More Utah Fun

In our church, there is a song that the little children sing titled, "My Heavenly Father Loves Me." It has always been a favorite of mine since I was a little girl. The words to the song are:

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
Or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by a lilac tree,
I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.

He gave me my eyes that I might see
The color of butterfly wings.
He gave me my ears that I might hear
The magical sound of things.
He gave me my life, my mind, my heart:
I thank him reverently
For all his creations, of which I'm apart
Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.

In a feeble effort to keep up with my exercise routine, I would try to go jogging around the neighborhood a few times a week. It is on these outings that I found myself marveling at the mountains, the trees, the wild flowers, listening to the sounds of children playing, with the words of My Heavenly Father Loves Me playing in my mind. I have to admit, when I think about our trip to Utah, this was one of my favorite parts. It was a perfect balance to the wonderful craziness that accompany a family reunion that involves 5 young children, a wedding, packing for a move, job searching, and LOTS of FOOD!

Of course, I didn't think to take a picture, so here are some pictures of some of our other fun adventures while we were Utah.

The HendRUN! Each year Rachel and Michael host a 5K run for all who wish to participate. Noah decided he wanted to run with the big boys instead of walk with all the mamma's and babies. I was impressed. He ran much further than I thought he would! You see the lady with the stroller and the blue pants on. That is Tyler's sister Brooke. She was thirty-two weeks pregnant and keeping up with the crowd. You go Aunt Brooke!

Grandma had some fun summer "flip-flop" Lolly pops that the kids enjoyed eating on the back patio.

We spent an afternoon swimming at some friends of Grandma's. We invited Aunt Alana, cousin Violet and new cousin Alice!

Noah and Naomi rode the carousal at the Riverwoods.

Uncle Michael helped Noah play the arcade games.

Noah and Naomi played in the fountain outside.

Noah was reluctant at first. He is not a fan of wet clothes. But after watching and with a little coaxing from Grandma he decided to join the fun. He still wasn't happy about his wet clothes though.

As for little Abram. He was a trooper. He spent the majority of the trip happily observing the commotion around him as he sat snuggled with grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and of course, mom and dad (no way were we going to let family have him the whole time!) Here he is with Aunt Rachel while we were in the arcades.

It was a grade "A" trip. Lots of  laughing, family fun, good good, and wonderful memories to take home with us. We even got a few decent pictures! Life must be good.