grandma's birthday on the 4th, and DCI was on Wednesday.

So! on our way down to Utah, we went on a caravan drive with J's parents and younger brother.

We hit 160,000 miles on our Honda! What a good car.

J's Grandparents live right next door to their old house. Where their current house is, is where the orchard was. The old house was owned by a mean, scary lady who would get mad if you lost your ball on her side of the "fence" of trees, so you would be scared to get your ball back.

Now, someone else has bought the house and is repainting and renovating it. So we got to go see it!

Complete with green shag carpet!

And a cool retro phone that would take FOREVER to dial! :)

A beautiful front door,

Very pretty windows,

And the front porch that J's mom slept on one night when she was little.

Here's the current house.

Each bedroom has a nickname.

There's a green room, a blue room, a carpet room, and a red room (I think. I haven't seen that one yet, but I think Greg's room is red). The colored names only come from the color of the carpet. Each room has a different colored carpet.

My favorite might just be the carpet room. It has swatches of lots of different colored carpets on one of the walls. It's like a puzzle. The popcorn ceiling in the carpet room has sparkles in it, too! It's the room I stayed in when I first went there and when J and I were fasting about whether or not to get married, so it's a sentimental room to me, too.

Grandma and Grandpa Greenhalgh have a beautiful garden. Grandpa likes to show it to us whenever we come. He LOVES his garden. He has had lots of health problems, but still goes out and works on that garden.

He has one spot in the front that is ALL snapdragons. I love it.

The garden

A rose that separates their yard from the old house's yard.

So for the family reunion, we drove down to Monroe, Utah where Grandma and her sisters lived.

This is the house they lived in. The most prominent feature they remember and that was still there was this bookcase behind them.

The whole Musig family that came for the reunion

Grandma Greenhalgh (left) and her two sisters.

This tree trunk was sitting in the garden as if it were supposed to be part of the decor.

I don't remember what he was showing here, but I think the left hand is how big the tree was when he dated Gma.

Gma's sister wrote all she knew how to write on this brick. Yes, No, and her name.

This is in Gma's house. On the wooden piece is a star for each month. Then, each month has a ribbon. On the ribbon there are stars with the birthday of each child, grandchild, great-grandchild and each anniversary in gma and gpa's family. Then, to differentiate between Gma, Gpa, their children, their children and their children, the sides of the stars are color-coded.

I want one of these one day. When my family is big enough!

J and Tyler played trains one afternoon.

4th of July, it POURED rain. We sat outside and watched and the Greenhalgh girl cousins played in the rain.

I made friends with these beautiful, sweet girls. They are just a joy to be around and invited me in so easily!

This is the whole family that was there for Gma's birthday.

Megan, Gpa, Wes, Janet, Jodi, John, Kristin, and Holly.

This side is Linda, J, Blaine, Janet, and Gma.

Yes, the brothers both married Janets. :)

Here is the beautiful cake that Linda and Kristin made Gma.

It was yummy, too!

J and me before the fireworks. He's silly.

Before the fireworks, we shot off rockets. sadly, the parachutes only worked once out of 6 times... but it was epic!

I got to shoot one off! You push a doorbell! heehee

J shooting one off

Kristin, Megan, Jodi, Holly, and me at the fireworks. Beautiful girls

Add J into the mix and here we are really.

Happy Independence Day! What a wonderful country we live in!!

Tuesday, we went to the Manti Temple with J's parents. It was a beautiful experience. I am so thankful for temples and the strength we receive from the Lord when we go.

John and Linda

Gpa Greenhalgh used to be in the temple presidency, so we asked to see the staircases that are in the steeples. There are two spiral staircases on both sides of the steeple you see on the right in this picture. One staircase goes clockwise and the other goes counterclockwise. Each stair supports the weight of the one above it. There are 151 steps to the top. There are no elevators.

They were gorgeous stairs. and it was a gorgeous temple

Wednesday, we went to Salt Lake to visit with some friends from Rexburg. We got to see the Pixtons and hang out with them. They made us stuffed crust homemade pizza. YUM.

Then, we wen to DCI. It's brass and percussion marching bands that tour the country. It was spectacular.

Here's a picture of my favorite band from the night. The white uniforms are angels and the red are demons. Very cool.

Utah was fun. We spent some quality time with family, and relaxed. I spent a great evening sitting in a porch swing with J's aunt talking about life, love and happiness. I crocheted a lot. I learned a lot about J's family. In fact, here's a cool fact. J's related to someone who signed the Declaration of Independence.