Utah (part 4) – Anderson Family Reunion

Thursday, July 5

This was picture day! Everyone dressed up and headed to the top of the mountain for family photos.

Utah hadn’t seen rain for a record number of weeks . . . until we scheduled a photo shoot. Fortunately, it wasn’t coming down very hard.

We took all the photos that the kids would stand for and then went for a hike . . . holding hands of course.


Logan, Raine, and Carson

This was my hiking buddy. We stopped to size-up every stick and jump off every rock along the trail.

We also stopped to try out the tree chair . . .

. . . and pick the wildflowers.

Eventually, everyone else caught up with us. (Still holding hands.)


Aunt Sara, Daddy, Uncle Daryn, Carson, Raine, and Logan

On the way back, we caught up with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jed, and Aunt Katie.

During nap time, Uncle Jed and Aunt Katie taught the older kids how to play Uno.

The rain continued all day, completely throwing off my plans for the birthday party activity. I spent weeks planning a Dora/Diego adventure that would work outside in the grass, but had to move it indoors due to the rain. We set it up at the condo since everyone was at the cabin. It was a little cramped, but it worked out fine.

Each kid had their backpack full of the supplies they would need along the way and a map to tell them which way to go to rescue baby jaguar. They all loved the activity.

Then we headed back to the cabin to decorate cupcakes.

We sang happy birthday and each child blew out their own candle. (It was Aunt Candi’s actual birthday, and Max and Carter’s birthdays were within a couple weeks, so we celebrated all of them.)


Grandpa, Logan, Grant, Carson, Uncle Daryn, Aunt Candi, Max, Seth, Raine, Carter, and Uncle Jed

Friday, July 6

We packed up, swam in the pool one last time, said our good-byes, and then headed back down the canyon. We had so much fun with all the cousins, aunts, and uncles that we hardly ever get to see. Now the kids have memories to go with all the names!

Back at Grandma and Grandpa Dewey’s house, we made Welsh Cakes and reminisced about our trip to Wales last year with Grandma. The kids also got one last ride on the horse.

Saturday & Sunday, July 7-8

Our flight home was quite eventful. It all started Saturday evening when we arrived at the airport for our scheduled flight. It was slightly delayed for some unknown reason, but we eventually boarded and settled in. As we waited for them to close the door, the pilot came on the PA system and told us that they were just finishing up a minor maintenance issue and we would be leaving in fifteen minutes. Twenty minutes later he came back on to let us know they were just finishing up the paperwork so we would be leaving shortly. A short while after that the pilot came on to tell us that we weren’t cleared for take-off because of weather problems at DFW. So they unloaded the flight and told us to wait in the departure area for further information.

After we all disembarked, they told us we would reload in thirty minutes. Forty-five minutes later, they started loading the plane again. After we were all loaded up, the pilot announced that in seven minutes we would find out if we had clearance to take off. Exactly seven minutes later he told us we were cleared and we took off for home.

About an hour into our flight, the pilot came back over the PA to tell us that we were turning around and heading back to Salt Lake because there was no room for us at DFW. Seriously, no room.

Around 10:00 pm, long after we were originally supposed to have landed in Texas, we disembarked one more time in SLC. They told us to come back at 7:00 the next morning for our flight and then sent us down to the baggage carousel to claim our luggage. Grandpa Dewey made his third trip to the airport for us that day (during our second delay, he brought us the sippy-cups we left in the fridge), and we arrived at their house to spend one more night.

Early the next morning we checked the flight status and found out our flight wasn’t leaving until 8:45, so we went back to sleep. We arrived at the airport, again, and made it to the gate, again. We boarded the flight, again, and took off, again. But this time, we really made it home. Our favorite neighbor, Evan Eastman, picked us up and we were finally back where we belong.

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