Fun at the Gateway

A couple weeks ago my family met up at the Gateway for one last hang-out before my sister Corinne and her family went back to Arizona. The kids had a great time playing the fountain and there's no better cuisine than found in the food court!

 Annie & Eric with their kids, Marshall & Belen

Me & Seth

 Bryce & Ella

Reid

The Whole Family (ignore the trash can on the left)

It's always fun to see my family. What an amazing group of people! Love you guys!

Birthday Bowling

I mentioned in my previous post how we'd gotten together to do some bowling for Corinne's birthday. I thought I'd post some of the pictures I took... those kids were too dang cute.

Belen is already a professional bowler... she could hardly wait for the pins to reset to push another ball down the ramp! Look at that concentration!

Look at those mini bowling shoes! Ha!

Lily and Ella take a break for some apple beer.

I have never seen a cuter bunch of tow-headed kids. 

Don't worry Eric, you can be cute too, even though you're a little older than 7.

And Then on the Third Day Which Was Technically Like the Seventh Day...

And thus there were a few days in amongst which the Holley family was separated into their own units and carried on in various activities. Some did play, others toiled, but then after some time went by they rejoined in one last celebration...

And there was much moisture received and they were grateful.

After which they were they even more joyous for the receipt of their ice cream. Which was as manna from the heavens.

Thus ended the Holley family summer vacation.

And it was good.

And on the Second Half of the Second Day...

And on the second half of the second day we did thus travel far to view the hidden secrets of the universe... some did call it Buckskin Gulch. And it was good.

And thus ended the second day.

(It was a long one.)

And On the Second Day...

And on the morning of the second day of the Holley family summer trip we did travel to the desert. The Coral Pink Sand Dunes to be exact....

And thus we did see angels...

And curious wonders of nature...

And Corinne... who apparently has a hard time spelling her name...

There were bonds of friendship created across generations (or at least a couple years anyway)...

And fallen (or scooting) souls waiting for their turn to...

...view the miraculous creations of God's hand.

(Oh yeah... that's some nice creating right there.)

And thus ended the first half of the second day.

Crossroads of the West

So way back like a month ago we went to Zions National Park and some other places with my family. I know I said I was working on these posts a few weeks ago, but that was pretty much a lie. Unless you count vaguely thinking about the fact that I needed to post about it. But, I figure you don't really want a whole lot of blah blah blah about all my summer vacations, so just look at these pictures. They're more interesting anyway. If I waited until I was inspired in the literary realm, this story would never see the light of day.

BEHOLD... the first day...

So as we were driving down to Zions we saw this motorcycle towing a Barbie houseboat trailer. WTF?! Was it a trailer disguised as a Barbie houseboat or just a Barbie houseboat? Why, for the love of all that is good and holy would you possess such a thing?! People are INSANE.

After seeing the Barbie houseboat we got pulled over by a couple cops so a giant dump truck bed could pass us. It was HUGE.

Thus ended the first day. And it was good.

BEHOLD... the second day...

Waiting for the shuttle bus.

These kids. Sheesh.

The squirrels on the Narrows trail had no fear of humans. Seth actually nudged one with his foot and it just sat there. A few of these guys just about got stepped on!

Seth likes to pretend to hike while he's hiking.

Hiking the Narrows.

Lily and her dad. They made a pretty cute team.

I love this picture of Seth. *swoon*

Annie looks like she's crossing the river to kick my ass.

Such a cute little family. Gotta love these guys and don't even get me started with that kid.

J.R. started carrying Lily through the deeper water. She was good at playing "damsel in distress."

Group shot... minus Annie and Eric who turned back a little earlier.

Later on that night we celebrated my 30th birthday. Meh, 30 is way easier to say than 29 anyway.

The festivities were moved inside due to windy conditions (hard to keep the candles lit in a breeze). Notice my monkey face. Now THAT'S hot. Thanks for the gifts everyone, and those cupcakes rocked, Mom! I'm pretty sure I ate like 5 of them.

Thus ended the second day. And it was was good.