We left a couple of days early and drove to Arches National Park (Utah). We climbed the Double Arch and played in the dirt/sand. Then stayed in Moab that night. The next day we drove to Mesa Verde National Park (Colorado) and hiked around the cliff dwellings made by the Indians.
That night we met Jared's siblings and families in Albuquerque, NM. Then caravaned to WF, TX the next day. You can only imagine how excited 12 cousins were to see each other and we will say it got a little loud...and stayed that way through the weekend.
The reunion in WF was great. I've heard Lana, Jared's mom, talk about most of the people we met and I have met a few but many years ago. Meemaw and Lana, Jared's grandma and mom, couldn't wipe the smiles off of their faces. Made the whole trip worth it. We posed for pictures (the one on the left is a 4 generation pic with Meemaw, Lana, us, and our kids), visited, ate lots of Texas BBQ, visited some more, took the kids swimming, ate more BBQ and visited more. The cousins met even more extended cousins and had a blast. I think the cousins had lots of fun switching around who was going to ride in whose car throughout the weekend.
Even though this was a Givens/McClung reunion, Jared's uncle (his Dad's brother) Jim and his wife Mary drove 4 hours to come a visit with us for a couple of hours. I'm told that Jim and David, Jared's dad, look very much a like. This pic is of the brothers and Uncle Jim.
Unfortunately for Jared, he had to get back to work, so we drove him to the Dallas Airport and said goodbye -- me and the kids were not ready to finish our vacation (Jared wasn't either but he needed to get back). We then met one of my old college roommates, Kristan, and her family in Frisco, Texas - just north of Dallas. As luck would have it, our kids are just about the same ages. Ethan and Cole had a blast together, swimming, logos, ninetindo, boy stuff.... Rachel and Kayla did lot's of girl stuff.... and Luke, Braden, Brady and Jake had a great time too! I had fun too with Kris! We took the kids to the Hawaiian Falls Water Park (see previous post's video of Luke), hung out, swam at their neighborhood pool, went to Peter Piper Pizza and saw Kung Fu Panda (see previous post's video of Brady) again.
The visit went by very quickly and we needed to start driving back to Utah. Because it was just me and the kids, I wanted it to be fun for all of us. So we stopped in Sante Fe, NM and then Ethan wanted us to the Four Corners Monument - where the corners of CO, UT, NM, and AZ meet. The picture below shows the kids with Ethan having a leg or hand in all for states.
So all in all, we had a great trip! I have more pictures on Jared's computer, so maybe I'll add more later. Hope you are having a great summer too!
Laurie
