Utah's Historical Sites!

I guess this was the weekend for visiting some of Utah's historical sites. Although all of our activities had at least one thing go wrong in each, we made the best of each situation and made some fun memories!

Friday

Red Butte Garden

While the guys were away at the Spring Game, us girls' decided to head to Red Butte Garden, the largest botanical garden in the Intermountain West (over 100 acres). The kids had a lot of fun. The only problem was that we went a tad too early; hardly anything had bloomed yet. Oh well!

They loved rolling down the hills when we first got there. Anything to wear out kids' is good in my book!

The Golden Spike

After the boys got home from the game, we headed up north to Brigham City for some yummy steak at Maddox! The we were off to the Golden Spike.

On May 10, 1869, the Union and Central Pacific Railroads joined their rails at Promontory Summit. Golden Spike National Historic Site commemorates this incredible accomplishment of this nation's first transcontinental railroad!

Here we are standing on the last tie laid on the completion of the Pacific Railroad! Pretty cool! By the time we drove all the way out there, the place was closed so we didn't get to see the trains. Lydia was so bummed about that and to this day still talks about wanting to see trains!

The Spiral Jetty

We figured since we were all the way up north, we should also visit the spiral jetty which was constructed in 1970 during a drought. Within a few years the water levels returned to normal and the great salt lake covered the Jetty for more than 30 years. In 2004 it re-emerged and has been covered and uncovered by the lake ever since. So we thought since it was showing, we should go see it. Well, this is all we got to see of the Spiral Jetty:

A bunch of cows along the road to this thing they call the Spiral Jetty! You wouldn't believe the road you have to take to get to this place. It said it was only a 15.5 mile road...well, when you're only going 5 mph, it takes a REALLY long time to get there. I thought I was going to go into labor because of how bumpy it was too. After over an hour of this, we decided to surrender and try to conquer the Jetty another day! It sucked to turn around but we wanted to enjoy the Jetty and couldn't do it in the dark! So we headed home and consequently, the guys missed a playoff game because of that stupid road!!!
Anyway, here's a picture I found on the Internet of the Spiral Jetty! The Jetty is made of all black rock but because it was under water for more than 30 years, it started turning white due to salt encrustation from the Great Salt Lake's water. I thought it was interesting! Anyway, we will get there someday!

Sunday

On a side note: We spent a lot of the day after church outside playing in the backyard because of the perfect weather. We jumped on the tramp, played kickball and Lydia rode her trike. In between all of this, Lydia finally noticed the trees and how they are finally blooming. But Lydia didn't know what was going on. As soon as she realized they looked different and prettier, she said, "Hey, who decorated our trees?" It was adorable. I love how kids think. I just answered and said, "Mother Nature." Of course she said, "What's that?"

Ah, how I love Summer!!!!

Monday, FHE

Antelope Island

Of the 8 years I've lived here, I've never been to Antelope Island so I made it my mission to get there this year. I heard that the earlier in the year you go, the better off you are due to the bugs not being out yet to annoy you!

A few weeks ago, we invited some friends to go with us for family night, but every Monday, without fail, the weather was horrible! So we waited and waited until finally, the perfect day arrived, yesterday, April 19th! So we headed north with our friends Anabel, Joe, Brielle and Mathias to see the sites! By the time we got there, we only had 1 1/2 hours to visit 28,000 acres of land. Whoops!

We went to the white, sandy beach area first and the girls' had a great time playing and throwing the sand. This was the only place where the bugs were out and so dang annoying! But once we left this area, the bugs didn't bother us again.
Love these girls'. They always play so well together! I never have to worry about them fighting or anything. They were so cute together all evening! I think Anabel and I took like 100 pictures each. We're both trying to figure out our camera's and their different settings. I know the girls' and our husbands were getting annoyed with our "okay, one more picture" comments! :)
I love this picture. There's just something about daddy/daughter love that I can't get enough of! Lydia loves her daddy! We were on the hunt for Bison the whole time. Apparently there are over 500 Bison on Antelope Island and I wanted a picture of some. Well, just as we were about to give up, Joe spotted a single Bison off into the distance. Turns out, there were about 5 in a little group together. They were too far off down the huge hill for my big, pregnant butt to get any pictures close up though! What a gorgeous view!

On our way out, we got to see the most gorgeous sunset!

So we had quite the weekend. It was a lot of fun hanging out with our buds and enjoying the beauty that Utah has to offer!