The weekend in photos

Warning, photo overload! I managed to take so many pictures, I think we'll just let them tell the story (with some narration, since I like to talk so much and can't give it up entirely). We had the joyous experience of travelling up to Salt Lake City for my nephew's baby blessing.

Friday was spent mostly driving. We got to stop in Orem to visit a favorite missionary companion of James's (pretty much the only one he kept in touch with). We ate at a delicious Brazilian grill place, where you served yourself the salads, soups, etc, and they walked around with the various grilled meats to put on your plate, all you can eat. We also learned Brian and his wife are expecting in February, so James and I may be making another trip up to Utah next spring (We're also planning a trip to Vegas on October for James's brother's wedding).

Just outside of Orem, we crashed the Cabella's Superstore. It was pretty sweet, with two stories, an aquarium, and large displays of stuffed animals (and shotguns and rifles where you could handle them without waiting on a store attendant):

We got to Erin's house in time for dinner, lots of socializing, and a much needed bedtime (nobody slept well in the car). Thought it wasn't their beds, both Cadence and Megan were happy to not have to sleep in the car seat any more, so they slept well. Which was good, because Saturday morning, we had a trip to Temple Square planned. We got to visit the new Conference Center, including the garden on the roof, walk around the temple grounds, visit both the North and South visitor's center and stop by the Joseph Smith Memorial building. We had hoped to make it to the Church History museum, but the girls were getting fussy, so we headed home and got lunch (the Book of Mormon is in Tagalog, the language my brother's serving his mission using in the Philippines):
Saturday night we had a big family barbecue. Chicken, hotdogs, macaroni salad, potato salad, and a visit from one of the craziest uncles ever:
Sunday was the baby blessing. No pictures of that, unfortunately, but Lucas looked precious in the blessing outfit his mom made for him! I'm sure she'll post pictures eventually, but you've gotta be friends with her on Facebook to see them, probably. ;-) After Sacrament, we all crowded back in Erin and Jeff's home for a tasty brunch (breakfast at lunch time, rather). Erin made some delicious casseroles and muffins and a fruit salad to feed the crowd. No pictures of that, either, but we did get some pictures of the fireworks celebration that night! Cadence and Lynne loved the sparklers. So did Brin (Daddy's dog). Brin fought so hard to try to eat all the exploding fireworks and such that she had sore hips the next day. Both Megan and Cadence fell asleep before the fireworks were over, but Lynne made it to the end!:
Monday, we visited the natural history museum at the University of Utah. Cadence got to dig for some "fossils" and play on a recreation of a dinosaur bone. Then she admired stuffed turkeys, bug displays, lava rocks, and more dinosaur bones:
Tuesday, we took the girls to a spray park and playground while the boys slept in. We packed up the car and had an early start home. We had fun, but we were glad to be home: